#tiny!techno

[munchkin1156]

I have fallen (but have faith, for I shall rise once more)

. . .

Borrower Techno with rest of sbi as god's? More likely than you think :D

2.2k words for part one, definitely going to make a part two because I'm not about to LEAVE y'all on a cliffhanger like that.

(Cw: Blood, injuries, mention of death (non happens) swearing, angst, accidental fearplay and Techno passes out due to blood loss.)

Hope you enjoy my (technically) first addition to the mcyt g/t community from my user!

. . .

Technoblade wasn’t like other borrowers.

Other borrowers didn’t have voices in their heads, who screamed at him for blood, grew emotionally attached to the most random things, or know things that helped him evade capture multiple times.

Other borrowers didn’t have memories that never existed, searing into his brain at moments when he loses themselves, of friendships with beings of power, of him being a being of power, of falling from the clouds for a crime he did not do.

When his sword is stained red from those who wronged him, then in his head it rings. When the voices, or as he called them, Chat, started chanting. It never made sense, what they chanted.

Blood for the blood god

And it scared him, not knowing what it meant. But he couldn’t dwell on it now, just like he couldn’t dwell on it yesterday. He was a borrower, and that meant he needed to borrow.

Techno stepped outside of the comfort that was the shelter that he had been using for the past week. Being a wandering borrower, he didn’t have a home, exactly. He wandered from place to place, travelling lightly and swiftly, being able to escape at a moment's notice.

He had bases in some places, so he could restock and rest for a bit, but he was exploring a new area and that came with the consequence of not knowing where safety lay, so if a bean were to see him, he might not be able to get out of there fast enough.

But it wouldn’t come to that. Techno was an amazing borrower, and his motto was literally ‘Technoblade never dies’. He started walking through the long grass, humming to himself. He wouldn’t get caught, he was certain of it.

So why did he feel so uneasy?

. . .

“Hey- Hey! Stop it!” He whispered, whipping his sword out as an act of defence. The crow squawked defiantly but didn’t stop trying to pick him up with its beak.

Techno groaned. Crows were always nice to him, and they were one of the few things that gave him those memories other than blood. 

Memories of black wings surrounding him, feeling safety and warmth, and when he looked into those eyes-

Other things that did this were music, especially guitars or discs, the colour red, and that one statue. It had been in some rich fucker’s garden, and from what he had overheard the people in it were gods, whatever that was.

Their names, according to the beans he had been eavesdropping on, were Philza, Angel of Death, a golden blonde man with large black crow wings, a fatherly expression on his face as he stared at Soot, the god of music and chaos, a brunette who was laughing and ruffling the hair of Innit, god of discs and the wilderness.

And, standing a little bit away from the others, was a statue with its head gone. According to one of the beans, it was because they had been banished from the kingdom above, for a crime so terrible, and therefore been erased from history.

He also heard them say that it turned out to be an accident, that DreamXD, had framed him. But by that time it was discovered, it was too late, and he had been cast down, though it is said those three gods still search for him, in the hopes that they could bring him back.

They said his name was Blade, the god of war and blood. And that’s how he got his name. 

Technoblade.

And, another funny thing is, no matter how hard he sees those gods as Philza, Soot, and Innit, like the man described, some hidden part of his mind changes that to Phil, Wilbur, and Tommy. But that was beside the point.

The point was, that no matter how nice the crows were to him, they kept trying to take him somewhere.

Usually, they’d stop if he complained or shouted, or drew his sword (never intending to kill, just to scare them off) and they’d stop. But this one was even more persistent, and Techno realised now that he’d either have to fight it (something he would like to avoid if possible, he liked crows and they sometimes brought him gifts) or run.

He chose the latter, dashing to the side the moment the crow grabbed him. It squawked in outrage and Techno realised that it couldn’t chase after him on foot, with its legs like sticks. Birds were meant to fly, not walk.

‘Looks like I win this time, eh?’

He thinks, grinning to himself. The crow that he escaped from cawed loudly, and he only had a split second to wonder what that could mean before another crow SWOOPS down out of nowhere and yoinks (he’s not even sure what that word means but it seems about right for this situation) him up in its claws.

He had jinxed it. Techno didn’t believe in superstition, but he was certain that was what had happened.

The pinkette struggled in the crow's grasp, desperate to get free before it took him to… Well, wherever it was taking him. But it was no use. He wondered why it was so determined to bring him wherever it was going. Techno supposed he’d find out, soon enough.

Eventually, after a few minutes of flying, the borrower noticed something very, very strange. The crow was taking him up. And by that, he meant really, really high up. The world below was barely visible, as they went higher and higher, through the clouds.

And once they came out of the clouds, Techno couldn’t believe his eyes.

“The kingdom above… Fucking hell it’s real…”

He muttered to himself in awe. It was made out of pristine white shining material that might’ve been made out of the clouds themselves, with magical glowing lanterns floating in the air.

Techno’s first thought was that it belonged to the ruler of this kingdom, or at least some kind of person in power, I mean it was so fine and well-kept that it had to be, right? Wrong.

On closer inspection, he realised that the people walking down below were… Normal. This was a normal town here, and these were normal civilians.

The crow flew past it though, taking Techno with it. Its wingbeats never slowed, and it showed no sign of tiredness. This was no ordinary crow, he was sure of it.

And this was no ordinary place. Chat had stopped talking altogether, and his mind felt as if it was his own, at last. It was as if someone wanted him to be peaceful, but that was silly since he was literally getting kidnapped by a bird.

What a great day Techno was having, right?

Aaaaand now the crow was flying down, towards three people that looked awfully familiar, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it and then-

Oh fuck that’s Philza, Soot and Innit. He’d recognize them anywhere, after the incident with the statue. Oh, he’s fucked. He’s going to die, oh stars he needs to get out of this mess-

‘But aren’t the gods his family?’

He brushed that thought off with a shudder. Why on earth did he keep thinking stuff like that!? It didn’t make any sense, and you better believe that he was gonna get to the bottom of this.

Not today though. He was about to get caught by some of the most powerful beings in the entire universe, and he’d actually rather not. He valued his life, after all. So he did what any self-respecting borrower would do and fucking stab the bird.

Techno hadn’t particularly wanted to stab the crow. As he might’ve mentioned before, he liked crows. There just hadn’t been another choice. 

And it had worked.

The crow dropped him with a screech, alerting the three gods immediately. Their gazes fell on the bleeding crow who flew over to them with a lot of effort and landed on Philza’s outstretched arm. It healed almost instantly.

But the pinkette didn’t know any of this, because he happened to be falling when that situation had played out. And when Techno hit the ground, he felt his body scream out in pain and his head ring in agony.

The world around him felt loud and blurry. His head seemed to be sticky with what he could only assume was blood. He forced himself to stand, he needed to get out of here, needed to be safe-

Chat was back now,  just as incoherent and jumbled as his thoughts, and from what he managed to make out, delusional. They kept saying something about… Dadza? Who the hell was- Oh. Wait what!?

So Chat was no help. 

Techno winced. He couldn’t think, everything was just so loud and it hurt so damn much and he couldn’t understand and oh fuck did one of the Gods? beans just spot him and oh no they’re all walking towards him now.

The borrower’s eyes widen, and he couldn’t help but shrink back as the three gods towered over him, eyeing him over with such a strange expression of hope and longing that made Techno wonder if he actually was delusional.

The silence was broken when one of the gods, Innit, spoke up, voice breaking slightly and eyes glazed, as if holding back tears.

“Holy shit… Is it him? Like, really him?”

Philza responded, managing to sound calm and yet so desperate that it made Techno’s cold heart shatter, though he was not sure why.

“I don’t know Tommy (wait WHAT-), why don’t we ask him instead of talking over his head?” The angel of death suggested, and now they were all staring at him again, possibly even more intensely than before.

“So,” Philza said curiously. “Who are you, why did you stab my crow and why did it try to bring you here?”

There was no malice in his voice, it was just confusion and subtle amusement, but that just made Techno’s nerves worse. The only reason he could think of that would involve the god being amused about his half-dead state was-

Oh fuck, were they going to torture him?

“I’m Technoblade,” He said, after a few moments of hesitation. The pinkette ignored the sharp gasp of air from above, acting like he didn’t hear it, because he did not want to think of why the god might be shocked, and instead continued.

“I stabbed your crow because I was about to get seen (and look how that ended up) and I have no clue why it brought me here.” Techno knew it was not a smart idea to lie to a god, and he was anything but stupid. His injuries throbbed painfully, but the gods either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Techno wasn’t about to guess which one…

After a very long while (in which Techno was trying his absolute hardest not to die on the spot) Soot spoke up. “So that’s a- a yes, then? It’s him?” He asked, voice cracking slightly. “Yes, Wilbur, (WHAT THE FUCK) It’s really him.”

The borrower didn’t have time to question what in the world he meant by that, because at that moment  Philza reached down, and Techno realised what was about to happen a second too late.

He scrambled backwards as the hand came towards him, absolutely terrified out of his wits, but the god paid no mind to that, plucking him off the ground by his waist easily. 

Techno struggled in his grasp but fell limp almost immediately. There was no way he was escaping from Philza, even though he wanted to, and besides, it just made his injuries worse. The tight grip the god had him in didn’t help either.

“What do you want from me!?”

He shouted, glaring at the gods, though it quickly fell as he remembered how easily they could crush him. Soot made a small noise (pity?) but he ignored it. “You- you really don’t remember us?” Asked Innit, with a look of despair on his face.

‘Remember you? I’ve never seen you before in my life!’ 

Not in this one you haven’t.

 Responded one of the voices, before it faded back into the clutter of noise. “Chat?” Philza asked, and Techno almost responded with ‘Yeah, it’s making no sense…’ when he remembered that he never told them about Chat.

Something clicked behind Soot’s eyes, and he spoke up. “So you really don’t know who we are… Right?” Techno nodded. Where exactly was (Wilbur) Soot going with this? “So that means…” “Means what? I’m not about to sit around all day waiting while you give me half-formed answers,” the borrower responded, with more challenge in his tone than was wise.

It’s not like you could stop them from doing that…

Said another one of those loud voices unhelpfully. ‘Thanks a lot…’ He thought to himself irritatedly and stared at Soot expectantly, which was harder than it seemed because his eyes kept unfocusing, and the corners of his vision were blurry and stained red. ‘Blood?’

“Listen, Technoblade, I don’t know what species you think you are, but…” He hesitated again, before continuing.

“You're a god, and our brother, at that.” Soot paused, and then started saying something more. “I’m so glad we finally found you, we’ve-”

But Techno didn’t get to hear what they’d done, the blood loss had finally caught up to him, and he passed out, darkness now surrounding him as he finally drifted into a dreamless sleep.

. . .

Aaaaaand that's it, folks! Great ending we got there, right? Hope you liked it :] Big thanks to Beckyu for helping me choose how to end it, and start next chapter.

That reminds me...

@i-am-beckyu and @brick-a-doodle-do, thank you for wanting to be tagged! If you want to be tagged, comment, ask or dm me and I'll add you! :D

Bye for now!!!

[guppybubbles]

Sweet Dreams are Made of This. [1/3]

(A/N: Kind of a sequel to my other fic, ROLL ME A 6 ! :> You don't need to read that though to understand this!)

Borrower Tommy accidentally shifts into a universe where his homebrew DND world is real. He still sucks at being a giant.

WORD COUNT: 1,341 words

WARNINGS: None.

"Tommy opened his eyes and what he saw was unlike anything he's seen before…"

Tommy listened in anticipation. What could it be? A new friend, a new foe? He looked at his dad, a smug little smile barely hidden by his serious storytelling.

 

"And we'll find that out in the next session."

Halfway through his sentence, he and his brothers already knew it was the end of their game for the day. All groaning and complaining about Phil leaving it in such a dumb cliffhanger, Phil only laughed. 

It couldn't have been hours already, had it? They barely started! He still had to redeem himself and his character into great glory! "No, come on, let's do one more hour— please, please?" He begged, holding onto one of Phil's fingers like he had all the power to hold him down and force him into another round. 

With his other hand, Phil picked up the die and tossed it into the container— folding up the map before putting it back in the box. Tommy knew it was over, they'd start another session again sooner or later. 

But he wanted to do another hour, or maybe two more, now. "Pleasee, I rolled so low every turn, I need to redeem myself!" 

"I wish we could continue, mate." Phil smiled, "But I got work tomorrow and it's already…" He stared at the clock, making a surprised sound at the 11:48 PM on the wall. Phil cursed under his breath, gently, slowly pulling his hand away from Tommy’s hold. "Alright, get to bed you three." 

The blond borrower knew there was no convincing Dad anymore. He crossed his arms with a humph, upset with his bad luck during the game. "Cheer up, Toms! I'm sure luck will make you do justice next time." Wilbur consoled, pushing his chair into the table and picking up the box with their fantasy map and die. 

“You are horrible at throwing the die for me,” Tommy grumbled, narrowing his eyes at his older brother who had offered to throw the dice for him earlier. Wilbur’s luck when it came to the game was pretty good, yet whenever he tossed the die for Tommy, the luck seemed to plummet- doing worse than when the borrower himself threw the die. 

In the corner of his eyes, he could see Wilbur’s lips press into a thin line. He was stopping himself from being amused at Tommy’s anger. “It really wasn’t on purpose.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Tommy replied. Not upset at Wilbur, nor was he upset at the game. He swears he would be able to throw the dice better if he was just… more human-sized. 

“You’ll do better next game, I’ll make sure of it,” Wilbur promises.

