Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

          Tommy folded his arms over his chest as they walked through the server hub, trying his best to not look as uncomfortable as he felt.

He decided the best course of action was to go into the SMP with the same mind-set as if he was visiting spawn in the anarchy server; ready for a fight and a string of totems attatched to the waistline of his shorts.

He was trailing behind his brothers, both of them periodically looking back at him like he was still a little kid they had to make sure hadn't run off.

He took a deep breath as they went in the portal that lead to the SMP spawn, dread already pooling in his stomach as he followed through. He blinked a few times once he was on the other side, forgetting how annoying server portals could be if you haven't used one in a while.

Rubbing his eyes, his ears picked up on a conversation that was already in progress.

"I wouldn't have been worried if you actually told me why you were staying longer between the fights."

"Phil-"

"Not to mention the fact that you've got a fucking ring around your neck now."

"I had a totem, that's how the Arena works."

"Ok, but you promised you'd be alright and then you come back with a scar like that-"

Tommy cleared his throat from next to the portal, his wings shuffling behind him. "That was my fault, actually. Same as them getting back later than they intended, had to wait for me to finish up some work."

Phil looked at him, eyes wide. "You're fucking joking."

"Hey, Phil," Tommy put a hand on the back of his neck, "Been a while, yeah?"

Phil walked up to him, carefully grabbing him by the jaw and looking at his face. Tommy just maintained eye contact and waited for him to say something.

After a few moments of this, Phil pulled him into a hug, laughing. "Where the fuck have you been?"

Tommy awkwardly returned the contact. "Y'know, around."

"He's the champion of the pit we went to,", Wilbur said, smiling at the sight in front of him.

"Oi! The Arena is not just a fight pit, we put effort in, man!"

Phil laughed as he let go, stepping back and getting a proper look at him. "You're the champion of a fighting pit in an anarchy server?"

Tommy folded his arms. "Not just the champion, might as well run the place some days,", he put his hands on his hips, "You're looking at Phoenix the Head Hunter, man!"

Phil laughed again. "I'm guessing because of the wings?"

"The Phoenix part, yeah. I chose it, though."

"Where the fuck did those even come from? Last I checked you didn't have some massive fucking wings behind you. Christ, they're bigger than mine."

"Jealous, old man?"

"Nah, that shade of red is way to fucking loud. It suits you, though."

          Wilbur clapped his hands in front of him, drawing everyone's attention. "Alright, let's get on to showing him the server. We're on a time limit, technically."

Tommy rolled his eyes, stepping around Phil to go over to his brother. "Like it's gonna take three days to show me new shit in this hellhole."

"It's been three years, man, there's so much new shit."

Tommy scoffed. "Yeah? And how much of it has actually been there the whole time?"

"Enough that if we don't start now you aren't gonna have time to talk to people."

"Good, less people I have to see the better."

Wilbur started walking, motioning for them to follow as he lead the group. Phil and Tommy walked behind him, and Techno was at the back of the group as Tommy was given a tour of all the new things in the server.

The lack of red vines everywhere was immediately noticable, a welcome change. The L'Manhole had appearantly been filled in properly by Foolish at some point, he was bored according to Wilbur. An unsurprising amount of things had been basically abandonned, left to just sit there as everyone moved on to something else.

He was most surprised by his old house, surrounded entirely by flowers and even more statues than were there before he left.

"Didn't I tear that shit down?"

Wilbur shrugged. "People built more I guess, like I said; everyone missed you."

Tommy took in the sight, his wings tense and his arms crossed. "I didn't exactly believe you, figured you were exagerating."

Phil exhaled in surprise. "This place has been fucking miserable, mate. Quieter, sure, but something's definately been missing."

Tommy looked at him for a moment before staring down at the ground, feeling almost guilty.

Wilbur's communicator pinged, drawing his attention. "Tubbo and Ranboo are at their motel, if you want to see them now."

Tommy tensed, rapidly going over the pros and cons of that interaction in his head.

Techno walked up next to him, lightly elbowing him in the side. "I can practically hear the gears turning in your head as you overthink this. You're gonna have to face them at some point."

"Not if I fucking leg it back to the portal."

"Tommy."

He sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "I know, I know. Holy shit, I'm regretting this. Ref's gonna take Card's fight himself just to kick my ass once I'm done complaining to him."

          They walked up the prime path, dread growing as he could hear laughter. He subconciously hid behind Techno, despite being way too tall to get away with that now.

Once they were close enough, Ranboo started waving, his other hand propping up a child against his hip. "Hey, Wilbur! What's up, you said you had a surprise?"

Wilbur gasped, rushing ahead of the group. He grabbed the child from Ranboo, lifting him up from under the armpits and spinning him around. "You brought Michael!"

"Yeah,", Ranboo chuckled, "Foolish and Puffy were busy, so we just took him with us."

"You get any business while we were gone?"

"You already know the answer to that, man."

Wilbur laughed, adjusting Michael so he was being help properly. "Sorry, sorry. Not that you need the money from it, you rich son of a bitch. Think I've found someone that's got you beat, though."

Tubbo poked his head out the door. "Hey, Boo- oh, Wilbur! You're back! Michael was wondering where you went."

"Was in an anarchy server with Techno, pretty fun."

"An anarchy server? Seriously? Like, I get that he brands himself as an anarchist, but that seems a bit farther down that path than he'd go,", Tubbo chuckled a bit, "Not to mention the fact that you went with him."

"Yeah, well, we actually found out about something pretty interesting there. A fighting arena."

"Isn't that normal in anarchy server, though?", Ranboo asked, confused.

"Yeah, this one's set up almost like a regular tornament arena, though,", Wilbur started talking slightly louder to make sure Tommy heard him, "Had this annoying champion as well, loud fucker with these big wings and a loud mouth."

He turned back, chuckling as he watched Tommy quietly fume behind Techno.

Tubbo and Ranboo followed his line of sight, confused.

Techno stepped to the side, grabbing Tommy by the arms and moving him so he was in full view.

The other boys gasped, and Tommy glared at Techno. "I can't fucking wait to give you a second ring on your fucking neck,", he whispered, making sure his brother was the only one that heard him.

Techno just chuckled quietly next to him, not responding to the threat. Tubbo blinked at him for a few minutes, no one saying anything.

          After this went on long enough for it to be almost uncomfortable, Tommy slowly raised his hand and waved.

"H-hey, Tubbo."

Tubbo walked past Wilbur and Ranboo, going right up to Tommy and craning his neck to look him in the eye. Tommy shrank back slightly, his wings curling around him.

Tubbo reached out and grabbed his wrist, glaring as he brought him down to eye level.

"Tubbo-"

"Three years. Three."

"I know-"

"No, you don't know. I thought you were dead for three years. I mourned for three years! Where were you?"

Tommy cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'm pretty sure he just said that I've been in an anarchy server."

"Why? Why would you just... leave, why would you just go off to an anarchy server to- to-", Tubbo reached his hands up to his head and grabbed his horns in frustration, "Augh! Everything was getting better, and then you made everyone think you died! Just so you could run off! You couldn't even- Why didn't you just tell someone you left? Why didn't you come back before now to let us know you were alive? Let me know at some point."

Tommy moved back from Tubbo, standing up straight. "Things may have been fine for you, you may have been doing alright- Guess what, I almost did die again. These huge fucking wings didn't just sprout on their own. I was literally stabbed in the fucking back and shoved off a fucking cliff by someone I trusted."

Tubbo took a step back surprised. "What?"

"I took that as a pretty fucking good sign that I should leave; something about narrowly avoiding perma-death again in this fucking shithole before I was even eighteen finally sank in."

Jack Manifold came out of the hotel parallel to them, confused. "Oi! What's with all the shouting out here?"

He froze once he was all the way out, Tommy making eye contact with him almost immediately.

"You."

Jack took a step back. "No fucking way."

Tommy stepped away from Tubbo, his wings flaring up behind him like he'd usually do before a fight as he walked over to him. "Well, I wasn't expecting to see you just yet."

Jack shuddered, something about the lack of emotion in Tommy's tone unsettling him. "You-you're dead."

