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arts-and-drafts · 2 years

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Come Morning Light (Part 12)

Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four / Part Five / Part Six / Part Seven / Part Eight / Part Nine / Part Ten / Part Eleven

(THE CHAPTER I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. Seriously, I've had this in my head since CML's conception. It's all lead up to this. Not to hype it too much, but I will also say a very specific scene in this part was inspired by my beloved mutual @cedarwhisp and their incredible Hermit!Tommy fic Shells In The Foam. I implore you to read it, it's the best 50+ chapters of fanfic I have literally ever read. Anyway, enough stalling!! Let's go!!!)

CWs: Death, manipulation, violence, mentions of abuse

Tommy's stomach jerked as Xisuma's imposing form vanished in front of his eyes, and he tripped backwards into Joe.

He didn't get a moment to even breathe before enchanted words flashed over his vision.

RUN.

The sky split open with a clap of green lightning, tearing the quiet night apart. Tommy saw Xisuma and Dream's silhouettes illuminated in the sky in that split second, grappled together and glowing with administrator magic.

Vaguely, Tommy saw Joe in the corner of his vision, and he subconsciously reached out to grasp the sleeve of his guardian's shirt for some menial comfort.

"We need to help him," Tommy mumbled, his eyes glued to the figures in the sky. He felt Joe put his hand over his, and against Joe's steady weight he realized he was trembling.

"This is not a fight we can interfere with anymore, Tommy." Joe replied faintly.

Tommy couldn't look away. No rain fell from the sky, but crackles of green lightning struck every time the two admins collided. From this distance, Tommy could see Xisuma pulling up his administrator screen every time they parted, but Dream always struck quick enough to cut off any command Xisuma tried to summon.

Xisuma was clumsy in the sky, Tommy realized, as he watched the admin give up on his screen and instead launched himself forward, his sword in hand. Dream easily shot out of the way, and Xisuma's armor saved him from what would otherwise be a deadly blow to the back of the head.

Xisuma jerked to face Dream, straight-up throwing a punch at the god, but Dream deflected the blow with his arm and used his other to slice upward with his axe. Xisuma only barely moved out of the way in time.

Tommy's stomach twisted as he recognized the stark red of a barrier block in Xisuma's hand. Dream ducked through an invisible gap in the barrier before Xisuma could complete the box, and rushed at Xisuma so quickly that Tommy could barely follow his form against the lightening sky.

Xisuma flew to meet him with his blade ready, but he was out of his element, and Dream was of war.

Dream dodged impossibly quick, and slammed down on Xisuma hard enough to send the taller admin to the ground in a blur. The sound of an explosion reached Tommy's ears as the impact made a crater in Joe's land, and Tommy's past curled around his throat and turned him dizzy.

Withers descended from the sky, flanked by TNT raining death from above, falling from the massive obsidian grid that blotted out the sun. The air was choked with dust and ash, and Tommy's vision was blurry. His ears rang painfully from the explosions, and everything seemed off kilter. Tommy looked around at the carnage, feeling like he was detached from his body.

Everything was gone.

His eyes were pulled to a cave that had been exposed from the TNT. There sat Wilbur, on his knees a few blocks away from the tattered body of Philza. Tears ran down Wilbur's face, and he shoved his diamond sword into his father's hands.

No.

Tommy tried to move. He really did. But his limbs were locked with terror, and he could only watch as Philza Minecraft took up Wilbur's sword.

"NO!"

Tommy jolted back to the present, already running. His breath burned in his lungs, grief searing his insides just as fiercely as flames.

"XISUMA!"

The sound of armored footsteps echoed behind him, and Tommy didn't need to look to see every hermit left standing rushing behind him to fight. Their battle cries blurred with the goofy "humina" war cry from Tommy's memories, something he instigated, when they didn't know this would be the last time they followed Wilbur ever again.

An invisible hand squeezed Tommy's heart, and he used the pressure to draw his sword.

Arrows flew overhead, shot from the ghosts in Tommy's mind and hermits alike. Many missed, but a few got lucky, and Tommy nearly sang when he heard Dream make a noise of pain. He fell from the sky, but landed in a MLG water, and the green energy that surrounded him disappeared all at once.

Tommy began to swing his sword, but Dream turned to him, and he froze. That smiling face burned into his retinas and sealed him in place for a few seconds he couldn't spare.

Dream lunged, and Tommy was forcibly knocked out of the way right before his chest was sliced open. A cry of pain sounded, and Tommy turned to see Bdubs locked in blades with Dream, a red stain already growing on his side.

"Get out!" Bdubs gritted, pushing forward and sending Dream stumbling a few blocks. "Tommy, run!!"

But his legs were jelly. The clash of metal on metal reverberated through his very being, and he could only watch as Dream swiftly sliced forward in the fraction of a second that Bdubs turned to look at Tommy.

[BdoubleO100 was slain by Dream using Nightmare]

No.

He had to move. He had to.

But Dream looked at him, and suddenly he was exiled again, throwing his tools and armor in the pit.

"TOMMY!"

The thundering of thousands of feet sounded through the chaos, and Dream only had time to turn his head before he was swarmed by the largest wolf pack Tommy had ever seen.

