Chapter Text
Today was the kind of day where history would be made. Where just one decision could change everything. The air was charged with so much anticipation that it could’ve powered a whole nation. Everyone had been pulled away, wanting a front row seat to the life changing events that were about to unfold. Waiting for the moment that would ripple through the rest of time.
So, no one was around when all the way across the settlement, a small hut filled with a strange serene glow. A thin line of light expanded in the middle of the room before opening like an eye revealing a star-filled portal. An extremely tall figure emerged from it and landed gracefully on his feet with a practiced ease. His cloak fluttered a bit before settling on the floor. His face’s tone was split right down the middle, white on one side and black on the other. His long black and white hair was carefully twisted around each other in an intricate braid down his back. Green and red glowing eyes quickly scanned around the room, taking in the stone walls and floor surrounding them.
He had just enough time to readjust the crown sitting on his head before a much shorter figure came tumbling out. The enderman was quick to catch the other before he even had a chance to touch the ground. The shorter man had a deep burn scar on the right side of his face, stretching from the bottom of his chin up towards his eye. One of his brown goat ears had been badly disfigured causing it to always droop slightly. His honey brown hair fluffed out around his head, almost covering his eyes and only letting the top of his dark brown horns peak out over them. He looked up at the man holding him and smiled brightly.
“Thanks, Boo.” The language he spoke in was strange, having a gravelly ethereal tone to it.
“No problem, Bee.” Ranboo smiled a bit as he watched Tubbo settle into his husband’s arms and calmly fluff out the fur around his cloak’s collar. Ranboo’s eyes suddenly widened as he was struck with the realization that someone was still missing. He quickly scanned the room before looking back to the portal with a slightly confused expression. “Wait. Where is…”
The question was cut off as another cloaked figure barreled out. The new arrival immediately lost his balance and face planted right into the floor. His headphones flew off his golden curls and skidded across the smooth stone that made up the floor. He was practically covered in bandages, mostly traveling up and down his arms. The bit of skin was still visible showed various scars that had set a while ago. The blond groaned, not bothering to move.
“I see how it is. Save your husband but not me.” His grumbles were slightly muffled against the floor.
Tubbo shot the other a smug glance. “Well, I am clearly the more important one.”
“Oh, fuck off prick.” The blond started to pull himself up at a dramatically slow pace.
The enderman tried to suppress a chuckle. “Are you ok, Tommy?”
Tommy simply stared at Ranboo with an annoyed look. “Don’t fucking insult me. It’ll take more than a bit of floor to take me out, bitch.”
“Then I guess you didn’t need me to catch you.”
“Oh. I’ll show you who didn’t…”
None of them were prepared for the portal to shoot out a small child who landed directly on top of Tommy and knocking them both to the ground. The room dimmed as the starry portal quickly snapped shut and vanished. The child blinked around dazed, his little piglin nose and ear twitching as he tried to adjust to the new surroundings. He was surprisingly adorable even if he had patches of green discolored skin and the right side of his face was missing, leaving an empty eye socket and a part of his skull exposed. The husbands stared at the new arrival in disbelief. Their friend simply groaned from his pinned position.
“Please tell me that’s not who I think it is.” Tommy’s muffled voice asked tiredly.
“Michael?” It was all Ranboo could manage as his mind tried to catch up. He was snapped out of it when Tubbo began struggling to escape and elbowed him in the stomach. The enderman scrambled to put his husband down and refocus on his son. “What do you think you are doing?”
The piglin looked up at him with his one pale grey eye. “I wanted to help.”
“Oh no!” Tubbo exclaimed. “We told you that it was too dangerous!”
“What’s the point in training me if I’m never going to use it?” Michael tried to harden his gaze the way he’d seen the goat hybrid do when he was trying to intimidate people. It might have worked if it wasn’t for the surprised squeak he let out as Tommy rolled him off so he could finally stand up.
“The point of your training is so you can defend yourself,” Ranboo replied.
“Yeah.” The blonde huffed. “Not to charge headfirst into danger like a fucking moron.”
Michael quickly scrambled to his feet so he could level the three adults with a glare. “But you guys are!”
“We’ve had practice with these sorts of things.” Tommy automatically replied, crossing his arms.
His kid crossed his arms right back. “You’ve had practice with time traveling?”
Tommy takes in a breath to say something, before getting hit with the realization that the little piglin had a point. He let out an annoyed grunt as he deflated a little, turning towards Ranboo. “He gets this from you, you know.”
The taller man just raised a slightly amused eyebrow in return.
“Hey!” Tubbo glared at his friend. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s yours, Mr. ‘I recklessly run into danger at a moment’s notice’.”
The human’s focus snapped down towards the shorter man. “It’s not my fault that I’m built differently!”
“That’s the example that you’re setting for him!” Tubbo’s eyes were starting to take on a green glow.
“Right.” Tommy’s eyes immediately responded by glowing red. “Cause it’s such a fucking brilliant idea to have me…”
“Enough!” Ranboo’s voice echoed throughout the small room. His eyes glowed a bit brighter as his pupils took on a more purple hue to them. He glared down at the other two. It took a moment, but their eyes returned to their normal blue hues as they started to calm down. He took a deep breath before letting his dim as well. “Sorry, it’s just… he’s already here. And we’re not going to be able to send him back. So like it or not, but he is a part of this now.”
“Fine.” Tubbo huffed. He quickly turned towards the door that led out of the room and began scouting out the window.
Tommy just grumbled a bit as he turned to scan the floor, pausing when he spotted his headphones. He carefully picked them up and placed them back on his head, making sure to rearrange his hair around them so the white streak was back in place.
Ranboo sighed as turned his attention over to Michael who had been watching the fight with a slight raise of his shoulders and his ear pinned back. The enderman crouched down to be a bit closer to the other’s height.
“Michael.”
The kid’s ear twitched in response. “Yeah?”
“If you’re on this mission, then you need to stay with us and do what you’re told. Got it?” Ranboo explained.
Michael perked up. “Yes Dad.”
“Good.” Ranboo gave his son a pat on the head before carefully rising back to his full height. “Also you’re grounded.”
“What!?!” Michael’s ear drooped as he shifted his gaze pleadingly towards his other father. “But… but…”
Tubbo couldn’t help the slight smirk. “You heard him.”
The piglin completely deflated with a small whine.
Tommy chuckled and he ruffled the top of the kid’s head. “Come on. Let’s get you into a disguise.”
Notes:
In case people were curious about the ages here:
Ranboo and Tubbo: 23 years old
Tommy: 22 years old
Michael: 8 years old
Chapter 2: The World We Knew
Summary:
The group set out on their mission and get a little bit distracted.
Notes:
It's not perfect. But I know I'll never post it if I wait for it to be and I want to get this story moving.
Please feel free to leave feedback
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Do I have to wear this?” Michael fiddled with the bandages again.
“Yes. And stop pulling at them.” Tommy gently slapped the kid’s hands away. “The last thing we need is for someone to think you’re a random mob.”
“I feel stupid.” Michael huffed, running his fingers across his newly human nose. He wasn’t super happy about being in his human form. The only reason he knew he even had a human form was because he had accidentally transformed in his sleep one night. He had immediately began panicking the moment he woke up and didn’t calm down until Tommy reassured him that it was a normal piglin thing to do. Sure that was a few years ago, but it was still weird to have his pig ear round itself out and his snout turn into a chubby little nose. The only piglin things that stayed were his light pink hair and the slight point to his bottom canines where his tusks use to be.
The main problem was that his zombie features remained no matter which form he was in. Those had to be carefully hidden under layers of carefully wrapped bandages.
Michael fidgeted with the bandage around his neck.
“Come on, bud.” Ranboo gently took one of his hands “It’s just until we get out of town. We’ll remove them as soon as it’s safe, ok?”
The kid let his other hand drop away to his side. “Ok.”
Ranboo looked over to Tubbo who had been scouting out the door’s windows the entire time. “Is it clear?”
The goat hybrid scanned the empty street one more time. “Seems to be. I actually haven’t seen anyone pass by.”
“Well, that’s not concerning at all.” Ranboo mumbled to himself.
Tommy shrugged. “At least no one will see us leave.”
“True.” Ranboo adjusted the cloak around his shoulders. “Well, is everyone ready?”
Michael quickly scrambled to stand next to the enderman. “Ready.”
Tommy took a second to fiddle with the tiny box clipped to his belt. Ranboo’s sensitive ears could pick up soft music that escaped the blond headphones. “Ready.”
“Let’s get going then.” Tubbo said, pushing the door open.
The day was lovely. Clouds drifted lazily through the sky. A soft breeze drifted by, ruffling through their hair. The brilliant sun shone down on the wooden planks that made up the main path.
And after spending years adapting to living in a dark void world, none of them were prepared for it.
“Fuck My Eyes!” Tommy exclaimed, slapping a hand over his eyes. Michael let out a whine in agreement as he shoved his face against his dad in an attempt to block out the light.
“I forgot how much brighter everything is here.” Ranboo raised a hand to shield his eyes and squinted towards the ground. He paused as he spotted his husband who was glaring up into the air. “What are you doing?”
“Asserting dominance over the sun.”
“Tubbo! Tubbo no!” The enderman immediately covered the goat hybrid’s eyes. “You’re going to ruin your eyes!”
“But I was winning!”
“Why are you like this!?!”
It was a relief when a cloud floated over the sun for a bit, giving the traveler’s a chance to adjust to the new environment.
A sudden squeal filled the air. “Is that grass?”
The kid ran over to the edge of the wooden path and quickly flopped down on the grassy ground next to it. “It’s so green! Papa, it smells funny!”
“I bet it does.” Tubbo couldn’t help but smile.
A laugh bubbled out of Tommy’s throat. “Wait until he sees a tree.”
“Prime. We’ll never see him again.”
The adults watched Michael roll around on the soft grass and get dirt on his hands as he pulled out clumps of it so he could give it to the adults. They should’ve been moving. They knew they didn’t have time to risk waiting for someone to see them, but none of them could bring themselves to stop the child. He let out little excited gasps whenever he found a new thing. Like the flowers. Or the blue sky. Even the warm breeze was new to him.
A small pang of remorse rose in Tubbo’s chest. His kid had never had the chance to experience any of this. Most of the time he had been in the Overworld was spent being sealed away in a single room because his fathers were worried something would happen to him. All those days of stealing glimpses at the snow-covered world outside the windows. Listening to his papa promise that he’d get to see it when he was a little older. When it was a little safer. And then everything fell apart.
The goat hybrid was pulled from his thoughts when a hand grabbed onto his. He looked up to see his husband with the same regret haunting his eyes. Tubbo gave his hand a quick reassuring squeeze before turning back towards Michael who was gently touching the petals of a cornflower.
The kid suddenly popped up his head, scanning around before locking his eyes on a small buzzing creature. “Bee!”
He quickly scrambled to stand up and began chasing after it. Ranboo sighed before disappearing in a flurry of purple particles and reappearing directly in front of his son. Michael let out a little squeak as he bounced off his father’s legs.
“You need to stay with us.” Ranboo scolded.
“Right. Sorry Dad.” Michael mumbled back.
“It’s alright. Just don’t wander off.”
“This isn’t like the End, Big Mike.” Tommy helped the piglin back onto his feet. “Things will try to hurt you here.”
The child’s eye lit up at that. “Are there monsters? Like in your stories? Will I get to fight them?”
“Maybe when you’re older.” Tubbo lightly ruffled the kid’s hair and looked up at Ranboo. “What’s the plan, boss man?”
“First we figure out when we are and set up a base.” The enderman looked around a bit and grumbled before pulling a leather-bound book out from his inventory. He began flipping through the pages, occasionally mumbling to himself and sending a glare at the stone hut that they emerged from.
Michael let out a small worried whine. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t recognize anything. I mean I thought the portal was going to place us at Tommy’s old house.” Ranboo flipped through several more pages. “But it was dirt or wood. And I don’t…”
“This is my old house.” Tommy stated. “It was stone for a little while, remember?”
“I mean technically I think it might be the embassy at the moment.” Tubbo shrugged. “Same thing really.”
“This is not in my notes.” Ranboo was forced to pause his frantic scanning when Tommy leaned in to get a better look and pointed to a spot in the book. “It is… in my notes.”
“So when does that put us?”
“Uh…” Ranboo closes his book with a small huff. “Before I show up. That’s for sure.”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“It’s not like time traveling is exactly accurate.”
Tommy gazed at the stone hut with a blank stare. “So why my house?”
Ranboo shrugged. “Only place I could think of that survived through pretty much everything.”
“Huh… I guess it did.”
Tubbo stared out towards the rest of L’Manburg. “You know. It’s really weird to see it like this again.”
”You mean not a giant crater?” the blond asked.
“It’s just so… not damaged.”
Ranboo chuckled a bit. “How do you think I feel? I’ve never experienced it.”
Tommy’s grey-blue eyes fixed onto the flag waving in the breeze. “Do you think L’Mantree is still here?”
“You kidding?” Tubbo nudged his best friend with his elbow. “I bet the fucking Camarvan is here.”
“Do you… Do you think we could get a sapling from the tree?”
“I mean…” Ranboo fidgeted a bit. “I don’t know how we’d manage that without being super noticeable.”
“Yeah. I just…” The blond gave settlement a final glance as his music faded out. For a brief moment, he swore he heard ocean waves before the next song began. He shook his head to refocus. “We really need to get moving. It’s a fucking miracle that no one has seen us yet.”
The brunet frowned. “Am I the only one finding it weird as fuck that we haven’t seen a single person yet?”
“Maybe there’s some kind of event or something?” Ranboo suggested.
“What could possibly be so fucking important that every single bitch here would go to it?” Tommy scoffed.
Tubbo just shrugged. “Don’t think it really matters. We just have to get out before anyone notices us.”
“Wait.” The tallest frantically looked around. “Where is Michael?”
Notes:
This is what happens when you stop paying attention to your kid.
Still, where is everybody?
Chapter 3: It Was Never Meant to be
Summary:
Let's see how everyone else is doing.
Notes:
I'm so glad that people seem to be enjoying this. I've been having a lot of fun writing it. Thought about making this longer, but decided I didn't wanna make people wait any longer.
Please feel free to leave feedback
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Today was not going at all the way Wilbur had planned it. He’d admit that he had been hoping to win the election. Not that there was a problem if the people voted for one of the other candidates. That was their choice. But he hoped that they would remember who had built L’Manburg. Who had fought for L’Manburg. Who had died for L’Manburg.
He should have won.
But then there was the sudden merger of two competitors, which allowed them to win.
Schlatt grinned down from the podium, slowly letting his gaze linger across the crowd.
“Well. That was pretty easy. And you know what I said the day I got unbanned from the DreamSMP and the day I said I was running? An election I won by the way.”
He had looked directly at Wilbur when he said that. That smug ass bitch. It didn’t help that he was being flanked by Quackity and George, who both looked extremely pleased with themselves. Prime, how he wanted to make them pay for this.
“I said things are going to change. I looked every citizen of L’Mansburg in the eyes and said ‘you listen to me, this place will be a lot different tomorrow’.”
Wilbur felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He turned to see Tommy, his eyes filled with defeat and determination. He wasn’t alone in this. He had his brother. Well they weren’t really brothers. Not biologically anyway. But ever since the man had met the kid, they had stuck together. Looked out for each other. Fought together. Sure Tommy got on his nerves sometimes but when push came to shove the blond stood by his side every time. How could they be anything other than brothers?
“Let’s start making it happen.”
Though his blood still boiled, the idea of having someone on his side helped a bit. His thoughts settled into a grim acceptance of what was happening.
They would get through this. They had survived worse than this.
“My first decree as president of L’Manburg. The Emperor! Of this great country.” He was looking right at them. He was glaring into their very being. “Is to revoke the citizenship of Wilbur Soot and Tommy Innit.”
The crowd erupted into a cacophony of noise. Some in approval. Others in betrayal.
This couldn’t be happening. This COULDN’T be happening! Why the fuck was this be happening?
“Get them out of here! You’re no longer welcome!”
The brunette quickly noticed Punz and Ponk pulling out crossbows. How their eyes locked onto the newly exiled members like hunters with their prey.
Wilbur shoved his brother, trying to urge him to move forward. “Tommy run. Tommy Run!”
The brothers bolted their way out of the crowd and away from the stage. Arrows flying past their heads. One finding its way into the brunet’s leg.
He could feel himself start to slow down. He glanced behind him. His heart jumped into his throat as he watched Punz aim the notched arrow right at them.
Fuck.
He tried to refocus on where he was going, but his foot landed wrong. He was on the ground before he could even catch himself.
Fucking Fuck.
Tommy doubled back. Grabbing onto his brother’s arm to pull him back up. “Wilbur, we’ve gotta go. We’ve gotta…”
The arrows flew through the air. Wilbur braced for the impact.
THUNK!
It took him a moment to realize that he was not in pain. And that no he wasn’t feeling an arrow piercing through him. He opened his eyes to see some pink-haired kid that he had never seen before with a wooden shield raised up to block the oncoming arrows. How did the kid even get there?
When the kid looked back at him, he tried not to stare at all the bandages that were covering half his face.
“Are you ok?” the kid asked.
Was that Ender? Who the fuck was this kid?
Notes:
I found Michael.
Chapter Text
I'm sure everyone knows at this point. Our mighty Blood God is gone.
And we all feel it.
I believe that it's a good thing. Because that means he will be missed. It hurts because he mattered to us. We cry out because he was important. We care because he had an impact on all the people that he cared about.
And He cared about so many people. He didn't know all of our faces, but he cared enough that he made sure to say goodbye.
My best wishes to his family and friends. May their memories of the time they had with him out weight the grief of him being gone. I hope that they find some comfort in the fact that his fan adore him so much.
We like to say that "Techno never dies". I hope that is the case. We have all the memories that he has given us and in the stories that we tell of him. As long as we remember him, he will live on.
(I will be taking a little break from this, if only because Techno does play a part in this story. And some of the scenes that I have planned, hit harder than they originally would have.
I want to make it clear that I absolutely plan on continuing this and I do not plan on removing any of his importance from this story. I think I would be dishonoring him if I did. I just need time so I can reevaluate the story I have set up. I want to make sure that they are respectful to him and those that he left behind. And I want to make sure that that show him with all the gravitas he deserves.)
Notes:
Let's make sure he never dies.
Chapter 5: Hell Hath No Furry
Summary:
The situation continues to escalate. Things don't go well. Michael tries his best though.
In other news, there are just some people you really don't want to make upset. And they are definitely not happy right now.
Notes:
Sorry this took so long, but hopefully this was worth the wait. I'm gonna try to be better about posting things more regularly, but I do kinda get busy so we'll see how that goes.
Also why do I have over 500 hits on this stupid thing that I am doing?Please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Chapter Text
Schlatt stared at the scene unfolding in front of him. He had a perfect view to watch Wilbur and Tommy get chased out of L’Manburg from his spot up on the podium. It was really annoying him that it had been interrupted, and by a child no less.
A pink haired child who was leveling a determined look at the crowd from behind his shield. Wilbur was still on the ground behind him, too stunned to do anything other than stare. Tommy’s grip had tightened on Wilbur’s sleeve as he tried to figure out what the kid’s whole deal was. It was almost laughable considering how much shorter the kid was than the other two.
Schlatt leaned over towards his vice president. “Who the fuck is that?”
George just gave a shrug. “I have no idea.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Schlatt shouted down towards the kid.
Pinkie just glared back. “Papa said not to talk to strangers.”
There was that weird language again.
“Does anyone know what he’s saying?” Schlatt asked.
“Sounds like a bunch of gibberish to me.” Quackity grumbled.
George just gave another confused shrug.
The president sighed. “Just take him out too if you have to then.”
Ponk and Punz immediately raised their bows up.
“Last chance to stand aside.” Punz said.
The boy actually growled at him.
“Suit yourself.”
They fired a few arrows at the three. The kid surprisingly enough managed to move his shield to block each arrow with a practiced ease. The pinkette was really hoping that no one was noticing how much he was shaking. He wanted to be cool. Like the heroes his dads would tell him about. If he could be brave and strong like them, then everything would turn out just fine.
He suppressed a squeak when a particularly well aimed arrow hit, causing a crack to form. He had been actively trying to ignore the fact that this wasn’t exactly a new shield. It was a hand-me-down his uncle had given him for training. It hadn’t been in a real battle since… well, the kid didn’t know. But forever sounded about right. Papa had said he’d get a proper shield of his own when he was older.
He really hoped he’d live long enough to be older.
THUNK
The crack widened, the worn wood struggling to perform a task it hadn’t needed to do in far too long.
THUNK
THUNK
The shield split, a chunk of it falling into the grass by his feet. The rest barely managed to stay uselessly attached to his arm.
“You had your chance, Kid.”
The kid’s eyes widened as he stared at the arrow being pointed towards him. He felt something pull at the back of his cloak, knocking him onto his back with a shriek. He just barely managed to spot the arrow as it flew right over him. He looked behind him to see Wilbur with a death grip on the edge of the cloak.
Pinkie let out a soft whine as he tried to sit up. Pain bloomed at where his head had hit the ground. He barely registered the arm wrapping around him as Wilbur pulled him closer. The brunet looked about ready to bolt as he stared down the freshly loaded crossbows. The blond behind him tensed as he prepared for all hell to break loose again.
Then the air in front of them flickered. In a blink, an extremely tall, slender being filled the space. Purple particles filled the surrounding air, matching the glow in his pupils. His cape billowed out behind him dramatically, almost completely hiding the three behind him from sight. A trident shimmered dangerously in his clawed grasp. A staticky growl rumbled out as red and green eyes scanned the crowd threateningly. They stopped as soon as they gazed across the podium, locking directly onto Schlatt’s. The ram felt paralyzed as the other’s jaw unhinged into a snarl.
“The next person who tries to harm my child will meet the end of my trident!”
Punz instinctively shifted his bow up towards the threatening monster. Just as he was about to let the arrow go, he felt the edge of a blade graze his neck. He cautiously shifted his gaze behind him to see a blond man pressing an axe blade right into his skin. Red glowing eyes tore into his very being.
“Make another move bitch” the blond threatened. “And I’ll see how far I can launch your fucking head.”
Ponk turned his attention towards the new threat and fired. The axe wielder just quickly summoned an ender pearl and in one smooth motion threw it in the other’s direction. He vanished just as the arrow was about to hit and reappeared in the space next to Ponk where the pearl landed. Punz winced as the arrow lodged itself into his shoulder. The red eyed man slammed the back end of his axe into Ponk’s stomach before prying the weapon out of the other’s grip.
“You should be more careful with this,” The blond smirked. “Somebody could get hurt.”
Quackity took this time to begin attentively cursing the entire situation out. George didn’t really understand a word of it due to how fast the other was going, but that didn’t stop him from agreeing.
“Schlatt, what do we do?” George looked over to the president. Schlatt was frozen still, his eyes still locked onto the strange black and white creature in front of him. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t move.” Schlatt mumbled.
“Now is not the time to be…”
“No! I mean I can’t fucking…” He was cut off as Red Eyes started laughing.
“You can let him go, Ranboo. He’s not a threat.” The blond called out. He quickly noticed how the other wasn’t backing down and added. “I can take him out if he tries anything.”
The monster seemed to hesitate before his eyes darted to the side with an annoyed huff. “Fine.”
Schlatt let out a gasp as control returned to his body. His grip on the podium in front of him tightened enough to make the wood creak. “Alright. I have had just about enough of…”
In a burst of purple particles, another stranger appeared right on the edge of the stage. He immediately doubled over, gasping for breath. His brown hair puffed out wildly around his face, making it difficult to make out anything besides what looked like a bad scar on the right side.
“Who the fuck is this guy?” Quackity exclaimed.
The stranger held up a single finger in his direction. “Gimme a minute.”
“How many of these bastards are there?”
The brunet straightened up and tried shoving some of his hair out of his eyes. Taking one last deep breath to center himself before clapping his hands together. “Ok. Everyone seems a little tense right now. Why don’t we all just calm down and talk about this like normal civilized people?”
Schlatt immediately slammed his fist on the podium. “I don’t know who the fuck you are. But if you think you can just show up and interrupt…”
The intruder’s eyes glowed green as he let out a little annoyed sigh. In one smooth motion, he pulled out a bow and shot the president directly in the leg. “As I was saying, like normal civilized people.”
It took George exactly three seconds to process everything that was happening. “What the fuck!?!”
The green-eyed man tilted his head in confusion. “What?”
“You just fucking shot him.” Quackity exclaimed.
The scarred man looked down at the ram who was still clutching at the wound. “He’s not gonna die…”
“Oi Bitch!” Red Eyes called out. “What took you so long? I was starting to think you were never going to get here.”
“I was on the other side of fucking existence!” The Green One huffed. “You should be glad I made it at all.”
“Whatever you say, Shortie.”
“I will steal your kneecaps while you sleep.”
“Guys!” The dual toned monster exclaimed. “Now is not the time.”
George tried to ignore the chaos to try and reassess the situation. The president was still down clutching onto his injured leg, but making sure to snarl up at the man who shot him. Quackity looked like he was about to start a second round of cursing. Wilbur was finally getting off the ground, eyeing the situation in front of him warily as he positioned himself in front of his group of three. Tommy was trying to keep the pink-haired kid behind him, but the kid seemed to be more interested in going towards the thing in front of them. The three glowing eyed strangers seemed to be slightly distracted with arguing in their weird language, but still looked like they were ready to freshly murder anyone they deemed necessary. And then there was the giant crowd of citizens who were watching all of this with a mixture of confusion, concern and at least a little bit of fear.
Perhaps some damage control is in order.
“Why don’t we move somewhere a bit more private to figure all this out?” George suggested.
Chapter 6: Meeting Familiar Strangers
Summary:
People have a meeting to try figuring out who these strangers are. They mostly get more questions than answers.
Notes:
Thank you guys so much for the 56 Kudos. I never thought I'd get anywhere near that much, but I am so glad to see that so many people liked it enough to give one.
Please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It had taken quite a bit of convincing to get the strangers to come along to the White House. The blonde and the brunet seemed to be set in just leaving. Surprisingly, it was the monster who seemed to convince the others to go along. Ok, so monster didn’t seem like a good description for him now that he had calmed and wasn’t glaring everyone down. That still hadn’t stopped Wilbur’s heart from skipping a beat when the pink haired child wiggled out of his grasp and charged towards the towering figure. Pinkie simply grabbed onto the other’s legs while the dual toned man just let out an annoyed sigh and pulled the kid in closer.
Wilbur would love to say that he was glad that the exile was apparently being put on hold while this was all being figured out. Except that it apparently meant getting dragged along to be interrogated. He was really not in the mood. And listening to the strangers argue the whole way back in their weird language was getting old very, very fast. Wilbur could’ve sworn that he saw the shortest one glaring at him half the time. Not that he had any idea what the fuck he could’ve done to deserve that. By the time the group finally managed to get settled into the President’s office, he had developed a massive bitch of a headache.
Schlatt was settled at the president’s desk, looking a bit better now that his wound had been tended to. George and Quackity were standing on either side of him, keeping a careful eye on the others in the room. Wilbur and Tommy had settled in on the two chairs that lined one side of the coffee table which left the couch on the other side for the strangers.
George quickly glanced at the others as they settled down. “So, who exactly are you?”
The trio looked at each other for a second. Dual-tone just gave a small shrug.
“Well… I guess you can call me Festus,” The brunet started. He gave a small gesture in the tallest’s direction. “And this is Lethe.”
“I’m Theseus.” The one in red shrugged.
“And I’m Michael!” The kid looked extremely pleased with himself. At least until he noticed the other three staring at him. His head tilted to the side a bit. “What?”
Theseus turned to the other two. “Your son is a dumbass.”
Festus took a moment to rub his temples. “He takes after his mentor.”
“Hey!”
“Not this it isn’t fun listening to you speak fucking gibberish.” Schlatt leveled the group with an annoyed look, clearly already done with everything that was happening. “But any particular reason why you’re siding with these two?”
Festus didn’t hesitate to match the president’s gaze. “We’re not. In fact the original plan was to leave everyone alone.”
“Then why step in?” George asked.
“Maybe because you were attacking my kid.” Lethe grumbled. There was a slight growl echoing in the back of his throat that quickly disappeared when Michael began leaning against his arm.
The ram hybrid let out a frustrated sigh. “I have no idea what he’s saying.”
“He said it was because you were attacking Michael.” Festus supplied.
Schlatt’s glare shifted over towards Wilbur and Tommy on the other side of the room. “You have no connections with each other?”