"Yeah, you thought that, didn't you? Not that you were the one that did it, but you were definately in on it."

"N-no, I wasn't! It was entirely Niki! She just forced me to help."

Tommy got closer, easilly towering over him. "Really? Cause from what I remember, you were just standing there with a fucking smirk and mocking me as she slashed her sword down at me."

Jack let out a panicked chuckle, taking a few more steps back. "She- I swear it had nothing to do with me, man, we're friends! You know that!"

"The only thing I know right now is that my axe is just itching for your fucking head on my shelf,", he pulled his weapon out of his inventory as he said that, "Usually, when I cut someone's head off, they're meant to wear it like a medal; they should be proud of it, it means I respect them. But for you... I hope it reminds you every fucking day that you fucked up."

Jack put his hands up in front of him, shrinking back. "T-Tommy, come on man! I'm on one life."

"So am I. Funny thing that I also only had one life when you fuckers tried to kill me, too. Not like you didn't crawl back on your own before, I'm sure you can do it again if you put your mind to it."

He whipped around, hearing footsteps coming up behind him and immediatly pointing his axe at whoever it was.

Techno took a step back from the weapon, grabbing the handle just behind the blade and lowering it. "As much as I enjoy violent retribution,", he nodded his head back in the direction of everyone else, "Now might not be the best time for it."

          Tommy looked over at everyone, taking in their reactions.

Tubbo and Ranboo were shocked, their son burying his face into Wilbur's chest. Wilbur just looked uncomfortable, same for Phil but with a bit more surprise mixed in.

He looked away, sighing. Yanking his axe out of Techno's grip, he put it away before he stormed off down the prime path past Jack.

Surprisingly, no one had built anything else along that part of the path, the only other thing down there before it ended being the tower he'd built; abandonned like a majority of the other builds on the server.

He jumped down once he hit the end, just walking forward for a while until he hit the shore. He balled his fists, shouting as he kicked some rocks. He put his hands on the sides of his head, crouching down into a ball as his wings flaired out behind him.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, he sat down and dug his fingers into the ground; trying to reel his anger back in.

He knew this was going to happen, he just really hoped he would have had longer to prepare.

Tommy ran a hand through his hair, looking between the tunnel that he was pretty sure lead to Snowchester, and the prison.

He laid down on the ground, his wings spread out underneath him and his hands behind his head. No one had gone after him so far, not that it'd been that long, but he was seriously regretting coming back.

He closed his eyes, just laying there for a while and listening to everything around him, when he was startled by a gasp. He sat up, looking in the direction he'd heard it.

Sam was standing there, trident firmly in his grip and surprise evident in his expression despite the gas mask he was wearing. Behind him was Badboyhalo, who was equally shocked at who he saw.

Tommy put his hands over his face and screamed, muffling it, before making eye contact with the two of them and flopping back down. "Take a fucking picture, it'll last longer."

"I- I might,", Sam said taking a hesitant step closer, "Just to make sure this is real."

"Unfortunately, I am very much back in this utter fucking garbage heap."

He snorted at the near silent 'language' he heard coming from Bad.

"You- but-", Sam was stuttering, trying to figure out what he actually wanted to say.

"Spit it out man, use your words."

Bad ended up being the one to speak up in the situation. "You- you died."

"Almost, yeah,", he turned his head to look up at the sky, "Been on another server, if that answers any of your questions."

Sam cautiously walked closer to him, stopping a little over a yard away. "Wha- Tommy, that answers nothing! Niki said you died, three years ago. What happened?"

"Pretty fucking simple, really. Got attacked, had a totem, used a pearl, left."

"Who attacked you?" 

          He looked up at Sam's face, scowling. "Who the fuck do you think? Who's the two people that were there?"

Bad gasped quietly from where he was standing. "That's not something Niki would-"

Tommy barked out a laugh, startling them. "Jesus fucking christ, I'm getting tired of hearing that,", he sat up again, bending one of his legs and resting an arm on it, "You can believe what you fucking want, not like it changes anything."

Sam looked away from him, silently staring at the ground for a moment before speaking again. "I'm sorry."

"Eh? Why are you apologizing?"

"Because I didn't- I couldn't protect you. Even before you d- left. Everything with Dream, I could have done... something."

"It's not your fault, man,", he stood, setting a hand on Sam's shoulder, "You can't control what any of these crazy fuckers do, especially not Dream, and beating yourself up over it's just gonna make you miserable. Learned that lesson a while ago."

Sam looked him in the eye, chuckling. "How'd you get so mature?"

Tommy laughed, slinging an arm around Sam's shoulders. "Man, do I have some stories to tell you,", his wings shuffled behind him as he remembered what happened earlier and sighed, "It's probably gonna have to wait, though, I've got a mess to deal with in the form of a terrified child and people probably questioning my mental health."

"To be fair, I'm also questioning that."

Tommy moved to the side, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now that's just rude. I'll have you know I've got a proper job and everything on my server, thank you very much."

"Yeah? What kind of server?"

"Anarchy, the best kind."

"Hope you haven't forgotten how to follow rules, if that's where you've spent the last three years."

"Rest assured, big man, I'm a large endorser of following the rules."

Bad laughed. "That doesn't sound anything like you."

"Fuck off, go eat a muffin or something."

"Language!"

Tommy walked over to put his arm around Bad's shoulders now. "There it is! You hadn't really said it yet, man, I was starting to think you had some residual brain damage or something from that whole 'egg' thing. How'd that turn out, anyways? Like I know it's gone, but Wil didn't really give details."

The other two tensed when he mentioned the egg, the mood shifting enough to make him cringe.

Bad gently moved himself out from under Tommy's arm, shifting awkwardly. "There's not really much to say. Foolish got rid of the vines, and then it was just... destroyed, eventually, after a while," he curled and uncurled his hands into fists a few time, trying to think of what he wanted to say, "I'm- I am so, so, so sorry about everything I did to you before you left."

Tommy blinked at him a few times.

Bad bowed his head. "I know I don't deserve you forgiving me, but-"

"You don't need to apologize to me for that, man."

Bad looked at him confused. "Yes, I do. I tried to kill you."

"Wasn't your fault, it was that fucking raw omlet."

"But I still-"

"Nope, not your fault, and I refuse to hear you say otherwise."

"Tommy,-"

Tommy interupted him by exaggeratedly shoving his fingers in his ears and making noise.

"Tommy-"

"Can't hear you, what a shame!"

Bad grabbed one of Tommy's wrist, pulling his hand out. "Tommy!"

Tommy shut up, looking at him. "No need to shout, Bad, I'm right here."

Bad laughed, smiling at him. "I'm glad to see you're alright."

Tommy grinned at him. "Same to you, man."

          They stood there chatting for a bit longer, his mood genuinely improved, before the conversation shifted and he had to explain what happened before they saw him. They decided to go back with him after hearing it, at the very least to give him an excuse for taking so long to get back.

Everyone was hanging around the front of the hotel Jack had stolen, the man himself not there.

Tommy placed a hand on the back of his head, his wings sagging behind him as they all turned to him.  He looked down at his feet, sighing.

"I'm... Well I can't say I'm sorry about going after Jack like that because it'd be a lie, but I'm sorry for how I went about it. Probably could have handled that whole thing better, honestly. I just wasn't expecting to run into him that soon, and I was already upset,", he looked at them again, his face scrunching up as he took in their reactions, "The fuck are those faces for?"

Everyone looked absolutely dumbfounded, excluding the child that had moved to hide behind Ranboo when Tommy returned.

"You're being... mature, about something,", Ranboo said, sounding confused.

"Yeah? I messed up earlier."

Tubbo narrowed his eyes at him before turning to look at Wilbur and Techno. "And you're sure that's actually him?"

"Unfortunately,", Wilbur said, chuckling, "Don't worry, it wigged us out too at first."

"Hey! I am literally right here."

Tubbo walked over to him. "Yeah, and that's still something I don't fully believe is real,", he looked to the side, "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier, I just- I wasn't expecting to ever be able to see you again and alot's been bottled up since you..."