Tommy looks at him incredulously, slightly laughing. “What, are we gonna cheat or something?”

In response, Wilbur shrugged, a playful smile tugging at his lips. “Dunno, maybe.”

Holding the game board, he placed his other hand on the desk. A trust exercise that slowly grew into a habit none of them thought was strange anymore, Tommy hopped on the hand and held onto the fingers for support. He used to have to walk from place to place, no matter how far it was because the big man was too stubborn to accept and ask for help. In response, they all worked together to install little stairs everywhere so Tommy would at least be able to reach things without having to heave himself up with a rope and a hook. He almost cried in front of them because of how much he appreciated the gesture. 

That night, Tommy lay in his bed, uncharacteristically quiet as he stared at the ceiling. His room looked so much like a human's room- constructed by his family after nearly a year of accidentally revealing himself to them. It wasn’t exactly like him to be upset for the dice throws during the game, it really wasn’t Wilbur’s fault. On a good day, he throws exceptionally well for Tommy’s character too. 

But Tommy isn’t upset about the dice, is he?

It was never the dice, never Wilbur, never his family, but him. 

If he was truly meant to be their family, then couldn’t the universe make him human? Did he seriously have to be something that was never allowed to mingle with larger beings? It was a written code since the beginning of time that borrowers were never allowed to be with humans. Never share anything, what you are, what your name was. Most importantly, never be seen. 

Were they never supposed to be a family then? Did he have to break the borrower’s code just to be a part of something he’s not supposed to? He’s not a borrower anymore, he knows that. He barely even follows the code anymore, but he’s not human either. Too exposed to be a borrower, too small to be a human.

Then what was he?

Tommy released a loud, exasperated sigh. His calloused hands rubbed over his face. He knows he shouldn’t think about such things, but lately, he’s been more aware than ever. He notices how Techno looms over him when they do woodwork together, Wilbur’s singing voice goes from soothing to too loud, and Phil barely gives him any chores (Maybe he shouldn’t complain about that one, actually).

They don’t mean it, of course, they didn’t. They probably don’t even notice it as well. Something so small and insignificant to them could be so overwhelming for him. He just wants to be bigger, to fit in… 

He should go to sleep. He'll forget about it tomorrow and everything will continue on like it usually does (until the nagging feeling returns and he feels like he's rotting in bed).

Goodnight, me. Tommy closed his eyes, unable to rid of the heavy weight in his chest. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If Tommy could recall this correctly— and while he may not have the best memory, he can certainly tell when something is just plain wrong… He fell asleep on his bed, right?

His eyes blurred as he gained consciousness and though he wasn't aware of where he was— he could sense danger even from a mile away. His shoulders ached, raised high above him. Something was holding his arms upwards. Cold, tight metal gripping his wrists, uncomfortably pressing into his skin. He tried tugging it downwards, but it barely moved. 

Instead of lying on a soft, warm bed, it felt like he'd been kneeling for Prime knows how long. His legs felt numb, ringing uncomfortably no matter how much he tried to move. It didn't matter because he was stuck in place. 

It was hot. Sweat was dripping from his forehead to his nose and down to either his clothes or the floor (he made a mental note that he wasn’t wearing his pajamas). 

He sucked in a deep breath, humid air filling his lungs in a way that didn't calm him down, but just made him panic more. 

Tommy's vision began clearing up and despite the little ache in his neck, he decided to look around. The room was dimly lit, weak artificial lighting barely reflecting the big, metal room he resided in. 

There were mini stairs and platforms built around him. The platforms in front of him connected through the middle and had a door on each side of the wall. Above the platform in the wall in front of him was glass, he couldn't make out anything inside, it was darker than the room he was in.

The metal room he sat in was quite spacey. The ceiling was quite high but he couldn't stand up even if he attempted to— his ankles were chained as well, shorter in length compared to the ones around his wrist. Tommy struggled against the chains, everything looked so.. small yet so oddly detailed. 

Where was he? Who were these stairs for? Were there more beings smaller than a borrower? Prime, how would they even look next to a human?

Does his family know where he is right now..?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

yayaya thank you sm for reading! & holy shit guppy writing fics comeback??? no way!!!

[beansthough]

Ch.9 {A Snake in the Bird’s Nest, It’s Made a Home}

|Previous|

Cw/Tw: slight angst but hurt/comfort, slight fear.

Tommy never expected that this would be how his situation would turn out. It was strange to say the least. They boy was mostly expecting a painful death, followed by the destruction of the forest. Instead, he found himself sitting in a tree on the edge of the village, fidgeting with the leaves and twigs on the branches with an unsure feeling in his gut.

A cool breeze combed through the naga’s golden hair, his red eyes were dim as he thought of the events of the past few days.

When he woke the morning after the destruction, the first thing he did was release the hybrids he had tucked away in his storage. The fire was long dead and the rain of the night led to a cool crisp morning, even with the remaining smoky smell in the air. Wilbur was the only one that seemed to protest the idea of being let out into the chilled air, Phil and Techno seemed almost in disbelief that they were let out at all.

——————————

Techno had been the one to thank the kid first. For his bravery, his strength, and for protecting his brother. Philza could only stand by his side and nod his head along with his son’s kind words.

Techno also apologized profusely. Guilt ate away at the warrior any time he even glanced at the kid. It seemed that his eye was healing well, but it seemed just a little more dull than its counterpart to the left. Techno also couldn’t help but notice the many tiny arrow scars that coated the boy’s arms and back.

Techno was relives that the healing potions had worked that well, but no matter how subtle it was, the evidence that Techno had deliberately hurt the kid was still there. It made something ugly and cold sit deep in his gut and crawl up to the back his throat, Techno couldn’t even meet the boy’s gaze.

Wilbur and Philza were stuck with Tommy while Techno made his own way to the villager’s camp on the other side of the river. His cut leg was already healed from the healing potion he had hastily splash on it last night, it was still sore and a rather noticeable scar was in its place, but he could walk.

His rabbit Carl, who he had rode into battle that night, seemed to had gotten spooked by the two naga’s and the fire’s presence and disappeared mid fight. Techno was relived to find his rabbit halfway to the river hiding in a burrow under a tree. It seems the fire hadn’t even made its way to this part of the forest, the plant life was as lush as ever.

He was glad that his rabbit knew how to stay safe, but he was a little disappointed that he was abandoned during such a stressful moment. Techno’s feelings couldn’t be too hurt, Carl was just a rabbit after all, and their instinct to run heavily outweighed the instinct to fight.

The rabbit had ran right to him the moment he walked by, Techno held him tight before climbing on top of his fluffy white back. He made it to the river in minutes. The berry bushes around them ripe with the early summer’s harvest.

Techno walked to the edge of the bank and gazed out to the makeshift camp. It was quiet, even as he saw villagers sitting outside of their tents, there was no laughing and shouting of friends, no joking from the guard. They were all quiet, waiting for any sign that their leaders were still alive.

Techno would give it to them. He brought to fingers to his lips and blew out a long shill whistle. Head’s all along the other side of the shore’s bank all whipped around to meet him.

Techno lifted his hand in a single big wave and cheers suddenly cried out everywhere. He could

make out Tubbo and Ranboo’s small forms jumping and shouting from the bank. His soldiers and friends were quick to storm him as he made his way across, tears and relief in their eyes, and many many questions pouring out of their mouths. This was going to be very difficult to explain…

——————————-

Tommy wasn’t use to being around this many people at once. Tommy wasn’t even use to being seen by people. Especially people who were all very much afraid of him.

Tommy could hear the large group coming when they drew closer to the village. When they did arrive all the laughter and conversations died down to a whisper, and many fearful eyes trailed over Tommy.

The healer’s hastily collected Wilbur and Philza, taking them to the medical center to deal with Philza’s broken wing and Wilbur’s broken leg and ribs. After they were gone silence once again overtook the crowd, Techno stood a little nervously at Tommy’s side. It seems the rat wasn’t to good around large crowds either.

The caution of the group was overwhelming, parents pushing the children behind them and many of the soldiers holding their weapons tight, you could cut the tension with a knife. The silence was however quickly broken by the relived cries of Tubbo and Ranboo. The pair quickly swarmed Tommy and tackled his face the best they could, smothering the Naga was tears and snot ran down their cheeks. A lot of the tension melted away, but Tommy could still sense that they all had their guard up.

Techno had said that he explained the situation to the villagers and guard to the best of his ability. He said he told him that his name was Tommy, he wouldn’t hurt them, and that he didn’t have anywhere else to go. Techno had said he had explained it as if they were taking in Tommy like they would to any hybrid that was in need.

Apparently some of the villagers protested the idea, but Techno had made it clear that Tommy wasn’t going to be a problem. He also made sure that Tommy understood that the villagers wouldn’t be a problem either.

So now here Tommy was 3 days later, sprawled out in a tree with only himself has company. The past two days he had stuck to Ranboo and Tubbo’s sides like glue. The pair never left him alone and Tubbo made sure to scare off anyone who looked at them a bit two long.

Today they were away. Helping to rebuild the town and replant some of the lost vegetation. Techno was busy leading the town in its new renovations under Phil’s directions. Wilbur was still restricted to bed rest, bones never did heal quite as well with potions like cuts and scrapes did. Philza however was up and about with one wing in a sling.

Techno made and effort to go see Tommy at least once a day, many of these meetings more awkward than not. Techno didn’t seem to be the best conversationalist when it came to anyone, many of their interactions started with Techno asking how he was doing and then telling him any updates on the restless mouse trapped in bed. Their talks never lasted very long, the Blade running out of things to say and them sitting in awkward silence. What do you even talk about to someone you almost killed?

At least Techno seemed to like Tommy, he made an effort for him and made sure to let Tommy know he was welcome. Philza, however, was no where to be seen. Tommy hadn’t seen him since he was let out of the clinic. He had only given Tommy a nod when he came to visit with Techno and he had utterly disappeared after the one meeting.

Tommy just wished he knew what he was doing wrong. He had been kind and understanding. He stayed out of the way and used his best manners, but people still seemed to think he would snap at any moment.

Honestly, if Tommy were in their position, especially Philza’s, he wouldn’t be quick to trust himself either. He has watched XD smack the bird to the ground. A sickening crack had rung out as phil’s wing made contract with the massive white tail. Only seconds later he impacted rather harshly to the rough ground.

XD had threatened to kill them all, he had done so casually, as if the tiny hybrids weren’t meant to be anything else than a quick snack. Tommy supposed that the sadist Viper didn’t really care that much for any creature of his own size as well, ready to sell them off for his own gain. As if they weren’t even people with thoughts and feelings.

Tommy shuddered at the thought of his old tormentor. He knew the viper was long dead, but sometimes he could still feel XD’s claws digging into his throat while Wilbur desperately cried out for him.

Wilbur…

He missed his older brother deeply, but he knew the mouse needed his rest. Tubbo and Ranboo were trying their best to help Tommy feel welcomed in the village, but Tommy knew when he was unwanted. Nervous glances and fearful whispers were the only interaction he got from the other villagers. The whispers stung the worse, but how were they supposed to know that Tommy could actually hear them?

Tommy wanted his brother.

A lump started to form in the boy’s throat and tears began to well up in his eyes. His chest ached and he longed for Wilbur’s warm embrace.

He missed Wilbur’s voice, wether it was telling a daring story or singing along to a beautiful melody. He missed his small hands that would pet his check or caress through his hair. He missed his brother’s contagious laugh and the fun games they played.

He missed Wilbur.

He just wanted things to go back to they way they were before. Just him and his brother spending the day together, with Tubbo and Ranboo coming to play on the days that Wilbur couldn’t be there, but now it was just Tommy once again.

Sitting alone in a tree, this time avoiding watch the villagers working below him. He found they were much more nervous when they knew he was watching.

Tommy sighed and wiped away the beginning of his tears and buried his head in his arms. Letting the sounds of the village fill his mind.

“Hey Mate…”

Tommy’s head shot upwards and he was surprised to see Philza standing in front of him. His wing still restrained in a makeshift sling, and Tommy to a moment to wonder who the bird got up in the tree in the first place.

The cawing of a crow over his head answered his question, Phil laughed and threw a shiny coin into the air. The crow dived for it and caught it in its beak before flying away to its murder. They flock of birds all began cawing at Phil and the avian waved them away before they all took flight.

Phil gave another chuckle before meeting eyes with Tommy, “They never stick around long after they’ve gotten what they’ve wanted, but they’re useful when you have what they want.”

Tommy gazed at Phil in amazement, this man had tamed the crows. “They listen to you?” Tommy asked with wonder in his voice. Philza shook his head with a smile, “Only when they want to, kind of like my own boys.”

Tommy found himself grinning with that last joke, but he quickly thinned out his lips and ducked his head away as the older man flinched at the sight of Tommy’s fangs. “Sorry…”

“It’s alright mate…” The pair stood in silence, neither of them having any idea what to say. It was obvious that Phil was still nervous around Tommy, if the flinch didn’t give it away, then the bird’s constant fidgeting would.

After what seemed like eternity Philza let out a long sigh. “Y’know, you remind me of Wilbur when I first found him.”

Tommy glanced back at Philza with a curious look, Phil gave a soft smile. “He was always so timid, always apologizing for things he shouldn’t be apologizing for. But he was also so full of wonder and curiosity. He was always finding something new for him and his brother to get into.”

Philza looked down towards the village as if he were seeing it as it was years ago. “You also remind me of Techno. Always willing to protect others and above all else your brother…. Y’know when the boy’s first got here they didn’t fit in all that well either. Techno was always picking fights with the other kids, and Wilbur wasn’t the best at making new friends.”