Wilbur shrugged. “I’ve never seen them before in my life.”
Quackity eye’s narrowed suspiciously. “You really don’t know these guys?”
“Not at all. Right, Toms?” The ex-president looked over towards his brother. Tommy’s gaze was locked directly onto Lethe, his eyebrows furrowed like someone had given him a puzzle with no solution. “Tommy?”
Lethe slowly tilted his head to the side, making a soft vwoop noise.
“Ok.” Tommy suddenly exclaimed. “I can’t take this anymore.”
He moved out from his spot next to Wilbur, much to the dismay of the brunette, and pointed one finger right at Lethe. “What the fuck is that thing?”
“Toms!” Wilbur hissed.
“What? It’s not like it can understand me.” Tommy shrugged. “Bitch hasn’t spoken a single word of English.”
Festus replied. “Well, for starters, that thing is my husband.”
“It can also understand you just fine.” Lethe couldn’t help the smirk as he watched the realization that he could talk to them hit everyone in the room.
“He also happens to be the prince of the End,” Theseus shot the young teen an annoyed look. “So you might wanna watch how you fucking address the bitch.”
“Wait.” Quackity exclaimed. “So, are you from the End then?”
Theseus smirked. “Yep.”
Tommy tilted his head in confusion. “I thought we weren’t allowed to go to the End.”
“True.” Festus replied. “But nobody said people from the End couldn’t come here.”
George’s mind was still reeling as he tried to figure out how that could actually happen. He knew the rules were strictly enforced and he knew exactly who enforced them. The fact that none of the had been visited yet was a miracle. “But that doesn’t… He wouldn’t…”
“Stop worrying,” Theseus said. “We got the big man’s permission for this.”
Quackity eyed the others with suspicion. “Big man?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Festus replied. “All that matters is we’re allowed to be here.”
“You seriously just expect us to believe this bullshit?” Tommy laughed. “Woo. We some mysterious bitches that came from the End. We have fucking weird glowing eyes and one of us is totally a prince.”
“I don’t care if you believe us or not,” Theseus replied. “We have more important things to do.”
“Like what?” Quackity asked.
“None of your fucking business,” Festus said.
Wilbur furrowed his brows. “How do we know you’re not just planning on destroying L’Manburg?”
An amused synchronized snort escaped from Theseus and Festus.
“Please. Like this place needs our help with that.” The scarred man's voice had a slightly resigned chuckle to it.
Shlatt’s gaze hardened. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“The new president literally declared himself emperor and exiled his political rivals.” The blond man stated. “That doesn’t exactly fill anyone with confidence.”
“I’m going to be a great president!”
The goat hybrid rolled his eyes. “Whatever makes you feel better, bitch.”
Lethe let out a small sigh before moving to stand up. “Well, this has been great. But if there’s nothing else, we do need to get going.”
“Fine. You are to leave L’Manburg and never come back.” Schlatt stated. “Consider yourselves banned from ever stepping foot here again.”
Lethe just shrugged. “Alright.”
“That’s it?” Quackity exclaimed. “You go through all the trouble to get here and your reaction to being banned is just ‘Alright’.”
“Yep.” The enderman took one last look at the occupants in the room. “Well, it was nice… meeting you, I guess.”
The prince turned and left, the rest of his group quickly following after him.
Notes:
Just in case it was confusing
Future Tommy = Theseus
Future Ranboo = Lethe
Future Tubbo = Festus
Chapter 7: The Gambit
Summary:
Plans are put into motion and we get a glimpse of what the time travelers were running from.
Notes:
There is a bit of a flashback in this one. Or is it a flashforward? What do you call the thing that both is a part of a backstory and also hasn't happened yet? (stupid time travel shenanigans) Either way I made the decision that the future trio use their original names cause they wouldn't have a reason to use their new ones yet. So sorry if that confuses people. I made sure to include a page break to help split the past and the future stuff, hopefully that'll help.
Please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Bold = Nether
Chapter Text
The office was a lot quieter after the end prince and his companions left. Wilbur and Tommy had been shooed out almost immediately afterwards, being told that they were to leave the country immediately and that they would be killed if they didn’t.
The remaining three were left to try and figure out what the hell had just happened. Schlatt had gotten out a beer bottle and was taking long swigs of it in between talking to Quackity who had settled onto the couch the moment everyone else had left the room. Something about determining if there was a threat and if certain courses of action would cause an incident rather than prevent it.
Honestly, George wasn’t paying attention. He was still recovering from the bombshell that no one else seemed to pick up on. In their defense, it’s not like they had a lot of the pieces to realize how important it was. But he knew better than to just let it slide.
(“We got the big man’s permission for this.”)
Why after all this time of being so stubborn about travel between the Overworld and the End would he suddenly be ok with it? It didn’t make any sense. Unless there was something going on.
George needed to talk to him.
“I have to go.” The brunet didn’t wait for a response as he immediately began moving towards the door.
Schlatt slowly lowered the bottle down from his lips. “Where the fuck are you going?”
The vice president swung the door open. “To take a nap.”
“Your priority right now is a nap?” Quackity exclaimed.
George looked back at the other two in the room, staring at them blankly from behind his white sunglasses. “Yes. I’ll probably see you tomorrow.”
He dramatically swept the door closed as he left.
A shocked silence filled the room as the remaining men continued to stare at the door. And then a low chuckle began. Quackity turned to see Schlatt just sitting there, laughing to himself.
“This day just keeps getting better,” the ram grumbled before taking another swig of beer.
The black-haired man sighed. “So… what is the plan?”
“I’m not quite sure yet.” Schlatt spun around in his chair to face the window. He just managed to spot their mysterious visitors from the End just as they reached the outskirts of L’Manburg. “One thing’s for certain. They are too dangerous to leave alone.”
Lethe leveled his kid with a stern look. “You are double grounded.”
“What does that even mean?” Michael whined.
His dad hesitated, his gaze darting away for a second. “I’m not really sure. But we’ll find out together.”
“But it’s not fair. I just wanted…”
“Just wanted to what? Throw yourself into danger at any given opportunity? Do you have any idea how scared we were? You were just gone! And when we find you, it’s with weapons being pointed at you! I just…” Lethe’s words caught in his throat. He hadn’t meant to shout. It hadn’t even been a day and way too much had happened. A part of his stupid brain was still wrapped up in the fact that his child had been in danger. He had to keep reminding himself that it was ok. That Michael was here, and he was ok. “Michael, I…”
“Tubbo, will you stop fucking doing that!?!”
And he was immediately cut off by whatever the other two adults were doing. Now that he thought about it, his husband had been very quiet. Which was not a good sign on a good day. Today was definitely not a good day.
He turned to see that Theseus had his arms crossed and was staring down at Festus. Like that was going to make him rethink whatever it was he was doing. It never did, but the blond didn’t seem to be deterred by that in any way.
What the goat hybrid had apparently been doing was watching the tree line across from them. Something that puzzled the enderman. Because why in the world would Theseus have a problem with that? It took him a while, but Lethe eventually noticed a small bit of movement at the very edge, two specks in blue soldier uniforms just as they disappeared into the trees.
Festus tilted his head innocently and slowly turned his head towards the blond. “Doing what?”
Theseus let out a frustrated groan. “The fucking glaring.”
“I’m not glaring. I’m just… staring intensely.”
Neither noticed that they had gained an audience as the remaining two moved a bit closer to them. Lethe’s face was set in the mixture of boredom and slight annoyance of a man who had been forced to experience this too many times before. Michael’s head simply flipped back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.
“Well, knock it off.”
“No.”
“It’s fucking creepy as hell.”
“It is not.”
“It is too, bitch.”
Lethe sighed. “Do I even want to know?”
Theseus immediately pointed in the other’s direction. “Tubbo’s being a creepy bitch!”
“I am not.” Festus stomped his foot. “Tommy just won’t mind his own business.”
“He’s been literally glaring at Wilbur this entire time.”
“Someone has to keep an eye on him.”
Lethe raised an eyebrow towards Festus. “Have you sensed anything yet?”
They could physically see the gears in the goat’s head turning as he wracked his brain for something he could use. He must not have found anything because he eventually deflated with a grumble. “Well, no…”
“Then for now he’s fine. We have other things to focus on.” Lethe turned and began moving deeper into the forest. He paused for a moment to make sure the others were following before he pulled out his book and began flipping through it. “We still need to establish a base and figure out where our targets even are.”
Festus grabbed onto his husband’s elbow and pulled him out of the way of a low branch. “What we looking for?”
“I’m hoping we’ll find a clearing in here.” The enderman pointed a finger along a large carefully drawn map. “Preferably with a cliff on one side for better defense.”
“Might want it to be cold.” Festus suggested. “The snow would provide some protection from attacks.”
“True. But I’m worried that would put us too far away.”
The husbands continued like that for a while. Figuring out how far out they should be from the other known settlements. Listing off ideas for what to build their base out of. If there were any resources that they might need to find.
Michael stayed more towards the back. Not far enough away that the adults would get worried about being separated again, but he didn’t feel like being too close to his dads right now. It wasn’t that he was worried about them being angry. They were probably mad, sure. But it wasn’t even the idea of them being mad that bothered him. It was their disappointment. He couldn’t stand the idea of it.
“Hey, Big Mike.”
Michael hadn’t even realized his uncle was walking next to him until he had spoken up. Theseus’s Nether had a strange overworld accent to it. But it had always been a comforting sound to the child as not a lot of people he knew could understand it, let alone speak it.
“Hey.” Michael replied, keeping his gaze fixed to the ground.
“You doing ok?”
“Yeah.” The piglin knew his uncle was waiting for him to continue. It was in the way that the adult was just patiently stayed there while giving the kid enough time to figure things out. Michael took a small breath. “I just… I wanted to help.”
“I know.” Theseus gave the kid a small nudge to get his attention, before leaning down and whispering in the kid’s ear. “For the record, I’m proud of you.”
Michael looked up at his uncle. “Really?”
Theseus smiled brightly. “Yeah. But don’t tell your dads I said that.”
“Just because I can’t understand you, doesn’t mean I don’t know you’re talking about me.” Festus called over his shoulder.
“Fuck.”
That got a chuckle out of the pink haired kid. Theseus ruffled his nephew’s hair, making sure to stick his tongue out at Festus when he looked back to check up on them. Festus couldn’t help the small smirk that spread across his face as he returned the gesture. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Lethe look up from his book long enough to fondly scoff at them. Some of the tension in Festus’s shoulders relaxed.
They were safe. They were happy. They were together. And that was all he could ask for.
Even as he tried to block out the paranoia as it started to resurface. He just had to keep reminding himself. It wasn’t like the last time they were here.
It wouldn’t be how it was the last time they were here. Not if he had anything to say about it.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tubbo’s footsteps bounced off the ancient brick walls as he made his way down the hall. The sound just reminded him of just how alone he was right now. Ranboo had just left to try and gather supplies. Tubbo had insisted that he could’ve taken care of it, but Ranboo had remained stubborn about going out himself. Something about how Tubbo had gone the last few times. At least the enderman had let his husband see him off. But now Tubbo had to make his way down the maze of corridors by himself.
He didn’t like the stronghold. It was dark and clammy. The air smelled like the thousand-year-old dust that definitely coated everything. Sometimes he could hear the echoes of monsters still infesting the areas that had simply been sealed off. He couldn’t even count how many times he had almost triggered one of the many traps that had been scattered throughout the area.
But it was safe. And at the moment, that was something that was in short supply.
He could tell when he had managed to make it to the section they had claimed for themselves. The dust wasn’t coating the ground as much and all the traps had been dismantled to be moved somewhere else. It wasn’t very large. Just a small stretch of hallway that stopped at a dead end and three rooms; two on the right and one on the left.
The closest room on the right belonged to him and Ranboo. If he listened closely, he could hear soft content chuffs drifting out from it. It’d occasionally be interrupted by bits of babble in a language that Tubbo didn’t know. The sounds were comforting and he could feel some of the tension in his shoulders lessen, even if only a little bit.
The furthest door was… well they hadn’t repurposed it yet. No one had really wanted to go in there. There was just not enough time or energy in the world to deal with unpacking everything.
A soft orange glow flickered out of the barely open door to his left. Tubbo tiredly shoved it open with his shoulder. The room was not very big and mostly bare. There was a worn bed shoved against the wall with an equally worn chair facing it. A stack of books had been left on the nightstand, which was pretty much just an empty chest that no one had bothered to remove. The area was barely being lit by the single wall torch placed just to the left of the bed. It was admittedly brighter than the hallway, but that wasn’t saying much.
Tubbo quietly pushed the door mostly closed, wincing as it groaned a bit in protest. His eyes darted over towards the unconscious teen carefully tucked into the bed. His streaked blond hair sprawled across the pillows with the torch casting dark shadows across his face. Tommy looked unnaturally peaceful. Exactly how he had been the last time.
Tubbo pulled the blankets off to take a look at the bandages that had been tightly wrapped around his friend’s chest. The blood had stopped flowing a while ago, but Tubbo still checked it just in case. There weren’t any changes. There were never any changes.
Tommy just laid there, unmoving. His skin always had that sickly pallor to it and that chill seemed to cling to him no matter how many blankets were given to him. It was an unwelcome change from his usual lively self.
Tubbo hated it. Hated that his best friend had to get hurt. Hated that there wasn’t anything he could do to help. That he once again was useless to the people who needed him.
The brunet readjusted the blankets around Tommy, before settling into the chair. He grabbed one of the books from the stack and began flipping through it. The edges of the pages had notes added in by the previous owner. It was fancy scribbled writing which he found difficult to decipher.
Once again, he found himself missing Techno and Phil. It was funny how the people that used to fill him with so much anger and fear had become something that made the brunet feel safe. They had been good at this. The planning. The researching. The waiting. Not that it mattered now.
A loud creak startled Tubbo from his thoughts. He looked up to the door to the room slightly opened, just enough for a small zombie piglin to inch his way in. The brunet watched as Michael waddled over to the bed and tried to climb on top of it. All he seemed to manage was to pull the blankets off a little bit.
“Hold on.” Tubbo reached down and helped Michael onto the bed.
Michael immediately began crawling towards Tommy. The excited energy quickly gave away to annoyance as the toddler let out a small whine and gave the unconscious teen a weak shove. “Mimi. Get up.”
Tubbo carefully grabbed onto his son’s arm. “Michael. He needs to rest.”
Michael just let out another small whine, his ear drooping. “Want up.”
“Come on.” His dad sighed and moved to remove the toddler from the bed.
Said toddler clung to the blankets for dear life. “No!”
That caused Tubbo to falter. Michael didn’t speak English most of the time. He didn’t know very many words and even then, he seemed to prefer speaking in Nether over it anyway.
And so Tubbo paused, arms outstretched as he awkwardly held onto a zombie piglin who was still stubbornly attached to the bed by a stretch of blanket. “Did you want to stay here?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. But you can’t bother Uncle Tommy, ok?”
“Ok?” The kid parroted back.
Tubbo placed Michael back down and watched him shuffle around a bit before curling into the blond’s side to take a nap. The teen gave a small smile before he returned back to his chair and tried to refocus on the section he had been reading.
‘They are easily bored and prone to causing chaos in an attempt to entertain themselves. While extremely powerful, they require a host to survive in the physical world and will actively target the most powerful being they can attach themselves to. Once they have a suitable host, they can begin infecting people around them with weaker versions of themselves, called Lesser Dr-’
Tubbo was startled from his reading by Ranboo slamming the door open.
“We need to go!” The enderman exclaimed.
Tubbo blinked a bit in surprise. “We can’t go yet. Tommy’s still…”
Both of their gazes shifted over towards the blond.
“I know.” Ranboo grimaced. “But we don’t have time to wait. They’re here!”
His husband’s eyes widened at that. “Wait. Which one?”
An explosion sounded from somewhere above them, the soundwave shaking the entire place.
“Hello?” A musical voice echoed down the halls. Tubbo felt his heart jump into his chest as he immediately recognized it. “I couldn’t find your door, so I made a new one. I hope you’re ok with that.”
That was Wilbur… Fuck. Green had found them.
Tubbo was on his feet in seconds. “Grab Michael. I’ve got Tommy.”
Ranboo scooped up the small piglin from where he had been startled awake. Tubbo carefully grabbed Tommy’s arms and hoisted them around his shoulders so the blond was on his back.
The husbands bolted down the dimly lit corridors, moving deeper and deeper into the stronghold. While they didn’t normally travel down this path, it had still been practically drilled into their heads. Which turns to take and how each trap had been laid out. It didn’t nearly go as smoothly as it had the few times they had practiced this escape route. Ranboo almost ran into a trap while he had been focused on trying to calm down his son and Tubbo almost tripped on several occasions due to having the extra weight on his back throwing him off. But they managed to make it to a reinforced metal door. The goat hybrid slammed the stone button next to it and scrambled inside. The enderman paused a second to destroy the button before slipping in just as the door slammed shut. Unlike the rest of the stronghold, this camber was almost unbearably warm and had no shortage of light, mainly due to the lava basin built in the middle of the room. There built over it was their last hope. An end portal.
Ranboo looked back towards the sealed door, half expecting someone to be behind them. “Do you think the traps will slow them down?”
“Not for long.” The short teen dumped Tommy onto the floor as carefully as he could, making sure that he was at least leaning against a wall. “Help me get the eyes in!”
Ranboo placed Michael down next to the unconscious teen. “Do we have enough?”
Another explosion rocked through the stronghold. The piglin let out a small whine as he curled in towards his uncle.
Tubbo tried to ignore it as he pulled some Eyes of Ender out of his inventory. “It’s going to have to be.”
The husbands scrambled around the stone frame. They tried to ignore the occasional boom that rippled down from the area above them, instead focusing on the melodic thunk as each eye locked into the hollowed-out spaces. The air slowly becoming more and more charged with each one until it was like breathing in a static shock.
The two barely noticed as a white mist began spilling into the room. It thickened and pulled itself into a single being with a long white cloak. His face was featureless, except for his mouth that was currently in a stern frown. Two halos rotated around his head, crossing in an X right where his eyes should’ve been.
XD glared down at the mortals scurrying about the room. “What do you think you are doing!?!”
“Well, mister god man.” Tubbo stared right at the god as he shoved his last eye into place. “We are getting the fuck out of here.”
The halo’s narrowed to give the impression of a glare. “I can’t let you do that.”
Ranboo nervously looked between the god and his husband, trying to determine whose wrath he’d rather avoid. After a few moments, he slowly continued placing eyes into the slots.
Tubbo crossed his arms. “We don’t have a choice.”
The god’s scowl deepened. “I can’t risk you letting them into the end!”
The room shook as another blast echoed down the hall. It was definitely closer that time.
“You hear that?” The shortest teen exclaimed, a small headache beginning to form at the back of his head. “That’s the sound of something that wants to destroy my family! Something you should have stopped! And if you think I’m going to just sit around and let everyone that I care about suffer then bitch you’ve got another thing coming!”
“So you’re just running?” XD scoffed.
“Of course we’re not just running? Who the fuck do you take us for? We just need to get away for a bit.”
“So you can do what?”
Ranboo’s quiet voice cut through the argument. “It doesn’t matter…”
Tubbo and XD turn to see his mismatched eyes staring at the last empty slot.
“We don’t have enough.”
Time itself seemed to stop as the words stuck into everyone’s mind. There wasn’t going to be a portal. Their final escape plan failed.
The brunet’s eyes fogged over in panic. His mind began to race. “Ok. Ok. Fucking ok. This is fine. We can think of something.”
“Tubbo.” Ranboo grabbed Tubbo’s shoulders, hoping the feeling would help the other focus. “I need you to breathe.”
Tubbo shoved the other away. “No! There has to be fucking something. We can’t just… Fuck!”
The enderman looked up towards XD. “Can you help?”
The god’s form sputtered for a second as he lost focus for a second. “I-I don’t know if I can.”
“Then what good are you then?” Tubbo exclaimed. “Just go!”
“Don’t blame this on me.” XD moved right into the shorter one’s face. He barely even registered the fact that the enderman had flinched back a bit. “I’m trying to keep things safe!”
Tubbo barely reacted beyond clenching his hands into fists. “Glad to know that we’re not included in that.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
The two just stayed there for a moment, the anger bubbling between the two of them. Neither one making a move against the first move, but both being too stubborn to be the first one to back down. Then slowly the tension released like a slowly deflating balloon. And without all that anger, all that was left was two very worn out beings that were just so tired of fighting.
Tubbo backed away first, his voice barely coming out as a mumble. “You already know we’re not making it into the end. So why are you still here?”
XD stayed silent for a bit. He barely even registered that some of his cloak had begun fading into mist. “I don’t know.”
Another explosion caused the room to rock enough that the inhabitants had to struggle to remain upright. This time Tommy winced and started to sit up.
“Wh-what’s…” There was a slight fog covering his eyes as he looked around the room. It took him a second to piece it all together. “Oh… we leaving then?”
Tubbo winced, barely looking towards the other. “We don’t have enough.”
“Well, fuck.” Tommy’s arms shook as he tried to push himself to his feet. Tubbo was at his side almost immediately, supporting him upwards. “Guess we’re gonna have to fight some bitches then.”
“Tommy!” Ranboo rushed over, his hand held out warily towards the other. “You’re still recovering.”
The blond just weakly waved a dismissive hand in the enderman’s direction. “Like hell am I going to die sitting down.”
Tubbo carefully pulled Tommy’s axe out of his inventory. “You’re gonna want this.”
“Thank you, Big Man.” Tommy carefully grabbed onto the axe’s handle and ignored the heavy thump the enchanted blade made as it hit the ground. “How many we dealing with?”
“Uh… there was Wilbur, Quackity, Sam…” Ranboo paused for a second. “I think I saw Sapnap…”
Tommy groaned. “I don’t want names. I want numbers.”
“Sorry. It’s not like I stuck around to count all of them.” The dual-toned teen mumbled.
“I think we can assume Green sent everyone,” Tubbo grumbled.
Ranboo gave a small shrug. “Probably?”
XD looked down at the small family of four, watching as they moved about the room. Placing the small piglin the furthest away from the door with the enderman just within reach. The blond and brunet situating themselves in front of the door. Even with the blond leaning heavily against the shimmering netherite axe that he was using as a crutch, he still looked like a hunter waiting for the right moment to strike.
The edge of XD’s form flickered again. He wouldn’t be able to force himself to stay here much longer. Too much of his energy was being wasted just manifesting like this. He was needed elsewhere. He knew this. He absolutely knew this.
But something made him want to stay. Something screaming at him that things needed to change. That a risk needed to happen. These mortals were willing to do something. Their backs were against the wall and there was no reason to fight. He couldn’t figure out what kept them going. If it was courage or stupidity that drove them. Was that what he needed?
Did he help them even if it gave the other beings a chance to spread? Or did he leave the last survivors to their certain end? His choice had been so clear before, but now he didn’t know.
He hadn’t realized he had been staring until he realized that Ranboo was looking back up at him.
The teen raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”
The god looked around the room one last time before turning back to the teen. “You really believe that you could beat them?”
“Honestly…” Ranboo’s eyes darted to the side with a small sigh. “I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure we’re too stubborn to stop trying.”
A loud thump echoed against the door causing the two to jump.
“Here you are.” Wilbur’s face peaked through the iron doors window. Wild madness danced in his eyes as stared at them. “Did you know you’re missing a button?”
“Fuck off, Wilbur.” Tubbo gritted his teeth as headache worsened.
“Aw.” The man was not trying very hard to sound genuinely sad considering the smile was still in his voice. “I just wanted to say hello.”
“Hi.” Tommy tightened his grip on the axe handle. “Now fuck off.”
Wilbur laughed at that, letting his voice echo back up the halls when turned away from the door. “Hey! I found them!”
“It’s about time.” Another voice replied.
The teens winced as they registered it as Sam. They could hear the thunderous footsteps as more people made their way towards the room. Wilbur smiled at them as he pulled out a pickaxe and started breaking down the door. Tommy and Tubbo shifted a bit as they readied themselves to fight. Ranboo shifted a bit closer to Michael, readjusting his grip on the sword in his hands. The toddler let out a scared squeak at a particular loud thwack before he buried his face in his dad’s legs.
XD slowly let out a deep breath as he finally made his decision. He waved a hand in the area just in front of the cracking door and an invisible barrier shimmered into existence.
“That is fucking cheating!” Wilbur swung his pickaxe into the ground with a frustrated scream. The teens ignored him and instead turned towards the god.
“I don’t know how long I can make that last.” XD’s words were quiet and labored. The halos around his head slowed to a sluggish crawl as he tried to focus. An outstretched hand radiated a small flash of light that drew the attention of everyone in the room. When it cleared, an Eye of Ender was being held out to Ranboo. “I will notify the dragon of your arrival. No guarantees that they’ll be welcoming though.”
Tubbo’s gaze flipped between the eye and the god, looking for any signs of deception. “What about protecting the end?”
The god’s form faded as he gathered the remains of his energy reserves. “I will be destroying the portal behind you. So make sure you don’t forget anything.”
Chapter 8: Pretend It's Home
Summary:
The travelers gets settled into their new lives and George visits a friend.
Notes:
I LIVE!!!! Sorry this took me so long. I had to figure out what was going to be put where in the story.
As always, please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Chapter Text
The first thing that Ranboo noticed was that the End was dark. But it wasn’t a complete darkness like he was expecting. There was a strange dim glow that illuminated the land, letting him see just enough to see that the group was standing on a small floating island made out of black stone. He could hear the others groan as they tried to shake off the effects of the portal. The piglin in his arms let out tiny upset hiccups that lessened as his dad began gently swaying him side to side.
“Everyone ok?” Ranboo asked, looking at the other two teens.
“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Tubbo grumbled, one hand firmly fixed to his head as he slowly lowered himself down to the ground.
Tommy’s legs wobbled a bit causing him to teeter a bit towards the edge of the island. Ranboo caught onto his shoulder to help steady him.
“I’m fine, Ran. I don’t need you to baby me.” Tommy weakly tried to bat the other’s arm away.
Ranboo just sighed as he wrapped his arm around the blond. “Tell me that when you don’t need to lean on me.”
“Fuck you.” There was no real bite to Tommy’s words.
Ranboo looked down towards Tubbo who was still huddled down on the ground. “You doing ok?”
“Yeah.” Tubbo slowly began unfolding from his ball and standing up. “Everything’s still kinda dizzy, but not nearly as bad.”
“We can wait for a bit.” The enderman suggested. “I mean we still need to figure out how we’re getting off this thing.”
Tubbo looked down at the black stone island they were standing on. “Oh… Is there even anywhere to go?”
“There’s a yellow shore over here.” Ranboo nudged his head towards a section of the void next to him.
Tubbo moved next to his husband to get a better look. Squinting his eyes a bit, he could just make out a bit of yellow stone through the darkness. “Ok. So how are we supposed to…”
Large black claws scooped all four of the visitor’s up before anyone had a chance to register what was happening. Panicked hands clung onto whatever they could grasp onto as they watched the ground beneath them vanish from view. Ranboo and Tommy had unfortunately been smushed into the same claw. The enderman carefully clutched Michael as close to his chest as he could dare, hoping to protect the kid from whatever was about to happen. Tommy’s arms had been pinned rather uselessly so all he could cling onto was one of Ranboo’s sleeves. Tubbo was being held in a claw all by himself, his arms wrapped around one of the ebony talons pressed against his chest and eyes screwed shut. It felt like an eternity where the only things they could hear were the heavy panicked breaths and the beats of the wings that belonged to the monster that they were at the mercy of.
Then they were harshly thrown onto the ground, feeling a sharp sting from the impact. Ranboo carefully unwrapped himself from around Michael, looking for injuries and trying to sooth the crying child. Tommy just stayed down where he fell, merely wincing as he pressed a hand to his newly bruised shoulder. Tubbo sat up, ignoring the slight protest that his body gave as he tried to take in his surroundings.
It took Tubbo a moment to realize that the yellow stone that made up the ground was identical to the island that they had been looking at earlier. Looking out towards the horizon he could just barely make out the small black stone island that they had been on earlier. The new island was much larger than the previous one and made entirely of a stone that didn’t look like anything he had ever seen before. Large obsidian pillars stretched up into the sky creating a circle around a strange dark grey stone basin with a small pillar rising out of it. On each of the obsidian pillars was a glowing gemstone hovering over a large flame, twisting and turning as if it was dancing in the air.
