Chapter Text
Tommy had been in exile for a month now, at least. He had stopped keeping track days ago. But he knew this much because beforehand he scratched the days into the bark of the logs that surrounded the hut Ghostbur had built in their first couple of days on the Ender-damned beach. He had a few visitors in his first few days of exile, but it had been at least two weeks since anyone other than Dream had showed up. Ghostbur had vanished after a week and a half into his exile, on the same day as his failed beach party. Ranboo only left him little messages when he got the chance, which was not often. And Tommy had only seen Tubbo once, in a sickly hallucination where his own mind decided to betray him.
But Dream, Dream was his friend. Right?
He must be. He was the only one that bothered to visit. Sometimes he would bring gifts, like food or tools that he let him keep for the day. And after blowing up his other tools and armor he let him run about with his trident on occasion, or help him with the ‘chores’ in the land of his exile. One time they even sat in Ghostbur’s hut and Dream taught him how to play chess. That was a good night, with no punishments, just laughter and cheap tricks.
Sure, it sucked that his items were taken away, but he was being taught a lesson, it was for his own benefit. And that little flicker of disobedience, defiance, that would refuse to bow to Dream still lived on. That little flicker in him persuaded him to hide away some items from Dream’s all-seeing eyes. It’s what kept him alive on the darker days where he wanted nothing more but to slip into sleep and never wake up.
It was also that little flicker that was going to get him killed.
Ears ringing, burns tingling, and tears streaming, Tommy stared at the remains of what used to be Logstedshire. Dream stood besides him, still holding the flint and steel that he had used to blow up the place, his home. Dream put a hand on his shoulder and Tommy had to force himself to refrain from flinching.
“You needed to be taught a lesson Tommy,” Dream was saying. “You can’t disobey me without getting punished for it.”
“I’m sorry Dream,” Tommy pleaded, ignoring the way his body ached and ignoring the voice that screamed for him to run away. “I’m sorry, I really am, please don’t leave me alone. Please don’t leave.”
If Tommy could see underneath Dream’s mask he’d be seeing the green-eyed man smiling down at him with a look of satisfaction. Instead, Tommy watched and felt as Dream lifted a hand to caress his cheek, swiping a thumb against it, probably cleaning up ash that had stuck to his skin. Tommy was still, not daring to move an inch and reawaken Dream’s wrath once more.
“You’re covered in burns,” Dream remarked, stating the obvious truth. He reached into the pouch at his side, pulling out two potions. Tommy eyed them warily, but also hopefully. His whole body ached, and the exposed burns and cuts on his skin burned. “You can have these,” Dream said, handing him the potions. Tommy uncorked them carefully, not bothering to check the colors of the contents before pouring them down his throat. He trusted Dream. Dream was his friend. Dream was his savior. Dream was his punisher. But Dream wouldn’t leave Tommy hurt for too long, not if he was in danger of dying. He gagged at the taste of magic and blazepower, feeling a little sick to his stomach. Dream wrapped an arm around his shoulder and led him to his tent, the poor thing looking worse for wear after all the explosions.
“Get some rest Tommy,” Dream said sweetly, almost too sweetly. Tommy didn’t care though, this side of Dream was the good Dream. The nice Dream that gave him gifts and bandaged his wounds. “I’ll be here in the morning.”
Tommy blinked, his eyelids and body feeling heavy. He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t bring himself to form words. It felt as if he was walking through honey and his world blurred in and out of focus. He felt his body get lowered to the ground, and whimpered when he felt the warm arms that used to hold him up leave. He listened to the murmurs coming from Dream, unable to decipher what he was saying. He had half a mind to wonder what those potions were, but his brain was too clouded to truly care. Before he knew it, his eyes were closing and darkness fell.
⟲ ○ ◯ ○ ⟳
It was cold. Tommy whimpered and curled into himself. He could hear birds, and oddly enough, the sound of waves crashing against the shore. As far as he knew, he didn’t live next to the ocean. He lived in the cottage on the outskirts of the forest in the plains biome where he lived with his dad and brothers. This was wrong, something was wrong.
Tommy hesitantly pulled himself up, rubbing at one of his eyes as he blinked away the sleepiness. He studied his surroundings. He was in a ratted white, or gray, tent that had a few chests sitting across from him. He was wearing clothes that were much too big for him, and while he enjoyed going to sleep in baggy shirts he knew he didn’t own any clothes like this. He was lucky enough to find some other clothes in the chests, even if they were still too big, they were better than nothing. Tommy was just happy that he had found a belt to hold up his pants, otherwise they would’ve probably fallen off.
