Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy had been in exile for a long time. It was lonely on his island. People didn’t visit anymore. Even Dream stopped showing up. Now all that was left was Tommy and the wind. At least he finally got a good headway on a house? Two floors, handmade furniture, he found a few animals as well. He had to thank Life for that. And he did, proper sacrifices and all. He found that Wilbur’s random teachings about the gods came in handy, Tommy supposed. At least imagining that there was someone out there watching over him made everything feel better. Sometimes he just talked out loud. He’d tell stories to the sheep he kept, he’d ask the sky for some rain, he’d ask the ocean for some extra supplies or fish. Sometimes he felt he got an answer. The sheep would bleat back in response or just sit and listen. The next day he would get some good rainfall and Tommy would walk along the beach and find random bits and bobs he would keep in a chest until he needed them.

Weeks would pass and he wouldn’t think about how lonely his little island was. Eventually he settled on the name Logstedshire for his new home. The day Tommy settled on that name it was raining, he turned his face to the sky and smiled.
“Alright then, how does Logstedshire sound?” he asked nobody in particular.

CRACK!  

… Alright then, the sky agrees. Tommy laughed to himself and wrote that on his sign before putting it up outside his house. He gathered things together, taking inventory of what he would need soon. More wheat not just for bread but for the sheep and cows. That meant seeds. He would need some fresh water too, that wasn’t hard though. Tommy found a way to easily boil water to make it drinkable. Some veggies would be good. They should be ready to harvest soon though. Tommy wrote down everything he needed. This list is getting long. Tomorrow he would go out and actually get the things he needed. So long as the rain stopped that is.

A few years would pass like this. Tommy turned 17…18…19 years old in an instant. He didn’t mind it, he thought he didn’t mind it. If you asked him later on though? He’d tell you he hated it. It was lonely. He hadn’t had human contact in far too long. Tommy needed a hug badly .

Finally, he had enough. It was cold out one day when Tommy decided to reach out. Sure, he talked to the apparent gods as though they existed. Sure, he may have gotten some responses. But Tommy didn’t really believe in them. He gathered as many resources as he could and started building again. His house was long finished but this was different. Tommy built a shrine this time, as much as he could from memory. He remembered the stories that Wilbur told him, how to properly build a shrine, how heroes in the past honored those above.

A few weeks passed before the shrine was done. Kristen, the Goddess of Death, could feel that it was done and looked down on the boy who had taken her husband Phil’s attention. She smiled and took Phil’s hand in hers.

“Who is that, my love?” She asked him. Phil’s smile grew.

“That, darling, is Tommy Soot. He’s the human boy I’ve been watching over for a few years now. He’s the first human in a very long time to build a shrine to anyone. Tommy chose you , my songbird” He said. The stories of him couldn’t begin to tell of his kindness. Philza was the god of Life. He loved his wife and humanity. He was kind and gentle. Kristin couldn’t help but love him.

“Well that’s very kind of him. I suppose I better keep an ear out for any stray prayers then?” She gently bumped into her husband and looked at him. Phil’s eyes twinkled as he looked back at her.

“We both should.”

Tommy was so tired after building. He sat down inside the newly built shrine and laid out some bread on the altar he set up. 

“Lady Kristen, Goddess of Death, please hear me. I’m so tired and lonely I just need someone . Please, send someone to save me. Or someone to end me, take me into your arms. I’ll take anything at this point, Lady Kristen.” He said as he started to tear up. In the distance he heard his sheep calling out for him. They must have been hungry. Tommy forced himself to stand and walk over to his sheep. He fed them and took care of them to the best of his ability. Tommy had been working night and day on the shrine for the Goddess of Death.  That was a mistake. He hadn’t done something like that in years and now it caught up with him. Tommy left the sheep pen feeling sluggish. He sat down under a tree and allowed his eyes to fall closed. He wasn’t sure how long he slept but Gods he needed it.

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{A considerable amount of time passes}

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When Tommy awoke he wasn’t under the tree. He’d been moved to his bed. ‘ Strange… I could have sworn I was asleep under the tree outside.. ‘ He thought to himself. Tommy crawled out of bed and stretched his limbs. From the way they popped and crackled he must have been asleep for nearly a day or two. Oh Gods his sheep. Tommy ran to his bedroom door and heard… humming? What? Was someone in his house? He opened the door and saw an unfamiliar person standing in his kitchen, humming and cooking. The person was tall. Taller than Tommy at least. They had brown hair with the ends dyed green. A white button down shirt and green suspenders. Black pants and shoes. Black glasses on their face as well. They certainly look professional. Why were they in Tommy’s house? He grabbed his sword and held it in front of him.

“Wh-who are you?” Tommy questioned, silently cursing at himself for stuttering. The other person spun around. Their grin was lopsided and immediate. There was a noticeable gap between their front teeth but it was clear that didn’t bother them in the slightest.
“Why Tommy from L’manburg! You’re awake! That’s good!” From L’manburg? How did this stranger know that? Tommy never told anyone about those days. Not since the place was blown up. Who told them about L’manburg? Tommy opted for a simpler question first.
“Who the hell are you and why do you know my name?” Okay so it was two questions, the brunet didn’t seem to mind. Goodness their eyes were green, weren't they? Don’t get distracted Tommy.

“Oh! I’m sorry Tommy from L’manburg! My name is Charlie Slimecicle, I met some people back in the SMP and they mentioned your name. It’s nice to meet you!” Charlie said, bouncing slightly on their feet.

“Okay Charlie , stop fucking calling me that shit 'Tommy from L’manburg’ I hate it. At least go for Logstedshire if you’re going to refer to me like that at all .” Tommy lowered his sword and sighed, Charlie nodded.

“Okay Tommy from Logstedshire! Would you like breakfast?” They spun around to the kitchen counter and grabbed two plates, holding one out towards Tommy. He walked over and took the plate so he could make sure it wasn’t poisoned. Charlie just chuckled and sat on the counter to eat their food. Tommy stood and ate quickly so he could go about his day as normally as possible. Charlie quickly followed suit, ready to start the day with their new friend.

Chapter Text

A few days went by and Charlie didn’t leave. Tommy didn’t mind it though, in fact they were quite helpful. They always offered to carry things and feed animals while Tommy did other things. Tommy had more time to get to know his new friend. They worked together and built another room in the house so Charlie would have somewhere to sleep. 

They were gathering wood, Charlie and Tommy were, when a conversation struck.
“What are we even gathering this for , Charlie?” Tommy said as he looked toward Charlie who was picking up some wood they just dropped.

“Oh! I thought we could get started on another shrine! It would be beneficial to work on one for Philza, the god of Life, wouldn’t it?” They grinned at Tommy and dropped the wood again, Tommy just chuckled and gathered his wood up as well.

“That probably would be good, wouldn’t it? I feel something is coming and I would like to thank him for watching over me anyway.” He said as he put away his axe, making a mental note to reinforce and sharpen it later. Charlie nodded and gathered everything up as well, leading the way over to Kristen’s shrine and explaining the basic idea. Lots of room for a hiding spot as well. Tommy liked that idea.

“Charlie, would he get upset if his shrine was used as a hiding place?” Tommy asked while getting some of the wood together. Charlie shook their head and set some materials down.

“Anything that helps in cases of survival will be good for him to see. Trust me, Tommy from Logstedshire, Philza would never get mad at you.” They said happily. Mildly ominous but alright.

“Whatever you say, Charlie.” Tommy rolled his eyes and started getting the build set up. 

It only took a few days before the shrine was done, even with breaks. This design was far simpler to do and took less time since he had Charlie with him. All the two needed were some banners, so Tommy and Charlie took to shearing some sheep.

“Hey Charlie, I’m sorry but where did you come from? You never told me.” Tommy said without looking up. He felt Charlie’s eyes on his face but didn’t look up.

“Oh uh…” They thought for a moment. “I lived underground for a long time, as well as in the sky and on normal land.” They said casually.

“I- That’s not quite the answer I wanted but you know what? Good enough.” He replied as he patted one of the sheep on the head and gathered its wool up. “This should be enough, shouldn’t it?” Charlie nodded and gathered up their wool as well. It was easy to make banners. A few pieces of colored wool and a stick or two, simple. So that’s what they did and soon enough, the shrine to Life was done!

“I’m going to leave an offering to Life and then I’ll head inside, will you go in?” Tommy looked at Charlie, who smiled and nodded.

“Of course Tommy from Logstedshire! I’ll get started on dinner!” They said as they practically skipped inside. Tommy pulled some bread from his pocket and laid it out on the freshly built altar. He sighed and dropped to his knees.

“Lord Philza, god of Life, please hear me. I’m not sure what is coming, but please make sure Charlie is safe. They’re so kind and gentle I couldn’t stand to lose them. I don’t even care if whatever happens kills me. I just need to know that Charlie survives and is okay. I’m sorry I didn’t get started on your shrine sooner. Thank you.” He stood again and gently patted the altar before walking out. Tommy had to wipe tears before walking into the house again. He couldn’t let Charlie see him crying, not yet. Especially not over the thought of losing them.

“Welcome back!” Charlie went to say something else but stopped. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” They rushed over and stopped in front of Tommy. They clearly wanted to put their hands on his shoulders but refrained. Charlie knew that Tommy didn’t want to be touched, especially not when he was on the verge of tears.

“Oh I’m fine..” Tommy tried to smile but more tears fell, Charlie was too nice for their own good. 

“Are you sure? Do you need something? Are you sick?” They questioned as they leaned down slightly so they could be on Tommy’s level. 

“Y-yeah- I just-” He cut himself off before he started crying more. What was wrong with him today? He was fine a few hours ago. What’s happening?

“Do you need a hug, Tommy from Logstedshire?” Charlie opened up their arms and tilted their head to the side. Tommy hesitated for a moment before throwing himself forward into Charlie’s embrace. It had been so long since Tommy had been hugged. Three, almost four years since he’d been given the chance. He finally let himself cry, and he cried hard. Everything came down on Tommy at once. Charlie picked him up with ease and went over to the couch, humming and gently encouraging him the whole time. It took a few hours before Tommy was able to calm down. His voice was raw and broken.

“Do you want to move, sweetheart? Or we can stay here for however long you need.” Charlie said quietly as they ran a hand through Tommy’s blond hair. He sniffed and burrowed closer to the older person, clearly not wanting to get up yet. That just made them chuckle softly. 

“ ‘m sorry” Tommy said eventually. His voice was muffled by Charlie’s shirt.

“What for? Being human?” Charlie asked.

“ Bein’ weak .” He responded quietly. Charlie almost didn’t hear the response.

“Now now, none of that. You’re not weak. You’re one of the strongest humans I’ve ever met! You’re so fun to talk to as well, just because you need a hug and some time to cry doesn’t make you weak.” They sighed and hugged Tommy slightly tighter.

“But-” 

“No buts, Tommy from Logstedshire, you’re strong and wonderful and you’re never going to change that.” 

“Okay” Tommy finally gave in, he was so tired and Charlie was so comfortable to lay on. He almost wanted to fall asleep. Charlie seemed to notice that and grabbed the blanket that usually rested on the back of the couch before wrapping it around the young boy on top of them. 

“You should get some rest, Tommy from Logstedshire, you’ve got to be so tired from being the biggest man around.” They offered as they wrapped their arms back around Tommy.

“I’m not tired! I’m never tired!” Tommy tried to argue, he was so warm though. He yawned and snuggled up closer to Charlie who laid down on the couch and pulled him on top of their chest. That only made Tommy want to sleep more. He had to fight to keep his eyes open.

“Sleep well, my little slimeball.” Charlie whispered as Tommy finally fell asleep. That night Tommy had the best sleep he could remember since he was young. Hell, even sleeping next to Wilbur couldn't top this feeling of warmth and comfort .

Chapter Text

When Tommy awoke he was still on top of Charlie. Though they were fast asleep and still wearing their glasses. He almost didn’t want to get up. It was warm where he lay. And surprisingly comfortable too. It took a moment for Tommy to register what happened, last night’s blur of emotion finally coming into focus. Had Charlie really been so kind to him? Was it possible for someone to be that kind? He got up as carefully as possible so he didn’t wake up the sleeping person beneath him. Tommy rested the blanket he was underneath on top of Charlie and removed their glasses. They had been so good to him it was time he tried to repay that. He snuck into the kitchen and got started on cooking. He had gathered all his cooking supplies up recently and just made a new batch of flour. Today he would make pancakes for breakfast. Mostly as a thank you to Charlie for being there for him. Tommy also had a few other things he needed to bake anyway.

They didn’t realize they had fallen asleep. Tommy from Logstedshire didn’t take long to fall asleep though. Charlie counted maybe a minute until the boy passed out. Quackity from Above would adore him. The mischievous gleam in Tommy’s bright blue eyes seemed to mimic Quackity’s. The two would get along so well in Charlie’s opinion. They eventually felt the weight of Tommy’s body leave, though they were so tired they didn’t really notice. They took it as a chance to stretch out and get slightly more comfortable. Charlie got a little more sleep before waking up entirely. They found that Tommy from Logstedshire had in fact gotten up. Judging by the smell that floated through the house, He was cooking. They stretched out and put their glasses on. Had Charlie taken off their glasses? Had Tommy done it for them? What a sweet kid. It was astounding to them that Tommy from Logstedshire had so much trauma. He was so nice and incredibly funny, it was hard not to care about him. Charlie stood up and stretched again, letting out a big yawn before walking to the kitchen. It was beautifully built. The walls were painted bricks. How Tommy got paint Charlie wasn’t sure, but of course, that boy was a wonder. The floor was made of clean gray stone. It had some scratches in places but the floor was generally pretty clean. Today it had flour on it and what seemed to be the remnants of a dropped egg. 

“Well good morning, Tommy from Logstedshire!” Charlie said with a smile. Tommy jumped and spun around, nearly dropping another egg. They laughed.

“Gods, Charlie! You nearly scared the life out of me!” Tommy half shouted, he clearly wasn’t angry. That made Charlie laugh more.

“Sorry! I have that habit!” They put their hands up in mock surrender and grinned. Tommy couldn’t help but smile back and roll his eyes.

“Alright alright, How’re you? Sleep alright?” Tommy said as he turned back around to put more pancakes on the skillet he made a few months ago. Charlie nodded and stepped up to the counter.

“Yeah actually, I did. Did you? How are you feeling this morning?” They questioned as they watched him work. It took a second before they went to the sink and started washing any leftover dishes. The two often worked like this. One cooked and the other cleaned the dishes. Neither one minded or complained. It was simply done.

“Oh yeah, I slept great. Best in a long time actually!” Tommy stopped and looked at them for a moment.

“That’s wonderful! I’m glad!” Charlie set down a plate and grabbed something else. Tommy and Charlie worked like this until breakfast was done and cleaned up. It was rainy today, so the two dressed accordingly. Long sleeves and homemade jackets. It would have to be overly stormy if either of them would refuse to go outside. Besides, all they had to do was gather materials again to get started on the next shrine. One for the Blood God next. 

A few hours pass and the rain doesn’t let up. When Tommy got outside he couldn’t help but laugh at the sheep for their cowering inside the barn. Even the chickens were hiding inside. The rain isn’t for everyone, he guessed. Tommy and Charlie were harvesting crops when something dinged. Tommy’s phone. Though he never really used it, it was nice to have on him. At first he got excited, usually a ding on his phone meant someone was visiting. Today was no different. Except it was someone Tommy didn’t want to see.

Dream whispered to you: I’m coming. Get ready.

Shit. Charlie walked over and read the message after noticing their young friend freezing in place. Immediately they huff and look at Tommy.

“Tommy from Logstedshire, I need you to go into Life’s Shrine. You remember the hiding place?” He nodded hesitantly. “Good, I’ll make sure Dream doesn’t bother you again. Okay?” Charlie looked furious. Did they know Dream already? Tommy could only nod again and run into the Shrine, silently calling out to Philza for Charlie’s safety.

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In the distance Charlie heard Dream’s voice. He was here.

“Oh Tommy! It’s time again!” He called joyfully, spinning his sword in his hand as he walked. Charlie rested the handle of their axe on their shoulder and shifted their weight from one foot to another. Dream came over the hill and stopped for a second. He came closer.

“You’re not Tommy. What did you do to him?” He asked.

“You.” Charlie started before taking a deep breath and glaring at the man in front of him. “Are in big trouble.”

“What are you? My mom?” Dream laughed and mimicked Charlie’s stance, sword in place of axe. 