A large black creature flew just over them, large wings creating strong currents that threatened to push them right over the edge. It looped around the island a few times, almost herding the teens towards the grey stone structure in the middle. Once they were close enough, the creature landed on the stone pillar in the middle, talons scrapping the stone as it carefully perched itself so it could loom down at the intruders.
The trio had all heard of the legends of the powerful being that resided and ruled over the End. It was almost every adventurer’s dream to go and defeat the dragon. There were so many tales about the realm where once you went in, there was no returning from. Descriptions of the unkillable beast littered the unbelievable stories. They had all heard about the obsidian like scales that covered their entire body. The grey webbed wings strong enough to launch fully armored men into the air. Vibrant purple eyes that were often the last thing anyone ever saw in this dark landscape.
It was another thing entirely to have it about to eat you. The beast’s wings flared out in an intimidating show of power as it sneered down at the teens, letting them get a glimpse at the sharp fangs and the purple glow that filled their mouth. Tommy and Tubbo carefully moved towards the front of their group. Ranboo was more than willing to take refuge behind them while he still had Michael clutched in his arms.
When the Ender Dragon spoke, it was at a volume that caused their ears to ring. “You dare enter MY realm!”
Tubbo looked frantically between the dragon and the other members of his group. “What is it saying?”
Tommy eyebrow’s furrowed, shifting his grip on his axe so he could lean on it a bit easier. “I think they said something about ‘entering their something’?”
“You know ender?” Ranboo asked, barely daring to raise his voice over a whisper.
“A bit?” Tommy whispered back. “Techno had an enderman friend and I picked up a bit from him. I’m kinda shit at it though.”
“GET OUT!!!” The dragon bellowed at them, causing everyone to jump and the piglin to bury his face into his father’s chest.
“Yep. Got that one.” Tommy looked up towards glowing purple eyes that were glaring down at everyone and tried to convince himself that the wobble in his legs was just from him standing too long. “XD…”
“I am aware of what XD said.” The dragon sneered. “That doesn’t mean that you are welcome here!”
“Please.” Ranboo exclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention. He shifted a bit nervously as he felt the dragon’s gaze land on him for the first time since the encounter began. “We uh… We just need somewhere safe to stay for a bit. We promise to not be in the way.”
Tommy shot his tall friend an annoyed look. “You know. If you could speak ender this whole time, you might’ve…”
“Ranboo?” The Ender Dragon’s voice cut off the human, the tone being surprisingly gentle. “Is that really you?”
The enderman hybrid’s head tilted a bit to the side. “Do I know you?”
“Yes. I…” The dragon shifted on the podium to lean down a bit. “I thought that you were dead.”
“I just…” Ranboo elbowed his way towards the front, placing a reassuring hand onto Tubbo’s shoulder when he looked like he was about to protest. “How do you know me?”
“I was good friends with your father, Ranbus.” The Ender Dragon smiled sadly. “Do you remember him or your mother?”
The enderman shook his head. “No. Sorry.”
“That’s alright. I guess memory problems just run in the family. Your father asked me to look after you if you ever managed to return here. It had been so long. I didn’t think…” The dragon’s eyes widened slightly as they narrowed in on the buddle that had just wiggled in Ranboo’s arms. “Is that a child?”
Ranboo tilted his head down to look at Michael. “Yeah? Did you not notice him?”
“He’s so small.” The ender dragon made a soft remorseful sound. “Is… is he ok?”
“A little scared, but not hurt.” Ranboo uncurled himself from around Michael as the dragon climbed down from the pillar to get a better look.
Tubbo instinctively raised a sword as they got a bit too close for comfort, but Tommy put a handout to stop him before he could do anything.
“I think we’re ok.” Tommy said, eyes locked on the scene in front of him. “They’re not going to hurt us.”
“Not going to hurt us. Not going to hurt us!” Tubbo exclaimed. “They just fucking threw us from who knows how high and we’re supposed to be cool with that shit?”
Tommy shrugged. “It’s not the worst thing that’s happened to us.”
The goat hybrid shot his friend a glare. “You and I both know that we shouldn’t compare things to the worst things that have happened to us.”
“Whatever. Just look at the bitch.” Tommy gestured over towards the dragon. They were gently putting their snout right up next to Ranboo, staying perfectly still as the zombie piglin child timidly reached a hand out. With a small bit of encouragement from his father, the toddler placed his hand on the smooth scales and let out a small giggle.
“I still don’t like this.” Tubbo huffed.
“Yeah well, it’s not like we have a choice. So get over it, bitch.”
“I know. I just…” Tubbo let out a frustrated growl as he deflated a little bit of that.
Ranboo’s ear twitched as he picked up on his husband’s distress. He almost instantly moved away from the dragon and back towards the other two. “Hey. You ok?”
Tubbo just shuffled forward so he could rest his head on Ranboo.
“I’ll take that as a no.” Ranboo began running his hand through Tubbo’s hair, trying not to laugh when he noticed Michael trying to mimic him. “The dragon says that they’re sorry.”
“They should be.” Tubbo mumbled into the taller man’s shirt.
“You going to forgive them?”
“No.”
The Ender Dragon moved closer towards the visitors, stopping when the blond human shot them a warning look. They hunched down and pressed their wings as close to their body as they could in an attempt to make themself smaller. It was a little funny considering that they still easily dwarfed everyone else.
“Is the little one alright?” They asked.
“He says he doesn’t forgive you.” Ranboo stated.
“That’s fair.” The dragon let out a soft hum, before resting their head on their front claws. “You’re not at all who I was expecting.”
Tommy’s eyebrows furrowed as he had work at translating everything before he could reply. His ender had a strange sound to it as his vocal cords tried to adapt to the unusual noises. “What you expecting?”
They grimaced a bit as a few memories of past intruders drifted through their mind. “The usual adventurers.”
It was only at that moment that Tommy noticed all the faint scars that covered the dragon. It was a complete tapestry of barely noticeable marks that were just a tiniest shade lighter than the scaled hide they rested on. He would’ve completely missed them if it wasn’t for the fact that the dragon was so close and docile. He could make out ones from blades and the pin pricks of arrows. There were a few sections that he had to guess were from explosions. Each one spoke of a battle that had to be hard fought and victories that had to be pulled from the jaws of fate itself. Of times that death had seemed certain only to be avoided at the last second.
For all the myths and all the legends that had ever been told, Tommy had finally made a realization about them. They were wrong. This was not some giant destroyer of all things. This wasn’t some mindless beast that attacked and killed because it was fun. This was someone who had their home threatened time and time again. Forced into a role that they had never wanted but that someone needed to play.
And it was in this strange realm that no one was allowed to go into and next to this big all-powerful beast that could easily take away everything he had left, Tommy did the one thing he hadn’t done in a long time.
He began to laugh.
It started out small, almost silent, but the more he thought about it the louder it grew. Building and building until they came out as loud gasps. A noise that immediately caught the others’ attention. The husbands could only stare on in dumbfounded disbelief as a sound from a time long gone was suddenly with them again.
The black scaled being startled back a bit at the sudden loud sound that almost echoed off of the stone around them. They looked over to Ranboo in some desperate hope of sanity returning. “Is the golden one ok?”
“I don’t…” It took Ranboo a moment before he remembered who he was talking to. “I don’t know.”
The Ender Dragon let out a distressed whine. “But why is he…”
“Like us.” Tommy managed between a few laughs.
They looked back at the enderman who could only shrug.
“Like us?” They asked.
The blond nodded. “You are like us.”
They glanced over the small creatures that had graced their realm, trying desperately to figure out what the human meant. They finally had to turn back to the human with a confused look. “You are very strange.”
That seemed to renew Tommy’s laughter. Tubbo began complaining about how he didn’t know what was going on and demanding to know what was so funny. Ranboo quietly tried to explain that he also didn’t really know what was happening and no he was not smiling because he knew. Michael reached grabby hands up towards the dragon with the determination that he’d be able to reach them if he tried hard enough.
The Ender Dragon looked down at their unusual guests. A loud human with a surprisingly endearing laugh. A little goat who held an inner fire that refused to go out. A zombie piglin child who needed to be protected at all cost. And a godson they thought they’d never get to see again. It was so different from what they thought the future had held from them. The entire group just completely caught them off guard.
It reminded them of a dear friend.
“So…” Ranboo began, snapping their attention back into focus. The pleading look in the enderman’s eyes was almost painfully familiar. “Can we stay?”
The dragon didn’t even hesitate. “Yes. You and your family can stay.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
With all the time it had taken them to clear out some of the trees and get the logs ready for building, they had only managed to build a quick house made almost entirely of wood before the sun was already disappearing underneath the horizon.
“I think we’ll have to stop for now.” Lethe stated.
“Oh, thank fucking prime.” Theseus immediately flopped over into the grass. Michael gave a small grunt in agreement before dropping on top of his uncle.
Festus regarded the building with slight disdain. “I’ll come up with a blueprint tonight so we can start the real construction in the morning.”
Theseus groaned. “Just make everything cobblestone and be done with it.”
“Never.” Festus immediately replied.
A small skittering sound escaped from the forest that surrounded them.
Michael bolted upright. “What was that?”
“Just a spider.” Theseus mumbled, barely opening one eye to take a look around.
“Oh…” The piglin’s eye scanned the clearing’s edge, flickering around at any possible sign of danger. “I knew that.”
“Sure you did.” Festus gave his son’s hair a ruffle as he walked past. “Come on. Let’s get inside before it gets completely dark.”
Michael moved to follow his papa when he heard another noise from beyond the trees. He took another look over his shoulder before looking at the wooden structure warily. “You sure this will keep us safe?”
Lethe gave his son a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. It might not be big or fancy but it’ll keep the wandering mobs out.”
“And if anything gets in, they’ll have to fuck with me first.” Theseus exclaimed.
“Real tough from a guy bested by a bit of labor.” Festus deadpanned.
“You try lugging all that wood around!” The human huffed.
“I did. And I’m not complaining.” Festus stared at Theseus who was still lying on the ground like a slug. “You gonna get off the fucking ground anytime soon?”
“I can’t. I have used all of my energy and cannot walk.” Theseus dramatically flopped on arm over his eyes. “You will have to go on without me.”
Lethe rolled his eyes. “Come on man. The door is literally right here.”
“Nope. This is the end for me.”
Festus sighed as he stomped over to loom over the blond. “You really gonna make me do this?”
Theseus peaked out from behind his arm and immediately began rethinking his life choices when he saw the mischievous glint in the other’s eye. “Hold on. Don’t you fucking…”
“Too late.” The goat hybrid scooped his friend up in one smooth motion, not even faltering as Theseus began struggling in his grip. “Let’s go.”
“You bitch! Put me down! Motherfucking prick! I am not a fucking sack of potatoes!” Theseus’s eyes caught onto his dual-toned friend. “Ranboo. Fucking do something!”
“Ok.” Lethe held the door open. “After you.”
“Fuck all of you!” Theseus finally seemed to accept his fate, the last of his rebellious energy manifesting as two middle fingers held up in Lethe’s direction as they passed by.
Lethe just laughed as they passed by. He gently placed an arm around his son’s shoulders, causing Michael to jump a little. “Come on. Let’s get those bandages off you.”
Michael gave a slow nod and let his dad lead him inside, keeping his one eye on the forest the entire time.
The house was only one floor and contained three rooms, one large main room and two slightly smaller ones that branched off of it. It was almost completely empty since they didn’t have enough supplies or time to add a lot of furniture yet. The only bed they had made was the double bed currently stationed in the main room. There were a few torches to light the room up, leaving a few dark corners by the furthest edges. There were a few chests placed towards the edge of the room, waiting to be moved to a more permanent place.
As soon as he was close enough, Festus threw Theseus at the bed. The blond managed to bounce once before falling off the other side, his headphones loudly hitting the floor as it fell off his head.
Theseus quickly scrambled to check them for damage. “You trying to break my headphones?”
“Please, I built them stronger than that.” Festus rolled his eyes. He moved towards the chests and began pulling items out of his inventory to put into them.
“You could act like you care.” Theseus grumbled, getting off the floor and storming over to the goat hybrid.
Festus paused for a moment from arranging the items, letting out a thoughtful hum before placing a bag covered in blue dust into a chest. “Are your headphones ok?”
“Yes they are.”
“Then stop being a baby.”
“You’re fucking prick.” Theseus growled.
He sulked for a bit, before he spotted something in a chest. An impish grin spread across his face as swiped them while the other was busy with another chest. He moved back to the bed, where Michael was patiently sitting on the edge of the bed. He was running a hooved hand over his returned piglin features, the other arm extended so his dad could remove the bandages from it. Lethe raised an eyebrow at his friend as he settled down next to Michael with a few loaves in his arm. Theseus just stared right back as he began not so subtly munching on the bread.
Festus immediately stopped as soon as he heard the loud crunch of the crust. He slowly turned around to glare at the blond. “You’re gonna get crumbs in the bed.”
Theseus continued to munch away. “Don’t care. Here Big Mike.”
The zombie piglin gratefully took the loaf being offered to him and immediately began eating it.
The brunet let out a groan. “We have to sleep there!”
The enderman wrapped the last bandage up into a tight roll with a shake of his head. He quietly swapped the newly wrapped rolls with the baked potatoes he had stored in his inventory. He held one out towards his husband. “We should eat something, too.”
Festus accepted it, taking a big bite before returning to organizing. “Thanks, I guess.”
Lethe settled down onto the ground next to the chests and began nibbling at his potato. “We have enough supplies?”
“I think so.” Festus carefully placed a jar of bone dust. “We’re going to be cutting it really fucking close with how little Blue we have left. But there should be enough for at least one attempt.”
Theseus looked up from the half-finished loaf in his hand. “I could always get some more.”
Festus tried his best not to wince at that. “Let’s hold off on that until we have to. We don’t know what’s been affected by the time travel shit yet.”
“Suit yourself.” The blond shrugged, shoving the rest of the bread into his mouth at once. “We’re gonna be working on the base tomorrow, right?”
“That’s the plan.” Lethe said with a nod.
Michael paused from his attempts to mimic his uncle. “We’re not gonna run into any bad guys, right?”
“Nah.” Theseus wrapped a reassuring arm around the kid. “We made sure we weren’t anywhere near any wrongins.”
Michael looked confused as his gaze shifted between the adults. “You know where they are?”
“Well, we don’t know exactly where they are.” Lethe paused mid bite as he thought for a moment. “But we have a general idea where Red’s going to pop up. Green’s a bit more tricky.”
“Green will probably seek us out as soon as he knows about us.” Festus finished the last of his potato. “Don’t worry. I’m going to start working on some kind of battle plan once I finish the blueprints for the house.”
“And when are you going to sleep?” Theseus asked.
Festus shrugged. “Maybe sometime by tomorrow morning.”
“Oh no. You are actually sleeping tonight.” Lethe placed the unfinished half of his potato a chest and scooped his husband up.
The shorter man immediately began swinging his legs uselessly. “I’ll sleep! I just want to…”
“Nope. Bed.” Lethe unceremoniously dropped Festus onto the bed.
“But I have to…”
Lethe tossed a blanket over him. “Bed!”
Soon enough everyone was piled onto the lone bed. Crowns, headphones, and capes had all been placed carefully on the chests where they wouldn’t be accidently damaged. The torches had been snuffed, leaving the dim setting sun as the only source of light. Michael had fallen asleep almost instantly, carefully wedged in between his two dads. Lethe was the second one to go. He had been determined to keep half an eye on the others before the exhaustion from the day finally caught up with him. Even in his sleep, he had one arm wrapped around his husband, practically anchoring the other man to the bed. It had taken a while for Festus to settle down. He had tried to sneak out of his husband’s grip but had to give up when he realized he couldn’t without waking someone up. He did manage to get out his notebook and a pencil to sketch some ideas until it was too dark for him to see what he was doing. Only once it was clear there was nothing else he could do, did Festus finally sleep.
That left Theseus who had situated himself on Lethe’s other side. He waited, listening as the others slowly fell asleep. Trying to focus on the soft snores from the piglin and even breaths of the lanky enderman next to him. But all he could hear was the consistent roar that forever echoed in his ears. The sound of waves that followed him wherever he went. A small part of his brain once again brought up the question of if he had ever really left. Maybe this was all in his head. Just some hallucination to deal with the unending loneliness. It was really just him and the beach and the ocean. He couldn’t even register his shaky breaths as the air struggled to escape his lungs. It was only the eternal roaring waves that would only be broken up by the sound of explosions when…
His spiraling thoughts were cut off by a limp slap to the face.
“Come here.” Festus pulled on his arm a bit, moving him up until his head was resting on Lethe’s chest.
A low rumble reverberated as the enderman continued to purr in his sleep. It wasn’t loud, but it was just enough to focus on.
“Thanks, Tubso.” Theseus sleepily mumbled.
He got an affirming hum back. The hand lessened its grip on his arm but didn’t move away, remaining a solid reassuring presence until sleep finally came.
George was surrounded by endless fields of golden grass and clear blue sky. The grass rippled as he slowly walked outwards in one direction, forever walking towards the distant horizon. He wasn’t quite sure how long he’d been here. Could’ve been a few hours, even days, and he’d never know. There was no sun to indicate anything, yet it was still bright as day. Dreams hardly followed normal time schedules anyway.
After a while, the goggled man groaned and plopped onto his back. The golden blades swallowed him up, completely hiding him from view. It’s not like he was tired, he could never get tired here. He was just bored. Nothing was happening. Nothing ever happened this long before.
“XD! Where are you?” He called out towards the sky.
He felt someone hover over him.
“George?”
The human cracked one eye open to see XD staring at him. The halos around the god’s head froze for a second before picking up speed. A wide smile spread across the god’s face in an almost unnatural way.
“George!” XD scooped the mortal up off the ground and into a tight hug, clearly forgetting that he was nearly two times the size of George. “It’s so good to see you!”
The human awkwardly patted the other’s back. “Good to see you, too.”
The god popped George down a little bit too quickly. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”
“That’s ok.” George said, still trying to regain his footing after being manhandled. “I’ll admit I was a little worried when you didn’t show up.”
“Oh, there was no need to worry. I was just caught off guard, that’s all.” XD was practically glowing with how happy he was. “Come on. I want to hear all about how you’ve been.”
The human blinked at that. “You literally saw me yesterday.”
The white cape flowed dramatically in a nonexistent breeze, the edges of it beginning to dissipate into a smokey mist. “Oh I… I know that. I just wanted to hear you talk.”
George shot the god a questioning look. “What’s going on?”
XD’s head tilted to the side a little bit. “What do you mean?”
“You’re acting more clingy than usual.”
“No I’m not. I just…” XD stopped as soon as the human shot him an annoyed look. “Ok. So I might be acting a bit more clingy than normal.”
“Does it have anything to do with the visitors from the end?” George asked, sitting back down in the grass.
“So you’ve met them.” XD settled down a little bit too close next to him. “Have they been behaving themselves?”
“Well, one of them shot Schlatt within the first minute of meeting them.”
The god sighed at that. “I supposed that’s to be expected. They didn’t hurt you, did they?”
“No.”
“Good.” The god stared off into the distant horizon.
“Tell me what’s going on.” The goggled man quietly demand.
The response was monotoned, like it had been said a million times before. “I can’t.”
“Like hell you can’t.” George grabbed onto the other’s cape, pulling on it to get his attention.
The god glared as he ripped the white cloth from the other’s grasp. “It’s too dangerous.”
George glared right back. “Seriously what is going on? Why did you let people from the End here? Why are you acting like you haven’t seen me in years? Why do you look so tired?”
XD flinched at that, his form fading a bit before solidifying again. “You noticed that?”
“Of course I noticed that.” George exclaimed.
The god looked like he was about to say something, but one concerned look from the human was all it took to make him rethink that. “Just used a lot of energy trying to keep them at bay.”
“Them?”
“Red and Green. Two beings that are trying to seize control of the Overworld.” XD’s shoulders slumped a bit. “This is actually the first break I’ve had from them in a while.”
“You should be resting then.” George finally said.
“But I wanted to see you.” XD’s voice was laced with disappointment and exhaustion.
George shot the bigger being a reassuring smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Something about that statement caused XD to flicker as pain flashed across his face. The god was quick to compose himself, wrapping an arm around his favorite mortal and resting his head gently on the other’s. “You’re probably right. Just stay safe. And try to keep out of the visitors’ way.”
George awoke to see his two best friends looming over him like a pair of creeps.
A smile spread across Sapnap’s face. “He lives.”
“Guess we can cancel the funeral arrangements then.” Dream’s voice was laced with amusement.
“Oh. Ha ha.” George sat up, giving the other two a good shove so he’d have space to sit up. He noticed the sun just barely visible over the horizon. “Was I really out for that long?”
“Depends. When did you fall asleep?” Dream asked.
The goggled man paused for a moment. “A little after noon, I think.”
“Then yes. Yes, you were.” Sapnap said, barely holding back a laugh.
“Must have really needed the rest, I guess.” George yawned. A shadow moving in the corner of his eye drew his attention towards his masked friend.
Dream rolled his eyes. “So… anything interesting happen at the election?”
“Well, Schlatt won.” George shrugged, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “And he tried to exile Wilbur and Tommy.”
“Big surprise there.” Sapnap said.
“But uh… it was stopped by some new people.” George continued.
That caught Dream’s attention. “New people?”
“Yeah.” The goggled man replied. “They just showed up out of nowhere and interrupted everything.”
“New people.” The green hooded man repeated. “Like never been here before new?”
George raised an eyebrow at the other. “Yeah. What else would you think new means?”
Dream let out a thoughtful grumble as he pulled up an admin screen. Sapnap and George shared a look as they watched him scroll through lines of text and notifications.
When the admin finally spoke, his voice was laced with concern. “I didn’t get an announcement that any new people arrived here.”
“But that’s not possible.” The man in the bandana said in disbelief.
Dream clapped his hand together causing the screen to vanish. “Apparently it is.”
“Ok. What does that mean?” George asked, carefully.
“I don’t know.” Dream’s gaze was fixed on the distant horizon, the gears in his head already turning. He had been worried about today being boringly predictable. But this. This was interesting. A smile spread across his face, hidden just out of sight under the mask. “But I’m going to find out.”
Chapter 9: Take a Breath
Summary:
Michael makes some new friends and everything is mostly fine.
Notes:
I present a Michael centered chapter. Why? Cause I like Michael and I like fluff. That's pretty much it.
As always, please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Bold = Nether
Chapter Text
Michael wandered around the empty stone hallways. He was grateful that his family always made sure the hall lights were always on. It would’ve been too scary otherwise. He carefully shoved a door open a bit to look into the room, letting out a little whine as he realized the only thing he could see was darkness. He couldn’t reach the light switch. He couldn’t even reach the door knob, instead relying on the fact that no one ever closed doors fully around here.
He pulled his blanket up over his head like a hood and continued his search. He was supposed to be in bed. He knew this. His dads had told him that if the sky was dark, it was time to sleep. But it was always dark here and his dads weren’t asleep.
Besides, he wasn’t used to their new home yet. He knew it was a different world than the one they lived in before the same way he knew when his dads had moved him from the fiery one he had been born into. It was in the smells and the sounds. He had just gotten used to the dusty smell that their last home had. The shuffle and moaning of the bad things deeper in the stone walls hadn’t startled him like they used to when they got too loud.
His new home didn’t feel like anything. It was so quiet here. He couldn’t hear the wind blowing outside or the sound of monsters that got too close. His footsteps seemed so loud in comparison to the silence. There were barely any smells and anything that did have a smell was just off. Like it was something trying to replicate it but couldn’t get it right.
But he trusted his family. So if they said this new world kept them safe then he’d learn to live with it. He was even in a big house again. Just like when they lived in the cold place. But it was better here. He wasn’t confined to just a few rooms. He could go wherever he wanted. He could run up and down the stairs or wander into the kitchen. He could even follow his uncle outside and no one immediately panicked about it.
But there were times when he couldn’t find anyone.
Michael shuffled down the grand stairs in the main hallway. He paused only to look up at the pretty picture hanging on the wall. The man looked kinda scary with how his pitch black hair and skin barely stood out from the deep purple background. It didn’t help that his clothes were also in shades of black and purple. He looked like a shadow with bright eyes looming in the background. But his emerald green eyes reminded Michael of Ranboo so the man couldn’t have been all bad. He seemed to be really tall like his dad, too. Certainly, taller than the human woman in the picture. She completely reminded Michael of Ranboo. She had the same white spots all over her tan skin and some of her brown hair had sections of pure white. Her dark grey and silvery blue eyes held a slight confusion, like she had forgotten what she was doing at that moment.
Ranboo said that the picture people had given them the houses to stay in. The toddler hoped he could thank them some day.
Michael wandered around the rooms on the first floor, each one being just as empty as the last. He had just finished checking out the kitchen when his ear twitched towards a faint noise. He followed the sound, pushing past the open basement door and down the stairs. As he got closer, he could start to make out Tommy’s shouting and Tubbo’s grumbles. He could even hear Ranboo give an occasional reply to something one of the others said.
The piglin hadn’t been in the basement very often. There wasn’t really anything down there, or at least originally there wasn’t. It was just an underground closet to store things. The others had expanded the area since then. They had added in lights and dug down into the floor to add soil to plant seeds. Last time Michael was down here there wasn’t much growing. Now there were a few rows of green leaves. There were also tiny rivers in between the rows of plants that hadn’t been there before. There were signs of issues. There were several sickly looking plants that were clearly dying and a pile of uprooted plants that had been tossed into a corner of the room to rot. The yellows and browns peeking out of the piles weren’t very encouraging.
Michael had known something was wrong. He could always tell. His family would try really hard to not let him know, but that just made it more obvious. It was in the way they would be tired when they visited him. The whispers passed between his dads and his uncle when they thought he was asleep. He didn’t know why they whispered. It's not like he knew enough words to follow what they were saying anyway. But he had gotten pretty good at picking up the tones, even when they tried to hide it.
The piglin paused at the foot of the stairs, watching the others move about. The teens hadn’t noticed his presence yet, all either too busy or facing the wrong way. Ranboo was tending to the only green plants, carefully looking over the leaves and checking the soil. Tubbo was staring at the dying sprouts with a look of disdain. He poked at one of them, nose wrinkling as a few leaves immediately broke off. Tommy had apparently stopped in the middle of planting something and gone over to the goat hybrid.
“I’m telling you the wheat is just being a bitch.” Tommy exclaimed.
“Clearly the dirt and end stone mixture is off.” Tubbo grumbled to himself, picking up a clump of the dark yellow soil and rubbing it through his fingers.
The blond grimaced. “You sure we can’t just use straight dirt?”
“For the last time” Tubbo shot the blond an annoyed glare. “We didn’t bring enough. We have to thin it out a bit if we want this to be sustainable.”
Ranboo looked up from the plants he was tending to. “At least the potatoes are growing alright.”
“Of course it had to be the fucking potatoes.” Tommy grumbled under his breath.
“I know you don’t like them, Tommy, but they’re all we have for now.” The enderman placed a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s only temporary until we get used to the food here, anyway.”
The other just batted it off with a huff. “Easy for you to say. You can already eat that shit.”
“At least you understand what people are fucking saying.” Tubbo muttered, earning a slight wince from the other two.
Michael let out a soft whine, his ear dropping out of concern. He didn’t know what exactly was making his family upset. He couldn’t understand most of the words that they were speaking with. But he didn’t like his dads being upset. And his dads always hugged him when he was sad.
Ranboo started at the sudden soft clacks making their way across the stone floor, turning just in time to see his son scamper over to Tubbo and tackle him. Admittedly, the toddler didn’t really do much more than cause the teen to let out a bleat in surprise.
Tubbo blinked at the toddler. “Michael? What are you doing out of bed?”
His son tightened his grip. “No sleep.”
“Michael.” Ranboo softly scolded. “You need to sleep.”
The piglin’s face pinched in frustration. “No. Sleep.”
Tommy got down onto his knees to be closer to the toddler’s height. “Didn’t want to sleep?”
Michael shook his head. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Nightmare?” The blond asked, lips pursing a bit in concern.
The kid shook his head again. “Lonely.”
Tommy gently rubbed the kid’s head before standing back up. “Big Mike didn’t want to be alone.”
“Suppose we should call it anyway.” Ranboo sighed. “A little sleep would be good.”
Tubbo’s gaze shifted slightly towards the notes scattered across a nearby table. “You guys go ahead. I want to work on a new soil composition before I turn in.”
Michael didn’t fight as Ranboo scooped the piglin up into his arms, but he did reach his arms out towards Tubbo. “Bee!”