"No, I get that. You- you have a right to be upset. Suppose it was a bit selfish of me to stay away for so long. Even after I got my shit together, I didn't... I wasn't planning on ever coming back here, truthfully,", Tommy put a hand on the back of his neck, "I'm sorry for blowing up at you, earlier, you didn't know what happened and I don't have a right to be upset with you for that."

"You-", Tubbo interupted himself with a wet chuckle, hugging him, "I missed you, I really, really missed you."

Tommy tensed before hugging him back, his wings coming forward to wrap around him as well. "I missed you too."

          Tommy was the first to move, pulling back and putting his fists on his hips. "Alright, well... now that the sappy shit is out of the way; guess it's time I meet your kid."

Tubbo furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought you met him before you left?"

"I wouldn't really... count that, honestly. It- I- Look, man, I'd rather just ignore that and pretend this is the first time I've met him, yeah?"

"I am extremely confused,", Ranboo said, picking Michael up.

Tommy rolled his eyes, walking up to him. "Of course you'd be confused, boob boy."

Bad said 'language' from where he was standing with Sam, reminding everyone that they were there.

Tommy turned to look at him. "'Boob' is not a swear word, it's a body part."

"Language."

"English," he said, sounding thourougly unimpressed, before turning back to face Ranboo and Michael.

Ranboo had an awkward smile, while the child was yet again hiding his face. Tommy looked down at the kid for a moment before tilting his head up to make eye contact with Ranboo.

"I have no idea how to interact with children."

Ranboo laughed, adjusting his grip on Michael. "Probably doesn't help that you scared him earlier, either."

Tommy looked back at the kid, raising his hand and waving awkwardly. "Uh, hello... Michael."

The little piglin moved his head so he could peek at Tommy.

"You, uh... You're not as tiny as the last time I saw you. Still tiny, though."

Michael looked up at his dad, still scared and a bit confused. Ranboo smiled at him, hoping it looked reassuring. "It's alright, bud, he's nice. Mostly."

"Well that's just rude,", Tommy scoffed.

"Is it wrong, though?"

"No, but it's not fun to actually hear it be said."

Tubbo walked over to stand next to Ranboo, Michael almost immediately climbing over onto his shoulders.

Tubbo almost fell over, trying to hold him up. "Ah! Give me some warning, I'm not strong!"

Tommy held back a laugh as he watched the small piglin sit on Tubbo's shoulders and grab his horns. Tubbo took a moment to re-balance himself, glaring at Tommy.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"Your face is saying more than enough."

Tommy chuckled, looking at the child that was now properly at his eye level. They made eye contact for an uncomfortable amount of time, Tommy being the first to look away.

"He's not very talkative, is he?"

"We're still working on that. He can understand us, just doesn't really speak yet."

Ranboo nodded, setting a hand on his kid's head and ruffling his hair. "He'll do it when he's ready, no point rushing him." 

          Tommy looked at the kid again, his wings awkwardly shuffling behind him. Michael's attention was immediately drawn to the movement, his eyes getting a bit wider as he reached a hand toward one.

Tommy looked at him for a moment before hesitantly moving the wing so it was within touching distance.

Tubbo tried to stop him, tense. "Tommy, maybe don't-"

The kid immediatly grabbed a feather and pulled it out, startling everyone.

Tommy jumped back, running a hand over the spot it'd been plucked from and sharply inhaling through is teeth. "Fuck, that hurt."

"Ah- Michael!", Ranboo gently grabbed the child off of Tubbo's shoulders, setting him down on the ground and looking him in the eye, "You can't do that!"

Tubbo gave Tommy a sympathetic and guilty look. "Sorry, I tried to warn you. He did that to Phil, too."

Tommy looked over at the man, who shuddered slightly at the memory. "He grabed one of the smaller ones, thankfully, but it still fucking hurt."

"Yeah, no shit,", Tommy said, moving his wings so they were firmly out of child range, "Is he always that grabby?"

"Just when he wants something, he's gotten alot better with it,", Tubbo sighed.

Techno folded his arms, leaning against the hotel. "It's a piglin thing, he'll grow out of it."

Tommy looked down to see Michael approaching him, a guilty look on his face. The kid held the feather he'd just taken up, offering it back to him.

He blinked a few times, not sure how he should react. He looked to Tubbo, who just shrugged.

Tommy kneeled so he was at Michael's eye level. "Here," he closed Michael's hands over the feather again, "You can keep it. Just please don't take another one, alright?"

The piglin's eyes lit up, and he nodded, excitedly walking back over to Ranboo to show the feather to him properly.

Tommy stood back up, smiling as he watched the child excitedly wave his new prize around. 

          Wilbur doubled over laughing, drawing Tommy's attention his direction. Techno and Phil were also laughing, just not as loud as him.

"The fuck are you lot laughing at?"

"That was basically identical to how Phil responded to him," Wilbur said, trying to breath popperly again.

"Yeah- Well,", Tommy crossed his arms over his chest, looking to the side as his cheeks tinged red with embarassment, "Not like there's any other way to react to that. What am I supposed to do with the feather, put it back?"

"You could have yelled at him or something."

"It's a child, Wilbur, all that would do is scare him."

"I thought you didn't know how kids worked?"

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I said I'm not sure how to interact with them, there's a difference. I haven't interacted with someone younger than like, fifteen in years."

Phil raised an eyebrow at him. "Your anarchy server lets fifteen year olds in?"

"Officially no, but it's not like there's anyone there to stop them. Admins only care about shit that could get the place shut down, can't prove they they knew a kid got in so they don't care,", Tommy shrugged, "Arena only lets you fight if you're over seventeen, if that's any consolation."

"What's the deal with that, anyways?", Tubbo asked.

"With what? The Arena?"

"Everything, why did you go to an anarchy server of all places?"

Tommy looked to the side, not sure what he should say. "That's... honestly I don't even remember why I chose it. Glad I did, though, I fit in like a puzzle piece."

"In an anarchy server?"

"I'll vouch for him on that front,", Techno said, "He fits right in at that pit, everyone there loves him."

"Not everyone, there's a whole group of mid-tier fighters that have a pact to go after me durring the gauntlet events."

"'Gauntlet'?"

Tommy looked at him, confused. "Did Ref not go over event types when you signed up?"

Techno shrugged. "I wasn't paying that much attention, honestly. Just remembered the rules and where to go to see who I'm fighting."

"Aw, gauntlets are the coolest, man! They're a bit like the qualifiers; the mid-tiers and low-tiers get into groups and challenge the vets in waves to see if someone can get in a kill. With those ones it's for the bragging rights, but if someone manages to get me they get to have a one-on-one fight."

Tommy was making exaggerated gestures with his hands while he spoke, his eyes bright and a large smile on his face.

"Haven't lost in one of those, either, but if someone really stands out I usually talk to them between events and if they're cool I convince Ref to bump them up a bit in ranking so they can challenge me if they want."

He saw that everyone looked surprised again, apologetically raising his hands up in front of him.

"Sorry, I get carried away when I talk about the Arena."

"No, it's alright,", Tubbo smiled at him, "You seem really passionate about it."

"I am, it's great. Yeah, there's hiccups sometimes and some of the fighters can get on my nerves- It's an anarchy server, of course there's going to be people coming in trying to cause issues, but it's amazing otherwise." 

          Tubbo just continued to smile at him, looking almost relieved, and he scrunched his nose up in response.

"Why the fuck are you making that face?"

"I'm just happy, is all. I was worried you turned into some kind of bloodthirsty killing machine while you were gone, especially after... earlier."

"I mean I am, but I've still got morals man,", he put a hand on Tubbo's shoulder, "I promise I'll hold myself back if I get upset like that again, I am nothing if not professional."

Tubbo laughed, giving him a sideways look. "That is nowhere near something I would ever expect to come out of your mouth."

"I can throw a few more swears in, if you want?"

"I'd say go for it, but I think Bad would be a little upset if you did that."

Wilbur pushed up from where he'd been sitting on the ground. "I hate to cut your conversation short, but seeing as how the sun is going down soon; I think it'd be a good idea to finish showing him new additions to the main part of the server."