Philza turned to Tommy now, looking the boy in the eyes, “But they came around eventually, with some help of course, but they found a home here.”

The bird cleared a his throat with a short cough nervously picking at his hands. “Tommy… I’m afraid I’ve been rather a coward these past few days.” Tommy’s eyes widened. He knew Phil was afraid, but he didn’t think the bird would outright admit it.

“I’ve been hiding from you, from the village, even my own sons…. My mind hasn’t been in the best place since that night…” He was wringing his hands together now. “I didn’t have a very good experience with Naga’s when I was younger. My entire family and village were taken from me, and I’ve spent my whole life healing and rebuilding what I once had, and it was almost taken away from me all over again.”

Phil met Tommy’s eyes once more. “But you saved them. You save me.”

“It’s just… I’m so grateful for you, Tommy. You’ve looked out for Wilbur. You protected him and you even protected those who hurt you.” Philza took a breath.

“You did all of that Tommy… and you’re just a boy.” Philza took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “I regret more than I ever have in my life sending the guard to you. I didn’t know that you never intended to harm us, but I was afraid and irrational. I didn’t even try to scope out the situation before I rushed in.”

“I don’t ask for your forgiveness, but I want to make it up to you.” Tommy could only gaze in silence as Philza spoke, surprised that the man who he thought despised him, who had every right to after what XD had done, was instead now kneeling before him with his head to the ground.

“I want to know that you are free to stay here for as long as you want. I also want you to know that if you need something, anything, let me know and I’ll take care of it mate. I now we didn’t have the best first impression, but I want to change that now.” Philza stood back to his feet.

“You’re far too young to be on your own, Naga or not you should have someone looking out for you. I know that Wilbur had taken up that role for you, but I just want you to know that I’m here for you. Right, mate?” Tommy’s pupils rounded as the avian finished his speech, Tommy restrained his tail from reaching out to give the man a makeshift hug, instead he smiled and nodded his head. “Right.”

With that Philza gave a finale nod of his head grabbed a strand of ivy hanging from the tree. “See you tomorrow, mate?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” A hopeful cheer coated Tommy’s voice, a happy purr was on the edge of his throat. It wasn’t perfect, but things were getting better.

“Oh!” Philza had shouted last minute before sliding down the vine. “Wilbur should be here to see you Tomorrow.” With that the Avian made his final departure leaving Tommy in a joyful bliss.

Maybe Tommy could have a home here. Perhaps he had already found it.

———————————————————————————

Wilbur was practically bouncing off the walls, today was the first time in a week that he was allowed to leave his bed.

It was also going to be his first time to see Tommy again after he was taken to the clinic. He spent the week worrying himself into a tizzy, he could only hope that Tommy was doing alright.

He prayed to the gods that the villagers were treating Tommy well.

He had only gotten some vague updates from Techno on the subject in the afternoons. Phil never came to see him during the day, but he was there at his bedside when he thought that Wilbur was fast asleep at night. He never spoke a word, only running a clawed hand through Wilbur’s hair.

That was enough of an apology for Wilbur.

The mouse burst out of the room, his crutches clacking loudly against the stone floor. His father and brother were by his side, scolding and chirping for him to be more careful as he walked.

His cheeks hurt from the giant grin plastered to his face. He laughed and waved at anyone who walked by.

He was finally getting to see Tommy.

Techno led the way to one of the larger trees on the outskirts of the village, before the mouse could even call Tommy’s name, the Naga plummeted out of the tree to see his brother.

Philza gave a frightened Squawk at the sudden movement but quickly straightened out his feathers, giving an embarrassed smile.

“WILBUR!” The mouse didn’t even care to cover his ears. He dropped his crutches at his feet and stumbled towards Tommy’s face. The mouse vaguely registered Phil’s excessive scolding.

Wilbur head butted Tommy on the tip of his nose. The Naga’s purrs overpowering any other sound, Tommy completely taking up all of Wilbur’s senses.

They basked in each other’s presence, soaking up all of the lost time between them.

After a good few minutes of hugging it out, Wilbur reluctantly pulled away, taking in all of Tommy’s features. “I see your eye has healed well, a lot better than how I was healing anyways.” In the corner of his vision, Wilbur saw Techno nudge the dirt around with his foot.

“Yep! I can see just fine. I guess I’m just more of a big man than you Wilbur!” The mouse snorted and nodded his head.

“Yeah Tommy, I guess you’re right, I’m just too weak.” Wilbur playfully wilted to the ground. “Your mere presence is too much for my minuscule form.” Tommy was laughing now.

Wilbur put a hand to his forehead and faked fainting. “I guess you’re too much of a big man to need your big brother Wilbur then.” The mouse smirked and Tommy’s face dropped.

“Wilbur I didn’t mean it like that!” Tommy defended. Wilbur covered up his laughter with more sad wailing. “Wilby! Come on!”

Wilbur shot up and looked at Tommy with wide eyes. “Did you just call me Wilby?” A growing smile encompassed the mouse’s face.

Tommy’s face became as red as his scales and he tried to hide away in his coils. “You did! You did call me Wilby!” The pair became a fit of chaos, while Phil and Techno watched awkwardly from the sidelines. Phil slightly worrying for his sons broken ribs in the tussle.

After the two tired out they seemed to remember the pair they had sat to the side for their reunion. Wilbur gave an embarrassed chuckle and stood back up with his crutches, giving an apologetic glance at his father and brother.

Tommy also seemed to remember himself and he sat up straighter, smiling with his lips tight to hide his fangs.

“Uh Tommy…I was talking to Techno and Phil and we all agreed that you guys didn’t have the best first impression…” Wilbur cringed as he spoke, Philza and Techno kept their eyes adverted to the ground.

“Well…” The mouse drawled out. “We wanted to start over, on a clean slate.” Tommy shook his head in understanding, he Lowe’s himself to be closer to them once again.

“Alright, I guess we’ll start!” Wilbur gripped Techno’s sleeve and pulled him forward in front of the naga.

“Tommy, this is my brother Techno. Techno, this is Tommy.” Wilbur nudged Techno once more, Techno giving Wilbur a warning grunt. The mouse pretended to not notice.

“Um…Hi…” Techno mumbled. Tommy couldn’t hold back a giggle at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“Wilbur, you know I’ve already know them for a week now.” Tommy explained, but Wilbur looked downright offended at the statement.

“I know that!” Wilbur raged. “I just wasn’t there, so Techno please finish your introduction!”

Tommy laughed once more but they his eyes trail back to Techno. “It’s nice to meet you, person who I have never met in my life.” Techno spoke in a low monotone drawl, the Naga hissed in delight at the pinkette’s antics. Wilbur only huffed and instead pulled Philza forward.

The bird had a nervous smile on his face, giving a small laugh. “ Hi Mate…” He gave a small wave to the boy. “Uh… Pleasure to make your acquaintance?” He held out a wing for Tommy without thinking.

Tommy stared at the outstretched hand before reaching out with a clawed finger. Tommy felt the tiny talon’s softly grip his finger the best it could. Tommy slowly lifted his finger up and down, a happy grin on his face and his eyes crossed trying to sone in on the tiny movement.

Philza felt his heart warm at the sight.

Tommy pulled back his hand after the second shake and looked back to Wilbur. The mouse nodded his head, proud of his father’s performance, clapping his hands with a smug look. Techno rolled his eyes and shook his head with a small smile.

Tommy laughed at Wilbur’s antics. He reached out and gently plucked the mouse off the ground, holding from underneath his arms. Tommy immediately began nuzzling into Wilbur, the mouse shrieked with delight. “Tommy please! You know I’m ticklish!” Tommy’s response to that was to stick his tongue out, swiping at lick with the tip of his forked tongue. Wilbur only screeched louder.

Techno looked on at the scene amused. He leaned over into Phil’s ear before mumbling. “ I finally see why Tubbo gets along with him so well.The kid lives for chaos.” Philza chuckled in response.

Philza looked the pair over, they were already roughhousing in the grass once more. Wilbur crying out while Tommy repeatedly tickled him. Phil gave a soft smile as an idea popped into his head.

He leaned back into Techno’s ear as Wilbur’s cries for mercy filled the air.

“How would you feel about having a little brother?” The bird spoke with pure adoration, his eyes latched onto Wilbur’s and Tommy’s smiles.

Techno gave a satisfied snort. “Heh, I don’t think I’d mind.” Philza patted his son on the shoulder, and pulled him into his side. The old bird crooned happily, having already made up his mind.

[nobodywritingao3]

Cold Love

masterpost

Wilbur is a dragon, his most wellkept secret. Tommy finds out so he brings him back to his hoard in the mountains.

CW: - vore

title taken from Cold Love by Rainbow Kitten Surprise

word count: 1.7k 🐉 read it on AO3

"Let me go," Tommy spits out. Despite his aggression, there's a fearful, panicky air about him that sends pangs into Wilbur's chest.

"Toms, come on. You know me - you know I'd never hurt you." He wrestles him into the ground, easily pinning him to the dirt without having to exert real effort.

Tommy's arms shake from the effort of trying to fight him off. Wilbur is almost relaxed above him, a slight frown on his face as he easily presses the boy down. The more he tries to fight and the more he sees how futile it is, the more his hostility slips into abject terror.

"Wilbur, please." His voice cracks and he starts to go limp. He blinks back tears. "I won't tell a soul. Your secret is safe, just let me go. I'll disappear, and you'll never hear from me again."

No. No, he doesn't want that at all -

And something must show on his face too, because Tommy's eyes widen at his reaction, and he starts to writhe again, sobs building in his chest.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I don't - I didn't - "

"Hush."

He falls dead silent, tears still streaming down the sides of his face.

"You're fine," Wilbur murmurs to him, trying to imbue his words with as much love as he can. "Everything's going to be fine, okay?"

He starts to stand, pulling Tommy up with him as he goes.

He's tense in his arms, but Wilbur remains gentle.

As soon as they're both standing up, Tommy lurches away from him, but he's not fast enough.

Wilbur pulls him close, his arms still loose around Tommy. "Were you trying to catch me off guard?"

Tommy is sobbing and yelling and hitting at his chest, but he doesn't react.

"I... what are you doing? You - you know I'm much stronger than humans, sweetheart, you've got to stop fighting me."

He breaks down in his arms and tries to fall to the ground, but Wilbur catches him and holds, staring at him in puzzlement.

"How do I make this better?" He asks, almost blankly.

Tommy is still crying. "You - you ate the mayor," he whimpers. "You burned half the village to the ground. You burned the orphanage to the ground. You killed Phil and Tech - "

Wilbur swallows a lump in his throat and shoves down rising feelings of guilt. "I did what I had to do. I ate the mayor, I destroyed your village, including the orphanage. But how else could I get you?" He brushes a strand of hair from Tommy's eyes. "All that paperwork... it's easier if they think you perished in the fire. And for the record - " he conspiratorially winks at Tommy, trying to get humor him, "Phil and Techno are just fine."

He doesn't wait for a response, closing his eyes and starting to shift. He pays extra mind to Tommy's position in his arms. The change is done in seconds, and when he opens his eyes again, Tommy's just a tiny little thing lying between his clawed paws.

"Treasure," he purrs irreverently. "My little human - let's get you taken care of, yeah?"

Tommy stares up at him with wide eyes, completely frozen on the ground.

Wilbur wastes no time in leaning down and swallowing Tommy. He screams and kicks as he goes down the throat, but Wilbur's body was designed to eat live prey. Functionally speaking at least, Tommy is no different from the deer or tigers or knights he regularly eats.

He hums contentedly as Tommy settles into his brood pouch. It's padded out so he can be rough as he wants in there and it won't hurt either of them (and let it be said that he is trying very hard to hurt Wilbur).

"You're safe now, Tommy. Let's get you back to the rest of my hoard." He purrs again, a burst of delight in his chest. "I've waited so long to get you with the rest of my collection. Bit of a shame that you found out this way, but I'm a little glad too. I was going to reveal myself in a few months, but now I don't have to wait."

He spreads his wings and takes flight towards the treacherous mountains. Only the royals' finest knights could traverse the landscape, and even then, they were so tired and cold from the trip that their hands could barely grip the hilts of their swords.

He lands in the entrance and strides in. Techno and Phil sit idly on a pile of gold coins, chatting away, but as soon as their eyes land on him, they avert their gazes and seem to wilt. He's learned not to take it to heart - they've gotten better about managing their fear of him in the past few months since he added them to his hoard, and he's sure that as the years progress, all three of his humans will come around again.

He leans over Techno and Phil and opens his mouth up, finding it just the teeniest bit funny when they flinch back and start to plead with him not eat them. He brings out Tommy, letting the boy gently fall onto the two men below.

He sits back and admires them, a happy sound growing in the back of his throat.

"Finally," he says dreamily, "I have all three of you."

He shifts back into his human form and saunters up to them, ignoring how Tommy flinches backwards into Techno and Phil.

Phil pulls Tommy into his arms and starts to soothingly rub circles into his shoulder. "Wilbur, you're scaring him."

He shrugs nonchalantly. "You were scared too, in the beginning. He'll get over it soon - you all will - and then you'll be a proper part of my hoard."

Phil and Technoblade share a glance that he doesn't bother to decipher.

"Your hoard... what does that mean?" Techno asks slowly.

Wilbur grins brightly at him. "My collection! My treasure - it means you're mine now."

Tommy stares at him slack-jawed.

"Why us?" It seems like it slips out of Phil's mouth, something he says before he has a chance to apply a filter. But Wilbur doesn't mind answering.