“I’m a whole lot worse.” They dropped their axe from their shoulder and held it out for a moment before swinging it at the man. Dream barely had a chance to jump back, his mask was slashed and nearly broken.

“Is this what we’re doing now? Do you really think you can fight me? Is Tommy really worth that much to you?” Dream taunted Charlie. He said Tommy’s name like he was the worst thing in the world. Charlie swung again. They hit Dream in the side of the head with the blunt side of the axe. Dream fell to the ground and looked up.

“You do not get to talk about him like that. Tommy from Logstedshire is more of a man than you’ll ever be.” Charlie spat, raising their axe again but stopping when Dream lifted his hands up.

“What even are you? Why are you protecting him so violently? Why is he worth so much to you ?” Dream half yelled at them. They chuckled and made direct eye contact with him despite the mask.

“My name is Charlie Slimecicle. I’m protecting Tommy. My Tommy, because I care about him. He is like a brother in my eyes and I would do anything to keep my family safe. I will tear the world limb  by limb if it means he’s safe and happy. I will destroy you, Dream WasTaken. ” Charlie let the axe fall to the ground and meet Dream’s body. They didn’t aim to kill. Only to seriously maim. Dream let out a bloodcurdling scream as his arm was cut from his body. An enderpearl was thrown. Dream was gone. He ran to safety, away from the angry person with the bloody axe. 

Charlie dropped the axe next to themself and picked up the arm.

“Tommy from Logstedshire? You’re safe now!” They called as they walked past Philza’s Shrine. Tommy ran out and froze when he saw the severed limb.

“Is that..?” He started. Tommy knew what he was seeing. 

“It’s Dream WasTaken’s arm, yes.” They said simply. Tommy caught up with them as Charlie walked into Kristin’s Shrine. It wasn’t a shrine for Technoblade but hers would have to do. They set the arm on the altar and looked to their young friend. Their brother. “Do you have a flint and steel on you?”

“Are we going to sacrifice it?” Tommy asked as he pulled his flint and steel from his pocket. Charlie nodded and drew a small sharp rock from somewhere and carved the initials C.S. into the forearm. They offered Tommy the rock and he carved his initials in as well.

“We are. I would like to ask The Blood God to keep an eye on Dream. This is the best way to do it. Would you like to light it?” Tommy had never seen Charlie so serious. There was no joyful glint in their eyes, no casual crooked smile, no laid back posture. It was almost as though this is why they dress so formally. Times like these. It was scary. But deep down Tommy knew that it was to protect him. He knew that it was safe to be around Charlie, even when they’re like this.

“Yeah sure! Will it actually catch though? Is blood flammable?” He looked up at his friend and registered the look in their eye. Why it was such a familiar look. Charlie had the same dead eyed stare Tommy had seen in the mirror the day he was going to commit suicide.

“It will catch. When making sacrifices to those above, if you burn it, it’ll always catch.” Charlie said. Their voice was so flat . Almost as though they were empty. Maybe they didn’t mean to cause harm to anyone?

“Okay, cool, just light it?” Tommy asked as he raised up the flint and steel. Charlie nodded and he struck the fire-starting instrument together. Sure enough the arm went up in flames. The two walked out of the shrine and stood in the rain together for a moment before Tommy threw himself against Charlie, this time the hug wasn’t for him though. It was for them . They hesitated for a moment and blinked a few times, looking down at him.

“What’s.. What’s this?” They slowly wrapped their arms around Tommy. 

“You’re the best older sibling ever and I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you with Dream. Please come back, I miss you.” He half shouted so he could be heard over the rain. Tommy heard Charlie mumble something about ‘blood’ and ‘glasses’ before they sighed and hugged him back full force.

“I’m here, I’m here.. I love you so much you don’t have to be sorry about him. I’m here.” They said, Tommy nodded and looked up at them with a smile. Charlie smiled back, emotion filling their eyes once more. Tommy knew he had his older sibling back. He thought he’d never need another family again.

That was a foolish thought.

Chapter Text

Technoblade had been in the middle of sharpening his axe when someone walked over to him. A familiar deity of course.

“Hey man!” Quackity said as soon as he was sitting across from Techno.

“Hi. Where’s Charlie? Don’t they usually follow you like a lost puppy?” Techno set down his axe and raised an eyebrow at the god in front of him. It was a very rare occurrence that The god of Chance didn’t have his demigod following behind.

“Oh yeah! Phil didn’t tell you?” He leaned forward and tilted his head to the side like a dog.

“Tell me what? You got rid of them? What? Their questions got too frequent?” 

“Phil and I sent Charlie to the mortal world to watch over this kid. You wanna see?” Quackity had this glint in his eye that said he knew what he was doing. Techno nodded and stood, following the shorter god to the edge of their living space. Phil and Kristin were standing there as well. That was when Techno felt something, a sacrifice had been made. He spun around and walked over to their altar. An arm rested there. Carved into it were the initials “C.S. T.S.” He knew what they meant of course. The one who lost the arm needed to be watched. He wasn’t a good person in someone’s eyes. He took the arm and walked back to the edge.

“What’s that?” Quackity said without looking up.

“Sacrifice.”

“Oh you haven’t gotten one in forever! How does it feel?” Kristin spoke up this time. Techno couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“About the same as the last one. Is T.S. the human with Charlie?”

“He sure is, his name is Tommy. I’ve been watching him for a while now.” Phil smiled. “Come, look, they’re outside now.” 

Tommy was happy to have Charlie back. Though everything felt slightly different. They didn’t really talk about what happened the day Dream came back. Tommy appreciated it though. Maybe it was just something people like them did? He had no idea. He got a letter from someone. That was an extremely rare occurrence. Tommy opened the letter and read it out loud for Charlie to hear as well.

‘Dear Tommy.

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? I’ve missed seeing you.

Maybe I can visit soon?

Anyway, I’ve sent this letter out of importance. Our great nation is in danger, from what I’m not yet sure. L’manburg needs its best fighter back and Wilbur is too busy with his stupid burger van to care. We need you. Please, I’ll lift your exile punishment, you can come home again! We all miss you. L’manburg misses you. I miss you. I hope this letter finds you alive and healthy. Thank you for being the best friend I could ask for. Please consider coming home and joining our side of the war, just like old times. See you soon?

Sincerely,

President of L’manburg, Tubbo_’

Is he serious? Tubbo only sent a letter because that dumb country was in danger?! Not to actually find out how Tommy was doing? No visits? No nothing? Tommy was furious as he tore up the letter. Charlie watched in silence for a moment before speaking.

“Tommy from Logstedshire, may I ask why you’re so upset? I thought you were excited about the letter!” They said, clearly Charlie hadn’t thought much about the situation. Tommy couldn’t be mad at them.

“Tubbo used to be my friend. He was my best friend for years before exiling me and never talking to me again. Birthdays and holidays go bye and I never hear anything from him but suddenly he remembers I exist the moment that mistake of a country is in danger!” Tommy shouted. He was so angry. His friend walked over and opened their arms.

“That’s no good, he should have talked to you sooner. Do you want a hug?” Charlie always seemed to know what Tommy needed at that moment. He nodded and allowed himself to be wrapped in his older sibling’s arms. It was warm here, Tommy never felt more safe.

“Tommy from Logstedshire? There’s a boat on the way.” Charlie piped up out of nowhere. Tommy spun on his heel and startled the sheep that surrounded him. A boat? A visitor? Who?

“Who is it? Can you see?” Tommy easily hopped over the fence that held his sheep in, sprinting over next to his taller friend. In the distance he heard a familiar voice singing as he rowed. Once upon a time Tommy would have been excited. Maybe early into the exile days. But now? He wasn’t so happy. Wilbur had forgotten about him. Wilbur got too busy with a stupid burger van to care about his little brother. It’s stupid, really. Tommy just stared for a moment.

“Charlie go inside.” Tommy said in a blank tone of voice. Charlie simply nodded. They quickly went inside the house and got to work on indoor chores so Tommy could talk to his brother. His biological one at least.

“Tommy! It’s so nice to see you! How are you, big man?” Wilbur said cheerfully as he finally got close to the island, almost as though he hadn’t forgotten he had a little brother in the first place. Tommy was less than pleased to see the older man, His gaze would say so.

“Hello Wilbur.” Was all he said. Wilbur didn’t seem to take any notice. He only stood and watched the young blond for a minute.

“You’ve grown up so fast! It feels like only yesterday we were fighting for L’manburg! You were so short back then! Has your hair grown out?” Wilbur’s voice was loud and far too happy. He reached out to touch Tommy’s hair. Tommy stepped away from his older ‘brother’. Wilbur raised an eyebrow and went back to questioning the boy. “How are you?”

“How am I? How am I?! I’ll fucking tell you how I am!” Tommy nearly shouted at Wilbur. He brushed his blond hair out of his face and glowered at the older brunet. “You left me here! You didn’t visit, you didn’t write, you didn’t even try to get me out of exile! I only knew you’d been revived because of Dream! Can you fucking believe that?! Dream! But what did you do? You went and started a burger van instead of trying to fucking visit me! I have been on this Gods forsaken island for nearly four years! Four years, Wilbur! Do you realize how long that is? How much time passed?” Tommy was furious. Wilbur could see his brother shaking from anger. The green cardigan he wore now tied around his waist. Underneath that he wore a simple tank top. His signature red and white shirt is now long gone. Tommy’s jeans were covered in grass stains and tears. It dawned on the brunet that Tommy really had grown up. He missed so much of his baby brother’s life that he just grew up without anyone knowing. Wilbur removed his glasses and stared at Tommy for one moment more.

“You know I was trying to build something up for us? So you would have something to come back to? That you could be happy with? I built that burger van so the day I came to get you and bring you out of exile there would be a good home for you to come back to.” Wilbur tried to explain. The blond brit in front of him was having none of it.

“You couldn’t have written?! That’s all I wanted! I wanted my brother to acknowledge me! I wanted my brother to know I was alive! I don’t care what you did. You could have been living in a cardboard box and I still would have been just as happy! But what did you do? You went on to build the very thing akin to that who started that shithole of a country and got me stuck here! Did you even think about that?! No! Of course you didn’t! You don’t really care about me! If you did you would have told me! You would have visited! You would have told me yourself that you were alive!” Tommy stared at Wilbur. The older ones dark brown trench coat billowing in the slight breeze. His hair was just the same as it used to. Though now it had a white streak. Wilbur was still tall and still wore the same clothes as he used to. Though now he looked different. Off. He stood like a middle school child being scolded. His eyes were a dull maroon that copied that of dried blood. Tommy could smell cigarette smoke from Wilbur as well. Of course he did. Of fucking course. 

“Toms I-'' That was it. That was the final straw. That stupid nickname.

“WILBUR FUCKING SOOT THAT IS IT!! YOU DON’T GET TO JUST ABANDON ME AND STILL THINK YOU CAN BE CALLED MY BROTHER!! YOU DON’T GET TO JUST WALTZ ONTO THE ISLAND I’VE WORKED SO HARD TO TURN INTO MY HOME AND PRETEND YOU LOVE ME!! IT’S CLEAR THAT YOU DON’T!! IF YOU DID YOU WOULDN’T HAVE JUST PRETENDED I DIDN’T EXIST!! BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY YOU DON’T GET TO PRETEND!! YOU CAN’T PRETEND THAT YOU LOVE ME!! YOU CAN’T PRETEND TO BE MY BROTHER!! YOU CAN’T PRETEND THAT YOU CAN TAKE ME HOME AND EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY!! YOU KNOW WHY, WILBUR SOOT ?” Tommy said his last name, Wilbur’s last name with such venom that Wilbur had to step back. Why was his brother so angry? “BECAUSE YOU MADE THE DECISION TO COME HERE!! YOU KNEW I WAS HERE!! YOU DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER TO SHOW ME A SIGN THAT YOU THOUGHT OF ME!! YOU DON’T WANT ME HOME BECAUSE YOU CARE YOU WANT ME HOME BECAUSE YOU NEED SOMEONE ELSE TO WORK FOR YOU!!” Tommy screamed at the top of his lungs. Tears streamed from his eyes. Wilbur’s too. 

“Fine. If that’s how you feel, so be it. Send me a letter when you’re done acting like a child. ” Wilbur got back in his boat and left the island. Tommy fell to his knees and broke down. Charlie came rushing back outside and sat down on the ground next to their younger brother.

“Tommy from Logstedshire? I’m sorry he acted like that.. Do you want a hug? Or to be left alone?” They said in a gentle, loving voice. Tommy launched himself on top of his sibling. His only sibling. He hugged Charlie as tight as he could and broke down. He needed someone who truly loved him right now. That’s what he got. That was the last day Tommy had been known as a Soot. From then forward he was Tommy Slimecicle, Charlie’s younger brother and best friend. He knew that Charlie wouldn’t abandon him the way Wilbur did. He knew he was in good hands.

He knew he had all the love he so much deserved right here.

Chapter Text

A few days passed since Wilbur’s visit. Tommy had decided to put the man he used to call a brother as far away from his mind as possible. Charlie didn’t seem to mind. They genuinely loved Tommy. And Tommy loved them. Though they hadn’t known each other for as long as some of the friends he used to have, it was almost as though they were inseparable. Charlie and Tommy worked side by side with ease. There was no need for anybody else. 

One day, Tommy heard his older sibling talking to someone. Against his better judgment he listened in.

“-Really? Do you think so?” That was Charlie’s voice. They sounded hopeful. Tommy wondered why.

“Yeah! I’d love to meet him! A couple of us have been watching him from Above. We’d love to get to know your brother!” A new voice said. Tommy almost wanted to go into the room. Who was on the island?

“Oh Quackity from Above you’re gonna love him! Tommy is the sweetest kid!” Charlie exclaimed, “I can go get him right now if you like!” They said. Did they mean Quackity like the god Quackity? The God of Chance? Why was a god in Tommy’s house?

“Oh Tommy from Logstedshire! You’re already here! Come in! I have someone for you to meet!” Charlie was suddenly standing in front of Tommy. He flinched but nodded, allowing his sibling to lead him into the room. Standing there was someone he’d never seen. He had short black hair hidden underneath a blue beanie. He wore a suit as though that were his everyday outfit. He had a casual smile on his face as well. His top lip was pulled up in one corner due to a scar that rested there. A scar that had clearly healed over time but never truly went away.  The man was about a foot shorter than Tommy. Charlie seemed excited for the two to meet. Tommy was mostly just nervous.

“Uhm- Hi?” Tommy said, his voice was steady but still uneasy. He hadn’t met anyone new since Charlie appeared. The man smiled and took a step towards Tommy, as though he already knew the boy.

“Hola chiquito. My name is Quackity. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!” Quackity said. Tommy registered the dark brown of his eyes. It was almost as though some of the island’s dark oak trees were used to create his irises. There was also an air of mischief in them as well. One that Tommy often recognized in Charlie’s eyes. And in his own. 

“You look a lot different than how Wilbur described you.” Tommy said simply. Somehow he wasn’t afraid of accidentally offending the god in front of him. 

“My form changes often enough, most descriptions of me will be wrong. Charlie has told me an awful lot about you.” He said, his smile grew slightly wider. Tommy couldn’t help but smile back.

“Well it’s nice to meet you then. Can I get you anything? I think we have tea, do gods drink tea?” He suddenly was nervous again. If he was Charlie’s friend, however the two met, he needed to make a good impression. Quackity chuckled and patted Tommy’s shoulder.

“Not to worry little man, I’m alright.” 

“Alright, let me know if you need something.” Tommy shifted on his feet and took a deep breath. There was no real reason he should have been so nervous. He was fine. Charlie was there. Quackity didn’t seem to have any reason to hurt him. He’d be fine. Why was it getting hard to breathe suddenly? Quackity stepped back for a moment. Tommy had to sit down for a moment. His mind was racing. There was this buzzing in his veins that wouldn’t go away. Charlie sat down next to Tommy. Quackity followed suit and sat in front of him. 

It took some time for Tommy to be able to calm down. Quackity did help quite a bit, though Charlie did the most. That was mostly because he’d been around them for the longest. After being able to breathe and not jump from his own skin, Tommy found that he actually enjoyed being around Quackity. He knew how to make jokes, he was kind, it was like talking to an uncle you haven’t seen in years. Or the older cousin you wish you could see more often. Nonetheless Tommy was slightly disappointed when Quackity said he had to leave. 

“I’m sorry, mi patito, I’ve got god work to do. You know how it is!” Quackity said as he stood in the front door and hugged Tommy goodbye. Charlie went over and hugged the god as well. 