Tommy looked up at the sky to see the sun nearing the point where it would dip below the horizon. "Oh, I didn't realize it was that late."

Wilbur came up and put his arm around his shoulders. "Yup! Need to show you everything else now if we want to have time for the surprise I have planned.

"Don't know if I like the sound of a 'surprise' from you."

"Rude. I'll have you know I actually thought this out before we dragged you back, you'll like it."

Tommy removed the arm from his shoulders, using his foot to sweep Wilbur's legs out from underneath him and knock him to the ground. "You did not 'drag' me, neither of you would be able to at this point; I'm too powerful."

Techno whistled, pushing himself off the wall. "Hubris comes before the fall."

"Yeah, well the hubris has been here for two years at this point. Either it's a big fucking hole or I'm stuck at the top. Definately higher up than you at this point."

Ranboo chuckled nervously. "Maybe it's not a good idea to be threatening Techno, Tommy. I don't really think fighting him really stacks up to knocking the human equivelant of an extremely skinny tree onto the ground."

Tommy laughed in response, putting his hands behind his head. "Trust me, I've chopped his head off once and I could very easilly do it again. Just not outside of the Arena, Ref would throw a fit if I did that in a place we can't make some money on it."

"Uh,", Sam finally spoke for the first time being there, "Who exactly is 'Ref'? Cause I've heard you mention them a few times now."

Tommy turned to look at him. "He runs the Arena, not that he's any good at it. He's also the refferee for the fights; hence the name." 

          Wilbur stood up, brushing himself off before he smacked Tommy in the back of the head. "That was uncalled for."

"Consider it payback for all the times you did shit like that when I was younger, then."

Wilbur rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just start walking cause we're on a time limit,", he walked down the path and turned to face everyone, "Who's tagging along for the rest of the server tour?"

"Not us, unfortunately,", Ranboo said, picking Michael up again, "We've got to get the child home and in bed."

Tubbo sighed. "Yeah, unfortunately. If you guys want to stop by at some point, though, just let us know,", he looked at Tommy, "How long are you staying for?"

"Leaving again Saturday morning so I can get ready for next week's fights, I'm on the roster for two out of three events."

"Right, we've got to make sure we hang out properly before that, then."

"Definately. Here, I'll give you my new comm ID."

Tubbo typed it in, scrunching his nose in confusion. "Why's it say 'Phoenix'?"

"That's what I go by now, chose it when I got to the Arena."

"Cringe."

"Ranboo, you are so fucking lucky you're holding a child right now or I would drop kick you."

"Language,", Bad said, checking something on his own comm, "And I've got to go too, unfortunately, George is appearantly being annoying and Sapnap is having issues handling him."

"Gogy has always been annoying, glad to see that hasn't changed."

Sam nodded at him. "I can stick around, I already took care of the prison duties for the day."

"I think I'm tapping out for now,", Phil said, standing, "Can only handle this many people at once for so long before I need a nap."

"It's because you're old,", Techno huffed.

"Careful, or I'll change the locks on your doors again."

"You and I both know that would just lead to you having to fix your doors again after I kick them in."

"True, but I'll get to laugh about it first." He walked over to Tommy, smiling at him. "I'm glad you're alright, genuinely. I know we didn't exactly leave off on the best terms..."

"We can talk about that later, without a crowd around for it preferably."

"Right, we can figure it out later after everything's calmed down more."

          Everyone said their goodbyes for the time being, and split off.

The only thing Tommy really found interesting out of the remaining stuff he'd been shown was the fact that the Community House had appearanty been destroyed and rebuilt six seperate times.

"Maybe I should actually destroy it while I'm here, seems like everyone's had a turn at this point."

"Please don't, I think Puffy would have aneurysm,", Sam sighed.

"Wasn't she one of the people that's blown it up?"

Wilbur sighed. "Technically, that was because Fundy. That one happened before you left, how did you not know about it?"

Tommy held his tounge on the 'like father like son' comment. "I didn't talk to that fucking furry, man, he's an asshole."

And the 'tour' continued. They avoided the castle for the time being, he didn't particularly feel like running into Eret just yet.

Finally, once the sun was fully down, they took a turn down a new part of the path that he could only describe as sketchy. Once they got to that part, he heard Sam let out a long sigh.

"Seriously? You're taking him there on his first day back?"

"Why not?", Wilbur laughed, "I'm sure they'll get a kick out of seeing him."

"They're probably drunk, probably not even gonna notice him."

"Even better, we can fuck with them."

"Hey, I'm here, remember?", Tommy said, hitting both of them in the head with a wing, "Who the fuck are you talking about?"

"You'll find out when we get to the door."

"Wilbur, I feel like I'm about to be shanked. We are very clearly in a bad neighborhood past nine p.m. GMT."

"Just shank them back, then, you literally do that as an occupation."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I do not shank people, I'm an entertainer. I annoy them for a few minutes and cut their heads off, big difference there."

Sam stuttered in his steps for a moment. "Excuse me you what?"

"We use totems, it's alright."

"Tommy, I really don't think it is."

"Nah, it's fine, you'd have to see it to understand,", he put an arm around Techno's shoulders, "Or, experience it. Tell them they're wrong."

Techno looked at him for a moment before speeding up slightly so Tommy's arm fell. "You're right about the annoying part."

"You're just mad that you don't have anything interesting in how you fight. Really, if you don't add something the crowd's gonna move on once you've gone through all the vets."

"Not like I'm staying long enough for that."

"Like hell! You're staying until at least the end of the set."

"Yeah? And how would you stop me from leaving? I only entered to talk to you, I don't need to stay."

"Techno, if you stop fighting there I will never speak to you again purely out of spite."

Techno rolled his eyes. "Oh no, what a loss."

"Wilbur, tell him to shut up."

"I will, actually,", Wilbur said, stopping and turning around, "Cause we're here."

          Tommy looked past him. "Wil, that's a wall."

"Very observant, it's almost like those tend to contain doors."

"That one doesn't."

Wilbur took out a pickaxe, breaking a hole into the wall and revealing a questionable set of stairs leading down. "Now it does."

"That's almost worse than the path, at least I can see where I'm going up here."

"It's... mostly safe, I promise."

"That doesn't inspire confidence,", he looked at Sam, "Sam, you know where we're going, am I getting mugged once I get down there?"

"... Probably not?"

Tommy looked at Techno, who just shrugged.

"I don't know what's down there, you're on your own here."

"It's fine,", Wilbur made a dismissive motion with his hand, "I'll even go down first, alright?"

To prove his point, he went in, maintaining eye contact as he started decending; turning around to actually look where he was going after he almost fell. Sam went in next, giving Tommy an encouraging look as he followed Wilbur down.

Tommy watched them dissapear into the darkness, contemplating running away before Techno gave him a slight shove forward.

"Come on, he's gonna complain about it if you don't go in."

"I have a seriously bad feeling about this. Kinda make it a point to not venture into shady places for the promise of a 'surprise'; rule of thumb on an anarchy server."

"Despite how it looks sometimes, this place isn't an anarchy server,", Techno gruffed, "If it makes you feel any better, I know that whoever's down there wouldn't be able to touch you if they tried."

"Is that meant to be a compliment?"

"Take it how you want, just go before he realizes you're not following him."

The stairs were poorly lit in some parts and completely dark at others. Thankfully, it wasn't that far down, but that didn't stop him from quietly complaining every time he nearly tripped in the darkness.

Sam and Wilbur were waiting at the bottom, an iron door blocking the way.

"Why the fuck is there a door down here but not at the top?"

Wilbur shrugged. "Easier not to question most of the shit down here, for sanity's sake."

He pressed the button next to it, holding the door open until everyone was inside before entering himself.

Tommy looked around the room, surprised. They were standing in a room with a high ceiling, lighting still questionable but good enough to see everything with a bit of effort, a few tables spread around with what looked like poker chips and cards just left there without much care, a couple doors in the wall toward the back.

One of those doors openned, the emerging figure chugging what looked like whisked straight from the bottle.