"Techno is my twin, Tommy is my little brother, and you're my father." Those are all the human words for the familial terms, so they should understand.

Phil bites his lip. "Wil... we love you, but you can't - "

"I can do whatever I want," he cuts in, his voice edged with aggression.

Phil falls silent.

Wilbur smiles at him again. "Do you have anymore questions?"

Techno awkwardly coughs. "I hate to be the bearer of the obvious, but humans don't live as long as dragons. We're a lot less hearty, and you've stationed us on Dead Man's Hill. Because that's the name of this mountain, Wilbur - Dead Man's Hill. Are you sure you don't want to take us somewhere else?"

He feels his expression darken. "That won't be an issue. You're my hoard now. Which means your life force is tied to mine, and all three of your aging processes have stopped. If I'm to die - if - then you'll begin to age again." He turns a steely eye to Techno's. "And we will leave this mountain. But only when I know you won't try to do something silly, like leave me."

Techno nods, avoiding his eyes. "Sounds good."

"It does, doesn't it?" He agrees happily. "Now that I've taken Tommy, my collection is complete."

"Sorry - sorry, what the fuck?" Tommy chimes in, finally having found his voice.

Techno lowers his voice and says into his ear, "Wilbur is a dragon and he's keeping us now."

Tommy stares at him. "I thought you were fucking dead."

"Mm, me too," he says dryly. "But I'm not. I'm just the adopted twin brother of a dragon."

"Did you know?!" Tommy asks, sitting up and stumbling away from them.

Wilbur watches him curiously, fondly noting as he tips backward into a stack of gold coins.

"Did they know what?"

"What do you - what do you fucking think, Wilbur?!" He screeches.

Wilbur smiles, and lets himself shift again. Tommy flinches away as he approaches but he doesn't mind, picking him up in his mouth and plopping him back down next to Phil and Techno.

"They didn't know," he says soothingly, gazing down at them. He curls his tail loosely around their little group, forming a protective barrier. Or a cage.

Techno slides an arm around Tommy's shoulders. "Trust me," he murmurs, "if we had known, we never would have let you - " he cuts himself off, seeming to stiffen as his eyes nervously dart up to Wilbur. "We didn't know," he concedes.

Wilbur laughs lightly. "Can you imagine if you had? You never would have been my friend! And Phil never would have taken both of us in. I had to lie."

There's a look on Phil's face that he can't decipher. "Wilbur... I would have. Of course I would have," he says gently. His words carry weight, but the meaning behind it is unidentifiable to Wilbur.

"No," he says simply. "So it's a good thing I lied. Because the years passed and you realized how much you loved me, and now that you know I'm a dragon, you won't leave."

A sharp wave of paranoid insecurity strikes through his chest. "I don't think you'll leave," he mutters in afterthought, his tail slightly tensing around them.

Technoblade looks conflicted. "We love you for you, your being a dragon doesn't change that."

Wilbur frowns down at him, puffing a plume of smoke out. "Why are you saying that?"

"What - what do you mean?"

"We aren't leaving this mountain, Techno. I'm not that stupid."

A look of surprise crosses his face. He's a good actor, Wilbur decides. "I wasn't saying that to trick you, we do love - "

"I know you do!" Wilbur sharply cuts in. "Because I spent years bonding with you as a human. And now that you know I'm a dragon, it doesn't matter!" He gives them a smile with his large, sharp teeth. He ignores how forced it feels. He ignores how it feels like he's trying to convince himself more than them.

Phil looks at him with a pained expression. "Mate - "

"You're a little scared right now, but that's fine," he purrs, cutting him off. "We have the rest of time for you to love me like you used to. You weren't supposed to find out, but you have, and that's fine. I'll just keep you here. I'll just keep you here, and we can be a proper family."

He nuzzles the three of them with his snout, ignoring how they flinch away from him. "I love you!" he exclaims. "And you love me. So everything is fine. It's fine."

~ ~ ~

🏷️: @i-am-beckyu @da3dm @flowers-of-plenty @gracideaviolet

hope you enjoyed :3

[brick-a-doodle-do]

dreams trying to get techno to agree to be eaten

i fiddled with this for soo long man it was rough. at first i was gonna have a maw be behind techno but then i decided i wasn't talented enough to do that and then i considered a bunch of other stuff and ended with this :D

[plant-gt-thought-box]

Virtual Lies

Hello people reading this! Some of the older members may remember an idea @apersonstories , @funtimemoth , and me came up with in the old community server (that is forever lost the time). I have finally gotten the free time to write the first chapter of this AU! I'm hoping for there to be at least six parts and that you all well enjoy it! TW will be warnings for all of the things that will be going over in the story! I hope you all enjoy! :D

Also if you have any questions don't be shy to send them to me!

TW for all parts- intentional / unintentional dehumanization, accidental fear play, feelings of being trapped and despair, and if there are any more I will add them!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure you want to play this Phil? This game seems kind of weird…" Kristen commented as she read over Philza's shoulder as he installed a simple sim game for his phone, he had happened upon the game well looking for something to entertain himself and the game seemed pretty interesting. 

"Kristen it's just a little life sim, these terms and conditions are probably just making sure you don't do anything creepy with the game" Philza finished installing the game and started making the custom home he would have in the game "I well say tho it's kind of annoying I can only make boxes for the rooms and not connect any of them, it would be nice to make a more complicated hallway then just a straight line."

Kristen just laughed as she sat down on the couch next to Philza and watched him work on the rooms over his shoulder, she every now and again would help setting up some of the rooms. Philza and Kristen did find it a bit strange there were certain rooms they absolutely had to have before they could add bonus rooms.

The game told them they needed three bedrooms, two bathrooms (one with a bath and one without) and a kitchen with a table and chairs in it. Philza found it a bit annoying cuz he didn't even know what kind of virtual family he was going to make and put in this house but he did it anyway.

"There finally fucking done- now to make an actual dining room and living room for this house." Philza got a bit more comfortable on the couch leaning up against his wife as he added the final details to the house and made sure there were a few windows so natural light would come in, the blonde hit done and instantly got a notification saying that his house would take an hour to make.

"What the fuck- this game has literally only been out for a month at best, how is it this fucking slow?" Philza grumbled until he noticed a new notification and clicked on it "Oh wait do I not make my own tiny family for this?"

"I guess not, maybe they had to trade out the customization for the family so you can customize your house more?" Kristen noted as she slowly took her husband's phone and started scrolling through the small family's they could get, she smiled when she found a very nice particular looking pair.

"You should get these three, the Neapolitan ones!" Philza took his phone back from Kristen and smiled at the three young looking NPCs she had picked out, he clicked the check mark next to them and the app informed him that within an hour his home would be done and these three would be moved in. Philza decided to just set his phone down and talk with his wife for a bit till it was time to actually decorate the house he had made for the three, he was really looking forward to the decorating expect of this game!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Philza has been decorating the house he had set up in the game for at least 2 hours now and thankfully had only spent $10 on extra furniture for the house, plus well setting up the furniture he had learned a very fun and kind of cute thing about the three brothers.

Tommy and Wilbur were little shits and sometimes moved the furniture slightly to a different spot just to mess with Philza. Well Techno straight up picked the furniture up and completely moved it to a different room, Philza didn't really mind and found it kind of funny. The boys were all roughly the age of teenagers so it was probably in their coding to be rebellious.

"Kristen, come look at the house! I finally finished decorating!" Philza called over his shoulder as he looked over at the kitchen, he smiled as his wife walked out and sat back down on the couch next to him. Philza excitedly handed the phone to her, starting to show off each of the rooms.

"So the game gives you a tiny descriptive on the three house members so I tried to decorate their rooms to fit things they like, for example Tommy really likes animals so I gave him a bunch of different toy animals for his room- well Wilbur only likes one animal and that's a sheep so I gave him a bed that kind of looks like a sheep!" Philza explained excitedly as he finally pointed at Techbo's room "Now Techno's room was probably the hardest, his description was pretty blank and the only notable thing was that he likes to read. So I just gave him a few extra bookshelves and made sure they were full of books that he would like!"

Kristen smiled as she looked at the three tiny rooms and zoomed in to inspect them a bit more, she then noticed something a bit strange in Wilbur's room. "Hey Phil, why is there a hole in the corner of Wilbur's room?"

Philza looked at his wife a bit puzzled as he took the phone and also looked at the strange hole in the corner of the room, he and Kristen became even more confused as Wilbur suddenly dropped a pillow over the hole acting like he was trying to hide it.

"I don't know…maybe the game is just glitching out?" Philza suggested as he moved over to the kitchen and went back to adding small details to the counters so it felt a bit more lived in, he set his phone down as it started to load and set up decorations.

"Why is it loading? You just added some small decorations to the kitchen." 

"Hm? Oh I'm not really sure but whenever I place decorations a loading screen pops up, I'm starting to think the game didn't add in the future of you placing the item down like the Sims." Philza explained as he picked his phone back up once it was done loading "Do you think I need to add anything to the living room or kitchen?"

Kristen took the phone again and started inspecting the kitchen and living room, she moved over to the dining room and pointed at one of the corners that was very bland looking. "I think you just need to add a painting here and you should be all done with decorating!"

"I'll do it later, is dinner ready by any chance?" Philza asked, turning his phone off for now and standing up from the couch, he followed his wife to the kitchen and smiled as he spotted the finished pasta.

"I have! We just need to wait for the cheesy garlic bread in the oven to finish up, can you grab my oven mitts?" Kristen asked as the timer on the oven went off and she started turning the heat off, she thought of her husband as he handed her the oven mitts and pulled out their cheesy garlic bread.

The two started dishing up their plates and getting ready for dinner Philza ignoring the notification he got on his phone from his new game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy inspected all of the plush animal figures that had been left inside of his room and started moving the ones that he found extremely creepy into a corner making them stare at the wall, he didn't like the stuffed animals lacking button eyes. He actually found it pretty creepy they just had weird black buttons replacing their eyes.

"Tommy? What are you doing?" Wilbur asked as he walked into his little brother's room and noticed him moving the toys around. "Um…why are they all just staring at the wall-"

"They are creepy evil creatures that don't deserve to stare at the room!" Tommy explained as he shoved yet another large plushie into the corner. "I hate them."

Wilbur leaned against the door frame as he watched his little brother continue to choose which stuffed animals would be staring at a corner and which ones got left alone in the room; he patiently waited a few minutes until his little brother seemed to be done.

"So now that you've exiled some of these guys to the corner do you want to go eat? Techno was able to find a small bit of food in the weird cold box thing." Wilbur asked, taking his little brother's hand and started to lead him towards their kitchen.

"I guess, when we're done eating we're going to skip and go home right?" Tommy asked with a big smile on his face as he looked up at his brother. They had been stuck with these horrible humans for at least two months now and Tommy just wanted to go back home. 

Tommy didn't really notice the weird face his brother made as they walked into the kitchen and he sat down at the table, the young borrower's nose scrunched up and disgusted as a plate of nothing but vegetables was placed in front of him. 

"Why are there so many carrots and peas? Are there any crackers, nuts, or fruits?" Tommy asked poking the two peas on his plate with his finger, he knew not to complain about food too much but this was all they had been eating for months!

"No. That's all that was in the cold box Tommy, just eat up and then go to bed." Techno said in a Stern voice as he started munching on his own peas and carrots.

Tommy wanted to protest but felt Wilbur lightly kicked his foot and decided not to argue with Techno, he begrudgingly started to eat his peas and carrots hating every minute of it. Why can't the stupid humans in the white coats give them actual food?

The young blonde finished his dinner instead of from his seat getting ready to head back to his room, he walked around the table and gave his brother Techno a hug.

"I'm sorry I complained about the peas and carrots, they weren't that bad." Techno reached up and padded Tommy on the back and then sent the young boy back to his room, Tommy tried to ignore his brothers as they obviously started to have a conversation without him.

The young blonde grabbed one of the small plushies that looked like a moth and climbed into his weirdly shaped bed, for some reason it had Wheels but both him and his brother said it was not in fact an old wagon turned into a bed. Especially with the ugly silver color it was.

Tommy wrapped himself up tightly in the blankets hugging the moth plushie close to his chest, a few moments later Tommy felt a soft kiss against his forehead and finally fell asleep hoping he would wake up home with his brother's and they could finally eat something that wasn't peas and carrots.

[cyncerity]

i have no self control so i finished it today

here’s chapter 1 out of idfk! I vehemently refuse to plan things in advance beyond just various scenes I want to happen :D

I’m actually super excited for this one and really proud of it so I hope y’all like it as much as I do!

tw: parental neglect ig this is different from what I normally write

“Honestly, Wilbur, house arrest?!” His mother scolded him. Wilbur sighed and dropped his bags at the door, pushing up his glasses to rub his eyes, pointedly looking away from his mom. “I don’t hear from you in years and I suddenly get a random call that says you’re getting dumped at my house because you’ve been put under house arrest??” “I know, I’m sorry mum-“ “Were you just planning to drop off the face of the earth? Would you have just never come back here if you weren’t arrested? What were you arrested for? Why wouldn’t they just drop you off at your house? You’re an adult-“ “That’s pretty simple, I don’t have one.” “Wilbur!!”

Wilbur walked over to the couch and dropped himself on it, head in his hands. He could feel his mother’s eyes on him, staring and trying to take in how much he’d changed. He couldn’t blame her. He’d left when he was 18 to pursue music, and look at where that got him. Homeless, lonely, and arrested, the court ordered anklet digging uncomfortably into his skin at a measly 21 years old. He was a mess. An exhausted, hopeless mess.