“Will you be able to visit us soon, Quackity from Above?” They asked hopefully. Tommy found himself feeling that same level of hope.

“I’ll certainly try my best, mi limo.” Quackity smiled and opened the door. “I’ll see you two later.” And with that. Quackity from Above. The God of Chance himself was gone. Charlie and Tommy both had the same idea. They knew who to build their shrine for next. 

This one went by quickly. The shrine to Quackity was built fast. Within a week it was finished. Tommy never really questioned the fact that he’d met a god. He guessed it just felt normal. Especially after the week he had. 

“It looks beautiful, Tommy from Logstedshire! Wonderful job!” Tommy heard from behind him. Charlie had gone into the house to make lunch. They must have come out to tell him it was ready. 

“Thank you! I’m so glad I had your help with it. It would have taken much longer had I worked alone.” He said as his friend walked up to the new building. They carried three plates instead of two.

“Who’s the third plate for?” Tommy asked. Charlie handed him one plate, his plate. And stepped inside the shrine.

“Well it’s for Quackity from Above of course! You always like to leave an offering inside when these are done, right? Well I thought why not leave him some lunch!” They said cheerfully. Tommy walked in with them and watched them set down the plate. A hum rang through the shrine. Charlie smiled and looked around. Suddenly a voice spoke to the two inside.

“The Gods thank you for your kindness, Charlie and Tommy. Know that if ever something comes up and you need help, you can call out to us. We’re watching and listening. Neither of you are ever alone.” Quackity’s voice said. Tommy grinned and nodded.

“Thank you! Thank you all!” He said loudly. Quackity’s disembodied voice laughed and faded entirely.

“Why don’t we go eat lunch, my little slimeball?” Charlie asked. They didn’t use that nickname very often but when they did it made Tommy smile and hide his face, usually in the green cardigan he typically wore. He nodded and followed them out of the shrine. 

Charlie brought him to the big old oak tree that Tommy usually liked to sit under. It was huge and often had lots of shade. Today was no different. It was slightly warmer out today but not too bad. The smell of the sea in the air made eating outside even better. The two sat and ate their lunch and talked. Their conversations were long and joyful, as they typically tended to be. When Tommy put his hands in his pockets, he found a surprise inside one of them. He drew it out and saw that it was a red and white poker chip with a smiley face printed on one side. He flipped it over and read the note on the other side. ‘The House Always Wins’. Upon asking he was informed by Charlie that it was Quackity’s catchphrase. It made sense considering that Quackity was the God of Chance. This brought up another question however. One that was burning inside Tommy’s heart for a little while.

“Charlie, how did you meet Quackity?”

Chapter Text

“Charlie, how did you meet Quackity?” Tommy asked his friend, his sibling. Charlie looked confused. After a moment they registered the question and nodded.

“I was wondering when you’d ask me that question, Tommy from Logstedshire.” They said with a smile. “It was a long time ago, like really long ago.” They brought Tommy inside and got set up for an apparently long story. Tommy got some things to make pins so he could have something to do with his hands. Charlie had a homemade fidget toy in their hands as they talked.

“Alright I’m ready, tell your story Charlie.” Tommy said as he got settled in. They nodded and launched into their story.

It had been a cold day in November when it happened. Charlie had been simply harvesting crops in their field when they heard shuffling behind them. Without a beat they spun around and held out their sword in defense. It was a person. The person didn’t seem dangerous though. Worried, actually. The sword was lowered.

“Hello? Are you okay?” Charlie asked hesitantly. The person shook their head and promptly passed out. Charlie rushed to their aid. Upon closer inspection, though they should have noticed sooner, the person now laying on the ground was badly injured. Looking further they found a card. It read “Quackity HQ, he/him. The House Always Wins.” Charlie guessed the man on the ground’s name was Quackity. Funny, wasn’t that the name of the god of Chance? They didn’t spend much time thinking about it and rushed Quackity inside the house.

Quackity didn’t wake up for a long while. The wound that now tore through his eye and mouth didn’t want to heal either. Charlie managed though, enough healing and regeneration potions could fix a man on the brink of death. That’s what Charlie had always said. And it did work. As they stood and stretched, the injury healed itself into a nasty scar. Not much can be done about scars. Quackity didn’t seem to mind though, he smiled once the pain had dissipated. Charlie couldn’t help but smile in response before going about the house to make the couch slightly more comfortable for the surprise guest. They also cleaned up slightly so it wouldn’t be a total mess. Quackity didn’t wake up until Charlie had started dinner. He woke up to the smell of Shepherd's Pie, of course food was what woke him up. Charlie walked into the living area to check on their guest to see him sitting up and checking what remained of the injuries he’d sustained. 

“Don’t worry Quackity, I got everything healed up nicely. Your eyesight can’t be fixed unfortunately but at least you survived!” They said cheerfully. The man was clearly startled at the use of his name. “Oh! I read it on your calling card! I assume that’s your name? Kind of interesting considering that’s the name of a god.” Charlie explained with a smile. Quackity relaxed slightly and leaned against the couch.

“Well of course it’s the name of a god, it’s my name.” He said simply. Charlie didn’t falter. Surprising lack of reaction.

“Well Quackity, god of Chance, would you like some dinner? It’s fresh out of the oven! You can eat, explain what you were doing in my field with as much detail as you’re comfortable with, and then do as you please afterwards. How does that sound?” Quackity nodded and sat up straighter. Most humans would be afraid to know there is a god sitting on their couch. Why wasn’t this one afraid? Either way, Charlie brought two plates of food, one for themself and one for the apparent god in the room. The two talked for a long time while they ate. Quackity found it was easy to be friends with Charlie. They were so laid back and casual compared to the other humans Quackity had met in the past. It was a pleasant break. 

Quackity explained why he was there. A problem had occurred Above and it resulted in him being temporarily mortal. He had gotten into a fight with some of the locals by accident before finding Charlie. He should have died apparently. Charlie wouldn’t have it. They didn’t ask many questions and he was thankful for that. Quackity took his time relaxing and helping his mortal friend around the house now that he was feeling better. Charlie was appreciative of Quackity’s help, like they would have been if a normal mortal would have helped them in the same way. It felt like the two were equals. In turn for their kindness, he offered to give them something as a thank you once he had gotten his power back. They politely accepted and continued as though nothing had really happened.

It took a few days of watching for him to really get used to everything. Quackity hadn’t been mortal before, he needed a few pointers sometimes. Eventually he figured it out though. Charlie helped him every step of the rocky way too, be it in chores or just general knowledge. It wasn't long before he was back to smiling.

It took a month for Quackity to earn his immortality back. When he went back later, Phil explained that they couldn’t find him to give back what he’d lost. He wasn’t upset in the slightest of course. Charlie wasn’t either. The day finally came for the gift Quackity had offered.

“Charlie, do you know what you want from me? The gift of your kindness has been very great, I wish to return the favor. Name anything and it shall be yours.” Quackity said as he stood outside their house. They thought for a moment and smiled.

“Quackity, you’ve been very kind to me as well. Unfortunately I don’t have very many human friends. Your friendship would be more than enough compensation.” They said. Charlie had a sad look in their eyes but smiled nonetheless. Quackity couldn’t imagine why they didn’t have other friends, they were one of the kindest humans he’d interacted with. 

“I can do you one better, I know the others will adore you. How would you like to become a demigod and come with me? I’ll grant you immortality and a few powers. You can come Above with me and hang around with us gods.” Quackity said casually. They had to take their glasses off and wipe their now tear-filled eyes. 

“That sounds lovely, Quackity! Thank you!” Charlie rushed forward and hugged him as though he had just given them the best news. He figured it must have been a good gift if they reacted like this. Quackity wrapped his arms. He even knew the kind of power he’d give them. Charlie had always been fond of slimes, even going as far as to give themself the last name Slimecicle.

“Well mi limo, I think it’s time for us to go.” Charlie nodded and looked around one last time before taking Quackity’s outstretched hand and going with him Above. 

Tommy stared at Charlie for a moment and set the poker chip pin down in his lap. Charlie was a demigod?! Tommy was friends with a demigod?! Not even friends, siblings . Charlie saw the look in his eyes and laughed.

“Did it just hit you, Tommy from Logstedshire? You know my secret now.” They said, smiling. 

“You’re a demigod. THAT’S AWESOME!!” Tommy shouted. His sibling sighed with relief and nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?! That’s so cool!!”

“I was nervous, I wasn’t sure how you would react.” They explained. Tommy nodded and got up. He walked over to his older sibling and hugged them. Charlie hugged him back.

“I’ll always be here to support you, just as you are for me.” Tommy said. Suddenly Charlie felt all was right with the world. Tommy had been the one to reassure them this time. It was nice.

Chapter Text

Tommy had gotten used to lots of things quickly in the past. He was able to get used to Logstedshire and the life that brought, he got used to being alone, he even got used to suddenly having a family who loved him. But one thing he wouldn’t ever be able to get used to was sudden visits from people. This time was no different. Charlie was asleep when it happened so they couldn’t be there to protect him. 

Dream had one arm this time though so in theory it shouldn’t be that bad, right? It was a simple visit and Tommy was feeling confident. He knew he had a demigod and a god of chance on his side this time. He would be fine.

“Hey Tommy! Long time no see!” Dream shouted in a surprisingly cheerful tone. Tommy didn’t expect that after the man had lost an arm last time he was here. Tommy wasn’t one to judge though.

“Hello Dream.” He responded less than enthusiastically.

“Oh come on now! We’re friends, aren’t we?” The masked man asked as he made his way over. Tommy took note of his hoodie sleeve being tied off where his arm ended. He simply shook his head and stepped back. Not out of fear, just to get away from him slightly, totally not fear.

“We’ve never been friends, green bitch.” Tommy simply responded. Did his voice shake as he said that? Where did his confidence go?

“Sure we have! We used to hang out all the time! We’re great friends!” Dream’s voice was sickeningly sweet. It almost reminded Tommy of Wilbur during the Pogtopia days. Tommy smiled slightly and looked Dream in the eye. Well, as in the eye as you can when staring at a permanent smiley face mask.

“Well, if we’re such good friends you won’t mind me asking you a friendly question!” He said cheerfully. Dream nodded and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“Go ahead”

“How does it feel to be a tripod, green bitch?” Tommy laughed. A genuine Tommy Slimecicle laugh. Dream was less than enthused. He simply stared at the young man in front of him, his last remaining hand by his side and empty for just a moment.

“You’re such a fucking child.”

There is a well known story that The Goddess of Death can feel when someone is about to die. It’s a true story as well. Kristin always knew when a human would die. She knew who they were, what was happening, why they were dying, everything. 

You can imagine her surprise when she felt Tommy’s life force nearly cut short. She ran to the edge of their space and looked down to find Dream fighting the boy. Dream. The human who was under XD’s rule. Of course it was.

“TECHNO! PHIL!” She shouted, her son and husband appeared by her side in an instant. They both looked to be at varying levels of concern. The Goddess of Death rarely ever shouted. 

“Yes dear?” Phil said as casually as he could. He wouldn’t lie, when his wife was angry he got scared. Even as the God of Life she could cut anything short in a moment. 

“Grab your weapons. I will not let Tommy’s life end because of XD’s lapdog.” Kristin said in a smooth voice. Her eyes burned with a rage that neither of the gods around her had ever seen. Even Quackity who was walking by seemed afraid. 

Techno had his sword and crossbow in his hands in an instant. Phil’s bow and quiver of arrows appeared strapped to his back and an axe snapped into existence in his hands. The two nodded at each other and disappeared, Kristin watched as they popped into their respective shrines and walked out. Quackity followed suit after a moment as well, he had to make sure that his human and demigod were safe too of course.

Tommy thought Dream would be weaker. One arm and not even his dominant one. Hell he shouldn’t have even survived getting off the island the first time! So why was it that Tommy was now pinned to the ground with nothing but two swords between him and the seemingly stronger man over him? He took half a moment to mentally glance over his body, Tommy felt a few slashes where he had accidentally let Dream’s sword graze his skin. He felt weaker too, for some odd reason. Maybe it was like a tipped arrow with weakness on it? Tommy’s arms shook as he held his ground and thought. 

A moment passed, two, three. Finally the blond had an idea. He kicked Dream in the stomach and took his chance to get up. Tommy was distracted and turned around for a split second too long as three gods had just stepped out of what he assumed were their temples. 

Quackity definitely came from his own. But the other two he hadn’t recognized. One was blonde and had bright blue eyes, much like himself. The other was taller and muscular with soft pink hair that went down to his waist. The three gods’ eyes flickered to Tommy for a moment as he felt something pierce through his stomach. It stung like he had been stabbed with a burning metal pipe, suddenly he felt far too tired to stand.

The blond god who had come out of Life’s temple suddenly ran over to Tommy and caught the boy before he could hit the ground. The other, who had come from The Blood God’s temple ran over as well, but stood up tall to protect the two now sitting on the ground. Someone shouted something while Tommy heard footsteps and a door opening in the distance.

.

.

.

The world was spinning, that was when everything went black.

Chapter Text

When Charlie was awoken they saw a familiar, worried face. But not the one they were expecting.

“Quackity from Above what are you doing here? What’s wrong?” They said as they sat up, rubbing their eyes and putting on their glasses. Quackity backed up and grabbed a change of clothes for them, handing it over and turning to face the wall.

“Get changed quickly, amigo, Tommy is in danger.” The god said. Charlie shot out of bed and got changed quickly, grabbing their sword as well and running out of the room with Quackity behind them. 

Running outside was a sight to see. Technoblade and Dream were fighting as Phil seemed to be panicking and trying to heal Tommy. Charlie rushed over to the god of Life’s side first, Quackity running to help Techno. 

“What’s wrong? Is he okay?” 

“I’m not sure yet Charlie, I’m working on it. I think XD is preventing me from healing him fully. The bleeding has stopped but I can’t get it much further than that.” Phil said, briefly looking up at Charlie as he spoke. They examined the wound and nearly lost their mind. They had been asleep as their little brother, their best friend , had been stabbed. 

“Bring him inside, there is a first aid kit in the bathroom, get him patched up as best you can and make sure he’s alive. I will not let him meet Kristin this way.” Charlie said as they stood up, drawing their sword and sprinting to join the fight. Phil simply nodded and brought Tommy inside, his heart ached as though he were carrying his own son away from battle.

Inside the house Phil laid Tommy on the couch and ran to get the first aid kit like Charlie had said. Kristin would kill him if he didn’t keep this boy alive. Not to mention how awful he would feel if he let Tommy die. Phil came back to the couch and started trying to treat the blond boy’s wounds. Making sure it was cleaned and wrapped properly, he even found some healing potions to make sure it wouldn’t kill him. It has been a very long time since he was unable to simply heal someone in an instant, he had nearly forgotten how fragile humans could be. Especially the young boy now laying on the couch in front of him. 

After a moment or two, Tommy seemed to wake up ever so slightly. Phil was sitting on the floor facing the boy when he had shifted his head to face Phil’s. His blue eyes opened barely, they were so dull now.

“D-dad…?” Tommy said quietly. His voice was so weak and small, Phil’s heart shattered into millions of little pieces. He rested one of his hands on Tommy’s and hesitated before speaking.

“I’m right here mate, you’re going to be alright. Charlie and Quackity are out there fighting for you, as is Techno, we’re gonna make sure you’re safe from now on.” He said softly. Tommy seemed satisfied with that answer. 

“M'kay ..” Tommy mumbled as he let his eyes close again. Phil silently hoped that this wouldn’t be the last time the boy awoke.

“He will live, my love. I no longer feel his soul on the verge of death.” Kristin’s voice suddenly spoke. That simply made him smile. Knowing that Tommy would live another day was all Phil could have hoped for at that moment. It was so strange to him how much a human boy could affect the lives of gods, especially as much as he had already.

Outside was a battlefield. Dream somehow held his ground against two gods and a demigod. But not for long of course. Charlie was pissed . They were seeing red to such a degree that the only thing Charlie could see was Dream. Technoblade and Quackity both knew that and decided to let them deal with the one armed man. 

“Charlie! Trade me!” Quackity shouted as he tossed his sword to the demigod who caught it with ease and sent their own sword in return. His sword was definitely stronger than the one his companion had been using. 

Techno silently blessed Charlie with his own power, making sure they would be able to win no matter what. Their fighting got far better thanks to his blessing. Dodging and weaving and slashing at Dream in rapid succession. The man barely stood a chance anymore. Finally Charlie had Dream pinned to the ground. Both people were breathing heavily. Dream had three swords pointed toward his throat. He had nothing to even try to defend himself with. 