After dressing himself, Tommy peaked out of the tent, looking at the landscape around him. There was a beautiful sparkling ocean, the only nice thing about this place. Everything else was blown to pieces, ash still settling in the grass and unearthed rock lying haphazardly around the explosion pits. Tommy lifted up one of his feet to see the ash covering the bottom of his feet, staining them black. He fake gagging, thinking about how his dad would force him into a bath as soon as he got home. Phil always was super insistent about staying clean and while he didn’t mind it half of the time it sure did get annoying.
He’d just have to find his dad first, once he figured out where he was.
“Tommy?”
Startled by a voice he didn’t recognize, Tommy spun around and looked up to see a tall man with a really stupid mask staring down at him. The mask covered his whole face, and the stupid smiley face drawn on it made Tommy cringe. The man was dressed in a horribly bright green sweatshirt and had a belt with potions and a sword hanging on it. On his back he could see an axe and crossbow and Tommy couldn’t stop himself from stepping away from the dangerous looking stranger. He didn’t seem very friendly. These were the type of men that his dad warned him about, telling him to run from and get him right away when they approached him.
“Who’s askin’?” Tommy asked the man, alarm bells going off in his head. “How’d you know my name?”
“Your dad sent me to get you,” the tall green stupid man said. Tommy looked the man up and down and shook his head.
“No he didn’t,” Tommy said defiantly, crossing his arms. “My dad doesn’t know anyone like you.”
The masked man shifted on his feet and took a step closer. The confidence and power in his pose made Tommy nervous. He froze instead of taking another step backward when the man got closer.
“Oh c’mon Tommy, just let me take you home,” the man said, resting a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. The alarm bells rang loudly in his head and the younger boy snapped, promptly taking the man’s arm and biting down on his wrist as hard as he could. The man yelped and Tommy couldn’t help but feel proud of himself when he broke the man’s skin before he managed to pull away. As the man clutched his wrist Tommy took the chance to kick him as hard as he could in the shin, before he punched him in his dick and took off running. He was glad that the advice Wilbur had given him had come in handy, even though he thought he’d never have to use it.
The man doubled over and groaned in pain, shouting and cursing at Tommy as he ran away, only making the boy laugh as he ran into the dark oak forest across the long plain. He didn’t know where his dad was, or his brothers, but he bet they were worried sick. And something in his gut told him that the green man was bad news.
Tommy didn’t stop running, not until he got to the snowy forest. He remembers the stories his brother told him about men with frostbite, and when he looked down at his disheveled self he couldn’t help but think about all the ways the cold could kill him. So he climbed up in a tree and waited. Surely his dad was searching for him, his brothers too. They wouldn’t leave him.
Night fell and Tommy shivered. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he felt as if he was dying from the cold. He was tired, he felt sick to his stomach, and worse of all his family still hadn’t come for him.
To make matters worse there was a mob shooting at him, having found him sitting only a few feet up in the tree.
Tommy was doing everything an eight-year old could to keep the Ender-damned thing away. He threw back the arrows it shot at him, along with branches he’d ripped off the tree. But the mob persisted, and when one arrow came dangerously close Tommy couldn’t help but let out a terrible scream.
He screamed and he sobbed and he kicked when something grabbed his ankle and pulled him from the tree.
“Let me go you stupid green fuck!” Tommy shouted, thinking that the green man from earlier had come to take him away again.
“Ender, kid settle down!”
Tommy stopped kicking. He knew that voice, even if it sounded a bit deeper than he remembered. He froze and looked up into the face, or well mask, or his supposed kidnapper.
And there he was, in all his glory. With the golden crown that rested atop long pink locks and the pig skull mask that looked down at him, hiding warm brown eyes. Strapped to his hip by his side hung a sword in its sheath, and in his hand he held a very fancy looking axe that he didn’t remember his brother owning.
Technoblade.
“Technoblade!” Tommy shouted happily before throwing his arms around his brother, only reaching the tall boy’s waist, which felt wrong but also right. “Oh my Ender I had the worst day ever. I think I was kidnapped, and there was this really stupid looking bitch with an even stupider mask. I was at ‘dis place and there was ‘dis ocean, which was kinda pretty, but everything else was blown up! The fucking weird green guy said he was gonna take me to dad and I thought ‘oh hell no’ ‘cause the guy looked like a creep, I’m telling you he was a wrong’un, so I punched him in the balls just like how Wilbur taught me how too and then I ran. I’ve been up in that tree like all day and I’m so hungry and my butt and legs hurt from sitting like all day, not to mention ’m super cold and ’m hungry.”
“Uh, what?”
Tommy noticed that his brother wasn’t hugging him back, and he frowned before stepping backward. His brother was practically frozen in place, staring at him, his axe still in hand.
“What?” he asked, crossing his arms. “That’s all you’re gonna say? I was kidnapped and now I’m starving!”
“Tommy?” Techno asked, looking more than confused.
“Who else?” Tommy said with a huff. “Say, did you get taller?”