He heard quiet footsteps as his mother came to sit next to him, and a warm arm laid over his shoulder. “You know I love you. I don’t care that you were arrested, or why you were, I really don’t. But…why didn’t you come home? I’ll always be here to help you, you know that, right? Did I…did I do something wrong?” “No!” Wilbur quickly said, head still in his hands. “No, you’re a wonderful mother, i’m just a terrible son. I..I don’t know why I didn’t come home, I’m sorry, but it’s not your fault.” His mother sighed and pulled him closer, and he relished in the comfortable silence. It had been so long since he had felt like anyone around him actually cared, and yet his mothers patience and love for him was seemingly endless, even now, even for a horrible fuck up son like him. He didn’t deserve her. If he was being honest with himself, that’s why he didn’t come back home to her when times got tough for him. Why should she have to deal with him? It wasn’t her fault that he turned out a wreck, she did the best she could as a single mother, even putting aside her passions while she put her whole focus into him.

Speaking of that, since he left, she certainly seemed to pick her interests back up, if the messy house was any indication. Or maybe messy wasn’t the right word, maybe so trashed and horder-like that it was hard to believe anyone actually lived here. Wilbur looked up from his hands to fully take in the mess that completely covered the main floor of the house. Walls were covered in taped up drawings of creatures of all kind, floors covered in similar scribbles and notes. There were some cabinets with small observation cases full of taxidermic bugs and what looked to be small…weapons? Saddles?

Well, her collection had definitely grown in the past few years.

“I see your hobby has been going well.” Wilbur said, trying to deflect the situation. Luckily for him, he knew his mother. And if there was anything that could distract her, it was asking her about her odd fascination with all things tiny. “Oh! Yeah, I forgot it’s been a while since you’ve been here. My collection had grown…a fair bit. I haven’t touched your room, though! It’s the same as it’s been, things have just been…messier.” She said, getting up to show him around. He chuckled softly as he watched her make her way around the room, carefully avoiding the piles and piles of documents scattered around the floor. She stopped at a wall of computers, pointing up at them. “I’m close, though. I have cameras set up all over the forest, and I don’t think they’ve noticed them…yet. They’re fast, but I think I have some arguable proof.”

His mother leaned over the keyboard, frantically searching for whatever new clip she had. Wilbur smiled. He couldn’t say he actually believed in any of it, despite what she had taught him growing up. Of course the idea was fun, but the older he got, the harder it was to suspend his disbelief that there may be tiny people living in the forest. How his mom kept that childlike faith in her beliefs despite the lack of proof for years and years he couldn’t know, but he was happy for her. She had something to put her heart into and believe in, and Wilbur had forgotten what that was like after music had proven to be a bust.

He snapped back to the screen as his mom made an excited noise and leaned back to point at the screen. “See! There!” Wilbur looked for a moment before taking a few very careful steps around her findings and towards the screen. It was a blurry freeze frame; one smaller brown and reddish bird, one small brown-ish spec, and a much larger black blur that seemed almost iridescent. A couple of birds and a bug, probably, the finch looking one in the lead and the large black bird and bug close behind. “Mom I’m sorry, but…what evidence am I supposed to be seeing in a bird chase?” “That’s a raven,” she pointed to the black bird, “that bird is most likely a common redpoll, and judging from the wing color and shape that’s probably a bee. But here’s the thing!” She swung back to Wilbur, an excited, manic look in her eye. And people wondered where he got his crazy from. Certainly wasn’t his father, he never knew the bastard. “The bee is out of the Ravens sight, so it isn’t chasing a food source.” She continued. “Ravens don’t go after other bird species, either, and there’s no reason a bee would chase a potential predator. But look here,” she pointed back to the screen and Wilbur leaned closer, the fuzz of the old tv brushing against his face. “you see it?”

Looking where she was pointing, there were a few thin brown straps on the bird, and a small blurry green and slightly yellow blob on its back. The raven had a spot on it where the black wasn’t as iridescent, where it looked like something was wrapped around it. It also had something on it’s back; a greyish blob with more hints of brown and black and also white, weirdly enough. And looking at the bee, it also looked like it was missing a few legs, and was built strangely, along with having something green on it. He looked back to his mom, who looked more proud of herself than he’d seen her be in years. He was sure everything on screen had a logical explanation, but who was he to break his poor mother’s heart?

“That’s great! That’s really, really amazing mom.” He said as she squealed and hugged him. “I knew you would think so!” she leaned back, hands still on his arms as she made eye contact with him and sighed. “Fuck, here I am rambling when you’ve still got settling in to do. Let’s get your bags and head upstairs, yeah? Your old room is waiting for you, and who knows how long it’s been since you slept in a bed, you impossible child.” She said, letting go and grabbing his two measly bags and guitar case. Wilbur rolled his eyes and took his guitar case from her, given that it was the heaviest. “Hey, I’m not impossible, I’m stubborn, and I get that from you, y’know.” He heard his mom mockingly repeat him and scoff from the top of the steps, and he laughed. God, he’d missed her.

~~~

“I swear to fucking god!” Phil yelled, storming his way through his castle, Techno walking quickly behind, struggling to keep pace. “I need him for one thing and he just fucking disappears! It’s a miracle I haven’t strangled that child with my bare hands.” He stopped momentarily to command more guards to triple check Tommy’s room, and Techno finally managed to catch up, panting slightly. “You know this isn’t unlike him, Phil. He likes to do his own thing, wonder where he gets that from.” “I get that he’s too much like me for his own good, but at least I was always able to take account of myself and get my shit done.” Phil responded with venom in his tone. “He’s irresponsible, he’s brash, he’s rude, I don’t know how he ended up like this or what I could have done better for him.” “I’d respond but I’m assuming that was rhetorical…” he muttered under his breath. “What was that, Techno?” “Nothing, your majesty.”

Phil continued his walk and ended up out of the palace, the sky above them turning a dark grey and a low rumble of thunder cracking through the silence. Phil, however, seemed undeterred, ending up by his stable, his trusty crow waiting for him. He pet the bird’s beak gestured to a few more guards. “Get Brian saddled, I’m heading out for a bit.” “Do you really think this is necessary?” “You forget, Techno, Tommy thinks he’s so smart, but I’m his father. He’s the teenager and I’m the adult; I’m always a step ahead.” He said, holding up his necklace. A chunky green emerald swung from a thin leather rope, identical to one that Tommy wore every day. “I thought that was to help Tommy with his magic?” “It is…mostly,” Phil said, dropping the necklace back down to his chest. “It has a lot of magic stored in it, Tommy’s does, too. His is a chip off from mine, after all. In a pinch, though, it can be used to track. As long as Tommy is wearing his, I can get him to me. If I was truly in a desperate situation, I could call Tommy to me right now. But as it stands, that takes far too much of the necklace’s power, and he just needs to learn a lesson about refusing his duties and disobeying his father.” “It’s a magic session, Phil, he practices all the time, it can’t be that much of a deal. Besides, there’s a storm coming, this isn’t a good idea.” “He’s been blowing them off for 2 months,” Phil said, straddling his bird, Brian cooing softly. “And he knows that I’m rarely ever free for them, he needs to take this more seriously if he’s going to lead. Besides, if he’s still not home before the storm starts, that’s all the more reason to find him before he lets himself get hurt.”

“Phil-“ “I’ll be ok, I promise, mate.” Phil said, eyes softening as he leaned down to his right hand man. “I’ve never lied to you before have I?” “…no, sir.” Techno said, defeated. “Have a safe flight, I’ll see you home soon. If you don’t come back with Tommy by nightfall I’m coming to find you myself.” “Relax, I‘ll be fine. I run this goddamn forest, remember?” And with that, Phil was off, Brian taking off like a shot off the stable’s branch.

Techno couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his gut as he watched Phil shrink into the distance.

~~~

Wilbur was settling in as well as he thought he would be. One thing he’d grown to hate in his short amount of time at his old house was his court ordered punishment. Other than the ankle monitor, he had to do “community service.” Of course, the court hadn’t known at the time that there was literally no community to service for miles and miles at his house, and he didn’t have a license anymore (you do donuts on a private frozen lake one time) (ok maybe 6 but that guy was an asshole). So his “community service” consisted of cleaning up the forest; turns out that the one and only road near the forest was a pretty popular spot for passerby’s to toss trash. Most of his afternoons were spent along the side of a mostly undisturbed road that had way more trash that it logically should for how new the road seemed; he doubted anyone other than the jail car he’d been driven down in had been on the road for months.

Still, he donned the eye-sore yellow “hey! i’ve been to jail and i’m serving my sentence to community!” vest and grabbed a beanie and fingerless gloves. It was spring, but under all the overhang of the trees he knew it’d feel cooler than it was, which he accounted for when he put on a yellow flannel sweater and thick slightly dirty and ripped jeans, ones he wouldn’t mind getting dirty since he was going to be kneeling on the dirt. One step onto his porch told him it was also definitely gonna storm, the sky growing dark and that spring-time smell of rain filling his senses. He decided to lace up heavy steel toed and already worn and muddied work boots and threw a thick grey hooded t-shirt on for good measure under the vest in case it (or more like when it) rained. He wished he had better than a simple hood, but he didn’t know where the umbrellas were. He’d love to ask his mother, but she had already head out that morning to double check that her cameras wouldn’t be damaged by the rain.

He hoped she just got out before the storm.

~~~

Phil flew faster as the wind started to pick up and the thunder grew louder. Brian was sturdy, and above all else fast, but Phil knew his bird’s limits. He was getting tired, and Phil wasn’t any closer to Tommy somehow. He wished his stupid crystal could work better, but it was really a game of hot or cold until he got close enough to Tommy that the shard gave him some magic feeling that his son was close by and could lead him from there. It was stupid and time consuming, but he couldn’t risk just calling Tommy to him. Turns out he probably should have listened to Techno; this storm was shaping up to be a big one, and he knew he’d need the extra magic his necklace provided in order to repair whatever damage the rain caused to his forest.

He ended up near the tar strip through the middle of his forest (the damn humans put it there years ago, and though their cursed machines came through the forest sometimes, those instances were few and far between, thankfully)(still, fuck those humans). He may hate it, but it ran through the forest somewhat evenly, so he’d be able to hopefully sense at least what side of it Tommy was on if he just went down the middle.

The storm was getting heavier, but he couldn’t give up now. There was no sign of Tommy. Phil realized at some point that his concern had shifted from “i have to teach him a lesson about wasting my time” to “oh god where is my son is he ok.” He wasn’t surprised though, really. He did truly, really care about his son, even if Tommy didn’t think so. If he had all the time in the world, he’d spend it with him, he would. But he can’t. He’d wanted to be the one to teach Tom to read, to watch his first steps, to see him grow into the young man he was now. But he hadn’t. Tommy had been raised by royal staff who’s names Phil had never cared to know. He’d been there to hear Tommy’s first word, though, but he wished it would have been under better circumstances.

It had been “Tech,” and he’d said it while witnessing one of the most brutal and gut-wrenching arguments he’d ever had with Technoblade, out of the few they’ve fought. He’d learned that Techno was skipping his guard duties in secret to spend time with Tommy. And he’d been outraged, for some reason. He’d burst into a room where Techno was telling a harmless tale to a baby Tommy and screamed at him for neglecting his duty and fooling off instead. Tommy had people to be there for him, and Phil had never cleared Techno to be one of them. Techno argued that Tommy needed someone who cared about him, not just people who were rewarded for giving him food and attention. He needed people who wanted him, and Phil clearly didn’t. It’d stung like a knife to the chest at the time, but he knew where Techno was coming from now.

The fight grew worse and worse for minutes before he’d heard the desperation in Tommy’s infant babble. They were silenced as tears rolled down his chubby infant cheeks when he realized someone who he cared about was so upset, calling out to the only person who’d ever shown him voluntary affection. And it hadn’t been Phil. It wasn’t his father, it was his father’s guard and friend. Even now, though Tommy didn’t associate with Techno as much anymore since he was always with Phil, Tommy loved Techno more than Phil. And Phil would never resent Techno for that. He trusted Techno with his life, and if Tommy had to look up to someone other than Phil, he was glad it was his most trusted confidant, but he couldn’t stop it from hurting.

His kingdom thrived, his people were happy, and his son hated him. It was just a fact of his life, at this point. Even when Phil did his best to reconnect with Tommy when he was younger, when he was finally becoming his own person, it all went downhill. They’d been the closest they’d ever been for those few years, but it all plummeted in one conversation, and Tommy never saw him the same again after that.

All he could hope is that someday, when Tommy is king, he’ll see how hard it is, and know that his dad did his best to keep him safe and happy.

~~~

Wilbur sighed as he pulled his hood farther over his head to keep his glasses from getting wet as rain started down. Yup, he’d been right. Definitely rain. Should’ve worn contacts. Damn, and he’d just started down the road, it’d be hours till he was done for the day. Still, he sighed and picked up packets of chips and broken beer bottles with his cold slippery metal trash-grabber-thing and shoved them into a garbage bag.

Unfortunately, things only got worse the longer he was out there. He’d made it fairly deep into the woods at that point, but the rain pounded onto him like hail and thunder roared around him. He just honest to god wanted to go home and sit with a cup of tea and listen to his mom ramble about whatever new thing she’d seen in woods. But lucky him, his ankle shackle tracked his movements. He was only allowed to be in the house and a little ways into the front or backyard during the day. During his torture hours (that’s what he liked to call his court ordered punishments), he was not allowed to be in the house. Instead, he had to remain on the road and somewhat into the woods for his designated amount of hours or else he’d get a couple of very stern police officers at the front door telling his mother that he was on thin ice and to do what he was ordered to unless he wanted jail time. He did not, thank you very much.