“Death would be too kind for you. Lady Kristin will make sure your limbo is the worst place imaginable.” Charlie said in a surprisingly even tone of voice.

“Go… Go ahead and kill me then..” Dream managed to get out. He was bleeding in who knows how many places and one part of his leg was barely hanging on. Maybe just the bones were holding it together. Nonetheless he was surviving. By XD’s grace no doubt. Dream was a smart man. He slowly pulled a potion closer to the front of his inventory, the people above him were none the wiser about it. Charlie’s eyes bore into him as suddenly he threw his potion on the ground and shot up, running in the opposite direction. His leg didn’t want to cooperate but he made it work.

“Harming! Damn him!” Quackity shouted. Techno was the first to recover and summon a bow and arrow, simply handing it to Charlie. They recovered next and lined up the shot, suddenly the arrow flashed a dangerous shiny black. The three left behind recognized it as Kristin’s withering effect. Charlie let the arrow fly and watched as it cut through Dream’s throat and lodged there.  

The three still standing made their way over to Dream and watched him suffer. He was choking on his own blood, drowning in it. The flesh and muscle around the bloody mess burned and decayed, turning a charred black. The effect spread like a virus over the dying man’s body. Just before Dream’s death he had something to say.

“N-not… th.. e-nd…” Were his last words, his voice was burnt and broken like a building the fire department never made it to. And then suddenly, there was nearly no trace of his existence left. Just a broken smiley mask and tattered clothing. Tommy’s suffering was supposed to be over. 

Tommy. Charlie’s eyes widened as they remembered their young friend’s situation. They dropped their weapons and sprinted back to the house, throwing the door open. Phil was still there and smiling softly. The young blond boy seemed to be asleep on the couch. He was peaceful, surprisingly enough. Charlie made their way over and kneeled down next to Phil.

“He’s alright Charlie, I’ve made sure he’ll survive.” He said softly, his voice was soothing and gentle. Charlie nodded and sat down on the floor. Their brother would be okay. Everything would be okay.

Dream was long gone and Tommy was alive. That was all that mattered in the moment. 

Chapter Text

Tommy didn’t think he would ever wake up. The stab wound burned so badly everything ached. As everything went black he thought he heard shouting. Though of course that might have been his imagination. Tommy heard somewhere once that people hear shouting when they die but never get it explained. Maybe that’s what that was. It was strange, being dead. He felt his body start to… float? That might not be the right word. He still felt something strange. He thought he saw his dad again. The man who had been there for him and Wilbur for as long as he could. Tommy never found out what happened to him, Wilbur knew but wouldn’t tell Tommy. His father had disappeared one day and never came home. Suddenly a family of three was turned into a duo of siblings. And then into just a boy on a distant island.  Tommy really needed to ask Wilbur what happened to their dad. 

After what felt like forever of staring into the fading face of his father, Tommy felt something warm where he had been injured. It was like someone had put a heating pad over it. The warmth was pleasant and familiar. He took a moment before he could place where he knew it from. Tommy remembered the feeling when he broke his arm trying to get something from the top of a shrine. He didn’t remember what the thing was but he remembered the sudden flash of pain and Charlie running inside the house to get something. That something as a healing potion. They came back out and made him drink it. The potion tasted bitter and terrible but was replaced with the warmth that mended his arm. The same warmth he felt now. That was when Tommy realized he hadn’t died. And then he woke up.

Tommy shot upright and immediately had to lay back again. Gods above that hurt. He heard a few gasps from some people nearby, he couldn’t see who it was from where he sat. Tommy’s eyes wouldn’t open right now, he felt as though the light he might see would burn him up. A gentle hand guided him back down.

“You’re alright, Tommy from Logstedshire, just lay back down.” A familiar person’s voice said softly. He finally opened his eyes to see Charlie’s smiling face. He nearly cried. Dying meant that Tommy never would have seen Charlie again. Dying meant Charlie would lose their little brother. Dying wasn’t an option anymore.

“Charlie…?” Tommy managed to get out. His throat felt like someone had lined it in sandpaper. Or like he was being forced to eat magma cream again. Charlie’s smile melted into one slightly more sad and they placed a kiss on his forehead.

“It’s me, my little slimeball, Charlie is right here” They said. Tommy smiled slightly, that seemed to help them relax a bit. Someone else stepped forward with something in their hands. It was Quackity, he held a little stuffed duck. He smiled and handed it to Tommy.

“I figure it might be nice to have a buddy by your side while you heal. Now you have your own duckling, mi patito.” He said. Tommy hugged the duck tight and thanked Quackity. Moving his arms hurt a lot but he still managed. If there was one thing Tommy Slimecicle was good at it was masking his pain. He had to learn to do it with Dream, he could do it now. Charlie sat down next to Tommy’s bed and he got a good view of who all was in the room. The two gods he hadn’t recognized before. They both stared back at him. 

One of them was so tall that if Tommy stood up he would still be shorter than the god. He had soft pink hair that went to his waist. He wore a red cape and fancy clothing. A sword hung by the god’s side. He wasn’t as muscular now as he was before. Tommy tilted his head to the side and the man spoke.

“I am Technoblade, The Blood God,” He said. His voice was deep and rumbly, as though it came from the very depths of his soul. Tommy made a confused face and Technoblade continued, “I have two forms, that is why I look so different now.” As if to prove it, he shifted to his bigger form. Technoblade was a Piglin. His fur was fluffy and clearly well kept, his body seemed to inflate with muscles, tusks sprouted from his lips. The only thing that didn’t change were The Blood God’s bright red eyes. They seemed to swirl and shift like blood being mixed in a cup. After a moment he changed back to his more humanoid form. Tommy looked at the other man next to Technoblade who smiled.

“My name is Philza, The God of Life,” He said simply, his voice was cheerful and light. Philza’s eyes twinkled a bright sky blue. His hair was blond like Tommy’s. Everything about him radiated kindness. Even his clothes did. The God of Life wore a white and green striped bucket hat, a light green seemingly poncho over a black shirt, dark forest green pants tucked into black riding boots. His midnight black wings were folded neatly behind him. Surprisingly enough, Philza had a cane with him as well, it was leaning against the wall next to him. The cane was beautifully made. A crow’s skull sat on the top as the handle, the wood being used for the cane itself was a light brown color and held many carvings of plants and other living creatures. Someone very devoted to him must have made it themself. Tommy nodded and smiled.

“Tommy, ‘s nice to meet you,” He said, though a bit slurred. Talking took so much energy out of him, thankfully the others understood and didn’t make him say much. Charlie and Quackity took turns explaining the battle in as much detail as they could. Tommy appreciated it, hearing of his older sibling’s incredible fighting in his defense was so wonderful to hear. Technoblade said a few words here and there but didn’t speak much otherwise. After the other two were done, Philza explained how he had kept Tommy alive, what it took, what he thought would be the best for him. 

“You’re going to need lots of rest, mate. I can’t imagine you’ll be up and about for at least a month.”  Tommy rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything, both to save energy and because deep down, he knew Philza was right. He would have made Charlie do the same thing, had it happened to them. 

“I’ll be around to help as much as possible.” Quackity spoke up after a moment. 

“Are you sure?” Charlie looked at him and tilted their head to the side.

“Yeah! Tommy needs time to heal and you may need someone around to help. Besides, I miss hanging out with you mi limo,” Quackity grinned and swung his arm around Charlie’s shoulders. They just rolled their eyes and smiled. 

Tommy felt his eyes fall closed again. Exhaustion washed over him like a steamroller. Nobody tried to wake him. Technoblade and Philza went away, back up Above where they were needed. Even if humans didn’t believe in them anymore, the gods continue to do their jobs.

Over the few months it took for Tommy to recover, Phil and Techno visited often. Or at least as often as they could. The gods were often busy with work. Phil would often tell Tommy stories from Above. Stories like how he and Kristin met, what it’s like being a god, everything he can think of to keep the boy entertained. Techno often sat and quietly explained how to make or break weapons. Tommy overtime learned a lot about Above and how to be a god. It was nice. 

“Can I meet Kristin some day?” Tommy asked Phil at one point.

“Of course you can, Tommy! Though hopefully it won’t be for a while.”  Was Phil’s response. That made perfect sense to the boy. Kristin was Death. Meeting her typically would mean he wouldn't be alive anymore.

Tommy liked being alive, even though his mind couldn't stop wondering about the place Phil had told him so much about.

Death or not, Tommy was definitely curious to meet the goddess he once placed of all his faith to. He decided he could wait a bit longer for it

Chapter Text

Three months. That’s how long it took for Tommy’s stab wound to heal enough that Charlie would let him do things by himself. Most of the time someone was sitting nearby and hanging out with him. Many days it was Quackity, who apparently didn’t have anything better to do. Tommy did get some work done though. He decided to make gifts for everyone who helped him. All of which ended up being stuffed animals made with leftover scraps of fabric. 

Charlie’s was a little slime made with green and blue fabric. Quackity’s gift was a yellow duck. Techno’s ended up being a sword, oddly enough. And Phil’s was a crow. Tommy actually made two crows so the other could be given to Kristin later. They all took a lot of time to do and he had to work on them when their respective people (or gods for that matter), weren’t in the room.

Tommy decided today was the day to give gifts. Quackity, Technoblade, and Philza were all going back Above since he was back up and around again. Before the three gods left, Tommy ran out of the house carrying three boxes.

“Wait wait wait! Hold on a moment!” He shouted as he did so. Quackity smiled and nodded, the other two waited as well.

“What’s up, mi patito?” The god said. Tommy smiled and rolled his eyes before handing out the boxes. “Oh! Thank you!”

“What’s this?” Techno’s voice was near silent, as usual. 

“Well, I wanted to give you all gifts as thanks for watching out for me. It’s been more than wonderful getting to know all of you.” Tommy explained. Quackity and Phil wasted no time opening their presents. Techno hesitated before giving in to curiosity and opening his.

“Oh mate, this is wonderful! Thank you! Kristin will love hers as well!” Phil said. He opened his arms and smiled wider, Tommy didn’t wait and half ran into the god’s arms. It was warm there. He felt safe. Though of course he did, he was being hugged by Life himself. Quackity walked over and patted the human on the head.

“This is wonderful, Tommy! Thank you! I’ll cherish my little duck forever.” He said. Tommy let go of Phil and hugged Quackity momentarily as well. And then he heard a short huff from the last god to see his gift. 

Techno walked over to Tommy, Quackity and Phil both stepped away to give him room. 

“Thank you.” Was all he said before scooping Tommy into a near bone crushing hug. Being hugged by the Blood god is certainly not something Tommy ever thought would happen. He knew this was a huge act of kindness out of the god. The boy simply hugged Techno back and grinned.

“You’re welcome.” Techno let him go and stared into Tommy’s eyes for a moment before taking something from his pocket and placing it into his hands.

“Now we’re even.” And then the three gods disappeared, back Above. Tommy knew that they would continue watching over him. Though it was still a little sad to watch them go. 

Charlie walked out of the house and smiled at their brother.

“Oh! Did they leave already?” They asked as they half skipped over.

“Yeah, Techno gave me something though.” Tommy said. He hadn’t opened his hand just yet but he could feel some sort of chain in his palm. 

“Well look at it! Gifts from the Blood god are rare. You must have made a big impact on Techno if he wanted to give you something!” Charlie smiled and ruffled Tommy’s hair. The blond laughed and opened his hand. 

Inside was a necklace. It was made of gold. The pendant on the chain was a sword with a crown resting on the hilt. When Tommy put it on, it rested warmly against his chest and seemed to buzz with familiarity. He watched as Charlie’s eyes lit up.

“I recognize that symbol! I have one too!” They pulled up their sleeve to reveal a gold bracelet with the same image carved into it.

“What does it mean?” Tommy asked as he looked at his necklace.

“It means he considers you a friend, maybe even family. All of us gods have one now, Phil and Kristin got theirs first. I got mine before Quackity did.” Tommy looked up at them and tilted his head.

“Really?” 

“Yeah, it turns out that when he was made mortal temporarily, Techno and Quackity from Above got into a big fight. I ended up getting them to make amends after I was made a demigod! Isn’t that neat?” They adjusted their glasses as they talked. 

“Yeah! Oh! I have something for you, we should go inside first.” Tommy took their hand and led his sibling into the house. He had them sit on the couch before going into his room and grabbing the gift. This was the one he was the most nervous about. Charlie lived with him. Tommy had to make sure it was perfect, otherwise it would get a little uncomfortable.

“Alright. Close your eyes, Charlie!” He said as he walked back over to the couch where Charlie sat. He walked around it and smiled as he saw their eyes were closed. Tommy set the box in their lap and sat on the ground. “Okay now open them!”

“A box? I love boxes!” Charlie joked. Tommy laughed and rolled his eyes.

“Well you have to open it!” 

“Alright alright!” They opened the gift and pulled out the handmade slime, it was slightly bigger than the gifts the others had gotten. Mostly because he had a lot of leftover green fabric. It took a moment before Tommy realized that Charlie was crying.

“What? Is it awful? Oh I knew it-” He started before being cut off.

“No no no!” Charlie sniffed and wiped their eyes. “I love it! It’s been a long time since someone gave me something this personal!” They smiled and hugged the stuffed slime tight before gesturing for Tommy to get up and hug them. He got up and did so.

The two sat like that for hours, just enjoying the time they got to have together. It was nice to be in their arms again.

Chapter Text

Tommy was outside when he heard a familiar shout. It was maybe noon? He didn’t really feel like nearly blinding himself and looking up. Nor did he have a clock. When he looked over, Tommy saw a familiar figure climbing out of a dark oak boat. The figure walked over and grinned.

It was an old friend. He was short, far shorter than Tommy. He had ram horns that now curled around his ears, when Tommy had last seen the boy, his horns barely stuck out of his hair. The most jarring thing though was the jagged scar on his face. The boy’s name was Tubbo. The current president of L’manburg. The name of that awful country felt bitter in Tommy’s mind.

“Tommy! You’re alive! Oh my god!” Tubbo shouted with a big blinding smile. 

“What do you mean? You knew I was here. You sent me that letter.” Tommy simply responded. The shorter boy looked confused.

“What? I sent more than one letter first of all. Second, you didn’t respond to any of my letters so I didn’t know if you were even still here!” He crossed his arms and blew hair out of his eyes. It was fluffy like Tommy remembered but considerably longer now. Was that a ring on one of his horns?

“I only got one letter. Your fucking cry for help. I thought you forgot about me like everyone else.” Tommy’s voice was bitter and short. Tubbo looked surprised and shook his head quickly.

“I could never forget about you bossman! Really I couldn’t! I’m so sorry you thought that! I should have come sooner!” 

“It’s fine, really. I’m alright now. What happened to your face? You’ve changed considerably since I last saw you.” It was Tommy’s turn to look confused now. Tubbo simply laughed.

“Why don’t we find a place to sit and I’ll explain everything. You’ve changed too, you know.” he said. Tommy rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Sure, let’s go inside. Charlie might still be asleep so we’ve got some time.”  He led Tubbo into the house and showed him around, making sure to be quieter around his older sibling’s room. Just in case.

“Wait, who's Charlie? I don’t remember exiling anyone else.” Tubbo asked as the two made it back into the living room.

“Charlie’s my older sibling, they’ve been living here with me for almost a year now I think.” Tommy explained. He sat down and gestured for the ram to do the same. 

“You have another sibling? Really? I thought it was just you and-” Tommy cut him off.

“No. Just Charlie. I don’t want to talk about him .” Tubbo looked mildly surprised but nodded nonetheless.

The two sat and talked for a long time before Tommy found anything else. It turned out that Tubbo was no longer the president of anything. Schlatt tried to take over again once, and then a particularly angry god stormed through and turned the whole country to dust. Now Tubbo lived in the tundra with his husband Ranboo and their son Micheal. Son. Wow Tommy felt old. Only yesterday he and Tubbo had been running through the SMP chasing bees and poking fun at each other. Or so he thought. He would be turning 20 soon, wouldn’t he? 

“So what’s up with you? The island is beautiful by the way.” Tubbo asked after he finished talking. Tommy sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“A lot is up with me. I almost died most recently. I’ve been here nearly alone for a long ass time. I was alone completely for a little over three years, Dream fucked with me for a long time before that. I built shrines to the gods in a final act of desperation. Charlie appeared and has been here since then. So you know, a lot.” He said casually. Tubbo looked horrified and rightfully so.