“I know, Michael.” Tubbo ruffled his son’s hair slightly as he passed by. “I’ll be there in a bit.”
“No.” The piglin’s cheeks puffed out a bit in frustration.
Tubbo barely reacted, his brain already beginning to make calculations on the work in front of him.
“It’s ok Big Mike.” Tommy tried to reassure the toddler. “You’ll have me and Ranboo.”
But Michael didn’t want Tommy and Ranboo. Tiny tears gathered in the corner of his eye as he continued to reach out to the brunet. He didn’t care if Ranboo almost dropped him or if the others were telling him to stop. He hadn’t spent all that time looking around to find his family just to get two of them. His family had three other members in it, and he wasn’t going to be happy until he had all three.
“Pa!”
That gave everyone pause. Ranboo trying to adjust his grip around his son. Tommy with his arms out under the child to catch him if he tipped too far. Tubbo had frozen mid page turn, the page balancing precariously on one of his fingertips.
Ranboo stared blankly down at the toddler in his arms. “Did he just…”
Tubbo slowly turned around, his eyes the size of saucers. “He’s never…”
“Pa.” A small, hiccupped sob escaped from the toddler.
The goat hybrid was by his family’s side in a second, leaning forwards to let Michael cling onto him. He wiped away a tear that had run down the piglin’s face before pressing their foreheads together. “Ok. Fuck. Just ok.”
Tommy backed up a bit as a large grin spread across his face. “It’s official. You’re a fucking dad now.”
Ranboo shot his friend a confused look. “You mean we weren’t before?”
The human rolled his eyes. “Well, yeah. But now the kid’s fucking agreeing to it. That’s like the most important part.”
“Yeah it is.” The enderman chuckled and watched as his husband pulled a bit away from his son’s face but kept his hands cupped around the toddler’s cheeks. Maybe it was a trick of the lighting or maybe Tubbo was too focused on Michael to hide it, but at that moment all Ranboo could notice was how tired Tubbo looked. How long had it been since they had actually relaxed?
“I think we should get some rest.” Ranboo stated in a quiet voice.
Tubbo’s eyebrows furrowed a bit. “Isn’t that what you were doing?”
Ranboo placed Michael fully into his husband’s arms “All of us.”
Tubbo’s eyes widened a bit at the child before darting over at their pitiful farm. His eyebrows furrowed with stress as he clearly struggled with the conflicting responsibilities. He looked back at the other teens in desperation. “But what about…”
“It’ll still be there when you get up.” Tommy gave his friend a slight encouraging nudge. “You’ll figure this shit out. Just like you always fucking do.”
The brunet deflated a little, sending a bitter glare at the pile of rotting plants. “I didn’t with the carrots.”
“Those bitches don’t count. They clearly had a death wish.” The blond exclaimed before moving towards the stairs.
“We’ll be ok,” Ranboo picked up Michael’s blanket from where it had been dropped on the basement floor during his tackle earlier and carefully handed it to the piglin. It was enough to get Michael to release one of his hands from Tubbo’s shirt so he could hold the red blanket closer. “We still have eggs. Bet at least one of them has to have a chicken in it.”
Tubbo looked down at his son who was staring up at him with his one big grey eye. “Hear that, Michael? Chicken and potatoes. We’ll eat like motherfucking kings.”
“Fuck.” Michael parroted back.
Tubbo gave a breathy chuckle at that. “Yeah. I agree.”
He gave the basement one last sigh before following the other two upstairs.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
It didn’t take long before the construction of the improved base was in full production. Festus had finished the blueprints long before anyone else was up and quickly nagged everyone into helping. The kitchen and living room needed to be furnished, the workshop’s walls needed reinforcement, a fireplace was waiting to be installed, the basement and second floor didn’t even exist yet.
Unfortunately, the few crafting supplies they had brought with them were quickly depleting. They hadn’t brought much building materials from the end with them, after all end stone and purpur blocks would’ve immediately given away their location. Which ultimately meant having to go out and gather things that they could build with.
Lethe almost immediately began mining for stone and iron to help reinforce the walls and doors. He was already proving to be extremely successful, bringing back loads of materials, including a bunch of diamonds that Festus quickly snatched away when no one was looking.
Which just left them with getting more wood. They had already expanded the original clearing by twice its size and the idea of expanding it any more made the three adults nervous about the decreased cover. That meant that someone had to travel out into the woods to find a bunch of trees far enough away that it couldn’t easily be traced back to their home base.
So Theseus and Michael were sent off to scavenge for some. Theseus because he had been caught trying to make some “improvements” without anyone else noticing and Michael because the kid wanted to see more of the forest.
They wandered about the area, stopping occasionally to knock down a tree or two before continuing onwards. Theseus had even managed to hunt a few stray rabbits in the area, letting Michael even try to hit a few. He wasn’t any good at it, but his uncle seemed to be proud of the attempts.
They had been at this for hours by the time that Theseus had decided that they had collected enough wood and start making their way home. Michael had begun lagging behind as the exhaustion started getting to him. He was too stubborn to admit to it of course. He wasn’t about to tell his uncle that a small walk through the woods was enough to tire him out. He was too amazing to let that happen. And if his uncle had already taken a glance over his shoulder and slowed down the pace, no one said anything about it.
The piglin was startled out of his tired daze when a bee flew directly into his vision. It paused for a moment to let out a surprised buzz before continuing on its way. Michael watched it as it drifted off towards a small gap in the endless layers of trees. Sunlight streamed through the leafy canopy in almost visible beams. The patterns of light and shadow shifted slightly across the flowery meadow that spread across the entire area. The bee settled into a bright yellow flower, readjusting a bit when the petals with the breeze.
It was perfect.
“Uncle?” Michael voice barely rose above a mumble, worried that if he spoke any louder it would break the serene spell.
Theseus thankfully paused at the small rumbling word. “Yeah, Big Mike?”
“Can… Can I just stay here for a bit?”
“You do know that you’re double grounded, right?” His uncle asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I stay right here. I promise!” The little piglin shot a wide sorrowful eye up towards the blonde, his bottom lip quivering ever so slightly. “Please. Only for a little bit?”
Theseus quickly averted his gaze. “You know Tubbo would kill me.”
Damn. Michael knew his expression was useless if his uncle wasn’t looking. Looked like he’d have to use his secret weapon.
The piglin let out a small sorrowful whine.
His uncle tried to remain strong. But how could he ignore that noise? “Ugh… Fine! Just until I drop off the supplies and come back.”
“Thank you!” Michael quickly wrapped his arms around his uncle. “You’re the best uncle ever!”
Theseus just pat his head in defeat. “Yeah yeah. You’ve got your sword?”
“Yep.” His nephew summoned the sword briefly before sending it back into his inventory again.
“And a shield?”
“Yep.” The little piglin held up the shield that his uncle had given him earlier that morning. It was a little bit too big, but it would have to do until his papa had time to make him a proper one.
“Which way is home?”
Michael pointed in the direction they had originally been heading in. “That way. Turn left at the tree with the split in it.”
“Alright. If anything, And I mean ANYTHING happens,” Theseus gave the kid a very pointed look. “You run straight home.”
“Got it, Boss.” Michael chirped, giving the adult a salute.
“I’ll be back soon. Stay out of trouble.” Theseus wandered back into the woods. He paused to spare a glance back towards the clearing. He watched the little piglin flop backwards into the flowers that filled the clearing and disappear. The uncle let out a sigh. “Tubbo’s gonna kill me.”
A few content chuffs escaped as he tilted his head upwards. The light was warm in a way that he had never experienced before. Somewhere between a fire and a hug. It was offset by the cool breeze that brushed his cheeks and ruffled his piglin fur. It carried so many unusual smells with it. The earthy dirt and the wonderful perfume of the flowers. The yellow ones were definitely his favorites. He wasn’t quite sure what kind they were which made them so much more interesting. He had found an old notebook once while he was exploring the library back home that was filled with notes and drawings of Overworld plants. It was one of his favorite books and he often spent hours looking over the detailed drawings and reviewing Ranbus’s written words. Yet these yellow flowers weren’t familiar to him. They didn’t even seem to be that special. Just sold disks made from a million tiny yellow petals attached to a long thin stem with jagged leaves sticking out of the bottom. He’d have to ask the others about it later. For now, he was content to just exist in this moment, surrounded by light and plants.
It was absolute bliss.
He didn’t even notice the two sets of footsteps that were approaching from the forest until it was far too late.
“Michael?” A voice carried across the clearing.
Michael’s breath hitched. The voice sounded so familiar. The loud assertive nature immediately brough images of blond hair and a confident grin. But it sounded off. A bit too young and missing the slight rasp that had developed after a deadly injury to the neck.
He checked to make sure his hood was up before moving to peak through the tall grass. There were two people standing just on the outskirts of the clearing. He recognized the tall one almost immediately. That was Tommy. Not his Tommy, but the younger version of him. It was still really weird to Michael. Tommy’s blue eyes were too bright and his hair was too short. The white streak was entirely gone.
Michael had to do a double take when he saw the other person. The shorter teen kinda resembled his papa, but barely. He was much younger, both in age and the way that he carried himself. All of his scars were missing and his horns were nowhere in sight. His golden blond hair curled out wildly, keeping his ears out of sight but carefully cut to keep it out of his dark blue eyes. Perhaps the most concerning thing of all, he was wearing a suit.
It was like looking in a distorted mirror.
Michael’s eye widen as he saw Tommy and Tubbo start to make their way towards him. He was still in his piglin form. He should’ve listened to Festus when he said he had to stay in his human form when he wasn’t home. But Theseus hadn’t minded when the piglin had shifted back in the middle of their trip. He had said that it was just the two of them and Michael would be fine as long as he had his bandages on.
He pulled his hood further down over his face and ran his fingers across the cloth strips covering his face to make sure they were still in place. “Go away!”
“But we just got here.” Tommy huffed, not slowing in the slightest.
Michael was about to bolt but stopped as he was cut off by the shorter teen. He shifted to a more defensive position as he registered Tommy coming up from behind him. Neither of the teens were showing any aggression, but his uncle always said it was better to be careful. Michael’s breath caught in his throat as he watched Tubbo’s eyes scan every inch of his face.
“You’re a piglin?” The teen asked.
The kid paused for a moment before quietly responding. “No…”
Tommy leaned in to get a closer look at the younger’s face. “Is that why your face is all piggy now?”
“My face isn’t piggy!” Michael’s eyes were screwed shut as he tried to force his features back into his human form. “I have a perfectly normal face!”
Tubbo placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder, which caused the other to instinctively look up. His face was still only halfway through the transformation. His nose was human and one of his tusks was gone, but the other tusk and his ear were still far too piglike.
The shorter teen gave a small smile. “Hey. We’re cool. Right, Tommy?”
Tommy stared at Michael with his mouth slightly open before his friend elbowed him in the stomach. The taller teen blinked for a moment before he recovered from the initial shock. “Oh yeah. Totally cool.”
“Really?” The piglin eyed the two teens, the lack of concentration causing his features slipping back into being a full piglin form.
“Yeah. You look like a badass bitch.” Tommy grinned.
The kid perked up at that. “I do?”
“Yeah.” Tubbo sat down next to the other. “You should look like this more often.”
“I-I don’t know. Papa was worried that people might...” Michael fidgeted a bit. “What are you doing out here?”
“Wilbur wanted me to try finding your group.” Tommy replied.
“And Schlatt wanted me to spy on you guys.” Tubbo shrugged.
“Are you going to?” Michael hesitantly asked.
“Nah.” The short teen sat down in the grass. “I was just keeping Tommy company.”
Tommy rolled his eyes at that and settled down next to his friend. “Right like you weren’t interested in the strangers that suddenly appeared.”
“I never said that was my only reason.” Tubbo replied, gesturing for the kid to sit back down in the grass. Michael cautiously did so.
“Whatever, man. I was just trying to find you to ask you one very important question,” Tommy leaned in really close to Michael. “How old are you?”
The piglin blinked a bit at that. “Uh… Eight. I think.”
“Yes!” The lanky teen cheered. “I’m not the youngest anymore.”
Tubbo furrowed his brows. “What do you mean you think?”
“Well, there isn’t really time in the End.” Michael replied.
The blond paused his celebration to stare at the kid. “The fuck does that mean?”
“Uh…” Michael’s brain struggled to remember what Festus had told him when he had asked about how the Overworld worked. “You have the… light cycle thing and that makes people get super old. But home doesn’t have a light cycle.”
“Light cycle… Do you mean day and night?”
“I guess.”
“So it really is just like pitch black?” Tubbo asked.
“Yeah.” Michael shot the other a confused look. “What else would it be?”
“There could be like stars and shit.” Tommy replied.
The piglin perked up a bit. “Stars? Like the little lights stars?”
“Yeah.”
“My dad talked about stars.” Michael could barely contain the excited squeal. “I just thought it was made up. Like when he said he used to watch the sun setting with Papa and Uncle.”
“You thought sunsets weren’t real?”
Michael crossed his arms. “I’m not dumb. I know the sun disappears. That’s how the whole cycle thing works. I just don’t know why people would wanna watch it. It’s just light going away.”
Tommy and Tubbo stared at each other for a moment before coming to an agreement.
“That’s it. We’re fucking stealing you.” Tommy stated.
Michael blinked. “What?”
“Clearly your family is not providing a solid education. So,” Tubbo wrapped an arm around the confused kid. “We’re stealing you.”
Michael’s gaze shifted between the two teens nervously. “I don’t think my dads would like that.”
Tommy just rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a pussy. It’s just a little bit of stealing and then we’ll bring you back.”
The kid carefully extracted himself from Tubbo’s grasp. “I’m supposed to be double grounded.”
Tubbo’s nose instinctively wrinkled. “What the fuck is that?”
Michael struggled to come up with an answer. “I don’t know.”
“Sounds like something a bitch would come up with.” Tommy said. “And we don’t listen to bitches.”
Tubbo nodded like he had just heard some sage advice. “Yes. Never listen to bitches.”
Michael nervously fiddled with the bandages around his neck. “My uncle said he’d be back soon.”
Tubbo grinned. “Who cares? We’ll be gone by then.”
“I don’t…” Michael’s ear twitched as it picked up the sound of someone making their way through the forest. They were coming towards the clearing. Michael didn’t waste any time shifting into his human form.
The teens immediately picked up that something was wrong. There was a small shift in their postures, becoming more alert to a potential threat. For a moment, they really looked like Papa and Uncle.
“What is it?” Tubbo asked.
Michael turned towards the noise. “Someone’s coming.”
Tommy shifted a bit. “Maybe it’s your uncle.”
It couldn’t have been Theseus. The direction was wrong. Besides Michael knew what his uncle’s footsteps sounded like. Theseus had a slight limp caused by a bad knee. Said it was from some desperate march through the cold. The approaching footsteps were even and controlled.
The kid was already on his feet when the figure emerged from the trees. Michael had never met the man before, but that didn’t mean he didn’t recognize him. He had heard plenty of stories about the masked monster in the green hoodie.
“Dream?” Tubbo exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Exploring.” Dream shrugged looking a little bored. “Heard there were new people on the server and I wanted to say hello.”
The blond raised an eyebrow at that. “So you were tromping around the woods like a fucking idiot?”
“Sapnap and George were helping me out, but I seem to have lost them. I’m sure they’re around here somewhere.” Dream looked out towards the woods like that would some how make them magically appear. After a moment, he fixed his attention back towards the two teens. “I will admit, I didn’t expect to find you two here.”
“Why shouldn’t we be here, bitch?” Tommy asked, eyes narrowing.
“No reason.” The admin leaned over a bit to peer around the tall teen and get a glimpse at the pink haired child hiding behind him. “I see you made a new friend.”
Michael's shoulders hitched defensively in response. That man was the reason Michael couldn’t draw smiley faces around Dad. He was the reason why Uncle woke up thinking his family was in danger. He had hurt Michael’s family.
But staring up at the white face with the emotionless smile, the piglin could feel his blood turn to ice and freeze him to this spot. His breath felt like it was trapped in his throat. Was this what his family had felt?
“Hello.” Dream’s voice was even, the tone putting the other even more on edge. “I don’t think we’ve met.”
Michael’s ear twitched. Somewhere amongst the trees, he could pick up two sets of footsteps, one notably heavier than the other. One aggressively faster than the other, but the calm one didn’t seem to be having problems keeping pace. There was also the sound of branches being brushed aside as something tall passed by and mumbled angry shouting. He knew that shouting.
He bolted out of the clearing as fast as he could. His chest tightened when he heard people chasing after him. He couldn’t focus on that. He had to focus on what was in front of him. If he could do that, he would be safe. They would keep him safe if he could just reach them.
It had taken him a few stunted cries to make the words leave his throat loud enough to be heard. “Papa!”
Chapter 10: Green
Summary:
And now for the moment you've all been waiting for. Dream's gonna meet the travelers. I'm sure everything will be fine.
Notes:
I've been planning this encounter for so long.
Also this has reached 111 Kudos! That's so cool!Content warning for blood and minor violence (let me know if I missed something)
As always, please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“I’m going to kill him.” Festus exclaimed, causing a few birds to flee from where they had been hiding among the tree leaves. He didn’t pay them any mind, his mind far too focused on retracing the path he had forced out of Theseus to focus on anything else.
“No, you’re not.” His husband simply replied as he tried to keep up. It was rather easy considering that one of his long strides equaled two of Festus’s short ones.
“I mean it this time. I think I’ll take his femurs and I’ll shove them in his…”
“Please don’t finish that.” Lethe sighed, pushing another set of branches away from his face.
Festus angrily swiped at a branch in his path causing it to break clean off. “What was he thinking? Leaving Michael alone in the woods.”
“You know how he is with that kid. He’d colonize the moon if Michael asked.”
“I know. And it’s annoying as hell.” With one smooth motion, the short man launched the broken branch off to the side.
A sudden cry echoed through the entire forest. “Papa!”
They could recognize that voice anywhere.
“Michael!” Festus called back. His good ear pivoted around as it desperately tried to locate where the cry had come from. It was more difficult than he would’ve liked considering his other ear could barely do more than twitch in place. Not that he could really hear out of that one anyway.
Lethe had a bit more luck, being able to pick up the sound of small hurried footsteps pushing through the underbrush with three more sets following after.
“Over there.” Lethe pointed out between the trees, watching his husband’s frantic gaze snap to follow it.
“Papa!”
That was all the encouragement Festus needed before he rushed off completely ignoring the enderman calling for him to wait. Lethe let out an annoyed huff before teleporting away with a loud vhoop.
It took him two tries before he managed to appear in front of his child. Some of the fear on Michael’s face eased away as he darted behind his dad’s legs. Lethe placed a reassuring hand on Michael’s head as he heard the three followers come to a halt.
Lethe immediately recognized the two teens at the front, although it still took a while to get his brain to reconcile that. It was so odd to see them from a time before he had known either of them. Sure Tommy didn’t look too different from the few memories Lethe had from when they first met, but Tubbo was just throwing him for a loop. The enderman would’ve spent the whole time scanning the teen’s face for the missing burn scars if it hadn’t been for the third and final person who had been following after Michael.
Dread settled into the pit of Lethe’s stomach. All the time and planning in the world couldn’t have prepared him for this moment. Standing face to face with the masked man in green.
Dream casually shoved his hands into his hoodie’s pockets. “Hi. I don’t think we’ve…”
Lethe could feel a part of his brain start to fade away. He couldn’t tell if it was out of habit or fear. It had been a few years since he had enderwalked, but he could still recognize the early signs of it. The Ender Dragon had helped him with that, explaining that it was a defense mechanism to protect enderman during times of extreme danger or stress.
At this moment, he was definitely feeling stressed.
Dream was far too close for any comfort. Too close to him. Too close to his child. Too close to the other two teens.
The masked man was still talking, but Lethe wasn’t paying attention to that. It was taking everything in Lethe’s entire being just to remember the techniques to keep from completely losing himself. Focusing on the feeling of pink locks as he wove his fingers into Michael’s hair. Watching the silent exchange between Tommy and Tubbo when Tubbo had instinctively pulled out an ax and the younger teen had pried it from his grasp. Listening to the angry charge of a stubborn goat hybrid as he rushed to get here. Anything that wasn’t a threat.
Not because he was worried he’d come a mindless puppet again. That had been taken care of long before their retreat into the End. No, he was almost certain that if he enderwalked right now, he’d bash Dream’s face in until that stupid mask was nothing but dust.
And that just wouldn’t be good for the mission.
It was a relief when Festus finally emerged from the forest and stood next to Lethe. A firm hand held against the enderman’s arm was all that was needed to calm him down. Lethe shot his husband a small thankful smile. The goat hybrid squeezed the arm in acknowledgement, green glowing eyes remaining fixed on the masked man standing in front of him.
“Found Green.” Festus muttered.
His husband recognized the calculated determined look that flashed across the other’s face. The gears in his head whirling as a new plan was scrapped and sewn together.
“We doing this now?” Lethe quietly asked.
“We’re doing this now.”
Dream shifted on his feet a little. “Everything ok?”
“Oh, yes.” Festus flashed the masked man a too wide grin. “We just weren’t expecting to meet you so soon.”
“You were expecting me?” No one could miss the doubt laced through Dream’s words.
“It would be rude to not introduce ourselves to the admin, wouldn’t it?” The goat man’s eyes drifted towards the teens. “We weren’t expecting the… additional visitors though.”
Tommy let out a huff. “We’re not with him.”
“We just wanted to make sure Michael was ok.” Tubbo added. “He just suddenly darted off into the woods.”
Festus’s eyes lingered on the shorter teen for a few seconds too long. He hadn’t even realized he was staring until his husband gave him a little nudge. He quickly readjusted his focus back into Dream.
“Right. Sorry about that.” Dream tried to get a quick look at Michael but Lethe shifted his cloak to keep him hidden. “I didn’t mean to scare him.”
Festus had to take a subtle breath to keep from snapping. “It’s alright. He’s not used to strangers.”
“He wasn’t scared of us.” Tubbo piped up.
Festus couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “You don’t count.”
The short teen’s eyebrows furrowed at that. “Why not?”
“It’s cause… uh…” The scarred man mentally swore at himself. He couldn’t tell them the real reason, but he had to say something. So he went with the first thing that came to mind. “You’re children.”
“I am not a child!” Tommy exclaimed.
Lethe snorted at that as he tried to stifle a laugh.
“Oi. What’s so funny you lanky bitch?”
“Everything.” Lethe rumbled back, ignoring the sharp elbow his husband jabbed into his side.
“Don’t you two have someone to be reporting to?” Festus asked, hoping to redirect the conversation.
It seemed to work as Tubbo and Tommy both went quiet for a moment, looks of shocked confusion flashing across their faces. They shared a glance at each other before seemingly coming to the same conclusion. “No.”
Festus raised a tired eyebrow at that. “You’re telling me you weren’t told to spy on us?”
“We were.” Tommy dismissed. “It doesn’t mean we’re gonna.”
Dream sighed. “I’m pretty sure the only people they really listen to are themselves.”
Tubbo gave a small shrug. “Pretty much.”
“Great!” Festus exclaimed. “Go home.”
“Listen here, you prick!” Tommy didn’t try to his the irritation in his voice. “Don’t think we’re just gonna fucking leave just cause some suspicious as all hell motherfucker told us to. Cause we’re not…”
“P-please.” Michael’s voice was weak like half of it was stuck in his throat, but it was enough to cut the blond teen off mid rant. The pink haired kid had barely shifted around his dad to give the two teens a pleading look. “Go.”
The taller teen looks like he’s about to protest, but Tubbo gives him a sharp jab with an elbow to stop him. Tubbo just shoots the adults an innocent smile and Lethe can already feel his stress skyrocket. He knows that smile. He’s had to deal with the consequences from the smile. He’s learned that it’s nothing but trouble and based on the way Festus’s eye twitched, he’s aware of it too.
“We’ll just get going then.” Tubbo grabbed into his friend’s arm and began leading him back into the direction they came from.
Tommy opened his mouth to start yelling again, but quickly snapped it closed when Tubbo gave him a warning glare. Tommy frantically scanned over the adults looking for some way to enforce one last moment of rebellion. Just anything to show he didn’t lose this battle. His eyes locked directly onto the pink haired child watching the two leave with a slightly worried look. Fucking hell, he knew he just met the kid, but why’d he have to leave him with these assholes?
“We’ll be back.” He aggressively stated, determined not to leave any room for any arguments from anyone.
Michael gave a small nod, relaxing the tiniest bit. “Kay.”
Tommy gave one sharp nod before storming off into the forest. Tubbo scrambled to catch up, his calls for his friend to slow down being largely ignored.
Festus could already feel the future headache forming as he watched the two leave. Those two were going to cause trouble for them. He could just feel it. It took far too much effort not to groan at the idea of needing to deal with them again.
There was an irony in that.
Not that he had time to think about that. There was a more pressing matter to deal with.
“Well, now that they’re gone,” Festus refocused his attention on Dream, his smile returning as if it never left. “How would you like to meet the rest of our group?”
The masked man tilted his head a bit to the side. “I thought your group didn’t want to deal with people.”
“We don’t. But you’re an exception.”
“Well, I suppose it would be rude of me not to accept.”
Festus smiled, casually gesturing with one hand to follow. He lead the group back got the familiar path the two adults had been following earlier. The idea that of having Dream right at his back sent the goat hybrid’s nerves on edge. He knew that it couldn’t be helped and that Lethe wouldn’t let anything happen, but that didn’t mean Festus liked it. He kept their pace steady, pausing only for a moment when they reached a tree with a split in it before leading them to the right.
They weren’t headed in the direction of the base. The path they were on led a bit too far towards the rocky mountains that line the forest edge. Lethe recognized where they were headed. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize it. He had been working in and around that area all day. And it was the perfect spot to deal with this threat. Not too close to their base to give its location away, not so far that it was impossible to travel between the two on a regular basis.
Lethe slowly fell back, keeping one hand on Michael to ensure his kid stayed with him. He was careful to make sure that Festus had Dream distracted enough not to notice. Once they were far enough away, Lethe bent down to be closer to the pinkette’s eye level.
“Michael, I need you to go back to the base and get Theseus. Tell him to prepare for a dreamcatcher. He’ll know what to do.” He paused for a moment. “Hopefully.”
Michael’s gaze flickered, nervously scanning the surrounding area.“Then what do I do?”
“Then I need you to stay home.”
The kid’s eye snapped onto his father. Worried concern practically flooded his entire expression. “But I can…”
“This is what being double grounded means. It means you go back to the base where it’s safe and you wait for us.” Ranboo placed a “Besides someone has to protect the base while we’re gone. We’ll be ok.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Michael gave his dad a quick hug before rushing back to the split tree and following the left path.
Dream knew something was up. He wasn’t stupid enough to ignore all the suspicious things going on with this group. The creepy way the short one, Festus he said his name was, had his eyes glowed when he first saw the admin. How the tall one had barely looked at him. He definitely knew something was up when the bandaged up kid mysteriously vanished. Festus had been trying to distract him from that by asking him random questions about the Overworld. Dream supposed he had been somewhat successful, in that he didn’t see the exact moment that the brat snuck off.
Maybe he should’ve been a little bit more worried about following random strangers to a random spot in the woods. But hey, he was bored and a part of him was curious what exactly they were planning. It wasn’t like these guys could actually get away with anything anyway. He had already messaged George and Sapnap his location and the direction they were headed in when the others weren’t looking.
So what was the harm in playing along?
The endless rows of trees eventually gave way to a mountain side. The ground became hard, stretching as out as a single sheet of carved smooth stone. There was a small cave right at the base just large enough for someone to stand in without hitting the ceiling. The edges of the mountain curved in towards it unnaturally, small chisel marks suggesting that someone had been carving into it before stumbling on the cave.
Dream couldn’t help the small amused hum as he took everything in. There were no signs of an obvious trap. At least not yet anyway. Were these guys really planning on just attacking him? Were they desperate or stupid?
“So, this is where you live, huh?” Dream kept his tone casual and controlled.
Festus’s ear twitched as he stopped the group right in the middle of the smooth stone ground. “No. We’re just gonna meet the rest of our team here. Is there a problem with it?”
“Not really. I just don’t want to sit around here all day.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t take too long.”