Tommy gasped and scrambled to his feet to avoid the herd, but the snarling wolves only had eyes for Dream, who was desperately trying to fend them off. A harsh whistle pierced the air, and Tommy turned to the noise.

Joe, in all his leather-armored glory, was running alongside more of his wolves, his sword in hand.

Joe reached out as he got closer, his wolves flanking him either side. Tommy found himself reaching back.

And then Dream moved lightning quick, and Joe choked out a strangled noise.

Tommy's very bones turned to ice.

Dream was kneeling on the grass, holding Joe by the hair, his axe poised over the poet's throat.

The battle stopped all at once. Even Joe's wolves were silent.

"Come with me," Dream said, evenly, dangerously, and Tommy knew his eyes were only on him. "Or I'll kill him."

This was not the first time Joe's life had been threatened.

It was, however, the most serious.

He felt Dream's fingers curl, pulling tighter on Joe's hair, and the poet swallowed a noise of pain.

"You know I mean it, Tommy." Dream uttered, terribly still, like a cave spider waiting to strike.

Tommy looked like he had just been shot.

The hermits knew that death did not have the hold on them that Tommy was used to. It was one of the few things they could always rely on to be the same, despite every change of season. Death was only temporary, and it was frustrating at worst.

Tommy still didn't think like that, Joe knew, even after a year with the hermits. The poet saw the terror in his ward's eyes and wondered who he really saw in Dream's hold.

"Tom-" Joe tried, but Dream yanked on his hair and raised his axe blade closer, making him hiss in pain. Joe forced his eyes open and stared at Dream's mask with deliberate calm.

He was not afraid. But Tommy was, and Dream knew that. He was using a child's fear to get what he wanted.

Joe never wanted to harm another player so badly in his life.

"Tick tock, Tommy." Dream said, his voice smooth. "We don't have-"

And then an enchanted projectile struck him so fast that Joe barely knew what it was, the impact whipping Dream to the side with a yell.

Joe was unceremoniously thrown out of Dream's hold, and he cried out as Dream's axe sliced his lip, his mouth instantly tasting blood. He felt strong hands grab his arms and forcefully pull him away, and for a moment his senses were overwhelmed with the strong perfume of wilting flowers, and the barely-there stench of rot.

Joe put a hand on Cleo's bicep in thanks, unable to turn away from the scene in front of him, because Tommy was standing tall with an arrow notched, the sun finally rising behind him, encasing him in a halo of blinding light.

His face was twisted with the coldest rage Joe had ever seen, his eyes only on Dream. Joe realized with a start that Tommy's first arrow had broken a piece clean off of Dream's mask, and one poison-green eye was glaring malice for the world to see.

"BACK THE FUCK UP." Tommy spat, trembling with fury instead of fear, and with the sun's light behind him, Joe saw an angel of vengeance.

Dream's single-eyed gaze hardened, and he rose to his feet, the axe that had taken so many hermits' lives ringing with metallic enchantment against the grass.

"You shouldn't have done that." Dream growled, all the smugness in his tone gone. The hairs on Joe's arms stood on end. Even if his mind wasn't afraid, his body was not so easily calmed. Every fiber of his being screamed 'DANGER' at this new side of Dream.

But Tommy did not even blink.

"Oh yeah?" The boy said, a shaky but sharp grin growing on his face. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"I'll fucking kill you, Tommy." Dream hissed, taking a step forward, and every remaining hermit moved at once to stand in his way. They were stopped by Tommy flicking a quick look their way.

Oh, Joe realized all at once. This is the trap.

"I'll take your last life and you'll be fucking dead, Tommy, and then I'll kill your ghost!" Dream raised his axe, and Tommy flinched, even after all this time. It pooled rage as hot as lava in Joe's gut, but he did not move. He had to trust Tommy.

Tommy took a shaky breath, and remained steady. Atta boy, Joe thought, unable to resist the surge of pride he felt. This boy was nothing like the cowering mess he found a year ago.

"Go on, then." Tommy challenged, raising his bow only slightly. "Just like before, ey? Ten paces?"

And Dream hesitated. It was only for a fraction of a second, but Joe saw it, and so did Tommy.

"Yeah, that's fuckin' right." Tommy said, triumph in his tone. "I'm too important, aren't I?"

"I heard you, earlier. You could've killed me in that fuckin' maze, but you didn't." And this time Tommy took the step forward, his arrow locked on target. "You're not gonna kill me, Dream. You don't have the fuckin' guts."

That seemed to strike a nerve. Dream suddenly stood at his full height, his mask glinting in the dawn light. "Maybe not," he said, slowly, carefully, "but everyone you love on the SMP is still at my mercy, Tommy."

"Not anymore." Xisuma croaked, and everyone turned to the admin, kneeling and bruised at the lip of the crater his body caused, his administrator screen illuminating his cold glare.

Joe looked back just in time to see Dream's eye widen, and he moved--

And he was gone.

And the world stopped, just for a moment. Like a tripwire pulled taut. Lag wasn't new to Hermitcraft, but something felt different.

Joe had turned to Tommy before the world froze, and there was a light in his eyes as he saw Dream disappear that didn't get to his face yet.

And then the tripwire snapped.

[TommyInnit fell out of the world]