He flinched as lightning struck a tree a ways behind him. Holy shit, this was actually getting pretty bad. Was his mom still out here? Had she gone home when the rain started? God, he hoped so. But all he could do for now was pick shit up and wait it out.

It wouldn’t be that long till he got home.

~~~

Phil panted, barely able to breathe through his panic as he pushed Brian to go faster. Rain started to pound on him, but he didn’t care. He was becoming frenzied. Oh god, where was Tommy? Was he hurt? Was he back at the castle, having heard the thunder and realizing that it was stupid to be out on his own? Brian softly chittered beneath him, but he could barely process it. Phil had to find Tommy. He just had to. He couldn’t leave his little boy out here alone, cold, scared…

Phil yelped as Brian swerved out of his control, landing on a nearby tree branch that only somewhat shielded them from the storm. “Brian, wh-“ He heard a soft coo and only then felt minute quivering beneath him. He reached out a hand and felt his wings, which were shaking badly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, buddy, you’re probably pretty tired, huh…” He said, getting off the crow and petting his head. Brian pressed his head lightly into Phil’s hand as a response, and Phil reached over to his saddle and pulled out some berries and a water pouch, holding them out in front of Brian. He immediately perked up and opened his beak a little bit, enough for Phil to drop the food and pour water in. Brian cooed and nestled down onto the branch a bit more. Phil sighed and sat down next to him; seemed like they wouldn’t be moving for a little while.

They sat in silence for a while, Phil listening to the raid patter violently on the leaves above him while some stray droplets broke through and struck where he sat. He tried to even his breathing and think with a level head, but to no avail. He tapped his foot anxiously with no other way to get his nervous energy out, pulling at some of the leaves on his wrists. If Techno were here, he’d tell him to stop, but as it was, Phil was left to sit with his own thoughts as the storm raged around him.

Until the worst happened.

He wasn’t sure why his mind hadn’t registered the thunder around him. Maybe he’d gotten so used to hearing it in the past few hours, maybe he just didn’t think enough of it to even process it. All he knew after the fact was that it had been so loud it made the forest around him shake and caused a violent thud in his chest, but he hadn’t heard the warning until it was too late.

The clap of lightning around him was deafening, and snapped him out of whatever anxious spell he was in. Brian practically screamed as the trunk and the branch they were sitting broke with a ear crunching snap and heat engulfed him for a moment. He felt petals burn as pain bloomed in him and felt the gust of wind as Brian lifted in the air to avoid being hit or burned, lurching his wings downwards to try and grab Phil. And as much as Phil loved Brian, he was fast, not agile.

No amount of speed could help Phil as Brian’s beak barely missed one of his remaining petals and Phil felt himself free fall towards his forest floor. Those seconds felt like a lifetime, some parts of him knowing that he could save himself if he called onto his magic, some parts reminiscing on would happen to his kingdom, his best friend, his son…

would Tommy miss him?

He closed his eyes as the muddied grass grew closer and closer. He wasn’t sure what he wanted his last thought to be, he wasn’t sure why he was worried about it, all he could do was accept his death, knowing that once he hit the cold ground the earth would reclaim him and he’d become part of the forest he’d worked so hard to lead.

Phil landed hard, but…it didn’t feel like the cold ground he was expecting. It was damp, sure, but…warm. He heard Brian screech, but shockingly heard a different noise in response. He heard a gasp from a voice he’d never heard. It was a woman, he thought, but he couldn’t focus in on anything she said after or what was going on. He was fading out quickly, but he was alive, for now at least. The ground below him moved, the warmth starting to surround him, and the rain stopped hitting him. He should have been more concerned about what was going on, but he couldn’t find it in himself to stay awake anymore.

As he faded out of consciousness, he didn’t notice the lack of the weight that normally hung from his neck.

~~~

Logically, Kristin knew she should have gotten out of the storm before it got this bad. But she’d never really been on logic’s side, why start now?

She had started to run home when the thunder got worse, though.

Her rain boots pounded heavily on the road as she sprinted back to her house. Jeez, she hoped Wilbur’s officers could cut him a break with this one. She’d lived in this forest for over a decade and this was the worst storm she’d seen in a long, long while. Wilbur was never usually one to take instructions too seriously, so she hoped he’d just given up on the minimum hours and fucked off to go home. But she knew he also didn’t want to be in jail in case the officers were as heartless as she was lead to believe, so she couldn’t really be sure.

She practically jumped out of her skin as lightning hit a tree beside her, the leaves immediately starting to burn as bits of the top broke away and fell to the forest floor. It was getting dangerous out here, she needed to go-

And she would have if a bird hadn’t screamed.

God damn her good hearted nature, it was going to get her killed one of these days.

She ran over to the tree in time to see the bird lunging down towards a broken branch, trying to reach out to somethi-

Holy fuck.

Kristin’s eyes widened as she saw something- no, someone- falling, and falling fast. Someone green, though accented with yellow and a couple white petals, though most of what she could assume were longer ones had now been burnt back.

Holy shit, it was one of them.

Kristin ran faster and practically threw herself to the ground to catch them, the little person falling into her hands just in time. Holy shit, it was a little person. Here, in her hands, was a little man. She could barely breathe as she held him closer, taking in every detail she could. They seemed to be around her age, and they looked like a guy, but who knows how their gender roles worked in their role. God, who knew how anything worked! She had so much to ask! She could barely believe it, she’d finally done it! She got one!

She was snapped out of her thoughts as the bird screamed again, frantically flapping its wings and hopping towards her. She at first assumed it had just been hunting the little guy in her hands as a food source, but she then took notice of the green leaf-made saddle on its back. Ah, so the bird belonged to the green guy, it seemed like she’d been right in her hypothesis that the tiny people rode them to get around. It hobbled closer, and her thoughts were cut off as she gasped.

She hadn’t fully realized the damage to the bird; a few of the feathers were damaged on one side, especially on it’s wing, and it’s feet were swollen, probably from the heat. Along with that, it was shaking violently and trying valiantly to get back to its rider.

She cooed as she gently picked it up with one hand, the other still holding the small guy. It tried to fight, but in its exhaustion she guessed that it couldn’t do much. “It’s ok, little birdy, I won’t hurt you,” she cooed, closing her hand around the tiny and holding him against her chest under her coat to keep him dry. He hadn’t made a move, so she could only assume he’d fainted on impact, if he even could faint. To be honest, she wasn’t even sure if he was alive, but the fact that the crow was trying to hard to get back to him gave her hope. “We’re gonna go back to my house and fix you both up.” She slowly stood, and cringed when she realized her entire front was absolutely caked in mud, but she shrugged it off.

After all, an extra load of laundry and a shower were little to pay to see her life’s dedication paid off.

She couldn’t wait to show Wilbur.

~~~

“Phil? I’m home!” Tommy yelled. Walking into the entryway of the palace he lived in, completely drenched. He hadn’t meant to be out this long, he’s just gotten so caught up with his friends that he hasn’t realized time had passed. It was hard to tell when night fell when the entire sky was dark with a storm.

He’d only gone out to help Tubbo deliver some honey, but he and Ranboo had started talking and Tubbo had more deliveries to make so Tommy and Ranboo went to the tree base and invited Tubbo to join them when he was done. Tommy would have loved to stay at Dream’s place, but in case his dad ever found out where he’d been wandering off to he wanted the Bog king to have plausible deniability. He had started showing Ranboo all the stuff Tubbo had given him after trading with boggins, and it had turned into a fun game of “I’ll give a completely batshit description for this and then you’ll tell me what it’s actually for.” One thing looked like a torture device but was used for cutting rougher letter, and another was just a hairbrush, which Ranboo was surprised Tommy had never heard of since bugfolk used them, but hey, Tommy didn’t get out much.

Tubbo came over for a minute but left when the sky grew darker, since he couldn’t fly in the rain and had to get home before the storm. Tommy only went home once the lightning started, and Henry starting chirping, and Tommy could weirdly tell how concerned she was. Him and Ranboo also agreed that the top of a really high tree was not where they wanted to be in a potential lightning storm, so they’d parted ways for the day.

But Tommy hadn’t expected the palace to be empty, practically. Man, was the storm bad enough that the staff had gone home? He wandered his halls for a bit before he heard a voice behind him. “Tommy?” He spun frantically, only to sigh when he saw Technoblade. He dramatically caught his breath and walked over to him. “Whew, you scared the shit outta me, Blade, where’s dadza?” “He’s not with you…?” That made Tommy pause. “Nooo…should he be?” Tommy asked apprehensively, but Techno looked absolutely panicked. “He…he went out looking for you earlier. Like, this morning. You didn’t show up for your lesson with him and he said something about wasting his time and flew off with Brian. They haven’t been back.”

“…what?” His dad had gone out…looking for him? Wasn’t he more concerned about the storm? The forest? Why was Tommy the concern there? His dad rarely gave a flying fuck when he missed their lessons, why did he have to pick today of all days to throw a hissy fit and run after him? “Oh god, ok…how..how do we find him?” “I have no idea.” Techno answered, as blatantly honest as usual, but the stoic look having been replaced with fear. They both stood in silence for a moment before Techno put a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “Ok, I’m going to go looking for him. You’re gonna stay here and see if you can bring him back.” What? “But how am I-“

Techno reached to the emerald around Tommy’s neck, held by a thin leather strap, the same as his father’s. Pretty much the only tying them to each anymore. “Phil explained earlier that your crystals are connected. He went out looking for you knowing that the necklace would signal him when you were close by. He also said that if need be, there’s some magic property that can call one crystal to the other, since they’re just pieces of each other. He didn’t earlier since it would have taken too much power and he didn’t know how bad the storm would get, but I think we’re to that point. I don’t know shit about magic, but according to him, you should be able to use the crystal to summon him here.”

Tommy stared wide eyes at him for a moment. “I- i don’t know how to do that…I can’t-” “It’s alright, you can do it, I know you can. If if you can’t, I’ll keep looking until I find him. It’ll all be ok.” Techno said, leaning Tommy into a hug. God, this must be serious, Techno was never this emotional. “O-ok, I’ll do my best.” Techno leaned back, smiling at Tommy before clapping him on the shoulders. “You’re a good kid, Tommy. I’ll be back.” He said, walking off. He hoped Techno would be ok. The storm had been getting progressively better little by little, but it was still pretty harsh.

Tommy went up to his room and sat on the floor. Ok, so he was basically trying to learn teleportation, no biggie, just…teleport someone. Yeah, he could do that. He bring Phil back and he’d yell at Tommy for missing another lesson and he’d yell back that it was how he felt when his dad missed his entire childhood and inevitably someone would bring up mom, god forbid, and it’d end with two slammed doors like it had at least three other times that week. Great, he was so looking forward to that.

…why was he doing this again?

Tommy groaned and hit the heel of his hand against his head. His dad may be a bigoted asshole to his two best friends and a shitty father on the best of days, but he didn’t deserve to die in a lightning storm. His heart clenched at the idea that he may be too late, that he’d never see his father again and it would have been his fault since he didn’t go to that stupid magic lecture earlier.

He tried to convince himself that it was only because he didn’t want the weight of his father’s death on his shoulders. That the sore feeling in his chest was annoyance and minor guilt. He didn’t miss his dad, he didn’t care about him at all anymore.

He didn’t.

Tommy breathed in and out deeply, closing his eyes and taking the emerald off his neck, clutching it tightly in his hands. He could feel the magic practically emanating from it, and did his best to find a similar power. His dad said when he needed to do more intense magic, he used the stone to feel out the life force in the forest that needed help. He’d taken Tommy to a cracked tree once and it had taken a while, but he’d managed to ground himself enough that he felt with the tree, and used his and the stones magic to redirect energy into it and heal it. He imagined the sensation would be something like that. If he could feel specific individual forces of nature, he could feel out a magic gemstone. He could do it.

As he started to concentrate more, and as he felt his own forces spread from himself to the walls of his room and his home and the whole forest around him, the stone started to glow.

~~~

Fucking. Finally.

The storm had…somewhat slowed down. Enough that Wilbur wasn’t getting even more soaked on his way home. Though, to be fair, he felt like he would never be dry again, he was soaked to the bone.

He walked down one side of the street under the branches. Since the storm had let up, the sun had come back with a vengeance and he was wearing very thick and warm clothes. He was already drenched, he didn’t want to add sweat to that.

To give himself credit where it was due, though, walking back, the road looked a whole lot cleaner than it had previously. It may not have justified hauling his giant-ass heavy trash bag all the way back to his house, but at least he was doing something.

After what felt like hours of walking back down the road he’d come up from (he knew it was only a few minutes but he’d been picking up trash in a thunderstorm all fucking day he was exhausted) he came upon the tree from earlier that had been struck by lightning. And shit did it look bad. He couldn’t help his curiosity as he stepped closer, observing the damage up close. The top looked like it had been on fire, all burnt and blackened, but even more confusing was the large section of land right in front of where he was standing where the grass had been shoved forward and it was nothing but a slick patch of mud. It looked like the dirt on a baseball field when a catches had to slide across the ground to get the ball.

As his attention was on the ground, though, something flashed in the dim light that shone through the trees. What in the world was that?