“That’s horrible!” Tommy simply shrugged

“Eh you know, at least I’m not dead.”

“Still though, I shouldn’t have exiled you. I'm so sorry!” Tubbo half shouted.

“It’s alright big man. I do have a question though.”

“What’s up?”

“What do you mean you sent me several letters?” Tommy had finally realized that Tubbo said something about several attempts to contact him. He wanted to know why the letters never showed up. He didn’t have to be lonely all those years but was.

“I wanted to talk to you, even after I sent you here. I felt so awful doing that to you. I thought I could make some amends with you by sending letters and stuff. You never responded. In fact I usually got the letters back.” Tubbo explained, his voice was so sad. Had he really missed Tommy that much?

“I didn’t get any of them. I only got the one about L’manburg. I thought you only needed me for that and didn’t really want to see me.” He felt his eyes starting to tear up. Tubbo took notice and sighed.

“I’m not sure what happened to the letters but I promise you I never forgot about you. Hell I even made Micheal’s middle name ‘danger’ in your honor!” Tommy laughed and wiped his eyes before hugging the goat boy tight. Tubbo hugged him back just as strong, maybe even slightly more. 

“Thank you, that’s all I could have wanted. I would have been royally pissed had you forgotten about me.” He said quietly. This time it was Tubbo’s turn to laugh.

“Oh I know. I didn’t want to have the wrath of Tommy Careful Danger Kraken whatever the fuck your last name is against me.” 

“Slimecicle.” 

“What?”

“My last name is Slimecicle. I’m Tommy Careful Danger Kraken Slimecicle now.” Tommy had a smile and a lighthearted tone in his voice but Tubbo heard how much he’d been through in these last few years. Especially if it prompted the changing of his last name.   

The boys spent another hour or two together before there was any sign of Charlie. They had decided to sleep in that day, though Tommy wasn’t going to complain. They barely got any sleep while he was recovering, they deserve to sleep in a little while longer for a while.

“What time is it?” Charlie asked as they walked out of their room and put their glasses on. Their hair was a mess but that was the worst of it. Somehow they still managed to look classy even after waking up.

“It’s almost 2” Tubbo said as he looked over the back of the couch to look at them. They looked mildly surprised that there was a guest peacefully inside their home.

“Good afternoon Charlie!” Tommy piped up from next to Tubbo. Charlie walked over in front of the boys and looked at them.

“You didn’t try to kill him, did you?” They asked both of the boys in front of them. Tommy grinned and shook his head.

“Only a little when we were younger! Nothing major!” Tubbo said. Tommy elbowed him in the ribs but didn’t say anything. Charlie seemed satisfied with those answers.

“Well then it’s nice to meet you, I’m Charlie Slimecicle!” They held out one hand for Tubbo who promptly stood up and shook it. 

“I’m Tubbo_Beloved! It’s a pleasure to meet you as well!” Tommy rolled his eyes at the introductions. He knew they were necessary, and it wasn’t Charlie’s introduction that hit him. It was Tubbo’s. When the two first met, that’s almost how Tubbo had greeted Tommy.

“Hello?” Tommy shouted at the stranger across the field. The young brunet ran over with a big grin. Gods, he was fast.

“Hello! I’m Tubbo_Schlatt! It’s a pleasure to meet you!” The boy said.

“What kind of a middle name is underscore?” Tommy asked incredulously

“I dunno, my dad picked it out I guess! What’s your name?” 

“ I’m Thomas Careful Danger Kraken Soot, the Biggest Man in the world!” He said loudly. Tubbo hesitated for a moment.

“Huh.” Was the boy’s only response.

“What?”

“Nothing! Hey, you wanna go find some bees with me?” Tubbo asked, he was barely able to stand still he seemed so excited. Tommy was more than willing to go on bee searching adventures with his new friend as well.

“Uh hell yeah! Lead the way, bee boy!” Tommy dug a stick out of his inventory and raised it above his head. Tubbo cheered and ran off in a random direction, Tommy followed suit.

“Tommy? You alright?” Tubbo asked after snapping in his face a few times. Tommy blinked and shook his head.

“Yeah I’m good what’s up?” He stood up and stretched. Charlie looked mildly concerned again and wrapped their arm around his shoulders.

“You sure? You seemed pretty out of it there, slimeball.” They said quietly. He leaned against them and shook his head again.

“Yeah I’m alright, just going down memory lane is all.” Tommy responded. 

“Oh really? Which memory?” Tubbo asked. 

“The first time we met actually, you haven’t changed your introduction in the slightest.”

“Oh! I didn’t even realize that! Neat!” The brunet half shouted. He never meant to be loud, it was just part of his personality. 

“Well you two, how about we see about some food? I would like to get to know you better, Tubbo.” Charlie said cheerfully as they led the boys into the kitchen.

Chapter Text

Dream XD was furious. Furious over many things. But most importantly he was furious that his best vessel, his strongest warrior, had been killed. All of the materials that went into his creation had been destroyed. All of the effort put into Dream had been torn to charred shreds. Dream XD was furious that the ‘gods’ had been victorious once more. They thought they were better than him. They thought they were higher beings than him. Dream XD was Chaos itself. The very beginnings of creation had been made with his power. Those simple beings known as deities were nothing compared to him. They were infinitesimal compared to his strength and power. Yet still they persisted. He was sick of it. So, Dream XD watched and waited until he had a moment to strike. The human child that the gods had been watching just had to be alone for a short time.

Late at night, it was time. The moon had risen just tall enough that the tiny island the boy lived on was fully lit. The goat child had left the island. His strange demigod friend was fast asleep inside the house. The boy, Tommy apparently, was not asleep but outside working away. He just had to line up his shot. 

Dream XD just had to hit his mark.

It was a beautiful night out. The ocean was pleasantly loud, the air was warm but not unpleasant, it was a good night to work. Before Charlie’s arrival this was a common occurrence. Tommy wouldn’t be able to sleep for one reason or another and would instead stay up all night working on some random project. Currently he was working on carvings for the shrines. He had already finished the ones for Life’s shrine, Phil’s shrine. Crows and plants and other living things now climbed the outside of the building. Tommy had moved on to Quackity’s shrine when he felt a strange pressure on the back of his head. He didn’t pay much attention to it, weird stuff happened to him all the time. He lived with a demigod and was friends with legit gods. Hell more than friends if his new necklace was anything to go off of. Family. 

After a long while, Tommy finally felt tired enough to try and go to sleep. He went inside and found himself growing more and more exhausted the further he walked. He ended up having to prop himself up against the wall in the hallway, sliding down it, and passing out right outside of Charlie’s bedroom door. Hopefully they wouldn’t mind when they woke up.

When Charlie came out of their room in the morning to find their younger brother asleep in the hallway they couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe he had been meaning to go into their room but never worked up the courage to do so. They simply bent down to pick him up. The demigod’s hand barely brushed Tommy’s arm when the boy jolted awake and nearly jumped out of his skin. They sat down on the ground and held their hands up in mock defense.

“It’s just me, Tommy from Logstedshire, it’s alright.” Charlie said quietly. Tommy nodded and took a breath, when they looked closer they could see something off in his eyes. He was severely shaken by something. Maybe a nightmare? 

“Yeah. Okay. Alright,” He ran his hands through his hair and leaned against the wall. Charlie watched for a moment as the blond tried to calm himself down. Taking big deep breaths and doing his best to relax.

“It’s okay, slimeball, it’s gonna be okay. Keep breathing.” Their voice seemed to help him calm down, Tommy rested his head against the wall and nodded.

“Thanks Charlie.” The boy looked so exhausted and sounded even worse, Charlie couldn’t help but worry for him. They crawled closer to him and sighed.

“What’s going on? Was it a nightmare or something? Is that why you were out here?”

“I’m not sure, I’m okay though. I’ll be okay..” Tommy tried to make himself seem confident, Charlie really had no choice but to believe him.

The next few weeks would be like this. Charlie finding Tommy asleep in the strangest places and positions and helping him calm down after waking up like they had just hit him. They always felt horrible waking him up but they needed to. Often they would make sure Tommy got to bed safely and would go about the day. Charlie had decided it was nightmares that were messing with their younger brother. Maybe he simply wasn’t ready to talk about it yet, maybe it was something else. Tommy wasn’t clearly sick though, so they did try not to worry too much.

Tommy hated dreaming. Despised it, really. Especially now. As it turns out, near death experiences are traumatizing. Now every time he closed his eyes he had to relive Dream’s sword piercing through his chest. He fucking hated it. Sometimes though, his subconscious would decide to get creative with what he had to endure. Dreams of his old family, dreams of his current family decided he wasn’t worth the effort, every awful thought that could possibly go through Tommy’s mind in a day now in full color behind his eyes. And what didn’t help was that he couldn’t seem to tell Charlie about them. He wanted to so badly but every time he tried his mind would block it out and he’d forget in that moment. Charlie was clearly worried about him but couldn’t help without finding out what was wrong. And Tommy couldn’t tell them what was happening. 

Though of course somehow that wasn’t the worst of it. Two years ago when Tommy would have nightmares, he’d simply stay up for a few nights until they went away. It worked when it needed to. But for some reason now every time he thought about doing that his mind would go blank and he’d suddenly feel tired. It was like something was working against him. This though, this he could tell Charlie. And so he did.

“Well that’s certainly not good. That would explain why you’ve been sleeping a lot lately though.” They said after he explained at least part of the situation. Even now after explaining it he felt like he was being weighed down and knocked out. Charlie could clearly see him struggling to keep himself awake too. 

“Yeah..” Tommy yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“How about this, slimeball, you come over here and get some sleep. I’ll see if someone from Above can help us. Does that sound alright?” They opened up their arms for him. He nodded and crawled over to them. His limbs felt like lead. The moment that Charlie’s arms had been wrapped around him, Tommy was out. The boy barely had time to lay down before falling asleep. Charlie thought for a moment and ran their hands through his hair. They knew who to call at least.

Evidently Quackity didn’t know what to do either. However he was able to figure out what was happening. He knew who would be able to help too. Once upon a time, Quackity had another demigod as his friend. A foxling named Fundy who knew everything there was to know about dreaming. Maybe he could help.

When Fundy arrived, Tommy was still fast asleep. It had taken maybe two hours for him to get to Logstedshire. The entire time, Charlie had been extremely careful not to move too much. Quackity stuck around to make sure everything went smoothly.

“Hello, My name is Fundy. Fundy from Elsewhere.” He said as he walked in the house. Charlie smiled and nodded. Fundy was not what they had expected. Quackity hadn’t explained much. The foxling was fairly tall and lanky, similar to Charlie’s build surprisingly. His hair was bright orange with a gray streak in the front. Fundy wore a black hat with dull orange-yellow symbols on the front of it. Of course he also had the telltale signs of a foxling. Sly fox-like facial features, big orange fox ears that fade to black, a long, fluffy tail to match. Charlie didn’t know much about foxlings though, not enough to know that they had paws instead of human feet. His were black to match the end of his ears. His hands had the same fading effect that stretched all the way up his arms. 

“A pleasure to meet you, Fundy from Elsewhere, I’m Charlie Slimecicle from Above.” They responded. The fox smiled back at them and sat on the ground, his tail rested in his lap.

“Thanks for coming Fundy, I figured if anyone knew how to help, it would be you.” Quackity said at last. He was clearly nervous.

“You’re lucky I know what I’m doing, Though maybe I wouldn’t had you not given me those nightmares.” Fundy said with a bitter tone. He rested one of his hands on Tommy’s forehead and to Charlie’s surprise, the boy didn’t wake up.

“Yeah I’m sorry about that, old friend” Charlie rolled their eyes and watched as Fundy closed his eyes for a moment. His ears flattened against his head and he pulled his hand back.

“That’s certainly a strong curse on him, what happened? Did he do something?” He opened his eyes and stood his ears back up, Charlie simply shook their head and sighed.

“I’m not sure. Tommy from Logstedshire was fast asleep when I found him. I was asleep when it was given to him I think.” Fundy nodded and rubbed his eyes for a moment.

“The best way to find out would be to wake him up and ask. Or wait until he wakes up naturally, which might be a better option at the moment.” he said. 

“Well, how about we get to know each other while we wait? Quackity from Above has told me quite a bit about you, it would be nice to learn about his first demigod first hand.” Charlie smiled at Fundy, who looked surprised. Evidently he didn’t expect them to know about that. Demigods were about as rare as a purple tree, after all. 

It took Tommy a moment to remember where he had fallen asleep. He awoke to three quiet voices around him, someone’s arms wrapped around his body, and a familiar stuffed duck was resting in his arms as well. He stretched out and rubbed his eyes before he could open them, the voices hushed and waited. When Tommy opened his eyes he saw two faces he knew, and one he didn’t.

Quackity was there, smiling as usual. His eyes twinkled with some sort of mischief as usual, his hair was messy but still neat. Charlie was the one holding him, just the same as they had when Tommy fell asleep. And then there was one more person there, smiling as well. 

“Who’re you?” He asked before clearing his throat and brushing his hand through his hair. His most recent nightmare was still running behind his eyes.

“My name is Fundy from Elsewhere, it’s nice to finally meet you Tommy.” Tommy sat up and tilted his head to the side. 

“What? How do you know my name? Did Charlie tell you? Why are you here?” A face flashed in his mind, Fundy’s grinning face. He was the most recent subject of the nightmares. Every part of his body was telling him to run, every slice of his mind said that the foxling in front of him was not to be trusted. Tommy’s thoughts were sprinting a mile a minute in his brain. Charlie rested their hand on his shoulder, it didn’t help much.

“Whoa whoa whoa, it’s alright,” Fundy put his hands up in mock surrender, “I’m not gonna hurt you, don’t worry. Quackity was summoned by Charlie, I was called because Quackity didn’t know what to do. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on with your nightmares right now.” He explained quickly. Tommy wasn’t convinced.

“How should I be able to trust you? How can I be sure that Quackity isn’t mistaken by trusting you? Hell, I can't even be sure that I trust any of you at the moment.” He quickly stood up and dropped the duck plush he had been holding, Quackity looked hurt briefly. Tommy didn’t care. He walked to the opposite side of the room and grabbed the nearest object he could to use as a weapon. Fundy stood as well and gestured for Charlie to stay where they were, Quackity didn’t move.

“Take a breath, Tommy. I swear you’re safe. I know what’s happening and want to help you. I’ve dealt with your same situation, those are just the nightmares talking.” 

“No. No. It’s not. You’re lying to me.” He raised his makeshift weapon higher as the fox stepped closer. 

“Listen, I’ve heard a lot about you, I know good and well that you aren’t going to hurt me,” Fundy took another step closer, “I’m simply here to help. Just take a deep breath and relax.” Another step, Tommy kept his weapon raised up.

“I don’t care what you’ve heard, you're wrong. I’ll kill you in a heartbeat.” His voice cracked slightly, he backed further into the corner. He felt like he was being chased by Dream again. Or like he was back in Pogtopia. Tommy watched as Fundy stepped closer and put his hand on the lamp he had been using like a bat, the foxling was less than impressed.

“You’re gonna kill me with a light? Totally kid. Now let me help you before this gets worse, alright?” Tommy finally lowered his lamp back to where it was supposed to be. Every part of this felt wrong. He wanted to scream and run. He wanted out. But Charlie looked to be on the verge of tears. And Quackity’s eyes had lost their shine, as though he had stolen it. Tommy allowed himself to be pulled back to the couch and sat down. Charlie hesitated before pulling themself a little away from their brother. 

“It’s okay Charlie, I'm not gonna bite. You can sit with me.” They seemed relieved as they put one arm around him. “And Quackity? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said-” He would have continued but he felt a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind.

“It’s alright little man, I’m not upset. I know you’re going through a lot right now.” Tommy picked up his duck again and hugged it tight, the god behind him seemed satisfied and let go.

“Now that the apologies are done with, can we do this?” Fundy finally spoke up again. He was sitting on the floor again and held one hand out. Tommy took it and nodded.

“Yeah let’s do this. What do I need to do?” 

“You’re gonna hate me for this but I need you to go back to sleep. The best way to find the root of a problem is to go where it’s most prominent.” He explained. Tommy cringed slightly but nodded again. He knew that Fundy was right. He just hated the idea of it. 