The masked man let out a bored sigh as he decided to take in his future opponents. Festus looked like he had been in his share of fights. He had plenty of scars to prove that. But that could also prove to be a weakness, too. One of his ears looked severely damaged, judging by the way the other would twitch and rotate to pick up the ambient noises as they stood in the stone clearing while that one barely moved at all. Probably meant he couldn’t hear very well on that side. One of his arms was fairly stiff too, maybe from a previous injury that hadn’t healed quite right. And of course this is all excluding the height difference. The guy was almost as small as Tubbo.
Dream’s gaze shifted toward Lethe. The dual toned man still hadn’t spoken to him yet. If it wasn’t for George, he would’ve thought it was because Lethe couldn’t speak English. He couldn’t even look Dream in the eye. Instead Lethe kept his gaze calmly fixed out towards the trees, the only exception being the occasional anxious twitch of his tail whenever the forest made a noise. Although that might’ve been an enderman thing. Not that it mattered. Dream had killed endermen before. This one wouldn’t be any different.
A restless buzz filled Dream’s brain and he let out another bored sigh. Maybe he could mess with them a bit.
“So,” Dream was careful to keep his tone even so the other two wouldn’t suddenly spook. “Is it true that you’re really from the end?”
Festus didn’t seem phased by the sudden discussion. He didn’t even jolt at the silence breaking. “I’m guessing George told you about that?”
Dream shrugged. “We talked for a little bit. He mentioned meeting you.”
“He came with you, right?” Festus’s good ear stopped shifting. “Surely you weren’t looking for us all by yourself. It’d be just terrible if something happened.”
That made Dream pause, feeling like something dangerous was creeping up behind him. “Why do you ask?”
The goat hybrid gave him a sharp smile. “Just making conversation.”
“It’s about time.” Lethe grumbled to himself, his eyes shifting away from the trees. His tail wasn’t twitching anymore.
“Right.” Dream noted the other two had shifted their positions slightly so he couldn’t look at them both at the same time. “You sure you guys didn’t just lure me out here to kill me?”
Festus chuckled darkly at that. “Please. We’re not stupid enough to try and kill you. You still have all your lives.”
A sharp shiver crawled up the admin’s spine like a cold snake. He could practically feel it curling up at the base of his brain, sending out waves of paranoia that there was danger right next to him.
“You know what. I can meet everyone else some other time.” Dream turned to leave but found his way cut off by a tall blond man.
“What’s the hurry?” Theseus asked, twirling a bag covered in blue dust in his hand.
“You know,” Lethe’s voice pulled the masked man’s attention. His eyes gained a purple glow as they locked onto Dream’s. “I don’t think that he trusts us.”
Dream went to respond, but stopped when he realized his body was frozen in place. He could barely make get his fingers twitch. All he could stare at those strange eyes.
Festus grinned as he watched the panic set in. “Good. You really shouldn’t.”
“What did you do to me?” Dream strained through gritted teeth.
“I mean I could explain it, but I kinda don’t wanna.” Festus reached his hand out towards Theseus who placed the blue dusted bag into it.
He reached in and shifted through several different chunks of blue stone. Their solid smooth surface leaving a chalky residue behind on the man’s fingers as he dug around. When he finally found one large enough for what he needed, he began tracing a blue circle around the paralyzed man and then carefully added magic sigils that interwove through out the inside. The movements were practically mechanical with how little hesitation there was. At a few points the chunk he was using ran out and he had to dig out another, but that didn’t seem to break his concentration.
Dream didn’t recognize the strange symbols or the blue chalk like material being used to make it. But that didn’t stop some part of his brain from apparently realizing what was happening. The same part that had come up with the strategy to win the civil war and had suggested he find these people in the first place. The part that had pushed him to seek more power and new play things. It recognized this as a threat. He didn’t know what terrified him more, the feeling that he was trapped with no way out or that he wasn’t even sure that this fear was his own.
He wanted it all to stop.
“If you don’t let me go right now, I swear I’ll…” Dream started.
“You’ll what? Raze our home to the ground?” Theseus rolled his eyes. “That’s not nearly as effective the fifth time.”
That made the masked man pause. “What?”
Lethe’s gaze hardened. “Just keep quiet. This’ll be over soon.”
Festus stepped back to examine his work. He gave it a quick approving nod before turning to the others.
“You guys ready?” He asked.
“I’m all set.” Lethe replied.
“Just get on with it.” Theseus crossed his arms with a huff. “I’m already sick of being near the teletubby.”
Festus dumped a few crumbs of stone into the palm of his hand, letting the last two large chunks settle at the bottom of the bag before he attached it to a belt around his waist. He stepped into the circle, crushing the stone into a powder and rubbed it around his hands. His hands were completely coated by the time he had stopped in front of the masked man.
“Alright.” The goat hybrid claps his hands together causing a blue cloud to puff off his hands. “This is gonna hurt you way more than it’s gonna hurt me.”
Festus placed one hand on the other’s chest. His eyes lit up and the blue covering his hands followed shortly after. The light began tracing the blue chalk lines on the ground, illuminating everyone in an eerie glow. The blue light crept upwards and solidified into a solid ethereal dome closing the inner circle off from the rest of the world.
That was when Dream felt something drilling into his mind. He wanted to lash out. Make that stupid goat feel every inch of pain he was feeling. But those fucking purple eyes wouldn’t let him go. He couldn’t move.
Dream couldn’t do anything but scream.
Festus grit his teeth as his fingernails dug into the other’s chest, trying to force his will into the other's mind. It didn’t take long to find traces of what he was looking for, but the source remained elusive. He had figured it wasn’t going to be easy, but he didn’t think it was going to be this bad. Each dead end causing him to back track so he could try finding a different trail to follow. Still it was only a matter of time before he found it.
There.
He latched on and pulled. He sucked in a breath as he felt it bite back. Festus growled as he realized how tight its hold was. Its tendrils too deeply ingrained to make the process quick or painless for anyone. But with each tug, the hold loosened and it was slowly being forced outwards.
It lashed out at him the entire time.
But he’s dealt with pain before. And everything would’ve been so much worse if Lethe wasn’t keeping Dream still. As long as they didn’t get interrupted, everything would be ok.
“Dream!”
Sapnap and George ran out of the forest. They barely had enough time to stop when they realized that Theseus had stepped into their path.
“I can’t let you do that.” The blond gave a little shrug as his grey-blue eyes got lost under a glowing red. “Important business and all that.”
Behind him, Dream let out another scream
Sapnap glared at him as he pulled his sword. “You can’t stop us both.”
A smug grin pulled across Theseus’s face as he summoned his axe. With a quick motion he carved a line into the solid stone ground. “You won’t even get past this line.”
Sapnap and George rushed forward and immediately began trying to strike down the red-eyed warrior. The sounds of blades clashing filled the air and spots of red began painting the surrounding stone. Yet true to his word, Theseus refused to let the other two get anywhere near the line. A collection of vicious swings, and carefully placed shoves were all that he needed to keep defend his position. That didn’t mean he didn’t get hurt. He had gashes up his arms and torso that he was sure would join his already vast collection of scars. Theseus was more than happy to return the favor, taking a bit of pride at the red that was slowly soaking into Sapnap’s shirt. However for all the aggression he put towards the black-haired man, he barely hit George. He instead focused more on ducking and shoving the brunet away, sometimes even turning the blade away to ensure the other didn’t get accidently cut.
“This isn’t fucking fair at all.” Theseus grumbled as side stepped away from George’s blade.
The red-eyed man swiftly pulled a grey blue potion out of his inventory. He backed up a bit and with a swift flick of his wrist, threw the potion right next to the brunet’s feet. The bottle shattered on impact, the liquid inside becoming a gas that quickly absorbed into George’s skin.
Theseus summoned a simple wooden sword into his now free hand. Purple enchantments swirled dangerously through the wood’s grain as he raised it up. With one wide swing, he knocked both his opponents back towards the forest with a firm swing. Sapnap was back on his feet in seconds and charging back in to trade blows. George tried to follow, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t make his limbs move any faster. It was like he was trying to move through molasses. By the time he managed to get back into the fight, Theseus just hit him with the knockback sword again.
“Stay down if you know what’s good for you.” Theseus called out before raising his axe to block Sapnap’s attack. He swung his sword towards the black haired man causing him to retreat for a moment. The blond took this moment to shout over his shoulder to his allies. “Not that this isn’t fun, but any chance you can hurry the fuck up?”
“Don’t distract him.” Lethe snapped back, trying not to focus on how his eyes were beginning to feel strained from freezing someone for so long.
“I’m just saying. I can’t hold these motherfuckers back forever.” Theseus grumbled, ducking under another swing.
“Fuck off!” Festus growled back.
Sweat coated the goat hybrid’s forehead and his senses were starting to dull due to the unending stream of mind-numbing pain. He knew Theseus was fighting something or someone, but he didn’t have the time or energy to worry about that at the moment. He was so close.
Festus winced, as another sharp jab of pain jolted through his brain. “You know Dream, things would go a lot smoother for you if you weren’t fighting me!”
A few sharp tugs and a green ethereal blob emerged from Dream’s chest just under the goat hybrid’s hand. It wasn’t a pleasant forest green like Festus’s glowing eyes. It was the color of sickness and corruption and greed.
It made the goat hybrid feel uneasy just being near the thing.
He quickly closed his hand around the blob, slightly smirking as it hissed from being in contact with the blue covering his hands. It wiggled and writhed like an angry fish being pulled from the water. If it wasn’t for the blue, Festus probably would’ve lost grip on it completely. He grit his teeth as he began struggling to tear it away from the body.
“Dream!” George exclaimed.
He watched on helplessly as these strangers were extracting who knows what from their friend. And Sapnap and George couldn’t get past Theseus to do anything. The End warrior seemed to know Sapnap’s moves before he even did them like they had fought before and any time George got anywhere close he would just get tossed back to where he started.
The goggled man let out a frustrated grown as he was pushed back into a tree. He was trying to get back to his feet when his hand brushed up against a small rock. He stared at it for a moment before looking up at the scene in front of him. The weird ritual. The impossible guard. The stupid line carved into the rock. And the strange prince who seemed to be just staring at Dream. It was at the moment George realized something. He couldn’t get past the line.
But maybe he didn’t need to.
Theseus barely registered the rock that flew past his head. To be fair, it wasn’t close to hitting him. Honestly, it was a really pathetic attempt if anything. He could see George gathering some more off the ground. Theseus was too busy with fending off Sapnap’s attacks to bother stopping him. It was just easier to dodge the rocks thrown his way. Wait. That one was way too far to the left to have been aimed at him.
Lethe groaned in pain.
Theseus’s attention snapped towards the tallest. Lethe was rubbing his head, his tail curing a little around his ankle. The rock lay at the ground by his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, Theseus could see the smug look that spread across George’s face.
“Way to go George!” Sapnap cheered.
Lethe realized his mistake far too late. “Tubbo!”
“Fuck.” Festus just barely ducked under Dream’s arm as he wildly swung out. The goat hybrid shifted his grip so he could grab onto the green blob with both hands and the glowing around his eyes and hands intensified. He shoved Dream away with a solid kick to his chest. There was a thunderous crack as it was completely separated from the masked man.
The green ooze splatted against the ground with a sickening squelch. Festus practically collapsed next to it hard, letting out a small whine. Everything hurt. All of his nerves felt like they were on fire. So, he might’ve overdone it a bit. He blearily opened his eyes and felt his heart race when he realized how close he was to it. He jolted away from it, his eyes automatically trying to light up.
“Tubbo?” Lethe quietly asked, moving a bit closer to the barrier separating them. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine.” His husband lied, giving the other a smile too small and pain fill to be genuine.
He shakily climbed to his feet, nearly falling as a wave of vertigo washed over him. He shifted over towards Dream who laid unconscious on the ground. The masked man didn’t respond to the slightly hard kick to his side. Theseus instinctively raised his axe as he spotted Sapnap try to move closer. He barely shifted his eyes enough to give him a warning glare before focusing back beyond the glowing blue circle.
“Is he dead?” the blond asked.
Festus carefully place two fingers to Dream’s neck. “No.”
“What about it?” Lethe asked, eyeing the green pile right in front of him with a nervous hatred.
Festus looked over at it and grimaced. He began fumbling at the bag around his waist with numb fingers. “I don’t…”
Then small trails began rising out of the green ooze, recollecting into a single floating mass. Once it had grown to almost the size of a person, it began swirling around the circle in a frenzied rage. It slammed into the magic forcefield with enough force to make it start cracking, each impact making the ooze sizzle and soon the smell of burning ozone filled the air. The being shifted as it went, contorting into new unstable forms. Large, clawed arms briefly appearing to scrap and pull as it circled around. Long tendrils lashing out, forcing Festus to duck out of their way. Terrifying wings practically launching it into the other side of the barrier before merging back to the rippling mass.
Then it froze. Two glowing white dots suddenly snapping into existence and began moving about like it was scanning the area around it. A thin white smile as its form settled into a familiar masked humanoid shape. It swooped down from the ceiling, zeroing in on the unconscious admin lying on the ground. Festus darted into its path, brandishing one of the last remaining blue stone chunks out in front of him. It tried to move closer but let out a hiss of pain when the stone began glowing dimly.
“Fuck off!” Festus snarled at it. The lights in his eyes sputtered a bit as he forced himself to keep supplying enough energy to ward the monster off.
The green being slunk back a bit but lingered at the edge of the blue stone’s effects. A low chuckle echoed voicelessly out, practically oozing its way directly into the listeners’ minds. The green form shifted as it took in the people surrounding it. Two curling horns. Long tail with a puff of fur at the end. A mop of streaked curly hair. A bandana tied around the forehead. A large pair of sunglasses with the lenses glowing a bright white.
"Well, this was unexpected. I guess I’ll have to be more careful when choosing my next host." The being’s smile distorted too far across the face. “This will certainly be interesting.”
The being then gathered itself into one mass and hurled itself at a weakened part of the forcefield. The forcefield shattered on impact. The ethereal being’s laughter lingered long after it darted away into the forest and out of sight.
For a moment everything was still and quiet. No one moved. No one breathed. Not even the wind blew at that moment. Everything was just waiting to see if it was really gone. If the danger was really over.
George’s mind raced as he tried to figure out what he had just witnessed. That thing had been in Dream. How long had it been there? Why was it there? How did these three know about it? Did XD know about this?
His eyes widened as he remembered the god’s warning. (“And try to keep out of the visitor’s way.”)
That probably wasn’t good.
George had finally pulled his gaze from where the being had disappeared and looked at the others in the clearing. Lethe was by Festus’s side, trying to convince the other that he needed to rest. Festus didn’t seem to be fully paying attention. He just leaned heavily against the other as his eyes remained tiredly fixed out towards the forest. Sapnap had moved in between Dream and the others, determined to keep his unconscious friend safe from any more harm. He seemed to be having a glaring match with Theseus who had taken up a similar position to protect his two allies.
George looked at the three travelers desperately. “What was that? What is going on?”
“What's going on!?!” Theseus exclaimed. “You just helped the fucker escape! That’s what’s going on.”
“Hey don’t blame us!” Sapnap shouted back. “We don’t even know what the fuck that was.”
“That.” Festus said sharply, his exhausted voice drawing everyone’s attention. “Was a dreamon.”
Notes:
Dream's not gonna be a big bad (so April Fools I guess)
Chapter 11: Clearing the Air
Summary:
The aftermath of the exorcism and some questions start to get answers.
Notes:
As always, please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Chapter Text
Ranbus’s manor had frankly an absurdly large balcony built just off of the library on the second floor. This balcony had equally absurdly large windows running alongside of it that could easily be shoved open at a moment’s notice. Apparently, he had made the modifications so his gigantic dragon friend could come visit while he was working and get their fill of stories on the Overworld.
Now the Ender Dragon used it to drop in on their godson and his family, something that had initially annoyed Tubbo. At first, he thought they were just keeping tabs on the intruders that barged into their realm. No, he didn't care how much Ranboo and Tommy said that they were just saying hello or that Ender was surprisingly gentle whenever they interacted with Michael. There was no way the dragon trusted them and so he couldn’t trust the dragon.
Then he realized what they were actually doing. They were keeping an eye on the group, but not like a guard watching over their prisoners. It was like a parent watching over their kids. Tubbo honestly didn’t know which one was worse. Especially once he realized he kind of… liked it. It was kinda nice having the monster more powerful than him protecting him for once.
Ender was very patient with his distrusting nature. They mostly just kept him company whenever he explored the various books in the library. Initially, Tubbo would just tell them to leave him alone, and they always did with a little more than a sad or disappointed look. After a while, he found he had just stopped telling them to leave. They didn’t do anything other than watch him from their balcony, content to just have someone using the library again.
Slowly Tubbo started asking them for help with reading words and asked questions about why a sentence was phrased in a certain way. The dragon lit up every time he asked for help trying to learn the written language that he was just beginning to grasp vocally. Even long after he learned enough to not need their help, he found himself discussing the various subjects of the books he thumbed through. They sometimes asked about his interests and pointed him to a specific section if there was a book on it.
That was what got Tubbo trapped here. He had asked if they knew anything about dreamons. He had already gone over his own book from cover to cover and even memorized the notes Philza had scribbled throughout it. But it was little more than a glorified field guide than a manual on how to fight them. He had been expecting maybe a pamphlet or a long forgotten book shoved towards the farthest corner of the library. Not to be suddenly enlisted in a magic 101 class.
Tubbo groaned as he leaned away from the book of runes sitting on his desk. “It’s like they’re swimming in my head!”
The Ender Dragon’s deep chuckle echoed from behind him. “I know, Little One. But learning this will be helpful to you later.”
Tubbo shifted a bit so he could shoot the dragon a glare. Ender currently had their head stuck through one of the library’s open windows so they could get a better look at what the goat hybrid was studying. Based on the fact that this desk was specifically positioned to be at just the right angle to do that, it probably wasn’t their first time doing it.
“Why can’t Ranboo do this? Isn’t he your successor or something?” Tubbo huffed.
“Yes, he is.” Ender’s voice had a soothing rumble to it, hoping it would ease some of their student’s frustration. “But he does not have your mind for magic. It’s almost impossible to learn without it.”
“Then why is it hard?”
“It makes it possible. Not easy.”
Tubbo groaned loudly as he leaned back in his chair so he could look up at the dragon. “I just don’t get why I need all of this. I didn’t need it before!”
They lowered their head down so the other wouldn’t strain his neck. “You were dealing with minor ones and you had someone a bit more experienced in magic helping you. You are likely going to have to exorcise the dreamon on your own. You have to be prepared for that.”
Tubbo sighed in defeat. He knew that and even worse, he had no counter for that. He picked up the book and squinted at the pages again. Ender resumed their lecture on what each symbol was and how to use it. His brows furrowed in equal parts confusion and concentration as he tried his best to keep up with everything. The runes seemed to laugh at him. Their lines and swirls mirrored each other until he could barely tell them apart. His struggle must have shown too clearly as the dragon’s rambles suddenly tapered off.
“Perhaps we should take a break.” Ender suggested.
“But I’ve barely gotten anywhere!” he exclaimed, frustration edging into his voice.
“This isn’t a race, Little One. You have time.” They gave him a small nudge with their snout when they saw he wasn’t budging. “You need to rest your brain for a bit.”
The stubborn brunet eventually relented. He practically had to when Ender threatened to tell his husband about how he was overdoing it. The last time that happened Ranboo hid all his projects until he had been “properly rested”. Whatever that meant.
He planned on sneaking back later once the dragon left anyway, so there wasn’t any real harm in playing along anyway. Ender was right. He did have time. And he was going to use it wisely.
He hadn’t been prepared last time. Hadn’t been able to fight back and properly protect his family. But next time was going to be different. He might not have signed up for this, but he was determined to be ready.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Festus wasn’t sure how much time had passed since the dreamon had gotten away. He always had a hard time focusing after overusing his magic and performing an exorcism that large all by himself took a lot out of him. He couldn’t even fight back when Lethe forced him to lie down on the ground for a bit. The enderman even had the nerve to place Festus’s head on his lap and run fingers through his hair. Like that would make him fall asleep faster.
Well, it was calming. And having Theseus sitting right nearby ready to attack anything that looked threatening was reassuring. Almost enough to let his aching mind slip away completely.
But there was no way that Festus was going to sleep while there were three enemies right next to them. Sure, Sapnap and George were more focused on protecting their friend than fighting and Dream was hardly a threat while he was unconscious. Festus just couldn’t seem to relax while they were within stabbing distance. What can he say? Old habits die hard.
Besides there was still the possibility of a dreamon lurking just between the trees out of sight. Waiting for the right chance to strike. Like when the only magic user in the group lowered his guard. There was no way Festus was going to rest while that danger loomed over them.
So he just pulled out some string from his inventory and worked on weaving it around one of the remaining chunks of Blue. He had to stop and restart a few times as his sore fingers fumbled up the pattern of loops and twists. But it was enough to keep his mind from completely slipping away.
The others had been talking about… something. He wasn’t paying attention, the words all merging together into white noise. His good ear twitched as he heard some branches being scraped together by the breeze, adrenaline spiking a bit until he realized there was no threat. Theseus seemed to notice it too, the grip on his ax tightening for a quick second. It seemed both their battle instincts were still on edge.
The goat hybrid gave his friend a weak nudge with his foot, taking small delight in the nudge he got back in return. A silent message of ‘you’re not alone, I’m here’. It helped smooth their frayed nerves.
“Bee.”
A claw gently poked at the side of his cheek and Festus looked up at his husband with a distracted hum.
“You up for some questions?” Lethe asked.
“No.” Festus forced himself to sit up anyway, still needing to lean against Lethe’s chest to stay upright. He stared over at Sapnap and George who were watching with mixed looks of cautious concern. “So, questions?”
George shifted a bit. His movements were still slower from the potion he had been hit with earlier, but the effects had largely worn off. His voice was quieter than usual, trying not to provoke them more than they already had. “When’s Dream going to wake up?”
Festus struggled for a moment as he tried to think. While his headache wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been earlier, it was still making it a bitch to remember any information. Luckily, he was nothing if not stubborn and managed to force his way through it.
“Hard to say.” He finally said. “He should be at least awake by the end of the day but he’ll probably be disoriented for the next day or so while he’s recovering. There will probably be a few memory gaps and he’ll definitely have a headache for a while.”
Sapnap’s eyebrows furrowed. “Memory gaps?”
Festus gave a confirming hum. “The dreamon was anchored pretty deep in his mind. I wouldn’t be surprised if something got damaged while I was trying to get it out. Not to mention that it was probably directly altering his mind before that. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was already some damage to begin with.”
“And what is a dreamon?” George asked.
“That weird shit Festus pulled out of that fucker.” Theseus pointed a dismissive finger in the unconscious man’s direction.
The goggled man rolled his eyes. “Yeah. We got that. But what is it exactly?”
“A dreamon is an extremely powerful being with no form of its own.” The goat hybrid absentmindedly began working on the craft in his hands again as he answered. “Think of it like an evil undeveloped god and you’re most of the way there.”
Sapnap’s eyes widened in horror. “That was a god!?!”
Theseus couldn’t help the small amused snort that escaped. “Nah. They’re not cool enough to be a god.”
“They want to be though.” Lethe added on.
“So there’s just an evil wannabe god just roaming around?” The black haired man ran a hand down his face. “Fucking great.”
Festus suddenly let out a quick triumphant cry as he held out the charm he just finished. The string had been carefully wrapped around the blue stone to form a netted basket ending in a large knotted loop at the top that could slip over someone’s head like a necklace. He held it out towards Sapnap and George. “Here. This’ll help him from being possessed again. Just make sure he has it on him at all times.”
George took it and stared at the blue stone inside. “What even is this stuff?”
“It’s called Blue.”
“Really?” Sapnap shot the travelers a judgmental look. “Couldn’t have come up with something better?”
“Hey! That is a great name for it.” Theseus exclaimed.
“You literally named it after its color,” the black haired man deadpanned.
“Yeah well…” the blond deflated a bit with a huff. “We didn’t name it. It doesn’t fucking matter what it’s called. What matters is that it protects against dreamons. They hate even being near that shit.”
“Shouldn’t we all get one then?”
“Don’t have enough Blue for that. All we have left is that.” Festus vaguely gestured to the blue charm hanging from George’s fingers before pulling the last remaining blue stone from a bag. “And this. That’s it.”
George gave the blue charm in his hand another closer look, rolling it around between his fingers. He hadn’t really seen anything like this before. The closest thing he could compare it to was a lapis lazuli, but the color was closer to a cornflower than the stone. It also had this strange chalky texture to it, like someone had taken grains of sand and forced them into one solid mass. He almost expected it to fall apart the moment anyone touched it, yet it somehow held together.
“Where does it even come from?” He asked.
“Someone makes it.” Theseus replied.
“And before you ask, none of us cannot make it.” Lethe quickly added.
Sapnap let out a slightly confused huff. “So, what the fuck is the problem? Is he really hard to reach or something?”
“Getting to him isn’t the problem.” Theseus said. “It’s the getting back part that’s tricky.”
Festus pulled out some more string and started making another charm with the last bit of Blue. He was still trying to do his best to focus on the conversation, but his mind was starting to fog over again. The conversation was starting to die down anyway. So, he wasn’t too worried. There were barely any questions, and it seemed like they had gotten past all the difficult ones. They were probably almost done here.
George proved that wrong with one single question. “Was that Red or Green?”
The three travelers were taken aback by the question. Even Festus seemed to find enough energy to be surprised. The travelers stared at him and then each other, seeming to have a complete debate using expressions alone. Finally, Lethe gave a small nod and the group refocused.
“That was Green,” Theseus replied. “Take it you talked with the big man.”
The goggled man rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. “Yeah. He uh… mentioned some things.”
“But not everything?”
“Hold on a minute!” Sapnap snapped. “What is Green or Red? And who is the big man?” He looked over at his friend, slight betrayal echoing through his eyes. “George?”
“I-I can explain. I just…” George’s mind fumbled as he tried to think of some way to explain the situation. The secrets he’d been keeping. The mistakes he had made. At this moment, it seemed too much to fit into words.
“Look. Maybe we should save this for later.” Lethe cut in before the other could figure out what to say. He shot the other two with a somewhat awkward smile that he hoped would be reassuring. “I’m sure Dream would like to be present for the explanation. Besides, there are some other people here that still need to get some rest.”
Festus didn’t even acknowledge the glare his husband shot at him. “I’ll pass out later.”
Lethe in retaliation shifted so he could stand up, not bothering to do anything when Festus flopped over onto his back due to the sudden lack of support.
The goat hybrid groaned. “Fuck you.”
“Just hold on a second,” Sapnap started to move forward but stopped when Theseus’s axe shifted in warning. “What about that… thing? What if it comes back?”
“The exorcism might not have fully worked, but it still would’ve weakened it,” Festus replied as he forced himself up onto his slightly shaking legs. “As long as Dream has the charm on him, he’ll be fine. Besides, the dreamon will need to find a new host before it can really do anything.”
Lethe moved to help support him, but Festus just gave the other an playfully annoyed look as he leaned against Theseus instead. The blond immediately began grumbling about it which made the goat hybrid more determined to say put. Lethe couldn’t help the quick eye roll at them before refocusing on the Dream Team.
“We’re going to head back to our base,” The enderman said. “Come find us when you’re ready.”
Sapnap was about to scream back that he was ready. He just needed someone to tell him what was going on and what he could do to stop it. He needed to make something pay for all the pain that his friend had gone through. And he was a second away from demanding answers from these strangers that he just met.
But one look at his group and he knew couldn’t. Sapnap was ready, but everyone else was not. Dream was still unconscious. The rise and fall of his chest being the only indicator that he was still alive. He didn’t seem to be in any pain or distress, just blissfully unaware of everything happening around him. George looked like he was one second away from shutting out the world entirely. His face just screamed that he had made one realization too many and now he didn’t know how to refit the shattered pieces of his reality back together again.
So he said nothing as the travelers disappeared back into the forest. He kept quiet as he carried Dream back away from the clearing, no set destination in mind yet. They could figure out where a safe recovery place would be once they got away from the forest. George walked beside him, equally as quiet.
Sapnap couldn’t help but wonder what his friend was thinking about. What secrets had George been keeping? How much did he know about this? He sighed and added those to his list of unanswered questions.
He might not be getting answers today, but he would. He’d make sure of that.
Chapter 12: Gaps and Connections
Summary:
We check in with Michael to see how he's doing.
Notes:
Happy Father's Day everyone. Hadn't planned on releasing this today, it's just how things ended up happening.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Chapter Text
Michael had never run so far so fast in his life. Turns out growing up on small floating islands did not prepare anyone for traveling across vast terrains that had no end in sight. He had started to worry that he had gotten lost when he finally spotted their base and his uncle pacing in front of the house. Next thing he knows, Theseus was rushing off into the trees, the bag of Blue in one hand and the compass normally attached to his belt in the other.