Maybe he’d missed a piece of trash, who knows how far into the woods people can chunk things from their car. He leaned down to get a better look at it, and saw that it was shiny and a dark, deep green. Ugh, another piece of a goddamn beer bottle that someone shattered against something. Though, this one didn’t look like the large smooth but sharp edged pieces he’d picked up like a hundred of. Something was odd, so he dropped his grabber and bag to examine it more closely.

None of it was smooth; it looked somehow natural. It was think and rough, but not sharp, not polished and thin and clear like he’d seen. Maybe it could be a rock? It also had a weird brown strap attached to it, each side of the rope having scorch marks on the end. Wilbur guessed that the fire had split the strap holding the stone on. Maybe it had been…a ring? Who uses a thin flimsy leather band as a ring? He also didn’t know who would have been in the forest to lose a ring, other than his mother. Maybe he should bring this home and ask her, and if it’s not hers, can’t hurt to see what the stone is and how much it could be worth. A little extra money never hurt.

As he looked at it more closely, he realized it was greener than he originally thought. It was brighter, almost. Had the sun started hitting it differently? He held it up to a patch of sunlight, and watched in awe as it looked like it almost started to glow. Woah, maybe he could get some serious cash for this thing after all. But as he brought it back down from the light…it was still glowing. Like, actually glowing. And it was getting brighter and brighter.

He confusedly wrapped his hands around it, peeking in to see if it was still somehow just a trick of the light or if it was glowing. He saw a trickle of green light breaking through the cracks in his intertwined fingers, but when he went to peer in closer, something happened. His hand jerked in the exact wrong direction, smacking him clean in the face and right against the left side of his glasses, shoving them hard enough that he heard a crack. Before he could be too confused about that, though, his hands were suddenly yanked forward, enough to trio him off his feet, but…

He was still upright. There wasn’t any weight on his legs, but he was upright. He looked back up to his hands and saw the glow getting brighter and brighter still, to the point it was almost shining through his hands.

His blood turned cold and pure fear flooded his body as he felt himself get lifter up higher. He frantically tried to let go of the stone, putting all his effort into ripping his hands away, but nothing. He felt tears drip down his face, he wasn’t sure when he started crying, but he paid it no mind. It swung him around again, almost slamming him into a tree. He tried to push away but he was like a ragdoll to this thing. It felt like he was in the tornado scene of the Wizard of Oz.

“Help!” He screamed, his muscles starting to get sore from the useless strain of trying to free himself. “Fuck, Help me!” Nothing moved. His hands stayed firmly stuck around the crystal. “Someone!” He started to feel nauseous, and he felt himself shaking from the fear. “Anyone?!” The world around him started to morph as the edges of his visions turned green. “Mom!!” And suddenly he was gone.

~~~

A green flash filled Tommy’s room as he shot up from where he’d been sitting. Holy fuck, he did it. He did it, he actually managed to do it!! He ran to the figure as the magic began to clear only to stop dead in his tracks, his face falling.

Something stood in front of him. Not his father, not even a leafman, but something.

He wore clothes that were somewhat reminiscent of Ranboo’s, but they were more…patterned. It was weird material, and it’s not like Tommy knew many people who actually wore clothes, but he’d never seen anything like it. The man was also a weird color, not green like him or any shade of grey like a boggin. He was tall, taller than Tommy, but still dwarfed under most boggins. Maybe he was a bugfolk? But he looked too squishy. He didn’t have the hard chitin that Tubbo had, his skin looked like it felt more Like Ranboo’s but without the spikes.

His thoughts halted as he noticed that the man hadn’t even seen him yet. He’d taken a second to look around, but he was just staring at the emerald in his hands-

The emerald.

That was his dad’s emerald.

Tommy went to take a step closer, the dead silence in the room broken for just a second by his footstep. The man’s head snapped up and he just as quickly fell over, mouth agape and breathing heavily. It was only then that Tommy realized he was also shaking like a leaf.

They both just stared at each other for a minute, neither making a move. Tommy’s confusion slowly warping to anger and the other creature’s morphing into fear and apprehension.

“Why the fuck do you have that?!”

“What the fuck are you?!”

[i-am-beckyu]

TO THE ANON THAT GAVE ME THIS TITLE, YOU SPARKED ART!

This fake fic title gets its own post now for that reason

Why you should never buy a teacup pig

Phil had an interesting fascination for collecting things. He had a collection for everything! Stamps, coins, books, feathers, plates: you name it, he's got it.

 Currently, he has a fascination for collecting miniature porcelain figurines. He's got a dog, a cat, a codfish, a horse to name a few. Some ornate or simplistic, others elaborate in little outfits or striking interesting poses. Some of his favourites are a crow (for obvious reasons), a little racoon that reminds him of Tommy and an Orca that reminds him of Wil.

But his favourite favourite of the bunch is a little pig in a teacup, wearing a little golden crown and has a red cape that he got recently: A perfect addition to his collection! They fit perfectly amongst his other 3 favs. Such a sweet little teacup piggy ^v^ 

~~~~~~~~

 Techno is not a sweet little teacup piggy >:| 

He's been cursed into this form by a witch for 1000s of years and he had almost made it out of that dumb antique shop, if it wasn't for the stupid old man deciding to ruin everything. He'll make them pay for what they have done...

hehehe teacup piggy :3

Honestly I’ve never made fanart of Techno before and I honestly am very proud of myself for this piece here. The fact that the prompt sparked the idea just makes this even better and I really enjoyed making it. So I hope you like this! (also sheesh two big posts in one week niceeeee)

[ingo4you]

STARTING THE LIGHT Height differences

Tommy - 124'9

Wilbur - 7'0

Techno - 7'1

Phil - 6'11

[zero-to-zero-to-zero-again]

He's A Bad Witch (1)

“Tommy.”

“Yeah-huh?”

“Did you turn Technoblade into a hamster?”

~

Word Count: 1,748

TW: Mentions of violence (brief), foul language, self-loathing (also brief), vague innuendos

Characters: Tommyinnit, Ranboo, Technoblade (All characters, not creators)

Techno accidentally gets turned into a hamster through circumstances COMPLETELY out of Tommy's control.

~

A slew of profanity spilled from Tommy's lips with a few apologies woven in. He dropped another book on the floor. No good. The rodent at his feet chittered indignantly. He dragged his hands down his face in exasperation.

“Sorry, sorry,” he muttered.

He scooped the little creature up off the carpet and set it down on the table. It only continued to stare at him. Even while being unable to produce actual facial expressions, he got the strangest feeling it was glaring at him. His toes curled in his shoes.

He was so going to be expelled for this one. After the first dozen offenses, you’d think they would have already confiscated his wand and tossed me out on his ass. They’d given him another chance and this was how he repaid that kindness.

He felt like a terrible person.

The lights turning on nearly startled the soul straight out of his body.

“Tommy?” a tired voice grumbled.

Shit.

“You’re sleepwalking again, Boo-boy,” he replied without tearing his eyes away from his page. The animal scolded him with a tiny squeak which was hardly as intimidating as it thought it was.

“I’m at least 98% sure I’m awake,” his roommate countered. Ranboo claimed the seat across from Tommy. “What’s with the mouse?”

“Hamster,” he amended.

“Why do you have a hamster? And are those Technbolade’s Grimoires? He’ll kill you if you finds out you took those.”

“I don’t think he will,” Tommy responded with a hysterical giggle.

Ranboo rested their face in their hand, leaning their elbow on the table boredly.

“Why not?”

The blonde boy must have stared at the little animal standing on the table a bit too long. Ranboo’s face nearly fell off their hand. Their mismatched eyes blew wide open.

“Tommy.”

“Yeah-huh?”

“Did you turn Technoblade into a hamster?”

Tommy chewed away at his bottom lip. He couldn’t even bring himself to reply verbally. He only nodded a shameful nod. The Syrian hamster looked very unamused as he slowly turned around to stare up at Ranboo. Their gaze darted between Tommy and the little critter standing before them.

“How-”

“I don’t know!” Tommy interjected, raking his fingers through his hair. “Techno and I got paired up for a project and he kept yelling at me so I told him to stop and then next thing you know, poof! He’s a hamster! I didn’t even say a spell! How could a spell happen if I didn’t say one?”

A warm weight rested on his shoulder. Ranboo offered him a careful smile.

“Sometimes wild magic is…well, wild. You don’t need to find a spell to turn a person into a hamster, just how to turn a hamster into a person.”

The young witch drew in a deep breath, slowly pulling his hands from his mess of golden locks. Ranboo was right. They always were. One of the many reasons Tommy absolutely despised them.

Ranboo slid one of the books off the pile and flipped the pages open. With a snap of their fingers, their gold-framed glasses materialized on the bridge of their nose. Prime, Tommy could only dream of having that sort of magical skill. They made it look so effortless.

They tied his black and white hair up in a tiny bun and got to reading. Tommy did the same, resuming his search through the grimoire. It didn’t make it any easier that he was still an amateur when it came to understanding standard witch language. He was relying mostly on pictures and the few words I could recognize. They weren’t even letters. Practically all symbols. It was beyond him how anyone could. Picture of a bottle? No. Picture of a tree? No. Picture of a quill? Probably not. Picture of an eye. N-

“Ow!” he hissed.

He groaned, grabbing yet another bandaid from the box on the table.

“Prime, Techno, I get that you’re pissed at me but chewing my fingers off isn’t helping,” Tommy scolded as he wrapped yet another bandage around his hand. It joined a collection of three others on his right hand and one on his left. One from the initial transformation, one from trying to pick him up, and two from the argument that ensued after Tommy dragged him back to his room.

The hamster chittered nonsense, scurrying onto the grimoire. He practically jumped up and down on the paper. Tommy squinted down at the wiggly text on the pages. Damn hieroglyphics.

“Oculi…magae?” he tried.

It was like a flashbang went off in the room. Tommy yelped in surprise, wiping away at his eyes as though that would somehow clear away the impossibly bright light. Fuck, was this his idea of revenge on Tommy? Blinding him? Seemed a bit extreme, if you asked him but then again, this was Technoblade he was talking about. Tommy had seen the guy hold a freshman at wand-point for scuffing his brother's shoes.

His sight cleared gradually as he blinked away the purple spots dancing around the edges of his vision.

Techno had returned to his spot on the table. Tommy shot him a tired glare that he returned with yet another one of his signature blank stares. Tommy's eyes dropped back down to the pages.

Eyes of the Witch.

This enchantment is used to temporarily grant a witch the ability to read any language as their own-

Oh. Oh.

Techno looked up at him expectantly. He wasn’t about to thank him, of course. He probably would have found it all on his own even without Techno's help.

“Are you okay?” Ranboo inquired.

“Fine,” Tommy muttered.

“Did it…work for you?” they reiterated.

Tommy sighed. What, were these two plotting against him to get Tommy to admit that Techno actually helped him?

“Yeah. I can actually read this stupid book now,” he ground out through gritted teeth. The words burned in his mouth. He was almost happy to spit them out.

Ranboo regarded Tommy with a complex expression. They exchanged an unreadable glance with Techno. The hamster nodded. Or, rather, performed the closest thing it could to a nod.

“What?” Tommy asked.

“Oh, no. Nothing,” Ranboo assured him. They weren’t very convincing but Tommy knew better than to call them out when they were basically a free extra set of eyes. It was a good thing his roommate had decided against pressing Ranboo, too.

If he'd discovered that the spell he'd just performed was next to impossible for someone at his level, Tommy would have probably gotten an even bigger head than he already had.

He continued to thumb his way through the pages. Though he hated to admit it, it was far easier to skim the pages now that the text was actually legible. He placed a book onto the stack of unhelpful grimoires on the floor before pulling another one off the unread pile.

Fauna Attraction

Levitation of the Body

Levitation of Others

Levitation of Objects

Blessings of the Bat

Vampiric Allure Deflection

Transmogrification of Humans

Getting warmer, at least.

Personification of a Beast

“Does a hamster qualify as a beast?” he inquired.

He flipped the book around for Ranboo to see, nearly launching Techno off the table in the process. It wouldn’t have been the first time that night.

His roommate squinted at the pages, slowly reading the page. He forgot that Ranboo couldn’t make out the words as easily as Tommy could. That meant Ranboo was translating every word as they went along. In which case, their pace was actually very impressive.

“Sounds about right. And if it’s not, it seems like the worst that’ll happen is nothing at all,” Ranboo announced with a shrug.

“Techno?” Tommy asked. The only confirmation he got was a tiny little bob of the hamster's head.

Tommy nodded, swallowing thickly as he snatched his wand from his side pocket. He gave it a skillful twirl around his fingers, definitely not almost dropping it in the process. He pointed the carved, metal rod at the tiny critter on the table. He only stared at the hamster a moment. His stance faltered.

"You're not gonna be a bitch once you're human again, are you?"

It was a good thing Tommy hadn't turned Techno into a phoenix. The glower he received in that moment alone would have reduced him to ash on the spot.

"Tommy-" Ranboo began.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Tommy scoffed, readjusting his casting stance. He drew in a deep breath, taking a good, long look at the open book. He gave the wand's grip a quick squeeze for luck. "Clavos rotundos, dentes adulant, pilum in cutem mutat, bestia hominem mutat!"

Sapphire light shot out of the wand in a beam. His feet slowly drifted along the floor, sneakers squealing against the hardwood as they struggled to find purchase. He braced his other hand against the wand in a desperate attempt to keep it steady. The hamster was no longer visible, swallowed whole by the blast of blue magic.

One minute, Tommy was standing. The next, he was on the floor, staring up at the burn marks on the ceiling. Ah, yes, his first time extracting fire from a minidragon. Good times. He slowly propped himself up with a groan, pressing a hand to the back of his aching head. He waited until the two Ranboo's standing at the table finally became one before daring to even attempt to stand up.