“You got it, let me know when and I’ll see what I can do.” Tommy took a deep breath to steady himself and waited until the demigod still holding his hand nodded. Fundy moved closer to the couch and whispered some sort of spell or prayer or something. Tommy wasn’t entirely sure. The moment he was given the nod, Tommy thought as hard as he could about not falling asleep, sure enough he passed out in an instant. Distantly he felt someone’s arms catch him as he fell back.

The falling sensation didn’t stop however. He felt as though he was falling forever. 

“Tommy! Hang on, I think we’re gonna land in a moment!” A familiar voice called out. He looked over and saw Fundy still holding his hand. The foxling looked different, younger. Maybe around Tommy’s age now? He wore a black jacket with rainbow stripes on the front over a white shirt. The same black pants as before. Somehow he looked slightly more fox-like as well. The once dull orange shapes on his hat were bright and new again. The most different part though? Fundy’s once warm brown eyes were now a shockingly bright orange color, much brighter than his hair or the design of the hat. 

“Yeah alright!” Tommy never really took time to notice his clothes in his dreams. He felt two layers of shirts, a tank top and a t-shirt over it. Looking down he saw the painfully familiar red and white shirt Wilbur had given him. And then the two landed.

“Okay, take a moment and gather your strength. I’m right here.” Fundy said the moment he was on his feet. Tommy stood up and immediately ripped off the shirt he had over his tank top. Not a chance in hell he’d let that thing stay on. The foxling took note of that but didn’t say anything. Instead he nodded and took Tommy’s hand again.

“Stick near me and start walking. I’ll make sure nothing hurts you, got it?” His voice was stern but still gentle, like he genuinely wanted to help. Tommy took a big breath.

“Okay. Let’s do this.” He tried to sound confident, it didn’t work very well but in the very least, Fundy didn’t mention it. It was going to be a nightmare trying to figure this out.

Chapter Text

Tommy hated what he saw in front of him. Dim flickering lights hung from stone walls. Flags from a familiar country littered bridges and walkways above him. Vines and moss grew everywhere and hung down like tentacles waiting for someone to walk by and grab them. Tommy had gotten caught in them more times than he wanted to admit. He knew that if he were to open a chest it would be full of supplies for a war. 

They were in Pogtopia. 

In front of him and Fundy, a familiar person stood with his back facing them. Dark fluffy hair, a brown trench coat, tall lanky figure. Tommy frowned at the sight of him. Wilbur. Specifically Wilbur from the Pogtopia days. No white streak, no crimson red eyes, no weird discolored patches of skin, just the old Wilbur. The one Tommy used to know. The one with kind eyes and a genuine smile. He wouldn’t admit it but he did kind of miss this version of Wilbur. Pogtopia held some genuinely good memories. Though of course this wasn’t going to be one of them. He knew what was next.

“Toms! There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.” Wilbur spoke up and turned around. His eyes were glittering and joyful, his smile said something more sinister.

“Hi Wilbur.” Two voices spoke at once, one clearly more exhausted than the other. Fundy looked over in surprise to see two Tommy's. The one he was holding hands with, and another one. A much younger one. Younger Tommy looked slightly forlorn and tired, older Tommy matched that expression tenfold.

“Where have you been?” Wilbur came forward and rested his hand on the younger Tommy’s shoulder. 

“Sorry Wil, I was trying to find Tubbo. I needed him for something, he’s probably just with Schlatt .” Both boys said again. 

Fundy tapped his tail against Older Tommy’s back a few times. The blond looked over and nodded. They needed to keep going. The two walked, the scene shifted. They watched as the rest of L’manburg’s history unfolded around them.

“Fundy we need to stop.” Tommy suddenly said. The foxling looked over and nodded.

“What’s up?” 

“This is it. Where it gets worse. If we’re gonna find anything it’ll be here.” The sky turned gray and cloudy, as though it agreed with him. 

“Tommy! Turn around! It’s me!” A man’s voice called out. Tommy cast his eyes to the ground and sighed. 

“I don’t want to. You can’t hurt me if I can’t see you.” The boy responded, his voice shook. Fundy felt bad for him. He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated, when he opened his eyes again, Fundy could see what made up the dream.

“It’s rude not to look at the only person who cares about you, snowflake.” 

“I don’t care, Dream. You’re dead. You’re not real.” He didn’t sound like he believed it. Footsteps came from behind him and stopped, a hand appeared on Tommy’s shoulder.

“I’m as real as it gets, Tommy.” Dream said. Tommy finally turned around, Fundy did too. The two saw vastly different things.

Tommy saw Dream. The man that tortured and manipulated him for years. He saw Dream completely intact and unharmed. But at the same time he saw Charlie and Quackity and Phil and Techno and even Fundy now. He saw all of them at once. All of them were angry with him. All of them seemed to hate him. Tommy felt like he was going to crumble under their gaze.

Fundy saw something else. He saw a certain primordial being. He saw DreamXD. XD evidently had something against Tommy, probably to do with how close he was with the gods. That was the weak point of the nightmare. XD was using Tommy’s anxiety against him. He was trying to convince the boy that nothing was safe for him. Fundy wouldn’t stand for it.

Tommy finally broke. The fox didn’t let go of the blond’s hand. Tommy crouched to the ground and put his arms over his head as though he were protecting himself from something. Fundy stepped forward and raised his free hand to the beast in front of him.

“Oh? What’s this? A fox?” XD said, His ears folded back against his head.

“Leave this boy alone. He has done nothing to you.” He responded. The deity laughed, the sound was cruel and pure evil. Fundy didn’t waver.

“Sure, fox. That’s what you think. This boy has done nothing for you. You know nothing of him, of his cruelties. This child is worthless to you, to everyone truly.” Tommy’s breath was heavy and broken, he was struggling under the weight of the words XD spoke.

“To you maybe, but not to anyone else,” Fundy shook out his free hand for a moment and raised it back up, this time it held a ball of light. The same color as his eyes. “To Charlie, Tommy is a sweetheart younger brother. To Technoblade, Tommy is a family member worth getting to know. To Quackity, Tommy is a brother and partner in crime. To Philza, Tommy is damn near his son. And to me? He’s someone to be protected. I may not know him as well as the others but I can see every ounce of goodness in him. Your words will no longer have power over him.” The ball grew brighter, Fundy’s voice grew louder. XD’s form wavered.

“What are you doing? What is that? A party trick? You think that can defeat me?” The deity’s voice sounded almost panicked. The foxling smiled and stood his ears back up. This was far too easy.

“Goodbye Dream XD. You cannot bother this boy anymore. Not so long as he lives, not after he dies. You will not harm him.” The orange light floated forward and dissolved XD’s form with a near deafening screech. Fundy kneeled to the ground and hugged Tommy tight. 

“It’s time to wake up now, Tommy. Come on, you can do it.” The boy nodded, the scene faded away.

Waking up had never felt more difficult, he managed of course but barely. Every part of him felt like lead, Tommy felt like he hadn’t slept in months. Some sort of weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, he could breathe again.

 He heard a voice speak up, though what they said he wasn’t sure. 

Was someone shaking him? Another voice said something, he sounded more calm. And then apparently panicked. One more voice came through far more clearly.

“-be okay, I’m sure of it.” The voice said. 

“Yeah he’ll wake up, I can’t guarantee anything about that though.” Fundy? He was awake. Tommy still needed to open his eyes. It was so difficult though. He felt like he could just go back to sleep. He certainly wanted to.

“C’mon slimeball, wake up. Please?” Charlie’s voice sounded fearful, like they were about to cry.

 Why were they going to cry?

 He finally managed to get his arms to move, he rubbed his eyes and opened them. The first thing he did was look at his sibling and hug them.

“ ‘m okay.. Don’t cry..” It still felt like he was half asleep. He was trying to wake up though, really he was. Charlie hugged him back and took a breath.

“Yeah alright, that’s good. Thank you,” Tommy smiled and nodded. He felt a familiar hand on his head, when he looked up Quackity was there and smiling.

“You had us worried there for a moment, patito, glad you’re alright now.” Was it true what Fundy said in the dream world? They saw him as family? He knew Charlie did but did Quackity? And Phil and Techno? Did they really care about him like that? Tommy sat up and stretched, his arm hurt like hell but he decided to ignore it.

“Careful Tommy, something’s up with your arm. We don’t want to aggravate it.” Fundy said finally. He was standing and stretching his legs out. Charlie took Tommy’s arm and gently rolled up the sleeve. 

“Can you do anything about that, mi limo?” Quackity asked them. 

“Probably, though I’d prefer the old fashioned way. I suppose it would be faster this way.” They said. Tommy knew that Charlie had some sort of powers. He never really knew what they were. 

“What’s that mean?” He asked as he looked at his arm. There were some bruises and scrapes and some weird markings, nothing too harmful he hoped. His older sibling smiled at him and rolled up their sleeves.

“Well, you know how the gods have their individual powers?” They asked. Tommy nodded. “Demigods have a similar situation. You’ve obviously seen Fundy’s. He works specifically with dreams and nightmares. His power came as an apology from Quackity due to a mishap in the past. My power comes from how he and I met. I’m a healer, in a very specific and kind of weird way.” They finished explaining. Tommy turned to face them a little better.

“That’s so cool! What do you mean weird though? Healers are awesome!” His energy had returned to normal it seemed. Charlie chuckled and took off their glasses.

“I’ve got another form, you could say. I don’t have access to my power this way. Are you sure you want me to do this?” They asked him, Tommy grinned and nodded.

“Go for it! That sounds epic! Please show me?” 

“Alright alright, give me a second.” They closed their eyes and took a deep breath. 

As Charlie let out their breath, they changed. Their skin shifted to a green color and translucent. Instead of seeing bones or their brain however, they were completely see through. Their hair changed to match as well, instead of brown to green dye, it was all the same shade of green. When they opened their eyes they were completely made of slime.

“Yeah! ¡Gran trabajo, limo! That was awesome! Look at you!” Quackity cheered, Tommy was astounded. That’s where the last name Slimecicle came from, he guessed. Or maybe their last name spawned the idea of them being a slime?

“Yeah yeah,” Charlie chuckled, “Let me see your arm, Tommy.” They said as they held out their now green viscous hand. 

Tommy didn’t hesitate to give it over. Bruised, torn and branded skin met with slime. What was once a weird radiating pain suddenly cleared away. Their hands were cool and surprisingly soft considering they weren’t made of anything solid anymore. It was like putting his arm in a tub of jello.

“Charlie, you should have told me sooner, that’s so cool.” He said as they healed his arm up, a few light scars had been left behind but that was all. Charlie smiled and nodded.

“I figured you’d be more comfortable around a human body, not necessarily a slimy one like mine.” They admitted as they let his arm go. It was good as new!

“You couldn’t possibly make me uncomfortable Charlie, remember that next time.” He said as he looked at the other two in the room. Fundy was standing near the front door, leaning against it. Quackity was grinning and watching him and Charlie.

“Hey, it was nice meeting you Tommy. I have something I need to do. I’ll see you around I hope.” Fundy said as he opened the door. Quackity walked over and hugged him.

“I’m still sorry.” He said, Fundy laughed and hugged him back.

“I’ll forgive you this time.” Tommy got up as well and walked over. Quackity let go and stepped back.

“Thank you, I’m sorry for threatening you with a lamp.” He said sheepishly, the foxling simply chuckled and ruffled his hair.

“It’s alright, believe it or not I’ve been threatened with weirder. Quackity tried to hit me with a piece of meat once.” Fundy said, Quackity made a face but didn’t say anything. Charlie came forward and shook his hand.

“It was nice meeting you, Fundy from Elsewhere.” They said, he simply nodded and walked out the front door. Tommy saw him disappear. Just like that, his new friend was gone.

“Do you have anywhere to be, Quackity from Above? I’m making shepherd's pie tonight if you want to stick around.” Charlie offered. The god’s eyes lit up.

“Oh absolutely I’d like to stick around, Phil and Kristin can wait a little longer.” He chuckled and nodded. They smiled and shifted back to their more human form, their hair was slightly more green this time though.

Chapter Text

Quackity appeared Above once again. He had stayed with Charlie and Tommy until the two went to bed, and then he went to ask Fundy what was affecting Tommy. To no surprise, DreamXD was jealous. He really just couldn’t tell when to quit, could he?

“Quackity! Where the hell have you been?” Phil’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, Quackity smiled sheepishly and brushed his hair out of his face.

“Hiya Phil. I was with Charlie and Tommy. They needed my help with something.” Kristin walked over, her steps were small and graceful, almost like she was floating.

“Welcome home, Quackity. What did they need you for?” She asked gently, despite being Death herself, Kristin had always been softer and more motherly. Phil was oftentimes the more animated one, not on purpose of course. Life was much more energetic than Death.

“Tommy’s mind was being fucked with by a certain deity.” Quackity didn’t realize how angry he was until he said it. Phil’s kind eyes grew slightly darker, Kristin rested her hand on her husband’s shoulder.

“What do you mean? Tell us everything.” Techno was the one to speak up this time. He had either already been there or just arrived, his steps were near silent so nobody could ever truly tell.

“I guess it’s story time, then?” Quackity sighed and nodded, “Alright alright. Listen up.” He started. 

When he concluded his story he was slightly amused by the state of the other three gods with him. Phil looked about ready to burst, Kristin had a dull sort of anger boiling behind her eyes, Techno’s face was completely neutral though he was holding his sword slightly tighter. 

“We can’t act just yet, my love.” Kristin said softly. Phil looked at her and nodded, his anger died down slightly. “We need to find more information, talk to Tommy and Charlie, confront XD, we can ask Fundy as well. He’ll have more to tell us. Quackity said that Fundy wouldn’t explain the entire nightmare right away, we can ask him soon.” She explained. Everyone seemed to be in agreement. And so they would wait.

Fundy had always been fond of where he lived. He lived in a mesa biome, which he adored. He felt that the colors of his home were fitting for him. Like Elsewhere was where he was meant to be. Fundy had managed to dig a home into the side of a mountain. People could still find him, of course. Everyone in the nearby village knew where he lived if they needed him. Of course though, he got his privacy which was much more than appreciated.  Which made him coming home feel far more rewarding than it ought to have been. He was comfortable at home. He felt safe.

When Fundy arrived home he went about making sure everything was still safe and sound. Then made sure there were no notes left behind by worried mortals who needed his help. He didn’t mind helping them of course, that was his job after all. Using his power was tiring, even if it was just hopping into someone else’s dreams. But having to dispel an entire curse given a god? Exhausting. He got all he needed to do before he promptly climbed into his comfortable bed and fell asleep.

As was to be expected, the job of a dreamer is never done. Fundy could do a lot with other people’s dreams, he could even have little visions of what was to come if fate called for it. He found that the moment he had closed his eyes, tonight would be one of those nights.

When he looked down at his hands, they weren’t his. Fundy found that he was in the body of someone now familiar to him. He was seeing this vision from Tommy’s eyes, which didn’t really mean much usually. He felt something off though, that definitely wasn’t good.

“Tommy! Look out!” Charlie’s voice rang out, Fundy promptly ducked to the ground and looked around. An arrow had just narrowly missed his head, fired from a monster’s bow. A skeleton that was supposedly normal had shot at him. Except for the bright green glow from within its skull. XD. Goddamn it.

“Thanks! You got this!” Tommy’s voice called, Charlie kept working towards defeating the beasts he was fighting. Technoblade was there too, fighting alongside the demigod. Phil wasn’t around at the moment, something inside Fundy’s mind said Phil was elsewhere patching Quackity up. Kristin hadn’t shown up.

He wandered the battlefield for a moment before feeling a dull burning pain in the back of his head. 

And then he woke up. Definitely not good. 

Fundy got out of bed and ready for the day, a similar outfit to yesterday’s. He had just gotten coffee when a knock sounded from his door.

“Coming! Give me a moment!” He yelled out, quickly chugging all of what was in his mug and wiping his mouth. Early morning visits weren’t out of the ordinary for him. Surprises were though. He opened the front door and was greeted by a familiar scarred face.

“I’m sorry we have to meet again so soon, but we need you Above.” Quackity said, he looked slightly worried but otherwise relaxed. Fundy nodded and took his hat off for a moment, running his hand through his bright orange hair. 

“Yeah yeah alright, let’s get this over with. I have something to share as well.” He said, Quackity nodded and took his hand. 

The two disappeared from Elsewhere and appeared Above.

It had been a long time since Fundy’s last visit. It hadn’t changed much of course. The ground seemed to be made of clouds. There were various buildings taken from past eras. A Greek style circle of pillars surrounded an altar where sacrifices used to appear. Some food was left there, apparently from Tommy and Charlie.