Wilbur walked over and took it from them, taking a swig before immediately spitting it out. "Fucking hell, Schlatt! Did you mix in mouthwash again?!"

Schlatt doubled over, laughing. "What, Soot? Not like you can taste it."

Tommy blinked at them a few times, still standing by the door.

Wilbur scowled as Schlatt snatched the bottle back. "It's all tingly and shit! It's gross!"

"Eh,", he waived his hand dismissively, "I can't tell the difference anyways, adds some fucking flavor to it at least."

          Tommy cleared his throat, deciding to take the initiative and walk closer to them. "I'd say I'm surprised, but seeing as how Dream brought that fucker back it makes sense you got dragged out of the grave too."

Schlatt looked him up and down, glancing at the other two members of their group before taking another swig of his drink. "I'm not nearly drunk enough for this,", he made eye contact with Wilbur, "You see him too, right?"

"Oi! I'm right here, man!"

Wilbur chuckled. "He's real."

Schlatt looked back at Tommy. "What hole you been hiding in?"

"Something I could be asking you, considering the fact that we're standing in some kind of weird fucking crypt right now."

"It's a casino,", Schlatt said, gesturing with his arms, "Or something, I don't fucking know. Quackity runs it, I just hide in the back and get fucked up."

"Where's he at? Think last time I saw him was- Actually nevermind on that, it'd been a while even before I left."

"Hold on, let me get him out here,", he took in a breath, "Cops are here again!"

There was a crash behind the door opposite to them, and some shuffling before it slammed open. "I already fucking told you Sam, he lost fair and square."

Quackity stormed over to the creeper hybrid stood by the door.

Sam put his hands up defensively. "Hey, I'm just visiting this time, not prison related."

Quackity eyed him for a moment before jumping so he could sling an arm around the taller man's shoulders. "Say no more, mi amigo! Want me to set up a game for you?"

"Not that kind of visit, either, I don't have anything on me I'd be willing to gamble."

"Lame,", Quackity said with a scoff, "Why you here, then?"

"Server tour, technically,", Techno said from behind him, "He decided to tag along."

Quackity quickly scrambled away, staring at him with wide eyes. "T-Technoblade! What brings you to my establishment this fine evening? It is evening, right?"

"I just told you why we're down here, learn how to listen."

"Right, uh- You said you're here giving someone a tour? Been a hell of a long time since someone new joined, surprised I didn't hear about it."

"Not so much 'new',", Wilbur said, "More like, returning after a while."

Quackity looked over to where Wilbur was standing with Schlatt, finally noticing him and Tommy.

Tommy shuffled his wings, grinning. "Eyy, Big Q!" 

          Quackity blinked at him a few times, not sure what to say.

Schlatt raised his bottle. "He's real, unless we're all just having a shared hallucination."

"Wouldn't be surprised,", Quackity breathed, stepping closer, "You- you're seriously fucking here? You're alright?"

Tommy held his arms out, exaggeratedly checking himself over. "As far as I can tell. Look a little different, but it's still me."

Quackity looked at him for a few more moments before breaking out into a wide smile, punching him in the shoulder. "Where the fuck you been, man? I knew you weren't fucking dead, but a postcard or something would have been nice."

"Wait,", Wilbur came closer to where they were standing, "The fuck do you mean you knew he wasn't dead?"

Quackity shrugged, putting his hands on the back of his head. "What, you think I didn't try to bring him back after Schlatt?"

"And you didn't tell anyone?!"

"You- You know how to bring people back?", Tommy asked, his blood running infinately colder than it did before.

Quackity let out a long whistle, looking toward Wilbur. "You brought him down here without telling him about that?"

"Meant to be a surprise,", he shrugged, "Just had him come down here so you two could reconnect."

"Well, guess we've got to sit down and go over a bunch of shit,", Quackity started walking toward one of the slightly larger card tables in the room, sliding onto the stool meant for a dealer, "Come on, the sooner we get over the boring shit the sooner we can get to whatever you've got going on."

Everyone came over and took a seat, Schlatt opting to just sit on the table itself instead of a chair.

Quackity started telling him about what he'd been up to years ago just before and right after he'd left; the plans for the casino, dealings with the Eggpire, his visits to the prison.

Tommy glanced at Sam a few times durring that part, the man just looking down at the table without saying anything.

He talked about how he'd managed to get the revival information out of Dream, the man only giving it up after everyone thought Tommy had died again. Coincidentally, Quackity ended up bringing Schlatt back the same day Dream brought back Wilbur, not telling anyone about it until months after the fact. He also tried a few times for the first year to bring Tommy back next, despite the fact that Schlatt seemed convinced that Tommy wasn't actually dead.

"How the fuck did you know that?"

Schlatt shrugged, finishing off the contents of the bottle in his hands. "You didn't show back up, pretty fucking long time between you vanishing and me coming back."

"How the fuck would you know?", Tommy scowled at him, "You were asleep for what, like two weeks before Dream dragged my ass back?"

"I uh- I actually woke him up, when that happened,", Wilbur said sheepishly, "I panicked, man! You were in the void and then poof; no more Tommy."

Sam looked between the three of them, confusion more than evident even with his gas mask. "What the hell are you guys talking about?"

Wilbur set his head down on the table. "That's hard to explain."

"Not really- We died and spent time in a big fucking void til someone decided to bring us back,", Tommy paused, "Did anyone ever bring MD back?"

"No fucking clue, think he just left on his own at some point."

"Wouldn't surprise me, I don't think that man is human,", he put a hand on his chin, "Wouldn't mind inviting him to the Arena, though, think he'd fit right in with the bettors."

Quackity looked at him, his face clearly showing his curiosity. "Arena?"

"Oh-ho-ho, do I have some stories to tell,", Tommy said, his eyes lighting up.

          The rest of the night consisted of Tommy telling them stories from his time at the Arena; retellings of certain fights or behind the scenes things he'd found funny. Everyone's reactions varried, a gradient going from amusement to surprised.

Sam was the first one to leave, needing to get some sleep so he could be up early to handle the prison. He got Tommy's new comm ID before going, promising to get in touch again later.

Schlatt passed out pretty soon after that, just laying on the table as the rest of them continued talking. The conversation only really ended once Techno got a message from Phil asking if they'd gone home at any point the night before, letting them all know that it was about nine in the morning.

"Holy shit,", Wilbur yawned, confirming the time on his own communicator, "You need to put in some windows or something, man."

Quackity just shrugged, also yawning. "Doesn't really matter, I usually pass out at some point before this."

Wilbur stood up and stretched, looking at his brothers as they followed suit. "How the fuck are you two not tired?"

"Not the first time I've stayed up all night, you get used to it after a while."

Techno shrugged. "I forget to sometimes, I think my brain just compensates until I'm on a bed."

Quackity climbed over the table, 'accidentally' kicking Schlatt as he came over and put an arm around Tommy's shoulders. "It's been great to see you, man! You said you're staying til Saturday, right?"

"That's the plan, currently. Subject to change, though."

"You'd better come talk to me again before you leave, I'd love to hear more about the Arena."

Tommy laughed. "I'd love to talk about it more."

Wilbur smiled at him. "It's true, he's gone on about it every chance he gets."

"Oh fuck off, man, at least I've got something to talk about."

"Ow, that was harsh, man,", Quackity jumped off the table, "True, but harsh."

He walked off back in the direction of the door he emerged from earlier. "I'll see you later, you know where to find me!"

He dissapeared, leaving the brothers (and the unconcious Schlatt) alone.

          Techno took the lead as they left, the three of them making their way to the nether portal by the community house without much conversation.

The nether itself hadn't really changed much; the only real differences he noticed being a safer path to Techno's portal and a noticable lack of both the paths he'd built that lead to the Logstedshire portal.

They'd decided beforehand that Tommy would be sleeping on Phil's couch, since his house was bigger than Techno's. Once they finally got back, everyone split off, Phil laughing as he watched Wilbur drag himself up the ladder to his room.

Tommy spread his wings so he could lay down on the couch, propping one leg up over the other as he checked his comm for any new messages.