That had been a half an hour ago and Michael has come to two decisions. One, being double grounded was the worst. And two, he was almost certain that something was lurking in the woods.
He had thought it was an animal at first. Maybe a wolf or a spider. But it didn’t quite sound right. It was too quiet for one of those and the footsteps were too controlled to be a mindless mob. Which meant that it was probably a person. No wait. There was whispering coming from that bush. So at least two people.
His uncle always told him to be careful when initiating a fight. Never assume you have the upper hand and if you can, avoid fighting at all. Which probably means that Michael should leave the intruders alone and slip into the house where they won’t be able to get to him so easily. But it’s so rude to be hiding in other people’s bushes.
It wasn’t that hard to summon the bow and arrows he used for practice and fire a shot where the noise was coming from. The voices cut off as the arrow hit the ground with a sharp thunk.
“Come on out.” Michael shouted. “The next one won’t miss.”
Ok that was probably a lie. He was an ok shot, but he hadn’t been training for that long and he had never had to hit anything outside of the practice targets before. He wasn’t anything like his uncle who could fire five arrows in quick succession and hit a target with every single one.
The bush shifted as the hidden figures moved out from behind it, keeping their movements steady and arms raised. Michael was already making sure the next arrow was already loaded and aimed the point right at the first one’s head. It wasn’t until the two had stepped a bit further into the clearing that he was able to make out more details. The unruly brown hair and the golden blond curls. The mischievous glint that danced in both of their blue eyes. The fact that the one he was aiming at was clearly shorter than the other. The way too familiar details.
“Take it easy, boss man.” Tubbo grinned cheekily trying to ignore the arrow being pointed at him. “You know us. Remember?”
“Of course I remember.” The piglin lowered the bow just a little bit. “ You’re…”
He had to stop himself from calling them Papa and Uncle. His brain was still having problems adjusting to the idea that these two both were and were not his family. Some part of his instincts latched onto the small details that apparently wouldn’t change as the boys got older and refused to accept that these two were strangers. Not enough that he couldn’t fight it, but enough that it lingered in the back of his mind and threatened to take over the moment he wasn’t watching it.
The blond was quick to pick up when Michael had left off. “Well, I’m Tommy. Just in case you forgot.”
The brunet opened his mouth to say something, but stopped short as he realized something. “I forgot to introduce myself.”
Tommy stared dumbfoundedly at the other. “What?”
“Earlier. I never introduce myself.” Tubbo chuckled. “We just skipped right over that.”
“You’re a fucking dumbass,” Tommy said, shaking his head in disappointment.
“Fuck you. You also forgot that shit.” Tubbo gave his friend a solid punch to the arm.
Tommy rubbed his arm with a wince. “He already knew me!”
“Whatever.” The short teen rolled his eyes dramatically as he slowly moved a little bit forward and held a hand out in Michael’s direction. “I’m Tubbo.”
The piglin hesitated for a moment before fully lowering his bow so he could shake it. “Michael.”
“Yeah. I know,” Tubbo said with an amused snort.
“What are you doing here?” Michael asked.
A large grin spread across Tubbo’s face. “We said we’d be back later.”
“And it’s fucking later!” Tommy exclaimed, wrapping an arm around the kid.
Oh, his dads were not going to be happy about this. No one was supposed to know where they had set up. It was supposed to be their safe spot while they fixed everything. Now these two had found it and there was no way to know who they might tell.
Wait.
Michael shot a confused look at the teens. “How did you even find this place?”
“We followed you here.” Tubbo sounded a little bit too proud of himself.
Great. Michael can add that to things he’s messed up today. Fantastic. His family had told him so many times to be careful. Don’t talk to people, don’t go off on his own, run at the first sign of trouble, and above all, do what his family told him to. But he just had to not listen and now everyone could be in danger. Or maybe they weren’t. He couldn’t tell because his brain was still stuck between trying to decide if these two were a threat or his pack.
Michael narrowed his eyes at the two teens. “So, you’re stalking me.”
“What? We are not.” Tommy exclaimed. “We are big men and big men do not fucking stalk people.”
The piglin child crosses his arms. “You threatened to kidnap me and then followed me to where I live.”
“You are clearly mistaken,” The blond said. “We didn’t threaten to kidnap you.”
“But we could,” Tubbo unhelpfully added.
“You can’t kidnap me.” Michael quickly exclaimed, wiggling out of the blond human’s grasp and taking a few steps back until he was a safe enough distance away. “I’m supposed to be guarding the base.”
“Is that what this is?” Tubbo looked up at the partially built structure.
It had been progressing quite nicely. The first floor had been completed enough to begin work on the second floor. The temporary wooden walls were being replaced by heavy stone bricks. There weren’t any windows yet, mainly because they were still waiting on materials to make them and no one wanted holes in the walls. It reminded Michael of a memory long since faded and buried with time. Cold bricks that smelled like mold and decay. Dark corridors where danger oozed out in untold echoes and terrified eyes that were always darting around for threats that weren’t there. It was too simple and too incomplete. It didn’t feel anything like home.
The goat hybrid let out a disappointed hum. “It doesn’t look that impressive.”
“You know what it needs?” Tommy’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Cobblestone.”
Tubbo groaned. “Of course, you’d suggest fucking cobblestone.”
“Maybe we could make a few improvements while they are gone.” The blond suggested.
The piglin’s eyes widened. “Don’t! Papa would get so mad.”
“Oh yeah? And where exactly is your ‘Papa’?” Tommy asked. “He’s certainly not here to stop us.”
“I uh…” Michael hesitated for a moment. “I’m not allowed to tell you.”
The teens shared a quick glance between each other.
“You have no fucking idea, do you?” Tubbo stated.
“No. I do. I just don’t wanna tell you. That’s all.” Michael tried to keep the panic from rising to the surface. What does his uncle do when he’s being tough? “Bitch.”
Tommy burst out into laughter. “You’re like a fucking kitten.”
“I am not!” Michael shouted. “I am a warrior and you should fear me.”
“Ah yes. So intimidating.” Tubbo chuckled, the tone pulling at memories of his papa playfully teasing him.
“Papa! Look, I’m the mighty Technoblade! Fear my wrath!”
“Oh no. I’m so scared.”
Michael growled at them in frustration before walking away from them. He settled back into his earlier spot where he could easily monitor the area for any actual threats. He knew that the teens were still there. They hadn’t even pretended to leave. But he had a job to do and that was to protect this base until his family came back. If his family came b…
Nope. Not gonna think about that. He knew they wouldn’t leave him here. At least one of them would come back for him. They had to. He tried to shove down his instincts as they softly began crying out, begging for his pack to comfort him. Now wasn’t the time. His family wasn’t here and they needed him to be brave and strong, not a clingy piglet.
He heard the ground crunch underfoot as someone approached him.
“You’re really just here by yourself?” Tubbo asked.
“Of course, I am.” Michael huffed.
“Did you want some company?” The dark blond teen tried again.
The kid ignored the feeling that sprouted in his chest at the idea. They were not his family. They weren’t even friends. They were just some random people he met a little while ago. He couldn’t be attached yet.
“I don’t want your company,” he stated.
“Don’t be like that.” Tubbo sighed. “I know Tommy’s annoying as all hell and an all round pain to be around.”
“Hey, I am an absolute joy to be around, bitch.” Tommy exclaimed, making sure to over exaggerate his reaction. He couldn’t help but feel pleased when Michael gave a small smirk.
“But you shouldn’t be left here alone.” Tubbo continued, choosing to ignore his friend. He sat down onto the ground next to Michael and patted the spot next to him. “We promise we won’t mess with the base, right Tommy?”
The blond groaned as dramatically as he could. “Fucking fine.”
“See. We’ll even help you protect the place.” Tubbo gave a hopeful smile.
“We can tell you about some of the shit that’s happened here.” Tommy suggested.
“Like what?” Michael quietly asked.
“Did you want to hear about some of the battles we fought in?”
“Really?” Michael tried to keep his excitement from showing. His family rarely talked about the battles they fought in, often only giving him small selections and generalizations in place of the whole thing.
“Yeah.”
“Oh,” Tommy perked up. “There was one time when we were fighting off these bitches and Wilbur told us…”
Michael hung off their every word. Each story about events that the rest of his family had never told him, either because they had forgotten or simply because they didn’t want to talk about it. Some were about random little adventures that they had been a part of or how they had messed with somebody else. Others were about how they had founded L’Manburg and the people that had fought beside them. He was mostly interested in hearing about Wilbur. Michael had known he was the leader of L’Manburg at one point and had led several rebellions over it, but he hadn’t even realized that his uncle and his papa had been so close to him. Theseus always seemed conflicted any time he was brought up and Festus would get angry at the mention of his name. Lethe seemed to be the one who was the most willing to talk, but he said barely remembered anything and the small bits he did remember were vague at best.
He was so entranced by their stories that he almost missed the sound of movement from just beyond the edge of the clearing. Tubbo must’ve heard it too because his attention diverted off in the same direction even if he didn’t move his head. Tommy just continued on. It wasn’t until Michael quietly resummoned his bow and notched an arrow that the blond human realized something was wrong.
Michael listened more carefully. Two sets of footsteps. One had long even strides with low hanging leaves being shoved away. The other strides were more uneven like they were favoring one side over the other. He knew those footsteps. But something was wrong. It didn’t sound like they were in a hurry or that they were panicked. Yet no matter how hard he strained to hear another set, he could only make out two sets. Papa’s was missing.
The piglin rushed towards the edge of the clearing, stopping just a few steps away from the trees. His bow had slipped through his fingers in his haste and was lying on the ground a few feet away. Too far away for him to reach if he suddenly needed it but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He bounced on the tips of his toes as he looked in between the trees for just a glimpse of his family.
There.
He could just make out the tall silhouette of his uncle. Theseus looked so tired and he had freshly bandaged wounds, some which looked like they might’ve reopened during the walk back. His limp was far more prominent when it was normally barely noticeable. Lethe walked a little way behind, his height making him loom over the blond human. He looked slightly zoned out, almost following Theseus’s path mindlessly. Michael could feel a wave of relief wash over him as he realized that his dad was carefully holding Festus as he made his way through the low branches.
Theseus spotted the kid first and gave a tired wave. “Hey, Big M.”
That snapped the enderman out of the daze he had drifted into. He blinked as he registered where they were and then disappeared in a swirl of purple particles. He popped into existence right next to his kid. Michael immediately clamped tightly into his dad.
“Missed you, too.” Lethe whispered as he returned the hug.
“Asshole.” Festus grumbled from his arms. He shifted a bit as his mind tried to recover from the sudden teleportation. “A little fucking warning would’ve been nice.”
“Sorry.” Lethe gave a small apologetic smile. “We’re home by the way.”
“Really? I couldn’t tell.” His husband sarcastically retorted back.
“Papa?” Michael’s ear drooped as he looked the goat hybrid over.
Festus cracked a tired eye open at the piglin’s soft worried whine.
“I’m ok, Michael.” He reassured his son with a pat of the head. “Just a little tired. That’s all.”
Theseus shot his friend an annoyed look of judgment as he finally managed to catch up. “I would say completely exhausting yourself is a bit more than just a little fucking tired.”
“I don’t wanna hear it while you’re probably…”
“What the fuck happened to you guys?”
No one had noticed the two teens sneaking up next to the family. The three adults regarded them in various states of surprise and confusion. Michael just decided that he wanted to be anywhere else.
“What are you doing there?” Theseus asked.
“We were just helping guard the base.” Tommy replied. “You’re fucking welcome.”
“Uh huh.” Lethe raised an eyebrow at the teens before looking down at his son who looked like he wanted to disappear into the ground. “Michael?”
“They might’ve kinda found their way to the base and asked to stay.” Michael mumbled.
“You didn’t do anything to the base, did you?” Festus shot a tired glare at the teens. “Cause if you did…”
“Relax, Boss man.” Tubbo interrupted. “Michael made sure we didn’t do anything.”
“I still think we should’ve added some cobblestone,” Tommy huffed.
Theseus grinned at that. “This guy gets me.”
Lethe gave an annoyed sigh in response. “He is you.”
“He didn’t though,” Tubbo quickly said. “We mostly just sat around talking.”
The three adults shared a quick nervous glance.
“What were you talking about?” the enderman asked.
Tubbo shrugged. “Just random things really.”
“I was just telling him about how L’Manburg got founded.” Tommy said. “I could start over if you wanted to hear it too.”
“Hard pass.” Festus didn’t even hesitate. “In fact, the only thing I want to do is pass out in a bed.”
“What could you have possibly done to tire you out that much?” Tubbo asked.
“Nothing that concerns you.” Lethe stated, maneuvering around the teens so he could go into the base. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve had a long day.”
The enderman gestured at his son to follow as he carried his husband inside. Michael hesitated for a moment before saying a quick bye to the teens and rushing after his dads.
“But…” Tommy tried following, but Theseus cut him off.
“To put what my prince was saying a little more bluntly,” The blond warrior stated tiredly. “Go the fuck away.”
Tommy glared at him. “We just wanna know what’s going on.”
“And you don’t get to know.” Theseus said. “We’re all really tired and don’t want to fucking deal with you right now.”
He tried to walk away but the shorter teen grabbed onto the warrior’s arm.
“Did you get into a fight with Dream?” Tubbo asked.
Theseus let out an annoyed sigh as he ripped his arm free. “Fuck off, Tubbo.”
“Come on. Just a little hint.” The brunet pleaded.
“No.” The adult shot the teens a tired look. “Now, go away.”
The teens glared at him as he disappeared behind the door and stubbornly stayed in the front yard for an extra hour out of spite. They would’ve stayed longer but the sun was starting to set and they both had people that were expecting some kind of report back. The march back had started off quiet enough, but after a while Tommy had decided to break the silence.
“They’re a bunch of wronguns,” Tommy huffed.
Tubbo couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “You’re just mad that they kicked us out again.”
“I’m serious,” the taller teen exclaimed. “There’s something off about them.”
“Like what?” Tubbo asked as he carefully avoided a tree root’s attempt to trip him.
“Like how the fuck did Theseus know your name?” Tommy asked.
‘Well, Michael could’ve…” Tubbo’s eyes widened as the realization hit him. “Wait a minute.”
Tommy quickly took the opportunity to continue. “And did you notice how they were staring at you like creepy bitches?”
“Ok. You might have a fucking point.” The goat hybrid admitted.
The blond grinned smugly at his friend. “Of course, I do. I always do.”
“You going to tell, Wilbur?” Tubbo asked.
“Of course, I’m telling Wilbur!” Tommy exclaimed, not caring as the trees began thinning out as they neared the exit of the forest. “Why the fuck would I not tell Wilbur?”
Tubbo shot his friend a concerned look. “Doesn’t he want to try recruiting them?”
“And that’s why I’m going to tell him.” Tommy rolled his eyes. “I’m sure once he knows how bad they are he won’t want anything to do with them.”
“I suppose…” Tubbo tried not to think about the alternatives.
He could just see the outside world breaking through the tree line. Once they were out there, they couldn’t be friends anymore. They both had their assigned roles they’d have to get back to. Tommy seemed to know it too based on the grimace on his face.
“I’ll sneak out in a few days to give you an update,” Tubbo tried to reassure him.
“You better. Otherwise, I’ll have to sneak in.” Tommy replied. “Just… stay safe, alright.”
“Will do.”
The best friends waved at each other before parting ways; one heading back towards the bright lights of the city and one down to the dark depths of a chasm below.
Chapter 13: Echoes of the Past
Summary:
Dream wakes up, Lethe gets tunnel vision, and a time traveler is very lost.
Notes:
We have reached 140 Kudos! That's so many you guys!
Please feel free to leave feedback.
Chapter Text
It took a few moments for Dream to realize he was awake. His mind felt numb like he had been underwater for too long. There was a dull ache that echoed from the corners of his mind, ever present but ignorable for the most part. A soft hum of energy kept trying to lull him back to sleep and away from everything else. It was so tempting.
Muffled sounds occasionally rose in rhythmic patterns, the two different tones dancing around each other in a sort of call and response. Steady thumps seemed to punctuate one of them, as the noise moved closer and further and closer and further.
He tried concentrating a bit more.
“...said he’d be awake yesterday!” Thump. Thump. Thump.
“He kinda was.”
“You mean those times when he’d just stare at us before going back to sleep?” Thump. Thump. Thump.
“They did say he’d be disoriented when he woke up.”
“I know that!” Thump. Thump. Thump.
Dream knew those voices. Those were his friends’ voices. What were they doing in his house?
Wait.
He cracked one eye open to look at his surroundings again. This wasn’t his house. This place was made out of smooth grey stone, save for the area by the door which seemed to be a speckled red for some reason. There were large windows letting in enough light to fill the long room. It was sparsely furnished with only a few chests and the bed that he had been put in. It seemed familiar in a faded sort of way.
Acknowledging the waking world was apparently a mistake.
He could only wince as a flood of notifications swept across his vision. The backlog of messages that had been sent. Things that had been crafted. Items that had been collected. Times someone had gotten hurt. Thousands upon thousands of coded updates all demanding attention. It was overwhelming. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe.
He instinctively reached up and his fingers were met with something smooth and slightly cold attached to his face. He dug into the gap between where it met his skin and tried to pull. For a while it gave away easily until it reached a point by his eyes that just didn’t want to budge. He gave it a harder tug, but it still refused to release its hold.
“Hold on. It’s still tied on.”
He felt a set of hands tilt his head forward and fiddle with something at the back of his head. The object attached to his face loosened and Dream was finally able to pull it away from his face.
He blinked at the smiley face that stared back at him from its smooth white surface. Oh. It was just his mask. Why did he have that on when he was asleep? He never wore that when he was asleep.
“You ok, Dream?”
Dream could finally focus on the two figures standing next to him enough to recognize them. Sapnap was right next to the bed and George looked like he had just gotten up from a spot just under the window. Their clothes were slightly crumpled and torn. George’s goggles were pushed up on the top of his head revealing his tired eyes and Sapnap’s hair looked tangled like he had been running his hand through them. All in all, they looked like shit. Dream tried to tell them that but the words stuck in his dry throat and he had to cough to dislodge them. Sapnap pulled a glass of water out of his inventory and held it out for Dream. It took him a few tries but the moment the admin finally had it in his hands, he downed the entire thing.
“Better now?” Sapnap asked.
“Yeah.” That one still sounded a bit hoarse, but it was at least understandable now.
The admin was just going to return the glass when he noticed the strange look his dark-haired friend was giving him. Dream would admit that his brown hair probably needed to be cut, but that wasn’t what the other seemed to be focused on. Sapnap’s eyes were tracing over the details of the face itself.
“What?” He asked finally. “My face too beautiful to look away?”
“Never mind. I am no longer worried about him.” Sapnap groaned.
Dream smirked, his hazel eyes lighting up. “Aw, Sapnap. You were worried about me?”
“Nope. Not anymore.”
“Sapnap’s a big sap.” The admin wheezed as he laughed.
Sapnap narrowed his eyes into a soft glare. “I hate you.”
“You love me. Right, George?” Dream was expecting a lot of things from George, mainly for the other brunet to jump in with picking on their friend. What he did not expect was for George to also be staring at him. “Ok. Seriously, what’s with the looks? You’ve seen me without my mask before.”
“Yeah… It’s just…” George rubbed at the back of his neck as he tried to think of the right words. “It’s been a while.”
It had? Admittedly, Dream normally wore his mask. It was the only way that he could use all of his admin abilities and he more often than not needed to have access to that. But the idea of him not taking it off, ever, seemed wrong. He didn’t need to know every single little thing that was going on in the server at all hours. He’d get notifications about anything really important anyway as long as it was still nearby. So, he had made a habit of removing his mask whenever he was relaxing or with people he trusted just so he could take a break from the nonstop wave of information. People like his best friends.
Had there been some danger that made him want to monitor everything that closely?
The more he tried to think about it, the more the headache bloomed through his skull. It was like he was pulling the sutures off a wound.
Dream threw the blankets off of him and tried to stand up. He had to go and do… something. He couldn’t remember what it was, but it was definitely not lying in a bed. He remembered that it seemed important, or was it? It would be so much easier if his brain didn’t feel like it was swiss cheese. Maybe if he went outside, he’d be able to…
A firm hand planted against his chest, preventing him from continuing his escape.
“Take it easy.” George said, gently nudging Dream back down. “They said you’d be recovering for the next day or so.”
The lighter brown brunet didn’t have the energy to fight as his friend rearranged the blankets around him. “They?”
“You know, the jackasses that put you here.” Sapnap grumbled, picking up the mask from where it had fallen and placing it on a chest by the bed.
Dream’s brows furrowed as his brain tried to fight against the pain in his head. “Who?”
“What do you remember?” George asked.
“Uh… There were new people. And we were trying to find them.” The admin paused as he ran into a mental gap. “Did we find them?”
“Yeah. You don’t remember that?” Sapnap replied.
Dream shook his head. “The last thing I remember is tromping around the woods like a bunch of idiots.”
“So, you had suggested that we split up to cover more ground.” George started.
“We had made a competition out of it.” The black haired man said.
George shot the other a glare. “No. You and Dream made a competition out of it.”
“Which you agreed to.” Sapnap grinned.
“You were going to do it anyway.” the goggled man shouted.
Sapnap leaned closer to Dream’s ear. “He’s just mad that he lost.”
Dream laughed at the frustrated look that crossed his brunet friend’s face.
“Anyway!” George continued. “We all split up and the next thing we know we’re getting a message saying…”
Dream tried to listen, but his mind wouldn’t stay focused. That soft hum was back again. Or maybe it had never left. It wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling, in fact it felt rather nice, but he couldn’t focus until he found out what it was. He finally managed to notice the necklace hanging around his neck. That was certainly new. It was a simple little thing, but the way the thread was woven together kinda reminded him of a dreamcatcher. Just looking at it made him feel calmer for some reason.
His eyebrows furrowed as he realized there was a noise. What was that? Oh, his friends were talking. He probably should’ve been paying attention to that.
Instead, he looked around the room again, his eyebrows furrowing. “Where are we anyway?”
George paused mid-sentence to process that question. “My house.”
“Huh. How long have I…” Dream absentmindedly ran his thumb across the charm’s threading.
“Don’t mess with that.” George scolded.
The admin immediately froze mid-motion and looked panickedly up at his friends. “Why? What is it?”
“It’s Blue.” The goggled man answered.
Dream shot George a deadpanned look. “I can see what color it is.”
“No, it’s literally called ‘Blue’,” The other man said.
His green-hooded friend blinked, looked back at the charm and then back at him with the most disbelieving look he could muster. “You serious? It’s named after the fucking color?”
“That’s what I said!” Sapnap exclaimed.
George let out an exhausted sigh. “Look, the point is that is there to protect you. So whatever you do, don’t take it off.”
Dream raised his hand up. “Alright. Alright. Geez. Why do I have it anyway?”
“Were you not listening to a single thing we were saying?” Sapnap grumbled.
“Not really. In my defense, it was probably really boring.” Dream didn’t even have time to stop the black-haired man from smacking him upside the head. “Ow.”
George slapped the attacker’s shoulder. “Sapnap! He’s injured!”
Dream tried to keep a straight face as he let out a small whine. “Yeah, Sapnap. I’m injured.”
“I will do it again.” Sapnap raised a hand threateningly.
“I’ll pass,” Dream replied. “My brain is fuzzy enough.”
His two friends instinctively winced and shared a quick concerned look between each other. Dream didn’t notice as his focus started wandering off towards the sunlight drifting in through the window. It had a slight orange golden hue so the sun might've been setting or rising. He wondered how long he had been out for. It didn’t feel like it had been that long, but he couldn’t be sure.
“Dream?”
The admin blinked as he tried to refocus on his friends. “Yeah?”
“I didn’t actually break your brain, did I?” Sapnap asked.
Dream chuckled halfheartedly at that. “Nah. Gotta try harder.”
“Uh huh.” George didn’t look particularly convinced. “Why don’t you get some more rest?”
“Don’t wanna.”
“Dream.” The goggled man scolded.
“George.” the other deadpanned back.
“Get some sleep.” George said, a bit more forcefully.
As much as Dream wanted to keep this going, and he was really, really tempted to, he couldn’t. Not because he was tired, which he might’ve been. He didn’t because at that moment, his friends looked exhausted. If agreeing to rest helped them relax a bit, who was he to say no.
“Fine. Whatever,” he relented.
Although he did close his eyes a bit just to humor the other two. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t drift off all the way. His mind felt too tired to focus on anything, but it was too busy to let him fall asleep. Half of his mind was still too worried about something to let him completely relax. After a while, he decided to check in with the other two. George had reclaimed his spot in front of the window. The goggled man’s head slumped down as he dozed off. Sapnap had settled down on the floor and leaned his back against the bed. Sapnap was fidgeting too much to be asleep yet. At least he wasn’t alone in this.
The green hooded man nudged his friend’s head. “Hey, Sap?”
“Yeah?” Sapnap leaned back a bit so he could look up towards the other.
“Is everything ok?” Dream asked.
Sapnap paused for way too long. “Why do you ask?”
Dream’s eyes darted to the side. He wasn’t quite sure how to explain it. “It just feels like something is wrong.”
“Yeah,” his friend reluctantly responded. “But it can wait until you’re better.”
“You sure?” the admin nudged his friend again.
“Course I’m sure,” Sapnap nudged his friend back. “You didn’t even get through the first explanation.”
Dream weakly glared at the other. “You’re such a dick.”
“So, I’ve heard.”
His eyes narrowed at the tired tone that just barely emerged in Sapnap’s voice. It didn’t sound like it was from the lack of sleep though. It was more like something was bothering him.
Dream gave his friend another nudge. “Is something wrong?”
“You just asked that.”
“I mean are you ok?” He tried again.
“Yeah. I’m just a little tired.” Sapnap said dismissively. It didn’t seem to work as Dream was still staring at him with his arms crossed in front of him. They just sat there for a bit before Sapnap gave a defeated growl. “It’s been… a lot, ok? A lot happened and I still know fuck all about how or why. No one is telling me shit.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m just as lost as you.”
“I know, I just…” The black-haired man pulled his legs in so he could fold his arms across them. “You trust us, right?”
Dream tried not to wince at the unexpected question. “You know I do. You’re my best friends.”
Sapnap looked up so he could study his friend’s face better. Dream met his gaze, hazel eyes meeting the greyish black. Whatever Sapnap found seemed to have been enough for the time being because the tension in his shoulders lessened. Not completely, but enough.
“Good,” he said, settling back against the bed and closing his eyes. “Get some rest so I won’t get in trouble the next time I have to smack some sense into you.”
Dream let out a quiet amused snicker at that. “Sounds good.”
It took a while for Dream’s thoughts to settle down enough to let him sleep. Focusing on the blue charm’s hum helped with that. There were still some panicked thoughts that tried to push their way forwards and half formed memories would randomly appear out of order and with little context. He could’ve sworn he got an alert for something, but his mind had drifted too far away to be sure. That was fine. He’d just deal with everything when he woke up. For now, he needed to let the waking world drift away.
It had been one whole day since the exorcism attempt. Which meant it should’ve been one whole day of recovering from the stress and strain from said attempt. That’s what would’ve been happening if it wasn’t for a certain stubborn goat-hybrid named Festus. He had immediately doubled down on completing the base as soon as he could keep his legs underneath him. The stone walls were completely finished and a couple windows had been installed. He had even managed to start furnishing the rooms. He would’ve kept going if Lethe and Theseus hadn’t hidden the building materials and pretended that they had run out to finally get him to take a break. There was one condition that Festus had insisted on, the other two had to gather more materials so he could get back to building as soon as possible.
Which is why Lethe had been banished to the tunnels again. Not that he minded. He found digging to be a calming pass time and after the stress he had been dealing with, he needed to relax. He’d almost find himself falling into a zen like state, digging out long winding tunnels into an intricate labyrinth. He’d occasionally stop when he found a bunch of ore or a few diamonds, collect everything, and be on his way. He hadn’t been able to do this in the End. There wasn’t anything that needed to be mined and there simply wasn’t enough ground to be carved up.
There was an extra benefit to all the mining beyond just the collected materials. The tunnels were also planned to be used as a way to travel around unseen, or if ever needed, as an escape route. His family had learned how useful they could be in the first timeline. Lethe would just have to make sure to have the others memorize the paths they’d wanna take so they wouldn’t get lost. And maybe he’d make a map in his memory journal to help with that.