He wouldn’t lie, Quackity was a little nervous to find out what Fundy had to say. Sure, the two had made up but after finding out something like that, he was a little nervous. The foxling sounded tired, clearly he had just woken up. The two appeared Above with no issue, both of them did travel like this often enough that it didn’t make either of them uncomfortable.

“Welcome Above, Fundy.” Phil spoke as the two appeared, Fundy smiled and nodded. 

“It’s nice to be back.” The fox said in response. He clearly meant it, even if he often preferred his home over this place. Quackity smiled and let out a breath. 

“You said you had something to tell us, what is it?” He asked. 

“There is to be a battle. Tommy is in danger. Be prepared.” Fundy knew better than to tell them everything. If the dream happened, he knew that it would happen no matter what. His best bet was to tell them as little as possible about the details. Quackity knew this, so did the other gods. They didn’t push. It didn’t help that it was vague as hell, but it was knowledge at least. 

Quackity looked around. Kristin had an unknown dark look in her eyes, Phil was absently fidgeting with his wedding ring, Techno had his usual neutral face. 

“What else can you tell us?” Techno asked. He had his axe by his side as usual, he was fidgeting with the handle as he stood. The gods were in for a long day if they had to prepare for something soon.

Chapter Text

Tommy wasn’t aware anything would happen to him. Weeks passed by, then months, and nearly a year since he met Fundy. Nearly a year has passed since anything bad happened to him. Charlie looked anxious that morning though. 

“What’s wrong? You’re so jumpy today!” Tommy asked as his sibling nearly jumped out of their skin for the fifth time that day.

“O-oh. Sorry, Tommy from Logstedshire. I guess I’ve just been anxious is all. Things have been a little scary as of late. And I just got a message from Quackity from Above.” They explained, adjusting their glasses and letting out a breath. Tommy nodded and tilted his head to the side, sort of like a curious dog.

“Well, can I ask about the message?” 

“Sure. The gods are worried, Fundy from Elsewhere had a dream. And apparently we need to prepare for something big. I haven’t found out what it is yet, unfortunately.” Their voice shook slightly as they spoke, as though they were afraid of the reaction they might get from their brother. 

“Oh. Okay,” Tommy thought for a moment, “well… We better get prepared then, do we have any particular idea of what needs to happen?”

Charlie nodded and took Tommy’s hand. “Yeah, I’ve got a bit of an idea. You want to help?” Their brother nodded enthusiastically and grinned.

“Uh, hell yeah!” 

“It’s settled then, we know what we’re doing today.” A small smile rested on their lips, Tommy couldn’t help but grin as the two walked despite the fact that he very well could be in danger. 

It took a few weeks to be prepared to any comforting extent. The warm August melted into a chilly September. Finally, Tommy and Charlie had the tools they might need to survive. They didn’t work alone, of course. They had friends visit. Tubbo came by a couple of times and offered help, he brought Michael as well so the kid could go on a few adventures. Quackity came and visited several times to make sure all was going smoothly. Hell, even Technoblade visited once to see that the weapons were being made properly.

Finally, as the sun set on the final day of preparation, Charlie and Tommy fell onto the couch together, chatting away about who knows what. The doorbell rang. 

Tommy stood up and opened the front door. Outside were three people, two of which he was very familiar with. Tubbo, Michael, and some mysterious tall creature that had very visible anxiety.

“Hello!” Tubbo said loudly, Michael waved enthusiastically. Tommy waved back and ushered the three in the door, laughing quietly to himself when the tall one bumped their head on the door. 

“Tommy, Charlie, this is Ranboo! My dearest husband!” Tubbo said cheerfully, gesturing to Ranboo. They waved sheepishly and smiled awkwardly. Charlie smiled and waved back, as did Tommy. Something about the way Tubbo said ‘dearest’ made Tommy chuckle. Evidently, Michael found it funny too. The young zombie piglin made a short snorting sound.

“Nice to meet you both.” Their voice was quiet and surprisingly deep. Upon further examination, it was clearer to Tommy what exactly Ranboo was. Or at least, half was. They were a creature known as an Enderman. They’re shy and incredibly tall and known for moving parts of things around. Ranboo was half enderman and half something else. They were freakishly tall, and split down the middle between black and white. 

On the black side, their eye was bright green. It looked almost as though it was glowing. On the white side, their eye was blood red. Which was absolutely terrifying. They had big sharp horns growing on their forehead as well, which was most definitely not from the Enderman half of them. They had a long, thin tail on their back as well. Again, not from the Enderman half. The most fascinating part of their features though, at least to Tommy, were their freckles. They had black and white freckles sprinkled on their face. However, the colors were opposites. On the black half of their face, white freckles. And vice versa. They saw him staring at them and blushed. Strangely enough, the blush was purple. Tommy’s eyes widened and he tried to defend himself.

“Oh! Sorry! Your face is just so interesting I couldn’t help myself!” He chuckled. Charlie stood up and wrapped their arm around their brother. Tubbo laughed.

“Isn’t it? I think it’s handsome. ” The ram was laying it on thick with the terms of endearment. It was almost too corny to watch. The short ram boy flirting with the tall ass half enderman.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ranboo from The End. My name is Charlie from Above, this is my brother Tommy from Logstedshire.” Charlie introduced themself and Tommy. Ranboo looked a little surprised by the fact that Charlie had known where they had come from.

Michael ran out the front door giggling. Tubbo wasn’t concerned. The half enderman however was. They looked stressed out and clearly afraid as soon as the kid ran out the door.

“Hey, Boo, it’s okay. I was scared at first too, turns out our son really likes cows. He takes after his uncle.” He winked at Tommy as he said that. Ranboo calmed down slightly and nodded.

“Tubbo has told me a lot about you two. It’s nice to meet you in person.” They said finally. Tommy and Charlie smiled and nodded in agreement. 

Hours passed by like this. As Ranboo started getting used to the new people, they opened up more. They were a lot like Tommy in some ways, yet completely unique in their own way. It was a nice change of pace. That night, lots of laughter filled the home. As it grew later, Tubbo went outside to find Michael asleep with one of the baby cows. When his fathers tried to pick him up, he wouldn’t budge. He had a baby piglin death grip on the calf and neither one seemed to mind.

With lots of ‘are you sure’s and ‘yeah, it’s fine’s, Michael ended up with a new pet as he slept the whole way home. There would always be more cows to breed, more animals to love.

The night was quiet once more. Everything was calm. It was nice. The night was still warm, lingering August air still trying to fight off the cold. Tommy and Charlie spent the night inside talking, reading, and just spending time together. A more perfect night could not have been described. The only thing that could make it better, was the rest of the family. 

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And then the first arrow hit.

Chapter Text

When the arrow hit the outside wall, it came as a dull thunk . At first, Tommy and Charlie assumed it was one of the sheep ramming into the side of the house. They had a habit of doing that. Usually it was the girls trying to show dominance. But Tommy went to check it out anyway.

“Charlie? That wasn’t one of the sheep.” He looked back at his sibling, who now looked very confused. 

“What?” Charlie stood and walked over to the window. It was raining now, and dark out. The light coming from inside the house illuminated just enough outside that they could see an arrow. As well as the monster that shot it. A skeleton stood readying another. 

It drew back the bowstring, and stopped. The tip of the arrow suddenly flashed a bright, lime green. Charlie grabbed Tommy’s arm and forced him away from the window. 

“Charlie?”

“It’s time.” The boy nodded and ran off. 

Two minutes passed before he returned carrying weapons and armor. The materials were distributed as the arrow shot through the window and narrowly missed Tommy’s nose. It smelled like poison, sickly sweet and slightly bitter. Broken glass was now scattered on the floor.

Armor was thrown on, weapons were readied. It was time to defend Logstedshire against an apparently very angry skeleton. The moment the two were out the door, they realized there was much more danger than they thought.

Skeletons, zombies, monsters of all sorts surrounded them, each one different. They were unified by something though, a bright green glow in each of the beasts’ eyes. Tommy still had his cardigan on under his armor. He could feel his various pins pressed against his chest. 

As he and Charlie started defending themselves. Tommy had an idea.

“Hey Charlie? We might need some help!” He half shouted over the sounds of fighting. His sibling nodded and shouted back.

“Who do you suggest?”

“You think the gods will help?” The moment the words fell from his tongue, there was a bright flash of light in the direction of the shrines.

From each one, the respective gods stepped out. Philza, Technoblade, and Quackity were there in an instant. They were ready to fight, weapons drawn. They ran forward and immediately fought through the opposing monsters until they were with Charlie and Tommy.

“Hola, you two!” Quackity was surprisingly cheerful on his greeting . Phil and Techno didn’t say anything. 

“Do we know why this is happening?” Charlie backed up and sliced cleanly through a creeper before it could blow up. Zombie guts splattered nearby. Phil and Techno laughed at something somewhere else.

“That would be DreamXD. Give me a second!” He knocked a bow out of the hands of a skeleton and stabbed through its skull using the arrow it had been intending to shoot. Tommy saw Phil’s shadow fly over him. Another skeleton was shot down before it could fire an arrow at Techno, who was tearing down zombies and creepers left and right. “Anyway, Fundy told us something would happen. We weren’t quite sure when it would happen. But we’re here now!”

“Alright. Let’s do this!” Tommy cheered and sliced clean through a baby zombie as it tried to bite at his knees.

The sun rose over the island and the rain refused to let up. The grass was slick and hard to keep balance on. Everyone managed, though. The mobs slowly cleared up. Several of them got stronger as the fight persisted, though. Skeleton’s arrows got sharper and meaner. Quackity got hit with several and Phil had to drag him away to get healed up. You know it’s bad when a god is in danger of dying. 

Tommy wandered the battlefield for a moment, watching in awe as Charlie and Technoblade fought side by side flawlessly. Before Charlie glanced back and shouted,

“TOMMY! DUCK!” And he did. An arrow soared over his head. It nearly hit him. He got up and waved to his sibling before continuing on his way. He was looking for Phil and Quackity, Tommy just wanted to make sure they were okay.

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He kept walking. The battlefield was loud.

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Tommy knew he should have been more careful. He knew he should have been on high alert. But, his concern for his friend took up most of his mind. Tommy wasn’t exactly surprised when the first arrow hit him, either. It landed deep in his shoulder and knocked him forward. It hurt like hell.

Nobody heard him hit the ground. They heard his shout of pain. He felt a bony foot stand on his back, the hard surface stabbing at his spine, making it hurt slightly.

And then an arrow hid him with a dull thud right in the back of his skull. The last thing he saw was a flash of bright, toxic green.

Chapter Text

Charlie was pissed. And rightfully so. Dream XD had just killed their little brother for nothing. No reason other than because of a grudge XD had against the gods. Tommy hadn’t been a part of it. He was sacrificed anyway. Charlie wouldn’t tolerate this anymore. They felt Technoblade’s gift grow warmer. The bracelet on their arm hummed with power. It wasn’t often that Charlie felt inclined to use the Blood god’s gift. But today was an exception. 

Their body suddenly shifted into the slime form they’d grown so used to. The bracelet stayed on. They swung their sword hard at a monster and it was dissolved in an instant. In the corner of their vision, they could see Quackity and Phil walk out of one of the shrines, Quackity back to full health. 

Monsters were cleared left and right. Phil flew overhead and took out anything that dared get close to the very angry slime, assuming they didn’t kill it first. Technoblade and Quackity stood by and offered to switch weapons with them every once in a while so they could make repairs to the used ones. 

The rain finally stopped. 

The battle ended. 

Charlie’s rage subsided.

Now all that was left was to deal with Tommy. His body, lying dead on the ground. The arrow had killed him instantly. Quackity removed the arrows from the boy’s shoulder and head. Charlie’s body shifted back to its solid form so they could scoop up their little brother. 

Rarely would you ever see gods and demigods cry, it’s not impossible, but still very rare. The higher powers don’t get attached to mortals all that often. Charlie held Tommy’s dead body in their arms and just stared for a moment before the tears started to flow. Their body shook as they sobbed. Each one ripped through the almost silence of the island. The birds didn’t stop chirping. The animals went about as usual. The sun was shining happily again.

It was a heartbreaking sight. 

But the earth does not stop spinning at the loss of a loved one. Not even for the gods.

Phil, Quackity, and Techno could do nothing but stand by and watch. All three knew what had happened. Tommy got to meet Kristin, finally.

Quackity kneeled down and wrapped one arm around his demigod’s shoulders. Phil sat down on the other side and stretched his wing out around the two. Techno didn’t move. 

Tommy was dead. Nothing could change that. It was the way of the world, Phil brought life to humans and Kristin took it away. 

Rarely ever did someone affect them this way. And it hurt.  

Today was supposed to have been a happy day. Tommy’s 20th birthday. He should have been there to celebrate. But now he wasn’t. He would never live to see 20. 

A life cut off at 19 is not a life anyone should be forced to live, or mourn.

Yet here Charlie was, with three gods by their side and a young boy dead in their arms. 

Tommy didn’t expect death to feel numbing. He felt the arrow hit the back of his head for a moment. He saw the flash of green. But that was it. He thought he’d stop thinking. Really, he did. 

But that wasn’t the case. His eyes were closed for a few seconds, but he felt a gentle hand on his cheek. It was cold but still soft. 

When Tommy opened his eyes, a woman was standing there. She was smiling gently, her eyes were twinkling. It wasn’t a sad smile at all, but a genuinely loving one. A smile he rarely saw from other people before exile. Not even Wilbur had looked at him that way.

 Charlie had a similar smile to the woman, Phil did too, as did Quackity. Deep down, Tommy knew that Techno would if he smiled. 

The woman wore a black dress and matching sunhat. A flawless outfit on her. The dress had a belt, off the side hung a few gently glowing bottles. Her hat had a veil on it. On her back she had giant black crow’s wings, much like Phil’s wings. And her hair was the same midnight black color. Her eyes, despite the kind glitter, were cold and terrifying. 

“Oh Tommy. Look at you. Sweet boy.” She said softly. Tommy couldn’t help but smile. It felt like being complimented by a beloved mother. 

“Oh.. thank you. Who are you? You look familiar but I can’t explain why.” That was the truth. His memories of life were faded and hazy, but clearly still there. The woman chuckled and lowered her hand.

“My name is Kristin, I am Death.” Kristin said simply. Tommy’s eyes lit up and he grinned. He remembered now, Phil and Techno had hundreds of stories about her. And then he realized why he was meeting her. His smile fell, tears pricked at his eyes momentarily.

“Wait. Am I dead? Oh shit. Oh no. Charlie’s not gonna be happy.” He suddenly started to panic. Kristin took his hands in hers and sighed. It was such a simple gesture, but it calmed him surprisingly well.

“You are dead, however. I want you to make a choice,” She started. Tommy made eye contact with her and nodded, the panic started to subside. “You have made a great impact on the gods, myself included. Charlie is very protective of you, Quackity can’t stop talking about you half the time, Techno himself seems to have grown very fond of you,” She tugged at the chain around his neck to reveal the golden symbol hanging off of it. The crown and sword. It was humming softly, as usual. “Phil watches you daily for as long as he can. And I often join him. We all care deeply about you, Tommy.” She paused.

“Okay, what’s the choice?” Kristin laughed quietly and nodded.

“I’m giving you the option to become a demigod like Charlie and Fundy. I’ll personally bring you back to life so you can be with your family again. How does that sound?” Tommy’s eyes lit up. A second chance.

He was being given a second chance by Kristin herself. He could go on to live with Charlie up Above, or continue to live on Logstedshire forever. He could be immortal. He could live again. Kristin watched as the gears turned in his eyes.

“What would I do as a demigod?”

“That’s a good question. I’ve always heard whisperings in my mind, longing for someone in particular to fill a role. You were so willing to put your trust in something you’ve only heard about in story books. You built a shrine and called out to someone you didn’t expect to respond. You believed things could get better. Things could be great. You had faith . So why not give you control over that?” Her smile grew a little wider, a little kinder, a little more motherly.

“That’s perfect!” Tommy cheered. He’d admit that he wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but he was excited nonetheless.

“Then close your eyes, Tommy.” He did so. He felt her hands rest on his face briefly before his fingers started to tingle. That sensation passed up through his body. It wasn’t unpleasant in the slightest. He felt powerful. “As the Goddess of Death, Wife to the God of Life, I grant you immortality. Welcome to godhood, Tommy. Demigod of Faith. And happy birthday, stardust.”