Phil came over to sit in one of the chairs, a cup of tea in his hand. "Not trying to sleep, mate?"

"Nah, don't really feel like it. Figured I wasn't getting much sleep coming back here, anyways,", he went to pull an enchanted gapple out to snack on, opting to get a normal one instead so he didn't freak Phil out.

"I still can't believe you're back, feel like I'm gonna wake up and you'll still be gone."

"You're stuck with me again, unfortunately. At least you don't have to worry about me staying around this time."

Phil looked to the side, setting his cup down on the coffee table. "As much as I'd want to put this off, now's probably the best chance we'll get to talk."

"Running away from things is your specialty, isn't it?"

"You don't have any right to say that to me after hiding on an anarchy server for three years."

Tommy scoffed. "Trust me, if I was actually hiding I wouldn't have been found, you just weren't looking."

"Because I thought you were dead! Everyone did."

Tommy propped himself up on his elbows. "Lower your fucking voice, unless you want to wake those two up,", he hissed, laying back down, "I wanted to have this conversation alone for a reason, knowing them they'd want to add their own opinions in when it's none of their business."

Phil sighed. "Right, that's... No you're right,", he looked out the window, "Honestly, when everyone got told you died... I guess I didn't really react at first. I thought 'Oh, of course he'd fall into lava, probably wasn't paying attention'. Figured Dream would just bring you back like last time. Not that I really believed that that's what happened, I guess I was hoping more than anything else at that point."

"How long that last for?"

"About a year, but it really hit once the egg was dealt with. Dream was refusing to bring you back, just laughing whenever someone came to him about it. Everyone did, at some point, believe it or not."

          Tommy rolled his eyes. "I'll lean more toward the 'not' portion of that. I seriously doubt people were that bothered about it."

"They were, everyone noticed how... empty it felt. I- Once it properly hit me, I just kept thinking about the last time I saw you, the last thing I said to you,", he put a hand over his mouth, looking distraught, "I'm sorry. I know it probably doesn't mean much, but I've regretted it every day since. I was upset still, I know that's not an excuse- You were still a child, and I just..."

"Didn't know how to handle me? That why you always left as well? Cause believe it or not the issues didn't just start once we all got here."

"Wil already laid into me about that, several times. Suppose it's fair you get a turn as well."

Tommy chuckled, looking up at the ceiling. "Nah, I'm not as torn up about it as him. Suppose I just wasn't really old enough to form that much of an attatchment. Guess that's why the shit you did later on didn't sting as much,", he shifted his legs, "Not that it didn't hurt, just easier to move past it, somewhat. Or ignore it, same thing really."

"You shouldn't have had to, though. Combining that with all the other shit going on, it's no wonder you just fucking bailed."

"Do you resent me for that?"

Phil blinked a few times. "Mate, I should be the one asking you that."

"Answer the question."

"No I- Of course I don't. You had every right to leave, I'm wondering why you agreed to come back."

"I'm still figuring that out myself, honestly,", he shrugged, putting his hands behind his head, "Felt a bit nostalgic, maybe? Only thing really stopping me outside of being busy was fear, maybe finding out I finally beat Techno at something other than being loud broke that down?"

"You actually beat him, then? He didn't just let you win?"

Tommy scoffed, scowling. "He better fucking not have, he's got my signature on him either way."

"'Signature'?"

"That fucking ring around his neck,", he traced a line on his throat with his pinky as he said it, "There's a reason my sub-title is 'Headhunter'."

"That's still something I'm having trouble understanding. I knew something was up when they started researching an anarchy server, even fucking stranger when Techno of all people said he wanted to enter a fighting pit. Guess it makes sense, I just wish they'd given me more information before just... showing up with you."

"From what I know, they weren't sure it was me til they got there. And I'm not sure how many times I'm gonna have to say it, but it is not just a fight pit. Seriously, no one fucking listens."

"You could tell me about it, if you're up to it? Unless you want to get some sleep, I'd understand."

Tommy sat up, stretching. "I'll just get some sleep later, not like it'd be worth it at this point; it's what, like noon?"

"Ten thirty, but close enough."

~-~-~

          "I'm fucking bored."

"Don't curse around our kid, man, he's six."

"I wouldn't be cursing if we were actually doing something."

They were in one of the sitting rooms inside the mansion at Snowchester. Tommy decided to visit while his brothers were still asleep, wanting to catch up with Tubbo (and to some extent Ranboo) without his brothers there. Currently, he was laying on one couch and complaining while Tubbo and Ranboo sat with Michael on the other.

Tubbo folded his arms. "You're the one that wanted to talk, all you've done so far is complain on our couch."

"I am not complaining. Besides, it's not like I can tell many stories with the kid here, considering they all revolve around a fighting arena,", he moved his hand in circles, "Tell me about some of the sh- stuff that you've been up to over the years."

Ranboo let out an exaggereated gasp. "Oh my god, he has a filter!"

"You're the one that told me not to curse in front of the kid, man, don't make fun of me for it."

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting you to listen."

"F- Shut up, man."

Tubbo leaned over to stage whisper at Ranboo. "I give it an hour before he slips up."

"Really? I give him five minutes."

"It'll be five seconds if you don't stop talking about me."

The next few hours went by relatively fast, the platonic husbands telling stories about Michael and things about Snowchester. It was pretty clear they were leaving out a few details here or there, and it didn't take long for him to realize they were avoiding anything relating to Jack or Niki; something he was greatful for.

He left when the sun started to set, wanting to get back and actually sleep before he ended up passing out. The universe had other plans, though.

          Tommy stopped walking outside of the hotel when he heard a quiet gasp. He looked to the side to see Niki by the door.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he turned his body to face her.

She immediately took several steps back, scrambling to get some distance before her back hit the wall. "N-no way. You- I killed you-"

"Well... You certainly tried."

"No, I know I killed you. I-", she interupted herself with a sob, "I watched you hit the lava. I cleaned your blood off of my sword."

"And I'm sure Jack has already told you about... the reunion. Look,", he took a step forward, freezing when she shrank back from him.

Taking the hint, he took a few steps back before continuing. "Don't get me wrong, I am still beyond pissed at you,", he did his best to keep his voice even, "You seriously fucked up. I trusted you, probably more than I should have, but I did. And you- you seriously just-"

He took another deep breath.

"I'll fully admit that I deserved the ire, the anger. I did some fucked up shit, really. Maybe attempted murder was a touch far, especially after... all the bad shit I'd already been through, but I at least understand the why of the whole ordeal,", he put a hand on his head, "That doesn't make any of what you did better. Nothing could ever make it better. You decided to pin every fucking problem on me, even when you knew it wasn't my fault."

"No, you-"

"Let me finish that sentence for you. I caused some of the problems. But guess what; everyone here has contributed to shit situations. There's nothing special about my brand of problem causing."

Niki took a step toward him, still trembling. "No, you're the the only one that antagonized Dream. You're the only one that couldn't keep his nose down-"

"So everything got better after I left, then?"

"... What?"

He spread his arms out, gesturing around. "Dream's locked up, this is the first time I've been back in three years; things have been just peachy here?"

"There's- Dream hasn't caused problems since-"

"He's in prison, me being here wouldn't change that. It's a pretty simple question to answer, really; did getting rid of me change anything?"

Niki muttered something, too quiet for him to hear.

"Speak up, believe it or not but spending years surrounded by screaming and violence is hell on the ears."

"It hasn't, ok?! Everything's just gotten worse, and everyone's miserable and it's my fault!", she walked up to him, jabbing a finger into his chest, "I was upset, and someone had to be blamed. The loudest people in a crowd draw the most attention, right? Everyone was already angry with you in one form or another, I figured 'who'd miss him'?"

          Tommy grabed her wrist. "Nice villain speech,", he tightened his grip, sneering, "Unfortunately for you, I hear better on a fairly regular basis."

"Let go!"

She scratched at his hand, trying and failing to pull away.

"I really hate to sound like some kind of fucking therapist, but blaming someone else for your problems only gets you so far."

She let out a humorless chuckle. "Like you're one to talk, you ruined everything and tried to pin the blame on anyone you saw! You ruined everything for everyone!"