There was one thing that was concerning. He had found no sign of Red yet. He had been carefully extending his tunnels out into the area that it had originally been found. While yes, that had been Bad’s basement, Red’s roots were actually deeper down in the earth. Festus theorized that it was likely that it started somewhere more secluded and got drawn into that spot. So the fact that he hadn’t even felt any trace of it anywhere meant that it was either still asleep or he was looking in the wrong spot. Frankly, he didn’t know which one was worse.
He was startled out of his thoughts when he had cleared a chunk of dirt away to reveal an equally dirty face staring back at him. The world seemed to freeze as they both blinked at each other. The person was surprisingly calm for someone who almost had a pickaxe accidentally through their skull. It was hard to tell who exactly he was looking at in the dim lighting from the sparsely placed torches. Lethe could barely make out the dark curly hair that was sticking to their sweaty forehead and dark eyes that widened with excitement. Why did it seem familiar? It wasn’t until they smiled a certain charming but half crazed smile that he finally figured out who this was.
Oh.
Oh no.
“Well, hello,” Wilbur said in a sing-songy voice.
Lethe slowly lowered his pickaxe away from the other’s head. “What are you doing here?”
Wilbur laughed. “I should be asking you that seeing as you’ve tunneled into my base.”
“What?” Lethe pulled out his communicator and quickly looked up his coordinates.
It seems that while his mind was wandering he had drifted a little bit off course. Ok, a lot a bit.
“Oh. Uh, I am terribly sorry for intruding,” the enderman quickly began rambling. Every fiber of his being was telling him to nope out of all of this and he instinctively began backing up. “I’ll just be going now.”
“Hey. Wait!” Wilbur frantically began widening the hole enough to get through.
“This was clearly a mistake. I’ll just put this back and go.” Lethe pulled the dirt he had been collecting back out of his inventory and shoved it into the tunnel.
“I just wanna talk.” The muffled voice called through the newly constructed dirt wall.
“There’s nothing to talk about. Goodbye.” Lethe turned to leave.
“I’ll just stop by your house then.”
He immediately turned right back around and cleared a section of dirt so he could hear better. “What?”
“I’ll just stop by your house.” Wilbur repeated. “Tommy knows where it is, so I’ll just have him…”
Lethe cut him off with a groan. “What do you want?”
Wilbur grinned triumphantly. “I just figured that you know, we’re exiled. You’re banned. We should stick together.”
“Not interested.” Lethe said, not even pausing to think about it.
“Oh come on, it’s not like you have anyone else to turn to.” the brunet pushed. “You help us. We help you. It’s a win-win.”
“You don’t even know what we’re doing.”
Wilbur crossed his arms on the top of the dirt wall separating them. “It has something to do with Dream, right?”
“I’m not answering that.” Lethe turned around.
“I don’t get you guys.” Wilbur called after him. “You bitches show up, save our lives, and now you want nothing to do with us.”
Lethe groaned. “We weren’t planning on saving your lives.”
“It was cause of that kid, right? Mitchell.”
The enderman paused to look back. “Michael.”
“Right.” Wilbur dismissed. “You would’ve just let us die if he hadn’t been there, huh?”
“Well,” Lethe dragged it out as he tried to figure out the diplomatic way to say ‘yes we totally would’ve let you die’.
Wilbur raised his hands. “Hey, I get it. No sense in risking your life for strangers. I’m just glad it worked out for me.”
The enderman grimaced at the fact that Wilbur would never know how right he was about that. Or how that was pretty much the beginning of the end for Wilbur’s sanity. It would lead him to a point where Green was able to manipulate him and eventually implant a lesser dreamon inside his mind. Of course, there was still a chance for that to still happen. Wilbur had still been exiled after all and Green was still out there.
“We didn’t come here to make friends,” Lethe grumbled.
“I’m just hoping to not be strangers.” The brunet replied. “Besides, you're probably gonna be seeing us quite a bit. Tommy’s kinda gotten attached to your kid. It's the only thing he’ll talk about. It’s fucking annoying.”
Great. So it probably won’t even matter if Lethe says yes or not. They might be stuck with the two outcasts anyway. Then again, maybe this could be a good way to keep an eye on them. If Green did end up getting Wilbur possessed again, they’d at least know about it. Although that was a decision that the whole group would have to make. Lethe had a feeling Festus and Theseus wouldn’t be super happy about this.
The dual-toned man rubbed at his temples. “We’ll think about it.”
“Alright. We’re making progress,” Wilbur exclaimed.
Lethe sighed. “Don’t make me regret this.”
“Never.”
Lethe didn’t bother to fill in the tunnel behind him as he left this time. He was trying not to think about how he was going to bring this conversation up to Festus and Theseus. Wilbur didn’t bother chasing after him, more than happy to watch him go with a smug grin plastered on his face. Things might not have gone the way he wanted, but it was a start.
It seemed that time had shifted again. He knew at least that much. He couldn’t think of anything else that disoriented him quite as badly as being suddenly dropped into a random timeline.
He ran the mental checklist in his head. His name was Karl Jacobs. He was currently in the Dream SMP, hopefully. He was friends with… fuck. Maybe that wouldn’t matter. He didn’t know exactly when he was anyway. Stick to the checklist.
What was the rest of the checklist?
…
Forget the checklist.
Karl opened his eyes and had to blink as he adjusted to just how colorful everything was here. There was just too much green and blue and brown for his poor mind to process after it had gotten used to the pure white.
Why had there been so much white before? Where had he been?
His memories felt muddled, like someone had tried printing a dozen pictures using a single page. It was a functioning city. It was a crater. It was a warzone. It was infested with Red. His mind seemed to be convinced that it was somehow all of these things at once and yet all of them were wrong. He could recall faces but couldn’t settle on who they were supposed to be. Was this one a friend or a stranger? That one a threat or a lover? If he couldn’t trust that one, then why had they saved his life?
There was one that stood out to him from the others. He knew that he had never met her, but she had always known him. They had talked for hours, maybe even days, with the comfort of someone who knew the other’s pain in only the way someone who had lived it themself could ever understand. Except he couldn’t remember her face. Any time he tried it came to him splotchy and half erased. Her hair seemed to flow between color to white and back again. The colors of her eyes blended until he couldn’t be sure what the original colors were. But he could recall one thing.
He had promised to do something for her.
“Karl?”
Karl felt a tap on his shoulder and his head snapped towards the source of the noise. A pink haired woman hovered just a little ways away, her hands raised warily in front of her. It took him a second to fix the name “Niki” to the face.
“Sorry.” She gave an apologetic smile. “You were just standing there. Are you feeling alright?”
He blinked. “Yeah. Just a little… out of it I guess.”
“Alright.” she said hesitantly. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
“Uh…” Karl took a quick glance over at the sky, noting the orange coloring the horizon. “Taking a morning stroll.”
Her eyebrows furrowed at that. “At 5PM?”
“I’m taking a really late morning stroll.” He quickly exclaimed.
Niki clearly didn’t believe him one bit. Karl’s only hope was that maybe she’d be too nice to point out how dumb that answer was. Or maybe she’d just think he was weird and leave him alone. That’d work too. The longer she sat there staring at him, the more he realized that she wasn’t just going to let this go. He could practically feel the gears in her head turning. He was about to try making some kind of exit when she finally spoke up.
“Would you mind helping me out for a bit?” she said. “I was planning on baking some bread and I could use a hand.”
Karl raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Isn’t it a little late to be making bread?”
“I’m having a really late baking session.” She replied not missing a beat.
“I don’t think I’m any good at baking.” He might’ve been fantastic at baking. He honestly couldn’t even remember if he had ever used an oven.
Niki smiled anyway. “That’s ok. I could use the company.”
If he knew anything about that determined look on her face, she was going to be sticking around him for a while until she was certain he was ok. She’d probably try to follow him home if he refused her offer, which was a problem since he couldn’t exactly remember if he had a home. So his options were to stay here for the night or go with Niki. Anything would be better than just standing around here. Besides, maybe Niki could help him piece together enough to figure out what had happened so far.
“Alright.”
Karl let her lead the way, mostly because he couldn’t remember the way or if he was even supposed to know in the first place. He couldn’t help but notice she’d send him the occasional concerned glance but decided not to say anything. The sun was almost completely down when he noticed he had something sprawling across one of his hands.
Written on the palm were the words “protect the son”.
Chapter 14: Late Nights
Summary:
In which no one has a good sleep schedule.
Notes:
Including me. I should not be posting this at midnight.
Please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Bold = Nether
Chapter Text
Schlatt had been zoning out for… well he wasn’t quite sure how long. He had lost track after his drinks started to make everything numb. But even he could tell that it was getting late. He should’ve left the office hours ago. Instead, he had been sitting here at his desk, watching the alcohol swirl around in his glass. He was still trying to wrap his head around all the bullshit that had been happening the past few days. He still hadn’t seen that strange group since the start of all of this. The attempt at sending Tubbo to get information had been almost useless beyond just confirming they weren’t connected to anyone and that they were building a place to stay. George had just fucking disappeared for two whole goddamn days and still barely showed up for work. Even when he was around, he didn’t exactly explain shit. He just kept saying that it was complicated and not to worry about it. Nothing was going the way Schlatt thought that it would. He had won. He was the one in charge. So why did he feel so weak?
The image of a scarred goat hybrid drifted into his mind. The look of practiced professional calm cast over his face but the disdain and contempt never seemed to leave his eyes. His whole presence carried the unspoken message of ‘I’d kill you, but you’re not worth the effort.’ Hell, that had practically been solidified during that entire meeting with that fucking group. The president took another sip to try getting that out of his head.
A tired sigh drifted from the couch. Schlatt had forgotten Quackity was still here. He only noticed that his assistant came in because he had poured himself a drink before he sat down. He sat up from where he had been lounging half hidden by the couch’s arm so he could firmly plant his feet on the ground.
“This is a fucking shit show.” He groaned.
Schlatt didn’t look up from his glass. “Yep.”
“And we still have no idea what’s going on?”
“Yep.” The ram swiveled his chair so he could stare out the window. His gaze lingered at the edge of the woods, right around the spot where he had watched a group of strangers disappear. “Bet it has something to do with those intruders.”
“Probably,” Quackity scoffed.
“Wilbur’s probably already trying to team up with them.” Schlatt grumbled into his glass before taking a large sip.
The other man let out an amused huff as he downed the rest of his drink. “Maybe we should team up with them first.”
Schlatt turned his chair around just enough to look at the other man. “Are you fucking serious? They’d have to be fucking morons to agree after I just kicked them out.”
“True.” Quackity’s eyebrows furrowed in thought before he carefully placed his empty glass down on the table in front of him. “What if you asked them for help?”
That made Schlatt go scarily still. “You have something to say, Quackity?”
“Well, I…”
“Come on. Don’t be such a fucking pussy about it.” he growled over the other’s stammering. “But I’ll remind you that you fucking agreed to make me president. And I don’t need any help running a country!”
“I know you don’t. But they don’t know that.” Quackity quickly exclaimed. He waited for the president to do something, anything, but the ram just continued to stare at him impatiently. So he cautiously continued. “We invite them by saying that we’d like some advice on how to run things and then just ease them into an alliance.”
“This has to be the stupidest fucking plan your dumbass has ever come up with.”
“They are clearly extremely powerful and they have connections to the End, provided that they are telling the truth about the whole royalty thing.” When that didn’t seem to work, he knew he had to use his trump card. “Do you really want to just let Wilbur have them?”
“Like fucking hell I do!” The gears in Schlatt’s head turned as he finished weighing out his options. As much as his pride didn’t like the idea of pretending he didn’t know what he was doing, it hated the idea of just handing such a powerful ally to his competition. “Alright then. I suppose we’ll have some motherfuckers to trick.”
‘According to ancient texts, the Nether once had a god. The name has been pretty thoroughly scrubbed from any form of written record, but based on the descriptions, it was a sentient plant that could even directly communicate with their mind. The followers acted as one solid unit, ensuring prosperity and unity to all who served it. Everything that was needed was provided. There were even a few sections that stated it could grant someone’s deepest desires if they proved their loyalty. In return, the followers gave it sacrifices of fresh meat and able bodies to do its bidding. For a while, it was a utopia where no one person was ever truly alone.
But the god wanted more.
So it tried to spread its influence into the other planes. It had taken many years and lives willingly sacrificed to even achieve the first minor victory. But they had managed to make a gateway out of obsidian and fire, the first portal between the Nether and the Overworld.’
Pain suddenly pulled Festus’s focus away from him. He winced as he rolled his stiff shoulder out a bit causing more phantom feelings of fire to run across it and down towards his elbow. His bad arm had been acting up again. It was normally something he’d be able to ignore, but it was particularly worse recently. He might’ve overworked it when he was building earlier. But that was fine. The base was all done now.
Which meant now he had time to focus on more important things. Like going over the research journals for the hundredth time. He could still remember the absolute wonder he had felt when he found the shelves filled with them in the manor’s library. Or more accurately when Michael had discovered it. The little piglin had been drawn in by the hand drawn images of Overworld plants and spent hours with them before anyone else noticed. These journals were perhaps the most valuable things that they had brought, and even then, they had only taken the few that they absolutely needed. It wasn’t just that they held a treasure trove of information, but these were also entirely written by Lethe’s dad.
When he was a young adult, Ranbus had been forced to spend some time in the Overworld due to being too prideful and arrogant. His parents thought it would humble him. The Ender Dragon stated that it actually made him worse. Not only was he just as proud as when he left, but he became absolutely enamored by the Overworld. He’d brag about how he was the only enderman to truly study the worlds beyond their home.
Most endermen refused to even consider leaving the End, deeming the other realms as being too dangerous and their inhabitants too barbaric. The only ones who did were either being exiled or willful fools who never returned. Everyone knew that the longer you stayed in the more likely you were to become feral, a state of mind that endermen can enter when they are going through extreme or prolonged mental stress and emotional pain. Festus had once stumbled across a report on it and immediately recognized it as the thing Lethe had called “enderwalking”. The report was unclear if it was a strictly Overworld condition, or if the stress from being in such a strange place caused more occurrences. There was one thing that it was definitely certain about. If the case is severe enough and left untreated, the enderman can be stuck in the state permanently.
That didn’t stop Ranbus. He even went as far as completely splitting his time between the End and the Overworld. Was it reckless? Sure. But Festus couldn’t exactly complain. Without his research journals, they wouldn’t have been able to make any kind of plan at all.
The enderman noble left meticulous notes about everything. The flowers, the animals, the long forgotten ruins of some ancient civilization. He wrote about everything he came into contact with. Festus could even tell the moment that Ranbus had met Lethe’s mom when he suddenly cut off the description of a tree to begin describing a breathtaking woman with the patches of white marbling across her skin. Images of a human woman with two toned eyes and dual colored hair began making more and more of an appearance in between the careful notes and detailed sketches. He referred to her as “Darling Beloved”. It wasn’t her real name, but she had forgotten it long before she even met her future husband.
If it wasn’t for her, Ranbus might’ve never explored anywhere beyond the Overworld itself. It was her questions that led him into exploring the Nether. And it was the strange memory-like visions that she began to have towards the end that led to the last, perhaps the most important book in the entire collection. Festus only slightly regretted leaving it behind in the End, but that research was far too dangerous to risk it falling into the wrong hands. Besides, he wouldn’t need it if everything worked out.
And he’d make sure everything worked out.
It had been days since Festus had disappeared into his newly crafted workshop. And Lethe couldn’t recall if he had left at all during that time. It didn’t help that the enderman was spending almost his entire time down in the tunnels gathering materials and fruitlessly trying to dig up any sign of Red. He still tried to make sure that he was home in time to make dinner. It was arguably his favorite part of the day since he’d be able to see that everyone was safe and being taken care of.
Except recently Festus hadn’t been having dinner with them. He’d just say that he was busy and that he’d get some a bit later. Well, it was later. Late enough that everyone should’ve gone to bed by now. Yet the lamp light continued to escape from the workshop door. And if Festus thought that his husband was going to be ok about it, he was very much mistaken.
Lethe shoved the iron door open with a familiar thud. He hadn’t really seen much of the room since it was built, but it was almost identical to the one they had at home all the way down to the obnoxiously loud heavy door. The solid rock walls had no windows leaving the only current light source to be the lanterns hanging around the room. A shelf of chests sat directly to the left of the door to allow easy access to it. There were two unlit furnaces stacked on top of each other on the right side of the room with an anvil placed next to it. On the other side was a large wooden workbench which was mostly untouched, but that was sure to change very shortly.
The short brunet was bent over a desk facing the wall the furthest away from the door. His good ear twitched in response to the loud thud from the door opening, but otherwise he kept his focus on the work sprawled across the desk’s surface. There were various sketched out maps, crumpled paper balls of rejected plans, and a stack of books carefully placed in a corner. Most of his attention was on a familiar worn research journal that was open directly in front of him.
Lethe couldn’t help but notice how rigidly his husband’s bad arm moved when he leaned over to add a few new notes to a map. The enderman reached into a nearby chest and, after a bit of rummaging, found the numbing potion he was looking for. It was nothing more than a diluted down version of a health potion that they had discovered when they were trying to stretch their thin resources out. It didn’t really heal anything, but it did remove all the pain.
He placed it purposely on top of the map. “Here.”
It took a second for Festus to fully register what was suddenly blocking his work. He picked up the vial and downed the potion in one go. His nose instinctively wrinkled at the unpleasant taste, but he could already feel the pain starting to go away. “Thanks.”
Lethe sighed as he took the empty vial. “How long have you been working?”
“Don’t know.” Festus scribbled a small addition into the edges of his own notes.
“Tubbo!”
“I’m fine.”
The enderman grabbed onto the other’s face and pried his attention away from his work. The lantern light emphasized the dark circles that ran under Festus’s dark blue eyes.
“You look like you’re about to pass out,” Lethe softly said. “Have you at least had any water?”
Festus stared at him for a moment before his gaze shifted to the side. “I’ll get some in a minute.”
“Come on, man.”
“I’ll be fine.” Festus shoved his husband off of him and pulled the journal closer to him. A bit of green flickered across his eyes, but he didn’t seem to have enough energy to make them fully glow. “Just let me finish my research.”
Lethe was about to respond when the workshop door opened with another loud thud. A messy blond head poked into the room.
“Stupid motherfucking door. Hey, Ranboo are you…” Theseus stopped as he noticed his short friend being absorbed back into his work. “He’s still up?”
“Yes.” Lethe gave an annoyed glare at the goat hybrid’s back. “And he’s being stubborn about it.”
“Ignoring you.” Festus quickly shot back.
“How the fuck is he still going?” The blond asked. “I figured he’d be fucking passed out by now.”
‘Ignoring you, too.”
“You’re doing a pretty shit job if you’re responding to us, bitch.”
Festus quickly shot him a middle finger which the other didn’t hesitate to return.
Lethe groaned as he crossed the room towards Theseus, giving the blond a light shove to guide him back outside the door. The human didn’t resist beyond making sure that he was still flipping Festus off all the way up until the door closed.
“Did you need something, Tommy?” Lethe asked.
“Uh… yeah. Michael had a nightmare.” Theseus rubbed at the back of his neck. “I tried to help but uh… he wants one of you two. Although it’s probably going to be you considering” He vaguely gestured an arm out in Festus’s general direction. “That.”
“Yes, but we can’t just leave him.”
“I could drag him to bed and make him stay there?” He offered.
“He literally can pick you up like a toy.” The prince deadpanned back.
“Right…” The blond deflated. “I was kinda hoping you’d forgotten about that.”
“Never.” Lethe gave a soft hum, his eyes slightly drifting over towards the workshop. His eyes lit up as an idea popped into his head. “Hey Tommy. Can you bring Michael into the living room?”
Theseus raised a confused eyebrow. He was tempted to ask what the prince was planning, but if what he was suspecting was even remotely right, he was better off not knowing. “Uh… sure thing, Big Man.”
He slipped back up the stairs and down the upper hallway. It was too dark to really make out too much, but he thankfully had already memorized the layout up here. The door closest to the right of the stairs was his. The first door on the left side belonged to Lethe and Festus. Which left the door at the far end of the hall to be Michael’s.
Soft nervous cuffs escaped as he gently pushed the child’s door open. The room was still sparsely decorated, the wooden walls and floor being completely barren. The only real furniture in the room was the bed that had been tucked into the far corner and the small table next to it. The pale silver moonlight filtering in through the lone window was being overpowered by the warm lantern sitting on the table, leaving only the flickering fire light to illuminate the piglin curled up in the corner of the bed. He was clutching a poorly constructed stuffed doll shaped like a chicken. It was something Festus had quickly thrown together shortly after the new bedrooms were created so the kid wouldn’t be completely alone at night.
Theseus slowly approached the bed, trying not to accidentally scare the kid. “Hey, Big Mike. You keeping your chicken safe?”
Michael gave his uncle a small nod and an affirming hum. He let out a few more cuffs as Theseus settled down on the edge of the bed but didn’t make any other noise. Theseus hated it when Michael was quiet. He hated that the kid had to learn to be quiet when things got really scary and that no matter what the adults did, they couldn’t undo that lesson. Theseus wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know what nightmare could’ve been bad enough to cause this response.
“That’s great.” He gave a reassuring grin and offered one hand out towards the zombie kid. “You wanna come with me? Your dad said he’d meet us in the living room.”
Michael eyed the hand nervously, like he was worried it would suddenly disappear before reaching out for it. His uncle didn’t even flinch at the death grip that the child was using. Instead, he focused on helping the other safely off the bed. The piglin leaned heavily on his uncle, practically burying his empty eye socket into the adult’s side. Theseus took a moment to bundle the blanket on the bed up into his arm. It was a little difficult with just one hand, but he was too amazing to let that stop him.
The walk back down to the living room was awkward at best. The hallway was dark with the only light being the tiny bit that managed to drift all the way up the stairs. Theseus had thought about grabbing the lantern to bring with them but neither of them had any hands to carry it since Michael was still holding onto his chicken and refused to let go of his uncle’s hand. Thankfully, no one fell down the stairs.
The first thing the blond noticed was the tall enderman standing over the couch in the middle of the living room facing the unlit fireplace. The second thing he noticed was the grumpy looking Festus sitting on the couch. Thankfully the goat hybrid hadn’t noticed the other two coming down the stairs a little ways behind him. It probably helped that they were on the same side as his bad ear. Lethe briefly glanced towards them but quickly darted his eyes back down.
Festus’s eyes narrowed as he took the glass of water that Lethe was offering. “You know as soon as I finish this I’m going right back. I will not be tricked.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lethe said too innocently. “Just drink your water.”
Festus took a sip of water, making sure to glare at his husband the entire time. The tall man made a small motion with his tail to signal the two hovering by the stairs to come over. Theseus inched forwards as quietly as he could while bringing his tired nephew along. Luckily the brunet’s exhaustion seemed to do wonders for keeping them undetected. As soon as they were close enough, Lethe scooped up Michael and placed him on Festus’s lap. Festus startled and spilled some of the water onto the floor as his tired brain processed the piglin that was already starting to snuggle into his father’s warmth with a few soft contented chuffs.
The goat blinked once. Twice. “Oh! You Motherfu…”
“Sh…” Lethe gave his husband a few pats on the head. “You don’t want to bother Michael, do you?”
Festus glared up at the tall man as he readjusted the child on his lap to a more comfortable position. In a voice just barely loud enough to be heard, he whispered. “fuck you. fuck you. fuck you. fuck you.”
Lethe was unfazed as he just grabbed the blanket that Theseus was handing to him and threw it over the other two. “Yes. Yes. I know.”
As the prince turned to leave, he felt Festus grab onto the edge of his shirt.
“Oh no you don’t.” The short man snarled. “If I’m stuck here, so are you.”
“Alright. Alright.” Lethe shook his head as he carefully climbed his way onto the couch.
Theseus smiled a little at the family. It was good that they got to have a peaceful moment together. It had been so hectic lately. And so stressful for them. They needed this. He silently readjusted his headphones and turned to make his way up to his room.
A pillow smacked into the back of his head.
“You’re not getting out of this either.”
Theseus turned back to see Festus glaring at him from over the arm of the couch.
“Me?” Theseus asked, dramatically placing an innocent hand on his chest. “What did I do?”
“You were an accomplice.” Festus replied. “Get over here.”
Theseus took a moment to glance at his escape just a few steps out of reach. “I mean the stairs are right here…”
His friend sighed at him, completely exhausted. “Don’t make me threaten your kneecaps again.”
The blond quickly raised his arms in surrender. “Fuck man. No need to bring my kneecaps into this.”
He hoisted himself up over the back of the couch and unceremoniously flopped onto it, making sure to aim specifically for the enderman and not the small sleeping piglin. Festus couldn’t help the small smile as he heard Lethe let out an annoyed groan.
Chapter Text
Hey guys,
I know I haven’t posted in a while. I was dealing with a massive writer’s block issue. However in light of everything that’s currently happening with Wilbur, I am going to be officially taking a break away from this.
I am not discontinuing it and have full plans to continue it. I am enjoying writing this story too much to abandon it because on one asshole.
I am also currently debating on leaving the “Wilbur” in this story unchanged, mainly because he was always based on “Wilbur” the character and not “Wilbur Soot” the YouTube guy (in equal parts because I didn’t really watch him and I think it’s weird to turn real people into characters). I have never considered the two to be the same person.
I do need to take a step back to figure out if I that is my final decision and if I want to continue in the direction I was going.
I understand if my choices upsets people. It’s not my intentions and considering the situation, I won’t blame you.
Seriously, fuck abuse and the bitches who do that shit.
Chapter 16: Morning Comes Too Early
Summary:
There is an unwelcome visitor and no one is ready to handle that.
Notes:
I'm back! Here to deliver you you're regulated dose of angst. Hope this was worth the wait.
Also how has this gotten 191 kudos? That is so many!
Content warning for minor panic attacks and blood (let me know if I missed something)
Please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Chapter Text
Lethe awoke to an insistent knock at the front door. He grumbled slightly towards the offending noise. He didn’t really want to leave the cuddle pile that had shaped itself over the course of the night. He almost never moved during his time asleep which always resulted in him being at the bottom of the pile. Festus had scurried his way up to the top like the little goat that he was, curling on top of the other two adults. This time he had dragged Michael up with him and was clinging to the young piglin like a teddy bear. The kid had apparently laid claim to the blanket by wrapping it completely around him. Theseus had somehow managed to starfish himself in such a way that he was practically hanging upside down off the couch.
The knocking continued, much to Lethe’s displeasure. He began carefully extracting himself from the bottom of the pile, trying his best not to wake up the others. Or well, one of the others in particular. Michael was never bothered by the others jostling him around in his sleep, especially when he was warm. Festus was almost always completely out once he finally fell asleep, probably due to some mixture of pure exhaustion and the fact that he was completely deaf in one ear. Theseus on the other hand had always been a light sleeper.
Which is what Lethe was afraid of as he was maneuvering his leg out from the pile and saw the blond shift. Theseus jolted at the next set of knocks, which had been quite a bit louder as whoever it was seemed to be getting impatient. He was still pinned under the two that were still asleep, so he almost immediately proceeded to fall off the couch. Luckily Lethe had been freed enough to be able to teleport over and catch him before his head hit the floor.
“Wha…” Theseus’s eyes darted around the room, clearly stuck between the state of being alert and still asleep. “What’s happenin’?”
The enderman carefully pulled the blond back onto the couch. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this. Just stay with the others.”
Theseus seemed slightly distressed about the idea of the other dealing with the possible danger alone, but a few pats on the head and he was already drifting back to sleep.
Lethe paused for a moment at the sight of his family sleeping on the couch before he left to deal with the intruding noise. He had quite the number of people that it might’ve been. It could’ve been Wilbur. Or the Dream Team. Or Tommy and Tubbo, although they probably would’ve started trying to break into the house after the first few knocks. He was certainly not expecting the man with dark curling ram horns to be on the other side of the door.
Schlatt straightened and a smarmy smirk settled into place. “Sup.”
Lethe had never met Schlatt, at least not before the whole time travel thing. The ram had been dead and gone before he had ever arrived to the DSMP. But that didn’t mean he didn’t know anything about him. Lethe had managed to piece enough of the stories together to get a clear picture on what he was like. Schlatt was almost certainly trying to play some kind of angle with whatever he was doing here. And frankly considering the rude awakening, the enderman was in no mood to play along.