 A flash of light appeared as he opened his eyes. He was back in the living realm. And it was a mess.

Chapter Text

The first sound he heard was someone crying. He felt arms wrapped around his body. Tommy’s head hurt like a bitch. 

It took a moment to place who was holding him before he realized it was Charlie. Though he could understand why, Tommy had just died. That alone would break the hearts of many. He couldn’t stand to hear his older sibling cry so hard.

Without warning, Tommy shot up and hugged Charlie, much to their surprise. 

“Wh-what..?” They slowly wrapped their arms around him again. They sniffled, Phil laughed and patted Tommy on the head. Quackity laughed and cheered. 

“Don’t cry over me, I’m alright.” He pulled away momentarily and smiled confidently at them. Charlie only cried harder and hugged him tight.

“But-”

“Kristin let me come back, Charlie. I’m back. Hell, I’m better now!” As he laughed, Charlie looked into his eyes. He had a familiar shine to them, not just because of his normal glittering eyes. There was a power behind them.

Every demigod is non-human in some way. They become half something else. Fundy became half fox because that was his favorite animal at the time of his transformation. Charlie became half slime because their last name suggested it. Tommy’s last name would do the same, or if the gods went by Tommy Soot, they’d have to choose something fire related.

But that wasn’t the case.

Tommy had feathers. Not big wings like Phil, but white and red feathers on his cheekbones and forearms. He had been discarded, tossed to the side and deemed useless. Much like the species of bird he had just become. Some would say being half chicken is embarrassing, Tommy didn’t care. Chickens are strong, fast, and mean when it comes to the people they loved. 

Tommy took it as a welcome, a chance to protect those he cared for, just as they had for him.

“You certainly gave us a fright, patito.” Quackity chuckled lightly and ruffled Tommy’s hair. Charlie hadn’t let go of him yet, still crying silently into their little brother’s shoulder.

“Yeah my bad. I promise, from here on out, no more death scares.” Tommy laughed and squeezed his sibling a bit tighter.

It took a while for Charlie to calm down enough to be coherent. Phil seemed happy.

They had all gone inside before the sun went down , everyone got changed into clean clothes. Charlie was still getting dressed when Tommy finally decided to bring up Life’s good mood.

“What’s got you all smiley, Phil?” He asked. Phil looked over and thought for a moment, his eyes shining like gems.

“Well, it’s not every day that Kristin chooses to let someone live. You met her and lived to tell the tale. That’s not an easy feat, fledgeling.” Phil explained, his wings twitched behind him. 

The gods chose not to go home. The first night of immortality was often a rough one. Nightmares usually happened the first night. Tommy ended up falling asleep on top of Quackity as the god gently brushed his fingers through the boy’s hair. 

Everyone learned quickly that night that that was the best way to knock Tommy out. It had started simply because Quackity had nothing better to do with his hands, followed by soft snoring coming from the now demigod beneath his chin. Everyone laughed quietly and let him sleep, They knew he needed it.

And so he slept,

and dreamed,

and smiled softly.

The night went smoothly, nobody woke up. Everyone felt rested the next day. The battle was over and they had all survived.

Chapter Text

Tommy was tired. He slept a lot longer than anyone else had. Apparently, becoming a demigod is tiring work despite the fact he hadn’t done anything other than die.

His body felt weird when he woke up. His face and arms were all tingly, his legs felt like he’d just been working out for 12 hours straight. He also felt warm. Warmer than he had when he fell asleep. Tommy hadn’t realized he had fallen asleep either.

Upon opening his eyes, Tommy realized he wasn’t laying with Quackity anymore. 

Techno had his arms resting on Tommy’s shoulders and a book in his hands. He was likely reading about the stories humans came up with. He had always been fascinated by the creativity mortal beings could have.

“Good morning, Tommy,” Techno said quietly as the boy opened his eyes. 

“Mornin’ Techno.” Tommy responded. He wasn’t exactly sure why Quackity had gotten up but he wasn’t going to complain. Techno was like a living heater, which made being around him very comforting.

“Quackity and Charlie are out doin’ stuff right now, they’ll be back.” 

“Alright.” Tommy stretched out and moved so he could read with Techno. It was Greek myths today. The story of Theseus. 

The two sat together and read for a long time. It was comfortable. 

Phil came in from the kitchen and smiled. He was carrying a few plates of food. General breakfast foods. He handed one to Tommy and another to Techno, who both thanked him and started eating.

“Sleep alright, Tommy?” Phil asked. Tommy nodded.

“Yeah! I feel a little weird though.”

“That’s how it goes with transformations. It always feels a little funny.”

The room fell into silence for a little while as everyone ate. Tommy played through the events of the day before in his mind. Usually silence made him violently uncomfortable. But as of right now, it was the opposite. He was happy just to have somebody with him. He was happy to have everything going somewhat right.

“Wait, hold on what day is it?” Tommy suddenly asked.

“April 10th, why?” Techno spoke up. Tommy’s eyes lit up and he laughed.

“My birthday was yesterday! I’m 20 now! Holy shit- ” The boy went silent again, just thinking. Phil watched him for a moment before speaking.

“Wow. Congratulations, fledgeling. Happy late birthday.” His voice was light and cheerful, Techno nodded. 

“Thank you thank you, I’m officially the biggest man on the planet.”

“How about this, what would you like to do? We can celebrate today since we missed yesterday.” Phil offered. Tommy sat and thought for a few moments.

The door opened, Charlie and Quackity came in as they talked about something. Charlie walked over and sat next to Tommy, casually wrapping their arm around his shoulder and smiling.

“Morning, Tommy from Logtedshire,” they ruffled his hair. Tommy smiled back and leaned against them.

“Morning Charlie! Hey I have a question, do all demigods have to do that?”

Quackity looked confused and sat down on the other side of him. 

“Do what?”

“The whole ‘name from place’ thing. I don’t think I remember Fundy doing it except when he introduced himself.”

“No no, you don’t have to. I did it as a human and it became a habit up until now.” They explained with a quiet laugh.

“Oh pog alright. I won’t lie, I was not ready to try and remember where everyone is from.” Tommy sighed with dramatic relief. Everyone chuckled at his acting and went on with the conversations. It was a good day. 

Everyone was happy.

“Tommy, you never answered my question.”

Oh- right. That.

“What about going Above? I don’t necessarily have to live there if you don’t want me to but it would be nice to visit!”

“Yeah! Let’s do it!” Quackity cheered.

Chapter Text

Tommy could not have described how he felt at that moment. He was surrounded by gods who had deemed him family. He was technically a demigod himself. He was going to see where his new family lived.

He might even be able to live with them.

Tommy had been trying to wrap his head around that all morning. Of course, some little anxious part of his brain kept talking.

“They probably don’t want you there.”

“You’re annoying as it is.”

“They might already regret meeting you.”

“Don’t bother them.”

“Don’t ask.”

“Don’t even breathe wrong.” 

“You have to be perfect so they’ll keep you around.”

“You have-  

Tommy cut that thought off immediately. He knew when it was getting too much. Everybody did. The gods could see it in his eyes that something was bothering him. He managed to swap the thought process, with a little help.

Tommy found his head on Charlie’s shoulder. They were petting the feathers on his arms. Everyone had gone a little quieter for his sake.

Nobody had done that for him before.

In early L’Manburg, Wilbur would get a little quieter and play him a song on the guitar, Tubbo would crack jokes, things would get calm for a moment before picking back up again. Tommy learned back then that he just needed to breathe and keep smiling despite it all.

During Pogtopia, nobody even stopped to offer a hug. They were already too busy preparing for a war they didn’t know they’d win. Techno might stop by and offer him some potatoes or a gentle head pat, but that was it. Tommy learned back then that nobody needed to hear his problems, he’d figure it out himself. 

When he was sentenced to Exile, he was already fucked up as it was. Dream wouldn’t usually give him a chance to deal with his issues. And then he was abandoned by everyone. Being alone didn’t help. Tommy didn’t learn anything he didn’t already know.

And then Charlie happened.

They taught him a lot.

And then Quackity happened.

He taught Tommy a lot.

And then Phil happened.

Phil helped Tommy get better.

Techno did too.

And then Kristin happened.

She let Tommy get a second chance at life. She let him learn from his mistakes and live again.

He knew they loved him. If they didn’t love him, they wouldn’t have stuck by his side. Those thoughts that told Tommy he wasn’t worth it were wrong.

He knew he was worth it. He knew he was loved. He just had to have faith, which he did.

After some conversation, they finally decided to go. Charlie explained that, should he choose, Tommy wouldn’t have to return to Logstedshire. He could do what he wanted as a demigod. Quackity talked about Fundy and his choice to move Elsewhere.

Tommy, in response, ran outside and opened up all the gates to the fences. The animals inside looked confused. He pet the ones that would let him.

“You’re free now. Go explore the island again. It’s all yours.” He said, grinning. Tommy let them all go. 

After watching a few confused animals walk out of the pen, he ran back inside, still smiling widely. Everybody stood and watched as the boy ran through the house and finished up anything he could for now. 

“Are you coming to stay with us then, patito?” Quackity asked as Tommy, now breathing heavily from running around, finally came to a stop. He nodded quickly and caught his breath.

“Are you kidding?! I’m being offered the chance to get off the island and live with my family! Of course I’m coming!” He half shouted. Everybody smiled. Charlie took one of Tommy’s hands, Phil took the other.

And so they went.

It was a sudden flash of light to Tommy. Like how people described it when dying before revivals were possible. He felt his feet come off the ground and his whole body felt warm. Like he had been laying in a patch of sunlight after a stormy night. His favorite sensation.

And then his feet hit the ground again. Charlie and Phil were still holding him up, and thankfully so. Tommy’s legs gave out and they caught him before he could hit the ground too. Tommy laughed and got his footing. 

It was soft beneath his feet. Almost like clouds. Clouds but firmer. A thick mattress, maybe?

Either way, Above was beautiful. Tommy wasn’t quite sure what the thing beneath his feet was made of but it was cool. There were small buildings dotted about as well, with gaps in the ground to look through. 

The small buildings seemed to have been shrines for each god. A few of them looked older and abandoned but a circle of them stood fresher. Tommy’s shrines. He smiled as he thought of them. How they looked, how they stood together, it was beautiful. Out of one of them came a woman.

Kristin.

She smiled and hugged each of the gods around Tommy before hugging him as well. 

Her embrace was warm. Which was slightly surprising considering that death is supposed to be cold. But nonetheless he had never felt more at home. 

Home. 

What a funny word. Years ago, Tommy thought he’d never see home again. He thought he’d die in exile. He thought nobody would want him again. He thought a million things.

But now?

Looking at Charlie, Quackity, Techno, Phil and Kristin?

He was home.

And damn it felt good to be there

Chapter Text

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tfEwPHXE1VoIecj2DZ3-Wmx3AkxoMuOqg9y8z5Swk0s/edit?usp=sharing -the google doc in case any of y'all wanna see what my writing looks like in the making

https://discord.gg/rj6peb5Sdw -the discord so you can come see me and my friends! We'd love to have you!

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, there were gods. Many of them. All of which served a unique purpose. Some were general concepts; Life, Death, Luck. Others were more specific; Dreams, Healing, Wars and farming. And many, many more.

And for those gods, there were buildings. Large, sculpted temples used for worship, and smaller more personal shrines to each. Oftentimes, there were buildings around the shrines, not quite temples, but large enough for a person to hide inside. 

It has been a long time since anyone has truly worshipped those gods, so a great many have faded. Only a few survive now, a few of which aren’t even fully gods.

And now they stand Above, waiting for someone Below to remember them.

It turns out, that person is a young man named Tommyinnit. He grew up hearing these stories of glory and valor and magic. Those tales that made him think anything was possible.

But sometimes things change. 

And sometimes you get stuck on an island and forgotten.

That’s what Tommy had to live through. Exiled from the country he built by his best friend, tortured on the island he wound up on, and then abandoned.

For three whole years. Stuck on an island at 16 and forgotten until 19. 

It wasn’t always horrible, he didn’t always feel alone. Some days he’d talk to the animals of his farm, slinging jokes at the cattle and telling stories to the sheep, yelling at the clouds. It was good. 

But other days? Other days he couldn’t bring himself to speak at all. Because nobody would listen. He never got letters, nobody visited, no one checked in. He was quite lonely, to tell the truth. And that scared him. It scared him more than any person ever could.

It was storming the day he decided to change that. The rain came down in thick, heavy sheets that glued his hair to his forehead and his clothes to his skin. It was still warm, almost humid, but the raindrops cooled him down comfortably. 

He was putting the finishing touches on the outside of his house, a nice little multi room log cabin. He even built furniture on the inside, but it had started leaking, so he fixed it. 

So outside in the rain, he stood, staring at an empty area not far from the sheep pen. He could see them inside, cowering away from the rain. Drama queens.

“What was that story Wil used to tell me?” Tommy asked himself, cringing slightly as his voice cracks on his brother’s name, “The gods, was it? I could make a shrine to them. Might be a fun project.” He looked up at the clouds, closing his eyes and soaking in the rain.

“Lady Kristin’s first, maybe? She’s the one I’ve been closest to, after all the times I’ve nearly died. Not that she’ll even hear me.” He hums.

BOOM

Lightning struck right where he was planning to build, presumably a yes. So he nodded and made sure nothing was on fire before getting the materials he needed to start building.

It took more than a couple of weeks to finish the build, the first of many, he figured. The shrine turned out quite nice, actually. Tall stone walls and a dark concrete roof, all with carved details from whatever myths his mind would conjure for him to remember. And inside, a proper offering table. Well- what he thought was a proper offering table.

When it was finally finished, all the final touches put together, he ran into his house and made two sandwiches. One for himself, and the other to leave as an offering. He didn’t have much to give, but it would have to do.

He set the sandwich on the table and knelt in front of it, not quite sure how exactly to pray. So he sat in silence, listening to the world outside. A sense of peace settled over him, a short breeze blew through the building. So he stood and mumbled thanks before leaving to do some work elsewhere.

Maybe it worked, maybe it didn’t. At least he had a project to do.

It was in the midst of gathering wood for his next project, the shrine for Philza, the god of Life, that things started happening. The day seemed to last longer, more trees popped up on the island, even a few rogue zombies that had managed to survive into the daytime disappeared out of nowhere.

About halfway through the day, Tommy had the bright idea to take a nap under a tree. It was warm, sunny, the breeze was cool, and the weather was cool. Perfect for a short nap.

Except it wasn’t short. He got a little too comfortable and should have woken up there the next day.

But he didn’t.

He woke up in bed, tucked in and cozy. 

How had he gotten there? He stood up from bed, stretching as tall as he could manage. Judging by the way all his bones cracked, he slept pretty still all night, which was incredibly rare.

Then he heard steps. Footsteps, light and a little bouncy. In a panic, though they didn’t sound familiar, he pulled up the chat logs to make sure Dream hadn’t come to visit.

He hadn’t. He hadn’t even logged in.

So who the fuck was in his house? And why were they whistling?

Walking out of his room, with a sword in hand, he peeked out into the living room. Nothing was out of place, the door wasn’t even open. Had he been hearing things?

The sound of a pan in the kitchen being set down caught his ear and he lifted the sword into a ready stance.

Unfortunately, his stealth ended about halfway through the living room when he accidentally kicked a table. The sounds in the kitchen stopped.

His heart did too, for a moment.

A figure stepped into the room, a bright smile on their face. Their hair was a deep brown, with the ends dyed bright, neon green. They had kind eyes, a sort of mossy green, behind square glasses. They were tall, oddly formal, and far, far too happy to be there.

“Tommy from L’manberg!” They exclaimed, waving enthusiastically.

“Don’t call me that. I’m not from there.” His voice was oddly stable, as opposed to his shaky grip on his iron sword.

“Where are you from then?” They tilted their head to the side, not unlike a dog.

“Logstedshire. This place.”

“Tommy from Logstedshire, then. It’s nice to meet you! I’m Charlie! Charlie Slimecicle from Above!”

“Right… Charlie. Why’re you here?” He lowered his sword slightly. They weren’t holding any weapons visibly, nor were they wearing armor. 

“To help you.” They said, he suddenly realized he could smell pancakes. “Hungry?” They must have been able to read his expression, because he was starving. He only nodded.

“Come eat!” Charlie led him into the kitchen.

And so, the two fell into a routine. Tommy more reluctantly than Charlie, but he grew comfortable anyway. They certainly were helpful and had many stories to tell. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

At least he wasn’t alone anymore.