Tommy let go of her wrist, pushing her away and causing her to fall. "Fine. How about we settle it properly this time?", his wings flaired out behind him, "I don't leave til Saturday, how about we have a match before then?"

"A... match?"

"Yeah. A fight, we get someone to refferee and have a two v. one; you and Jack versus the child you wanted gone so badly. I'll even give you both some totems," he flashed the ones attatched to his waistline, "Not like I'd miss them."

Niki stood up, looking at him with cautious confusion. "We killed you, and you want to settle it with a fight?"

He shrugged. "Why not? Been the method for the last few years, worked out so far."

"And you- I've seen you pvp, you're horrible at it,", she tried to stand more confidently, "Why would you want to fight me and Jack at the same time?"

"From what I recall, neither of you are very good either. From your perspective it'd be pretty even."

Niki looked him up and down. "And this isn't a trick?"

"Being fair, would I tell you if it was?"

"I'll set it up with Sam, then. He'd be more than fair if he's in warden mode."

Tommy turned away, continuing down the path. "Works for me, tell him to give me the time."

She watched him walk away, waiting until he was out of her line of sight before scrambling into the hotel.

--------

          "This isn't exactly how I pictured it going if I ever saw you again,", Puffy said, smiling at Tommy.

"Yeah? Then why'd you come to watch the fight? Could have just waited to talk until after."

"Believe me, I trust Sam to refferee just fine, but I don't trust those two to not try pulling something when they lose."

Tommy laughed. "Sounds like you think I'm gonna win."

"No, I know you are; there's a difference,", she winked, "You think Sam didn't tell me some of the stories you told him, 'Phoenix'?"

"Well, I tend not to think about myself all that often, ego's already big enough,", he looked out at the sizable crowd that'd formed to watch, "Now that I know you're reasons for being here, why'd everyone else show up?"

A majority of the server members had shown up, the only notable exceptions being Tubbo, Ranboo, Schlatt, and Phil.

"News travels fast, people are bored,", she shrugged, "Pretty sure some of them wanted to talk to you at some point, too. Either more or less so after this."

Tommy stood up, stretching. "If they're that bored, I'll be sure to give them a show then. I am nothing if not entertaining."

He walked over to where Niki and Jack were arguing with Sam.

"He's up to something, you need to make absolutely sure he's not gonna cheat. Can't you give him another handicap or something?"

"Jack, you all agreed on the rules beforehand. He already isn't allowed to use his wings, you're the only ones with totems- What elese do you want?"

"It's just-,", Niki said, thinking, "You're sure it's actually fair?"

"No, but it's skewed in your favor already. Can't make it any better without just saying you already won."

Tommy slung his arm around Sam's shoulders, smiling at Niki and Jack. The two of them jumped back, startled by his sudden appearance.

Sam sighed, stepping to the side and nearly making Tommy fall over. "Are the three of you ready to fight?"

Tommy recovered quickly, laughing. "Of course, big man! Always ready for a friendly match."

Jack gave one more pleading look to Sam, the man shaking his head in return. Niki muttered something under her breath, grabbing Jack by the wrist and dragging him over to their end of the area they'd set up for the fight.

"Take that as a sign they want it started, eh?"

"Just get to your corner, Tommy."

He raised his hands up in front of him, stepping away. "Alright, alright. Weird just getting to it without any fanfare."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"None of your fucking business, Jack,", Tommy said, walking over to his starting place, "You've both got your totems, yeah?"

Niki gripped the totem hanging around her neck. "Yes, and you don't have one, right?"

"That's the rules we set, aren't they?"

"As if we'd trust you to follow them."

Tommy rolled his eyes, getting his axe out. "Excuse you, I'm a man of prinicpal,", he pointed the axe at them, "I'm also a showman, so you'd better not be boring. This better last two minutes, minimum."

          Jack chuckled, him and Niki getting their own weapons out.

"Big talk from a boy who's about to get his ass cut off and handed back to him."

"Cute rebuttle from a man who doesn't quite understand what he's signed up for."

He twirled his axe between hands, smiling at the reactions he heard from their little crowd.

Niki nudged Jack, nodding toward Tommy. "He's just trying to scare us, a party trick doesn't equal skill."

Jack did not look comforted in the slightest. "R-right."

Tommy scoffed, looking toward Sam. "Count us in, yeah? Ready to get this over with."

"Everyone remembers the rules you agreed upon?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"Obviously, we went over it like five times until they were happy."

"On the count of three, you'll begin."

"Christ I forgot how annoying you are in serious mode."

"One, two, three!"

No one made a move at first, the three of them just staring at eachother.

Tommy slung his axe over his shoulders, resting his arms on it. The other two flinched at the movement, staying put otherwise.

"Come on, you two get the first move. Boring for everyone if we just look at eachother."

"Please,", Niki glared at him, "You attack first, I insist."

"Well,", he chuckled, his eyes darkening, "Since you insisted."

He ran up, immediately swinging his axe between the two to separate them.

Jack dove out of the way, scarmbling to his feet once he was out of swinging range. Niki managed to roll into a dodge.

Tommy took several large steps back, going back to watching them. "There, your turn."

Niki rushed at him, sword raised.

He moved to the side, bumping the handle of his axe into her back and making her nearly lose her balance.

He laughed, moving so he could see both of his opponents still. "Glad to see you've got some kind of initiative, was starting to think you just didn't understand how a fight works."

"Shut up!", Niki quickly turned to look at him seething, "I'll make sure you die and stay dead this time."

"Not the first person to say that to me,", he moved in a circle around her as she tried to attack, "Definately won't be the last, either."

He gave a hit in return, grazing her in the side before she had a chance to move out of the way.

Tommy just laughed as he watched her retreat and check her wound, turning to look at Jack. "Y'know, this would go alot better for you two if you worked together; kinda the whole point of a two v. one."

"Yeah- yeah no, think I'm good over here. You two have fun."

"That'd just be rude,", he walked over, twirling his axe, "I'd hate to exclude you from the fun, man."

Jack took several steps back. "I- I didn't even want to do this, really, was more... roped into it."

Tommy sped up, moving behind Jack and putting a foot in the middle of his back. "If you aren't fighting for yourself, at least fight to help Niki, man!"

Jack stumbled forward, going over to stand by Niki again.

Tommy switched his axe between his hands, rolling his eyes. "You two aren't putting up a fight, it's genuinely getting boring. Really, I expected this to go like shit, but I didn't expect you two to be this bad at fighting. Come on, communicate with eachother, be a team!"

          "Do you know how to shut up?!"

"Wouldn't make any money if I did that."

Niki growled, running at him again. "You shouldn't be making money, you should be dead!"

"Yeah?", Tommy moved out of the way, dodging as he kept talking, "You making sure of it this time? 'You want it done right, gotta do it yourself' afterall, eh?"

He was surprised by a sharp pain in his side, wincing and moving back. There was an arrow in him, blood seeping out around it.

"Forgot how much those hurt,", he tried to pull it out, immediately stopping and letting out a single chuckle, "Barbed, smart."

Jack laughed, notching another arrow. "Hope you don't mind, not like we agreed upon not using a bow, yeah?"

Tommy took a deep breath before yanking the arrow out, laughing at the reaction he heard from everyone. "Course not, just makes this actually fun."

"It's not supposed to be 'fun', you're supposed to die."

"You sure you're actually able to make it happen?", Tommy asked, not taking his eyes off of Jack as he blocked an attack from Niki, "Cause you were absolutely positive last time."

Jack aimed an arrow between his eyes. "Guess we'll find out."

Tommy used his axe to hit the arrow out of the air, advancing toward Jack.

He was cut off by Niki, her sword coming down in front of him and stopping him from moving forward. He swung at her, hitting her in the leg before blocking another attack.

He quickly moved his axe to block another arrow, his left arm taking a hit from Niki's sword.

Tommy jumped back, laughing as he assesed the damage. "This is more like what I'm used to! Less banter, though; you two don't seem to be enjoying yourselves. Really got some issues to work out if you ask me."