“We haven’t stepped foot inside your city.” he stated, crossing his arms and shifting so he blocked more of the doorway.
He couldn’t help but note that the other man wasn’t exactly meeting his gaze. Whether it was out of fear or caution, Lethe didn’t really care. As long as the man was wary around their group, that worked for him.
“Oh please,” Schlatt smoothly replied. “If I wanted you dead, I’d have a hunting party with me.”
“What do you want?” Lethe asked with a bit more force.
“So…” Schlatt dragged the sound out to stall for a bit more time. “It turns out running a country is a motherfucking pain in the ass and I figured that a prince would have some experience with that.”
The enderman had been prepared for a lot of things. Schlatt asking for help was not what he was expecting to happen. It was enough to make his entire brain short circuit. “What?”
“In exchange for lifting the ban on your group, you join me as an advisor of sorts. Just while we figure out how this fucking government is going to be running.”
“I uh… don’t know too much about the whole ruling thing.” He shouldn’t have said that. Why couldn’t he have realized that before he had said that? This was why he left the talking to the other two.
Schlatt narrowed his eyes in annoyance. “I thought you were supposed to be a prince.”
“I am.” Lethe said a bit too quickly. This was fine. He could save this. “But I’m not really the one in charge. So I can’t really help you with that.”
Schlatt rubbed at the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t decide if this group was full of idiots or just assholes determined to piss him off. “If I didn’t know, any better I’d say you’re making shit up.”
“Well, I’m not. It’s just that we’re very busy and I don’t have time to…”
“Look, I don’t really give a shit about what you’re busy doing.” Schlatt sneered, leaning closer into the other’s space. “I’m just trying to make a deal with you. L’Manburg has a lot of resources that I’m sure you would find very useful and I’m being nice enough to allow you access to that. I’d hate to think this opportunity is being wasted on you.”
Lethe wished he could say his brain was starting to slip into an enderwalk state. It would at least keep him from talking. But instead he was just panicking as his anxiety spiked. Which was not helping him think.
Why wouldn’t Schlatt just leave? Lethe had already said no. He had, right? He was pretty sure he had made it clear enough. But maybe he hadn’t. Or maybe Schlatt didn’t care. Did that mean saying yes would get him to leave faster? He could say willing to try his hand at ruling, but he honestly had no idea what that would entail. He needed to be out looking for any signs of Red. What was supposed to be the right answer?
Prime, he wasn’t good at this. What he wouldn’t give for one of the others to be here right now. Well, mostly Festus. Theseus would’ve certainly already made Schlatt angry, which still would’ve gotten him to leave but definitely caused more problems down the road. Festus had always been better at this. He had practice with talking in roundabout ways and standing his ground no matter who he was dealing with. Yeah…
His husband could probably help.
The president blinked at him. “What do you mean your husband could help?”
Lethe’s breath hitched. He hadn’t meant to say that outloud or at least not loud enough for it to be overheard. “I mean, Festus does have experience with these things. But I…”
“So let me get this straight.” Schlatt held a single finger up to interrupt. “The fucker that shot me in the leg, that guy somehow managed to know more about running a country than a fucking prince.”
“Y-yes.”
A loud amused chuckle escaped from the ram. “You know what? Sure. Why fucking not? Have him show up at my office tomorrow morning.”
And with that Schlatt turned on his heel and strode back towards the treeline.
Lethe’s eyes widened. “Wait! I’d need to check with…”
“Tomorrow morning!” Schlatt called over his shoulder, not even bothering to slow down or look back. “He had better be there.”
Dread settled into Lethe’s stomach as he closed the door. He’d have to tell the others about this. The prince tried to suppress the distressed warble that rumbled in his throat at that thought.
“Tubbo’s gonna kill me.”
Festus wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep for. He could probably use some more but he already knew he wasn’t going to be able to get back asleep. He blinked blearily up towards the ceiling, waiting for the rest of his brain to catch up with him. His first complete thought was that this wasn’t his bed. This was the couch. He vaguely remembered being tricked into sleeping here. A small piglin face dug further into his side and the lumpy thing that he was lying on shifted a little. The traitors.
One of them was missing. He sat up so he could get a better view of the pile. Theseus grumbled at the movement but otherwise seemed content to remain pinned at the bottom of the pile. Michael wiggled a little, his struggle to stay next to his warm father being impeded by the blanket around him. Lethe was nowhere to be seen.
It wasn’t too unusual for his husband to be awake before everyone else. It was strange that he wasn’t still in the pile. Normally he’d just stay put until someone else woke up. Lethe said it was because he didn’t want to disturb anyone by getting up, but Festus wasn’t completely convinced.
Festus raised his good ear to listen to all the nearby noises. It wasn’t very likely to be a threat nearby, Theseus would’ve been up if that was the case, but he couldn’t be too careful. He could just barely make out someone quietly moving pans in the kitchen. The faint smell of pancakes wafted through the air. It at least answered the question about where Lethe had gone.
Although the idea of the enderman cooking might have qualified as a threat. It wasn’t that he was a bad cook. In fact, it was arguable that he was the best cook out of all of them. The problem was the fact that he had a tendency to add weird things when no one expected it. Last time he had made pancakes he had tried to put whole chunks of potato in it. Hopefully that wouldn’t be the case this time.
The goat hybrid carefully climbed off of the couch, trying his best to not accidentally step on the other two. It proved to be extremely difficult when there was a child clinging onto his shirt in an attempt to keep him from moving. He gently poked Michael’s cheek. The kid whined in response and lightly batted at the finger with his one free hand.
Festus had to suppress a laugh. “Come on. It’s time to get up.”
Michael’s snout wiggled as the piglin began registering the delicious smells and sat up.
“Breakfast?” he mumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eye.
“Yep.” Festus carefully guided Michael down off of the couch. “Why don’t you head on in and I’ll get your uncle up?”
“‘Kay.” Michael didn’t even bother unwrapping himself from the blanket before shuffling off towards the kitchen, leaving it to drag along after him.
Festus turned to the last person still on the couch. Theseus looked like he was already on the verge of waking up. He just needed one final nudge to get him up.
The brunet slapped him on the arm. “Get up.”
The human jolted awake, one hand instinctively gripping onto the other’s wrist. His eyes scanned around the room before relaxing into a glare.
“Prick.” He said, dropping the other’s arm like it had offended him.
Festus smirked as he handed over the headphones sitting on the armrests. “If you don’t hurry up, I’ll eat your breakfast.”
“I’m coming.” Theseus grumbled as he placed them around his neck. “Who’s cooking?”
“Ranboo.” Festus replied, turning towards the kitchen. He didn’t need to be looking at his friend to know the disgusted grimace that crossed Theseus’s face.
“He better not be making something weird.” Theseus grumbled after him.
Lethe stared at the batter sizzling away in the cast iron pan on top of the stove. He should probably think about stopping soon. There was already a sizable stack of pancakes on the plate next to him. Yet, when one in the pan finished, he simply flipped it on top of the pile and added more batter to start the next one. He barely noticed when Michael wandered into the room, stopping to mumble a quick barely understood “Good Morning” and to steal a too warm pancake before retreating to the kitchen table. He had completely missed when the other two arrived. He flinched as a shoulder bonked into his lower back.
“Morning.” Festus said as he continued past the enderman.
“M-morning.” Lethe replied, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible.
Thankfully Festus didn’t seem to notice. He was already laser focused on digging through the pantry chest that had been placed next to the counters. Their food supplies were starting to get low. Not to the point that it would be concerning but they’d have to set up a farm soon. He wondered how their plants would even react to this soil after spending so long adapting to the End. Would they even grow? They hadn’t exactly brought any end stone with them, so worst case scenario, they’d have to find fresh crops to start their farm with. He was pulled from his thoughts by his stomach growling.
Right. Food first, planning second.
Usually they had pancakes with chorus fruit on top, mostly due to the fact that they had very limited choices. Although now that they were in the Overworld again, there was nothing stopping them from getting some honey to put on them. Prime did Festus miss honey. Sadly they didn’t have any at the moment but he recalled that Theseus had managed to find a few apples when he was out collecting wood. The red fruit was quickly becoming Michael’s favorite and it had been a while since any of them had the fruit, so the choice was a no brainer. He just needed to find where his friend had stashed them.
Theseus rolled his eyes as Festus almost fell into the chest he was rummaging through. He could go over and help, but he was much more content with leaning against the counter right next to where the tower of pancakes was set. He swiped one right off the top, just seconds before the next one was added to the stack. He nibbled on it for a while before he realized that the pancake theft was largely ignored. Usually there would usually be loud complaints about the food being taken before everything was done and that if people would just be patient, they wouldn’t need to steal it. Yet there wasn’t even an annoyed sigh, even though Theseus knew Lethe had seen him take it. Instead, the enderman just got to work on the next one. He was ruining the tradition!
Theseus jabbed a finger into Lethe’s side, causing a started whoop. He waited until the taller man turned towards him before arching one eyebrow dramatically in a questioning look.
“What?” Lethe whispered.
“You’re acting weird.” Theseus hissed back.
“I am no-,” Lethe cut himself off as the other waved the partially eaten pancake in front of him.
“You wanna try again, bitch?” Theseus asked.
“Not really. No.”
The blond rolled his eyes with a scoff. “Does it have to do with what woke us up this morning?”
Lethe’s gaze darted to the side. “Well, I…”
“What happened this morning?” Festus popped up between the two, carrying three apples securely in his arms.
“Nothing, Bee.” Lethe quickly replied before the blond could get a chance to.
Theseus’s eyes glowed red as he narrowed them like he did when he was accepting a challenge. Lethe sent him a warning glare back.
The goat hybrid’s gaze darted between them. “Oooookay. Move.”
He shoved Theseus to the side so he could dump the apples onto the countertop.
“Hey!” His friend exclaimed loudly. “I was here first, Bitch!”
“Yeah yeah.” Festus wasn’t really listening. It was too early for that. He decided to focus on dragging the cutting board closer.
“You don’t have to do that. I can…” Lethe reached out to grab one of the fruits, only to have it smacked out of the way.
“It’s fine, Boo,” Festus said, pulling a small knife out and starting to peel the skin off of the apples in long strips. “Just focus on the pancakes.”
“If you’re sure.”
It took a minute or two, but Theseus eventually quieted down with a huff. He made sure to snatch a bit of the apple strips before retreating to the table with his pilfered goods. Michael reached over and snatched one of the skins as soon as his uncle had settled. His uncle just rolled his eyes in response and placed another one down in front of the kid.
Lethe tried to calm down a little bit and focus on the quiet familiar process of making breakfast. Sure his shoulders were too stiff and his tail twitched anxiously from where it was curling too close to his legs, but maybe the others wouldn’t notice it. Then maybe they would leave it alone until they were done eating.
“So…” His husband calmly put down the freshly peeled apple and picked up a new one. “What actually happened this morning?”
The enderman sighed tiredly. “Nothing happened this morning.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s not…”
“Tommy.” Festus shouted back towards the human. “What happened?”
The blond just shrugged in response. “Don’t look at me. I fell back asleep.”
“But something did happen,” Festus pushed.
“Yeah?”
The brunet paused mid-motion leaving the knife where it had been barely scraping under the apple skin so he could turn towards his husband.
Lethe’s eyes darted to the side. “Well, ok, maybe something happened, but it’s not important that we need to discuss it now.”
“You wouldn’t be this worked up if it wasn’t important.” Festus said. “Tell me what happened.”
One look told Lethe that he might want to rethink what he was about to say. Lethe rubbed his hands together. “It was just an unexpected visitor. That’s all.”
“Who was it?” Festus asked. He tried to ignore the rock settling into his stomach when there wasn’t an immediate response. He pushed again, letting his tone shift from a question into a demand. “Ranboo. Who was at the door?”
“It was Schlatt.”
The knife in the goat hybrid’s hand slipped, causing a cut along his thumb. “Schlatt was at the house.”
“Tubbo, your hand,” Lethe exclaimed.
Festus immediately released his grip causing the apple to bounce onto the floor and the knife to clatter onto the counter where it couldn’t cause any more damage. The cutting board was becoming spotted with red blood. Blood that was flowing out from the line on his hand. He should be concerned about this. But his brain could only focus on one thing.
“Schlatt was at the house.” He repeated.
Lethe pulled his husband’s bleeding hand closer and pressed a towel against the wound. “Only for a little bit and he’s not here now.”
Theseus instinctively moved to get up from his chair. He had already pulled the bandages he kept in his inventory just in case. But Michael had instinctively grabbed onto his sleeve and while he could easily tear himself away from the kid, he would never dare to. So he had to settle for throwing them at the enderman’s head.
“Why the fuck didn’t you wake me up!?!” he exclaimed.
“I had it handled,” Lethe stated. He picked the roll of cloth up and began unwinding some of it.
Festus groaned, planting his head into his one free hand. “What did that bastard want anyway?”
The prince was quiet for a moment, putting all his focus on getting the injured hand wrapped up and absolutely trying to use the time to figure out how to explain it. “He had kinda asked for advice on how to run a country.”
Theseus looked at him with disbelief. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Unfortunately.”
“And you told him no, right?” Festus looked up when there wasn’t an immediate reply. “You told him no, right?”
“Kinda…” Lethe hesitantly replied.
The goat’s ear twitched. “What do you mean kinda?”
“I said I didn’t know much about it, but… he’s kinda expecting to see you tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“I might’ve said that you’d be able to help.”
“What. The. Fuck. Ranboo!”
“I know. I just… He suddenly showed up offering to lift the ban…”
Festus pulled his hand away, causing the bandage to tear in the process. “So what? Since when do we care about being banned? What in Primes name were you thinking?”
“I had been thinking about how you would deal with it better.”
“Oh, You didn’t want to handle it so you decided to shove it all on me? “
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Then what the fuck are you doing? This was not part of the plan!”
“None of this has been part of the plan!” Lethe shouted back. “Since the moment we got here nothing has gone the way we wanted to.”
Festus’s ear twitched. “That supposed to make this ok?”
“I didn’t mean to-”
“DON’T.” Festus snapped. He stormed out the door, desperately trying to ignore the way his son was hiding behind his best friend's arm. And the fact that seeing his scared face hurt. He tried to keep his voice steady when he called back. “I’ll be in my workshop. Don’t fucking bother me.”
Chapter 17: Our Bonds are Stronger
Summary:
Stress is finally addressed in healthy ways and Tommy proves why he is the best uncle
Notes:
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Content warning for guilt and self loathing (let me know if I missed something)
Please feel free to leave feedback or ask me questions.
Dialogue Key:
Italics = Ender
Bold = Nether
Chapter Text
It had been an hour since the disaster that was breakfast this morning and Theseus decided he needed to get a break from this whole fucking mess. Everyone was stressed, not that they hadn’t been already, but this felt different from the looming dread that everyone had been dealing with. And being cooped up in a small house definitely wasn’t helping. So he was going out to scrounge up some food. He had let Lethe know he was stealing Michael, too. All this tension wasn’t good for the little piglin and he had already been cooped up the base for far too long anyway.
They were barely a half hour in and it was already proving to be a successful idea. He had found a bunch of carrots and sugar cane. Maybe they could make a cake out of it. Theseus wondered if Michael even remembered what cake was. Probably not. They hadn’t been able to have one of those since before everything went to shit.
The current song running through Theseus’s ears ran out and the next one didn’t fit quite right. The beat was far too aggressive for a simple trip through the woods. He fiddled with his music box to change the song to something more suitable. His fingers rubbed against the tiny chips and scratches that covered it. It was soothing reassurance that the device was built to last. Festus had made it during one of their many sleepless nights by tinkering with Theseus’s communicator. In theory, it could still send and receive messages but he never had a chance to test that. None of them had actually used their communicators in a very long time. It was too risky when Green had admin powers and could see anything they said to each other, even messages written out in code were deemed too risky. So Theseus had been more than willing to let his friend mess with the useless device, even if nobody else had been happy about it at the time. He never wanted to admit it, but it had helped him keep him centered and calm on bad days. Maybe Theseus could find a safe spot where he could let the kid borrow his headphones for a bit.
Theseus shot a quick glance back towards Michael who had remained a step behind him for the entire trip. The kid had been acting off since the fight. But this was a whole new level. He had switched into his human form without being asked to. He hadn’t once tried to run off to look at something, and whenever Theseus pointed out something new, Michael was too distracted to be excited about it. It didn’t stop his uncle from trying though.
“You doing ok back there?” He asked. “We could take a break if you like.”
“I’m fine.” Michael mumbled back.
“Well, I’m feeling tired. so why don’t we find a nice spot to…” Theseus was caught off guard when Michael shoved his way in front.
“I’m not a baby,” The kid stated.
“Never said you were.”
“Then don’t treat me like one.”
Theseus frowned as he moved to keep up with his nephew. He had hoped that the fresh air would help clear their minds. But clearly it wasn’t working. He needed something else. Something for the kid to focus on that wasn’t whatever was bothering him.
The man paused as he spotted movement in the corner of his eye. He immediately locked onto a small rabbit just emerging from the underbrush.
“Hey, Mike.” The blond kept his voice low to not alert the prey to their presence. “Feel like getting some practice in?”
“Practice?” The piglin picked up on the change in his uncle’s demeanor and followed the other’s gaze. “Do you think I can?”
“Yeah.”
The piglin carefully pulled his bow out of his inventory and set it up, pausing every so often to recall some of the lessons they had gone over before. Admittedly it probably took him far too long. His uncle could do it in mere seconds. It was a miracle the rabbit hadn’t wandered off yet. But Theseus waited patiently until the kid was trying to carefully aim his shot before making a few quick adjustments to his form.
Once he was done he backed off a bit to give the kid some space. “Just remember, take a breath just before you fire it.”
Michael breathed in, his eye locked onto his target. His hands trembled slightly from the strain. He couldn’t line the shot up correctly. The prey kept moving. When he finally released the arrow, it went a bit too wide and landed with a thunk into the ground next to it. Michael groaned as the rabbit ran off.
“That was really good,” Theseus exclaimed, giving the kid a pat on the back.
Michael glared at the spot the rabbit had been. “I missed.”
“Hitting a moving target is hard and it takes a lot of practice.” Theseus stated. “I was shit at it when I was just starting too.”
He was not prepared for the bow to follow the creature into the bushes. “Woah. Take it easy, big man. You might break it.”
“I don’t care.” Micheal exclaimed. “I should’ve stayed home.”
“I know things are well, they're kinda shit right now, but we’ll get through this.”
“You don’t get it. It would’ve been better if I had stayed home.”
Theseus kneeled down to his level. “Talk to me, Michael. What you thinking about?”
The kid kept his eyes glued to the ground. “It’s stupid.”
“I seriously fucking doubt that.” his uncle stated. “Tell ya what, why don’t you tell me and I can determine if it’s stupid or not?”
The kid stayed quiet for a long while, the stress starting to cause his ear to become pointed. The blond remained stubbornly in place waiting for an answer. Theseus wouldn’t force it out of the kid, but Michael hadn’t made a move to leave the conversation yet. So Theseus stubbornly waited while his nephew sorted through all the thoughts in his head.
“This is all my fault,” Michael finally admitted.
Theseus’s brow furrowed at that. “What’s your fault?”
“E-everything.”
“How so?”
He shot his uncle a confused glare. “I-I ruined the plan! I wasn’t supposed to be here. I wasn’t supposed to be seen. I wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone. It’s all my fault!”
“It’s not all-”
“Don’t lie to me!” Michael snapped, tears spilling down his cheek. “I ruined everything.”
“Mike,” He held onto the kid’s hands, instinctively rubbing soothing circles into the back. “It’ll be ok.”
It felt familiar. Echoes of late nights trying to help a certain stubborn friend when he was drowning in his past guilt. Like father, like son. Although if that was the case, maybe he could handle this the same way.
“You know.” He carefully said. “You’re the reason that we found the dreamon and that we were able to get it out of the Server’s Admin. You also stepped in to protect Wilbur. He still has two lives.”
His nephew blinked as his brain finished processing that new information. “That doesn’t matter.”
“It absolutely matters.” Theseus stated, firmly. “Don’t focus on only the bad. You’ll drive yourself crazy that way.”
“B-but the plan…”
Theseus scoffed. “Fuck the plan. We barely had an idea where to start with any of this shit.”
“But isn’t that why my dads are fighting?” Michael whimpered. “Cause I messed up and now they hate each other.”
“Nah.” Theseus gently guided the piglin into a hug. “They’re just stressed and a little pissed right now. They still care about each other.”
“But- But what if-”
“Nope. No buts or what ifs. They’d give up everything to keep their family safe. That includes you and me and each other. Nothing will ever change that. Certainly not a dumb fight like what happened this morning. You’ll see.”
Theseus wasn’t sure how long they had stayed holding each other. The embrace had shifted his headphones slightly off his ears so he could clearly hear the sad chuffs and soft sobs, but it didn’t bother him. He was more than happy just holding this kid for as long as needed. When they pulled back, Michael was completely in his piglin form and the bandages on his face had been shifted out of place enough to show some of the green skin underneath. Theseus didn’t mention it, instead giving the small hands a quick squeeze before turning to give the kid a bit more space to pull himself together. As he was scanning the bushes for the abandoned bow, there was a tug on his sleeves.
“I’m still scared.”
“That’s ok.” Theseus reassured him, shifting so he could hold the kid’s hand. “We’re dealing with some scary things right now.”
“No. I-I’m scared I’ll mess up again.”
“You’re allowed to mess up. Me and your dads have fucked things up more times than I can count. Don’t let that hold you back, ok?”
“Ok.” Michael rubbed at the tear tracks running down his cheek. “I told you it was stupid.”
“Hey.” Theseus exclaimed. He leaned in and pressed their foreheads together. “Nothing you say will ever be stupid. Especially not this.”
Michael gave a small smile and a chunk of the tension that had been sitting in Theseus’s shoulders disappeared. Guess he was right about them both needing this. It was probably still too early to think about heading home, but there was still plenty of day still left before night fell.
Theseus shot the kid a smirk. “What do you say, we rescue your bow from the bushes and then I can teach you how to make flower chains?”
Michael’s eye lit up for the first time during the whole trip. “What’s a flower chain?”
“It’s when you take a bunch of flowers and you weave them together into a long line.” Theseus chuckled at the excitement, watching as his nephew was already moving to leave. “Forgetting something?”
“Right.”
Michael rushed back to retrieve the bow from where it was still tangled in the branches. Luckily, it wasn’t too deep in, easily within reaching distance for short chubby arms.
“I got it.” The piglin held it triumphantly up over his head as he rushed back to his uncle’s side. “Do you… Do you think Dad and Papa would like one?”
“I’m sure they’ll love it.” Theseus grinned as he led the way to where he knew the closest flowerfield was. “I should warn you though, I was shit at it before and I’m sure I’ll be even worse now.”
Festus had been completely absorbed in his projects since he had stepped foot into his workshop. Paper outlining every plan, every build, every idea, was scattered over every inch of his workbench and spilled onto the floor. He tried his best to ignore the way his thumb ached as he continued. It was somehow being more of a little bitch now than it had been when he first got it. Ordinarily he would be able to deal with it, but right now the bandage was slowing him down. And that wasn’t a luxury he could afford.
There was so much work that he needed to do. They needed to get access to the Nether so they could make soul fire. Originally, they hadn’t been able to get any soul sand or soul dirt after Red had all the portals be destroyed. They had tried to make their own portal, but that had been a mistake. Red’s followers had destroyed it shortly after it had been made and poor Jack had gotten stuck on the wrong side. They hadn’t been able to build a new one to get him back. Luckily, that shouldn’t be an issue anymore, but they still needed to find one that they could use, preferably without anyone else noticing.
He’d also have to make some kind of alternative for Blue. Like hell was he going to risk getting the real stuff without at least trying to make his own version of it. Not that he knew where he was supposed to even start. The surface was solid and smooth, but it crumbled easily into a powder which made it act more like chalk than anything else. It shared some properties with blue dye, namely its ability to make things that color, but it wasn’t made out of plants or rocks. He wasn’t actually certain what it was made out of. It might’ve just been condensed magic. Which would explain how he was able to use it to amplify his abilities and use it to make wards. Not that it would help him recreate it. He didn’t know how to condense magic into a physical form. The only person he could’ve figured it from never gave a clear answer on how it worked even when he was around.
He let out a frustrated growl as he scribbled out the section of the blueprint he was working on. Were any of these good ideas? He couldn’t tell anymore. He couldn’t concentrate. His mind kept drifting back to this morning and Schlatt. It was always fucking Schlatt.
There was no way that the group could trust anything the president was offering them. They were bound to be betrayed or manipulated in some way that was to his benefit. Festus knew that. He knew first hand what happened when you trusted him. You got a fucking firework to the face. So there was no way in a million years that they were going to agree to this stupid deal of his.
Except…
One of the only places they hadn’t looked for Red was under L’Manburg. Considering that Red became active after it was blown up, meant that there was a high chance that it started over there. And if they really wanted to start looking for Green’s new host, they’d need to be where people were. Which unfortunately included those who lived in L’Manburg. Especially if Green was going to be aiming for someone with power. That made Schlatt and his cabinet prime candidates.
Fucking hell. Everything was falling apart at the seams faster than he could fix it.
An image of his son’s face flashed across his mind. The fear in his eye as he curled closer to his uncle. He winced as he recalled the way his husband’s tail curled close to his ankles. He didn’t want to be the cause of that. Didn’t want the people he cared about to ever think that he’d lash out at them.
Damn it. He was supposed to be calming down. That’s why he came in here.
He crumpled up the blueprint and tossed it into the lit forge next to him. The edges blackened and curled in on itself, his latest failure disintegrating before his eyes like so many others had before. It was a waste of materials. But Prime did it make him feel better.
He just barely caught the timid knock at the door, a direct contrast to the loud thunk that came just moments later as the door opened. Festus didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. There was only one person who would knock right now.
“Hey.” Lethe quietly said. “I uh… I brought you some food, you know, since you didn’t come out for lunch.”
Festus didn’t look away from the fire. The only indicator that he had even heard anything at all was that his good ear gave a sharp annoyed flick. Lethe hesitated by the door, waiting to see if his husband said anything before making his way towards the workbench. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to find a clean spot to place the dish filled with food. Probably too much food. He eventually had to give up and just picked a spot that was mostly scratched out anyway.
Lethe’s tail twitched nervously as he looked at his husband. “So um… Theseus took Michael out into the woods to get more supplies. I might go down into the tunnels for a bit and you know, see what I can find down there. Just… so you know where everyone is.”
A firm hand latched onto his arm, the fingers digging in a little.
“Stay.” It was the only thing that Festus had managed to force out.
“Ok.” Lethe breath hitched in his chest. “Are you still mad?”
“Yes.”
“Are you still mad at me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh…” Lethe couldn’t help the worried tone that leaked into his voice.
Festus couldn’t help wincing at that and his grip loosened so the enderman could easily pull away if he really wanted to. It made the hand’s slight tremble even more obvious.
Lethe cautiously shifted a bit closer.
“I meant what I said earlier,” he said. “If you don’t want to do this, I won’t make you.”
“But I could.”
“I don’t doubt that, but it’s not important. I shouldn’t have volunteered you for this, especially without talking to you first.”
“Who else would you have suggested? You?” Festus bitterly laughed at that. “You wouldn’t survive with your chocolate eclair spine.”
The prince’s tail swished around in annoyance. “I’ve gotten better.”
“When you need to, sure. But you can’t tell me you didn’t cave a little bit this morning.”
“We could send Tommy.”
That put a smile on Festus’s face. “Oh prime, can you picture that? He’d stab Schlatt in the first ten minutes.”
“You literally shot Schlatt within the first ten minutes being here.”
“So I’ve gotten it out of my system.”
“Still, we don’t have to go.” Lethe said, taking another step so he was standing right next to his husband. “We can figure out another way to get into L’Manburg if we need to. I could find materials to make a bunch of invis pots and start making tunnels underneath it.”
“And what do you think will happen when someone finds one of your tunnels?” Festus asked.
“Uh…”
“Exactly. Besides, if we don’t take this ‘deal’,” The goat hybrid made sure to emphasize the air quotes. “I’m pretty sure Schlatt will start actually sticking his nose in our business and purposefully fucking things up for us.” He leaned against his husband with an exhausted huff. “We should just nuke everything.”
Lethe let out an amused sigh. “We’re trying to stop the ultimate evil, not become it. ”
“You never let me have any fun,” Festus half-heartedly grumbled into the other’s shirt.
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