“Tommy, shut up for a moment, please,” Techno said as he ran a hand over the top of his hair. He looked worried, more worried than that time he watched Wilbur fall out of a tree and break his arm, or the time when he found Tommy after he went missing for nearly the whole day because he got lost in the forest.
“Is everything alright big man?” Tommy asked, tilting his head in confusion.
“NO!” Techno shouted, making Tommy flinch backwards. “TOMMY YOU LOST AT LEAST A FOOT OF YOUR HEIGHT AND YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO HATE ME!”
“Hey!” Tommy exclaimed, crossing his arms. “I did not shrink! I’m tall for my age!”
“Tommy you are literally like four and a half feet tall right now,” Techno said. “You’re supposed to be about six feet tall. How is that tall for your age?”
“Excuse you, I’m four feet and eight inches,” Tommy said in a sassy tone, shifting on his feet and standing taller. “And I’m a growing boy. I haven’t hit puberty yet.”
“Tommy you’re sixteen,” Techno deadpanned. Tommy blinked, and then burst out laughing.
“No, I’m not?” he said through a wheeze, although it was more of a question than an answer. “You alright big man? ‘Cause other than Wilbur you're the only other sixteen year old I know.”
“Tommy, I’m twenty-four,” Techno said, in the same deadpan monotone voice as before.
“I think you’re del-uuuu-sion-al,” Tommy sang, drawing out and over pronouncing the word ‘delusional.’
“You know what, just follow me,” Techno said with an exasperated sigh, before walking off into the trees. Tommy glanced down at his bare feet and the snow on the ground before running after his brother. He tugged on his cape, trying to ignore the weirdness of this fact because the cape was blue and not red, and trying to get Techno’s attention.
“Techno, Technoooo,” Tommy whined. “Techie please stop you’re walking too fast.”
“Walk faster Tommy!” Techno snapped. Tommy came to a halt and blinked back tears.
“M’ feet hurt,” he said, biting back the sob that was building up in his throat. He didn’t want to cry again, not in front of his big brother. He was supposed to be a big man, but he was tired, and hungry, and he was starting to lose feeling in his feet after being outside in the snow for so long. “I don’t have any shoes.”
Techno’s head whipped around and for the first time he got a good look at his brother’s ratty appearance. There was soot and ash all over his skin and it turned his usually well kept blond hair a dirty gray-blond instead. His clothes were hanging off him, shorts coming past his knees and sleeves nearly to his elbows. He wasn’t wearing any shoes and his clothes did not do him any good for this weather.
“Why didn’t you tell me before,” he said, his voice softer than all the previous times he had spoken. “C’mere.”
Tommy practically ran into the arms of his brother. Techno swung his cape off of his shoulders and fastened it around Tommy’s neck, even though it was much too big for a boy his size. Then he sighed and turned around, crouching down and motioning for Tommy to climb onto his back. Tommy eyed him warily for a moment before quickly climbing on. Techno put his arms under the boy’s legs as Tommy wrapped his arms around his neck, carrying him piggy-back style.
“Where’re we goin’?” Tommy asked.
“Home,” Techno responded. “My home, that is.”
“Is it warm?” Tommy asked. Techno nodded.
“Yes, and it’s away from everyone else,” he replied.
“‘Das good, right?” Tommy said, exhaustion from the day’s events finally weighing down on him. “‘Cause I didn’t like that green guy that found me ‘dis morning.”
“Green guy?” Techno asked, side stepping a fallen log as he walked. Tommy yawned.
“Yeah, he was a wrong’un,” he said sleepily. “I was in ‘dis tent thing, and everything outside was blown up. Kinda scary, but I ran away and found you!”
Techno muttered to himself but Tommy was too tired to care. In the warmth of his brother’s arms and cape, with the gentle rhythm of his steps, Tommy felt like he was being rocked to sleep. Like how Phil used to rock him to sleep when he was littler. It was comforting and Tommy couldn’t stop his body from relaxing into his brother’s, letting his head rest on Techno’s shoulder and letting his arms hand loosely around Techno’s neck.
“Tommy you have to hold on or you’ll slide off,” Techno said. Tommy hummed and gripped his arms just a little bit tighter so he wouldn’t slide off. Techno huffed and got a better grip of his legs, determined to keep his brother upright. “Don’t worry, it’ll only take us another few minutes to get back home.”
“Will Da and Wilby be there?” Tommy asked quietly. His brother fell silent and Tommy blinked tiredly.
“You’ll see them eventually.”
That was good enough for Tommy and the two brothers fell silent as they walked across the cold icy forests and plains to get to Techno’s house. Tommy barely registered the fact that they had arrived at Techno’s home until he was enveloped in warm air and set down on a couch. Tommy curled into himself, pulling Techno’s cape tighter around him as let himself drift off to sleep.
He didn’t catch the way his brother stared at him with confused and worried eyes, wondering what had happened to the boy he used to call his brother.