"Yeah, well no one was,", Niki said, panting, "This is meant to be an execution, so I'm sure whatever issues there are will be sorted once you're dead."

He looked them over, looking at his own injuries before smirking. "You sure you're able to? There may be two of you, but I'd still say I'm more likely to win."

"Then do it, dickhead,", Jack aimed another arrow at him.

Tommy rushed forward, going straight for Niki. She blocked, moving to the side as Jack shot again.

Tommy used his axe to block the arrow, setting his sights on him instead. "Weak link wants to go out first, then?"

Jack lowered his bow, scowling. "Oi! I am not the weak link here!"

"Really?", Tommy laughed, going in for a hit, "Cause as far as I've seen, all you do is stand back and hope someone else takes care of something for you."

Jack dodged, falling to the ground and rolling out of the way.

"You just watch and hope someone else gets it done. Just how lazy are you? Or,", Tommy brought his foot down onto Jack's chest, "Are you just that incompetent?"

He swung his axe to the side, hitting Niki when she tried to attack.

"You can wait your turn,", he turned back to Jack, tilting his head as he looked down at him, "I've been thinking about it since I saw you a few days ago, Jack, and I've come to a decision; you're not worth giving my signature."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

They both looked to the side, the sound of a totem going off as Niki sat up and gasped.

"Oops, guess I hit her a bit harder than I thought."

Jack tried to get out from under his foot, his efforts being rewarded with another hard stomp.

Tommy laughed, looking down at him. "Think I broke a few ribs with that one."

"T-Tommy, let's talk about this-"

"Nothing to talk about. Not sure why you're worried, not like you'll actually die. Gonna hurt like you did, though." 

          Tommy was knocked down by Niki, a sizeable wound on the side of his neck now. He stood again, bringing a hand to it.

"Well,", he said, clearing his throat, "That was rude. Last I checked, you were already out."

"Like I'm actually going to listen to a set of rules that you set."

He looked over to where Sam had started walking toward them, shaking his head.

"It's alright, if she wants to ignore the rules I'd be more than happy to oblige."

He pointed the axe at her again, grinning.

"Not sure it's wise to take me on without a totem, though,", he walked closer, ignoring the blood falling from his neck, "I'm sure some time in the void could be fun for you. Not really anyone left there now, but you could probably find something to do."

She took a few steps back from him, any confidence fading from her expression.

Tommy got in her face, laughing.

"What, not expecting me to fight back after you tried to take my head off? Hate to tell you,", he reached down and snatched the totem Jack had, breaking the string it'd been on as he did so, "But that's a bi-weekly fucking occurance."

He made eye contact with her as he pulled his dagger out, shoving it into the worn scar on his neck and popping the totem.

"You want to see it? Go pay for it like everyone else."

He turned to walk away, glancing at Sam as he went past.

"I'd call this a draw, yeah? They can go off and do whatever it is they spend their time doing, I'm leaving."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, been my regular for a few years at this point. Be more concerning if it bothered me still, really."

"But you lost alot of blood-"

"And I popped a totem to fix it. I'm fine Sam, really,", he looked over to where his brothers had been standing to watch, nodding at them before he left.

He stopped at the community house and sat on one of the chests inside, putting his head in his hands and just sitting there like that for a while; waiting until he stopped feeling nauseous.

"Here,", a potion was shoved in his face, "Drink it before you pass out, because I'm not carrying you back if you're unconcious."

Tommy looked up to see Techno, Wilbur standing not to far behind him.

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, you really look it. You're paler than Wilbur."

"I am literally right here."

"We can tell, you're white enough you could be used to signal in ships through the fog."

"At least I don't smell like pork when I get burned by something."

"No, but you smell horrible normally anyways."

Tommy snatched the bottle from him, downing it before glaring at them. "Shut up, both of you. I've got a fucking headache."

"Wow, it's almost like you just lost several pints of blood. Weird that that would have a negative effect on you."

"No need to be so fucking snarky about it, I would have been fine after a while."

"I thought totems of undying healed you?"

Both of them looked at Wilbur, Tommy shrugging and leaning back.

"Keeps you from dying, gets rid of wounds,", he ran a hand over the new scar on his neck, "Just does the bare minimum, really."

"All it really needs to do, usually. Normal people keep potions on hand for after it's used."

"Shame there's none of those here."

Wilbur folded his arms. "Just because you two like to spend your time killing people doesn't mean I'm not normal."

"You literally came back from the fucking grave."

"So did you."

"My point has been proven,", Tommy stood up, taking a second to regain his balance, "Now let's get back before I barf, I need a fucking nap."

"If you throw up, do it on Techno."

"Why would I do that when I can just steal your hat to do it in?"

"You'd better fucking not-"

--------

          The day Tommy had to leave came with little fanfare; a few more uncomfortable conversations where he had to give a bare minimum explaination of what happened, stories were shared, potential prison visit talked about, ect.

The only person at the portal when it was time to go was Phil, looking moderately uncomfortable knowing where exactly his sons were heading off to.

"I'd tell you to be careful, but I have a feeling that's just falling on deaf ears."

"Careful as one can be on an anarchy server,", Tommy shrugged, his wings shuffling. He laughed at the look on Phil's face. "Relax, I've survived three years there, not like it's limited lives."

"We'll keep an eye on him, don't worry,", Techno huffed.

"I'm insulted by that."

Wilbur put an arm around his shoulders. "Then all is right with the universe."

"I will stab you the moment we get back."

"Try it, I'm sure Techno would have you on the ground before you could touch me."

"But then I'd have to take him down, then Ref would take me down for fighting him outside the Arena and,", he moved his hand in a circle, "Whole thing really."

Phil laughed, shaking his head.

"What's so funny."

"Just- You've really grown, it's weird."

"You expected me to stay the same forever?"

"I mean,", Wilbur said, smirking at him, "You had a streak of seventeen years going, why break it?"

"I'll break something else-"

"Alright,", Phil got in between them, "At least let me pretend this family is functional before you dissapear again."

Tommy looked at him for a moment before looking at the ground. "I mean- not like I won't be coming back at some point, yeah? Still some people to talk to, things to do."

"That your way of telling me not to worry, mate?"

"Take it how you want, old man, just a fact." 

          Phil hugged him, catching him off guard. "Don't take three years to come back next time, please."

He hugged back, his wings coming forward slightly. "I'll try not to, no promises though. Depends on how busy I am." He stepped back, putting his hands on his hips. "Alright, time to go back and prepare for tomorrow; that's not gonna be fun after this trip,", he touched the fading scar on his neck, "Definately going to be more fun than the talk that's bound to come from this, Ref gets antsy if I get into fights outside."

Wilbur rolled his eyes. "He'll get over it, you've got that man whipped."

"Eh, more of a mutual whipping?"

"That's a weird fucking statement."

"Less talking, more walking; portal time!", Tommy started walking into the portal, a hand raised to wave behind him.

Phil sighed, looking at Techno. "Make sure he stays in one piece?"

Techno looked over at the portal to make sure Tommy had gone through before speaking. "Honestly, I think you should be more worried about the people he fights. He's gotten stronger,", he lifted his chin so the scar on his neck was more visible, "Proof is right here."

"Aww, is Techno feeling sentimental?", Wilbur cooed, earning himself an elbow in the stomach.

"I'm stating a fact, and if he finds out about it that elbow is going somewhere lower next time."

"Noted,", he stood back up, coughing into his hand, "We should go before the gremlin gets upset, don't want to hear him complaining the whole way there."

"If what I said isn't applicable to him,", Phil put a hand on each of their shoulders, "Then you two make sure to keep safe. It may be unlimited respawn, but that doesn't mean something can't happen."

"It'll be fine, Phil, we can all take care of ourselves."

"I know that, doesn't mean I can't worry still."

"All worrying will do is drive you to an early grave, old man."

He rolled his eyes, turning them both and pushing them toward the portal. "Not that old, now get going so you can prepare to disembowel people."

They both waved, stepping through and dealing with whatever tantrum Tommy decided to throw on the other side; preparing to put up with him for the forseeable future.

Decidedly, not the worst fate to have.