"Did it work?" he asked in a daze. He staggered about with all the grace of a drunken faun.

"Techno is...definitely human," Ranboo replied without turning around. Tommy didn't really like the way they said that.

The blonde slowly made his way over to his roommate.

"Well that's great. Move. I can't see anything over your tall ass."

Ranboo hesitated.

"Boo-boy?"

Finally, Ranboo stepped aside. Tommy froze. Technoblade glowered at him with the fury of a thousand suns.

"Tommy Innit," Technoblade began. He sounded like a mom about to give her unruly child the lecture of a lifetime after they drop a wallet into the garbage disposal to see what would happen (not that Tommy would know, of course. Just a funny, random example).

"Oh come on, big man. It's not that bad," Tommy tried. It was difficult to say if his words were meant to convince Technoblade or himself. "You've always been more of a grower than a shower."

Oddly enough, the six inch tall man standing on the table did not seem to find that very funny.

Not in the slightest.

[orchid-harmony]

Adoption Comes in All Sizes

@mcyt-gt-events

This be for you @colossal-red

I hope you enjoy it ^^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you so much mate, you're a real life saver."

"No problem Phil, I owe you for the many times you helped me."

"Still, you're a life saver."

"Do you need help bringing the tree to your house Phil."

"I would appreciate it."

"Alright, you need help with carrying the tree to the car?"

"You really asking that question?"

"Hey, just cause you're pretty strong and have a semi-buff body, doesn't mean that you can't use a little help with carrying a tree to your car."

"You know what, why don't you get my car closer so that you won't worry about me carrying the tree from here to my car?"

"Alright, be right back."

As his friend went to grab Phil's car, Phil took a look at the tree.

It wasn't too big, but it also wasn't too small, it was enough to fit inside his home.

Phil smiled, he couldn't wait to set up his new tree and decorate it.

After a bit of waiting, he saw his car.

Phil picked the tree up and carried it towards his car.

His friend got out of the car, giving Phil a glare.

"Bruh, I didn't tell you to carry the tree to your car."

"Does it seem like I care? No."

His friend sighed.

"Well, if you happen to get cramps on your old back, don't even dare call me."

"I'm not old!"

"Yeah, keep telling that to yourself if it helps you sleep at night."

Phil playfully rolled his eyes.

"Talk to you soon mate?"

"Yeah, good luck setting up the tree."

Phil then puts his newly bought tree on his car trunk, making sure that it won't fall off.

He hops inside his car then drives off.

~~~~~~

Phil was finally home.

He made sure to get three from his car and carry it inside his home, which was decorated head to toe.

He didn't want his house to feel more empty than usual.

After his wife's death, he promised himself that he would keep going, and sometimes, it's hard, but he manages.

He sighed, "Can't really do much about it anymore."

Phil then puts the tree down then adjusts the position of the tree.

"Well, now it's time to decorate the tree."

Phil then went upstairs to the attic, once he was in the attic, he looked around to find the crate that had the Christmas tree decorations.

"Ah, there's the Christmas tree decorations crate. Better take it down."

Phil then picks up the crate, and brings it down to the tree.

He puts the crate down, he was feeling a bit tired, but he ignores it in order to finish decorating.

He opens the crate then puts the lid down, revealing a lot of ornaments and decorations.

He takes some of the ornaments and puts them on the tree.

As he kept decorating, in the corner of his eye, he saw a small bit of pink.

Before he could dwell on it, the small bit of pink disappeared.

Phil blinked, once, twice, before he shrugged it of as nothing and was just his one imagination.

Though, after putting more ornament in the tree, he saw a small speck of brown.

Usually, the brown would be the wood, but, the brown stuff was on the leaves.

But, after a few seconds, the small speck of brown disappeared.

Phil was starting to get suspicious.

First, he saw a small bit of pink, and now he saw a small speck of brown.

He's starting to believe that it wasn't his own imagination tricking him.

Phil frowns, the next time, he would see another color that shouldn't be in the tree, he would catch it and inspect it.

And he did what he said he would do.

The last time Phil notices another color in his tree, it was the color blond, the blond in Phil's hair, but there was more shade in this blond color.

Phil paused for a second, then immediately, grabbed whatever was in his tree.

When he brought the thing close to his face, he didn't expect it to be a small, blond child, with animalistic traits.

He sees the terrified look, plastered on the kids face.

Phil then registers small yells, he looks up to his tree, finding two more tiny children, they also have animalistic traits.

Phil then looks back to where the tiny blond child was.

He carefully looks at the animalistic traits, noticing that those were borrower traits.

Phil's eyes widened, he had three, tiny, borrowers in his tree, and they were children for god sake!

"Let go of our brother you asshat!!"

"Yeah, let him go!!"

Phil blinks again, registering the words, these borrowers were all brothers.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know that you three were children."

"We're not children, at least me and Techno aren't!"

"Wilbur, what fuck man?! We weren't supposed to say our names to a human!"

"Well, at least he doesn't know Tommy's name."

"...Wilbur, you're a dumbass."

"HEY!!"

Phil slightly laughs at the two borrowers antics.

"So, you're names are Wilbur, Techno, and Tommy, am I right?"

"Why should we tell you?" Techno said.

"Well, you are in my house, in my tree, and you also said each other's names."

"...Touche."

Phil then raises his hand that was holding Tommy.

Wilbur and Techno immediately back away, before realizing that Phil was just giving their brother back.

Tommy got off of Phil's hand and went straight to his brothers, crashing into them with a hug.

The two other brothers hugged Tommy back.

Phil smiled, happy to see that the three borrowers were okay.

Wilbur turned to Phil.

"What's your name, human?"

"My name's Phil, how old are all of you three?"

"Me and Techno are both 14, meanwhile Tommy is 5."

Phil's heart ached, these small children had to live and protect each other from what Phil assumed a very young age.

"Well, if you boys don't mind, I could adopt the three of you."

Wilbur's eyes widened, before nodding.

"Please do, we would absolutely love it to have a parent to look after us."

Phil smiled fondly, he bets that he and his now new sons would be happy with each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry that this seemed a bit short. But, again, I hope you liked it!!

[hornet-breaker]

Wyrm Problem 2

So now we have a viper disguised as a simple garden snake among our protagonists, how will they get along?

Tw: vore mention, injury, harsh language

If he was being honest, Wilbur hated being a Kaiju. But it was either be a Kaiju and stand a chance, or be “human” and get eaten. But that’s the thing: Wilbur technically wasn’t both. He was a hybrid, an unfortunate result of humans trying to understand creatures they couldn’t comprehend. Another thing Wilbur hated was that as a Kaiju he only had his arms to move himself foreward, his legs were his long slithering tail. He had no eyelids so he couldn’t blink (that was irritating at first but he got used to it), he had a massive appetite, and he was just all around out of place. His scales were the wrong color for a forest Viper, so hunting was impossible as a Kaiju.

The only thing he could do was drink and roam around, other Kaiju ignored him because he had a trick up his fangs: venom that would leave them on a 5 hour long drug trip. So it wasn’t all too bad he guessed. He approached the river and sniffed the air, his tongue flickering the catch the scents around him. He picked up a human and a sprinter, huh, odd? They’re never alone, alone is a death sentence. Even for someone like him, had not he found out about his hybrid qualities.

But then he heard it, a squawk. He froze, instantly going into defense mode and camouflaging himself. He watched around carefully, there! In the bushes! How did he not se that before? The human got on his mount and ran. Shit, he scared him. Wilbur normally tried to be human when he meets other humans or Kaizen. But looks like today wasn’t the case exactly as he took off after the human.

That was earlier today. Wilbur felt uneasy around the two rougher men, but Tommy seemed to be the least threatening out of them all. Keyword “seemed,” since he was out by himself without any hints of fear.

Skipping ahead to current time, Wilbur felt uneasy. He normally did when people stared at his unfortunate mutations, but he was getting extra irked out by the Piglin named “Techno.” Wilbur didn’t like how he was being burnt holes into his skin by the pig. The ride to their home was silent, aside from an occasional cough, sneeze, or chittering from the birds they rode.

Dream was mainly focused with Tommy but was constantly glaring with suspicion at Wilbur whenever he got the chance. Wilbur knew he wasn’t a fool, he looked like he was the brains of the trio, he looked like a cold and calculating huntsman, thinking about every move 4 steps ahead. There was no way he could lie to the human, but it was better than the piglin.

Techno was obviously the brute strength of the trio, a well fed and well trained adult piglin was a dangerous one, and Techno reeked of bloodthirsty behavior (mainly because he actually smelled like blood). The piglin had a blank face but Wilbur knew he was skeptical. Kaizen knew the smell of a Kaiju from a mile away, he would only fool him with a sob story of escaping nearly being eaten. Plus the dead stare of blood red eyes glaring with the sharpness of Hygoras teeth were enough to make him unnerved.

“Hello, ground to Wilbur?” Dream said loudly, snapping Wilbur out of his thoughts. Right, he was human, he can blink, and so he did.

“Hm? Yeah! Sorry, just thinking…” Wilbur said, and mentally face palmed. “Just thinking” was what you said in a city, not to a band of huntsmen. That’s what you said if you wanted to become a snakeskin backpack. Or a piece of Kaiju bait since he didn’t have scales at the moment…

He got off the sprinter and followed the three inside the tree, holy shit there were a lot of stairs. Humans are pretty primitive so it made sense somewhat. He took a deep breath and followed them up the stairs of the hollowed out grand oak, marveling at the woodwork. At least they had some downtime to make an unfortunate home nicer.

“You like the woodwork? Me and Techno spent weeks working on it.” Tommy said proudly, trying to break the silence. The piglin only grunted in agreement. “I’ll show you around when we get up to the branches. Hope you’re not allergic to cats or Moth-hounds.”

The teenager looked so giddy, compared to his brothers who were on edge. Even though Wilbur was mildly injured (a burn on his chest and stomach, a deep gash on his right forearm from an accident) they still didn’t trust him.

It’s your eyes and ears, they don’t trust unnatural things. Wilbur thought. Maybe if I lie and say it’s a mutation they’ll believe it. Well, maybe not, it’s kinda hard to lie about literal snake eyes.

They got to the top of the stairwell and Wilbur was amazed by the craftmanship of the tree base. He was sure this wasn’t here a few days ago when he passed by here. Clever humans.

“So, what were you doing all the way out by the river?” Techno asked, mainly glaring at Tommy but asking both the question.

“Well I was out getting supplies when I heard something massive, so I hung back to wait for it-“

“It was a giant fucking snake! The thing wanted to eat me I’m sure of it!” Tommy interrupted.

Ouch, Wilbur thought, slightly flinching. He then realized he flinched and looked to see if anyone noticed, thank the moons there’s not a mind reader in here.

“That might’ve been a viper. They live in the desert though how did one get all the way out here?” Techno said,

“Maybe it realized there was more food?” Wilbur asked because living in a canyon is not very filling. He thought bitterly, remembering all the times desert wildlife nearly claimed his life.

“Then we got a huge problem on our hands.” Dream said. “And you, you were supposed to wait here for us!” Dream scolded Tommy.

“But you might not have known about the viper,” Wilbur pointed out. Techno shot him a look and Wilbur gave a tiny “meep” before quieting down.

“Well how do you know about it when you never went down to the river?” Dream questioned.

“Again, I heard something massive slithering through the undergrowth, but that’s not all. You see this body wrap?” Wilbur pointed to the linen wrapping on his stomach that had faint blood. “There’s something going on out there, the Kaiju are acting weird.”

“What kinda weird?” Techno inquired.

“A few weeks ago I was tracking a group of Platebacks, you know, the ones that like to smoke weed? Well 3 days ago they started acting aggressive and attacked each other-“

“Why were you following Kaiju?” Dream asked, reaching for his sword.

“Relax, Platebacks are vegetarian and have no reason to attack humans or Kaizen.” Wilbur said hurriedly.

“He’s right, I’ve encountered a migration before and they just kinda politely ignored me.” Techno said with a shrug.

“Exactly my point! First they were chill and passive, then as if overnight they were like rabid giant animals.” Wilbur said. “And that’s not all, multiple Kaiju are beginning to act like this that normally have nothing against tiny sentients like me and you.”

“So, are we in danger?” Tommy asked nervously.

“I’m afraid so, the forest is no longer safe, something is making the Kaiju aggressive. Worst of all, there’s one out there that has been actively hunting and eating humans and Kaizen. A minotyr.”

Silence, everyone knew how dangerous a minotyr was. They had the ability to shatter the strongest of bones with one hit, and were impossible to put under. You had to be fast and flexible to survive a pissed off minotyr.

“Well where are we gonna go? I’m not leaving if I don’t know where to go.” Dream crossed his arms.

“We could go to the Diamond Summit range, Skullora are peaceful and willingly help mountain travelers.” Techno suggested. Dream was about to argue,

“Well it’s getting late, we should rest and come up with a plan later.” Tommy said, getting up and walking to his room. Dream sighed, he was exhausted even if his mask hid his face. Techno didn’t show any sign of anything other than that stern militia look.

“Where’s the stray gonna sleep?” Dream said, pointing to Wilbur

“Stray?!” Wilbur echoed, offended.

“He’ll sleep on the couch, I’ll lock the weaponry” Techno said. Wilbur didn’t fully understand their problem with him, why were they so unnecessarily mean? He was “human,” but did they know he was a Kaiju secretly?

“Alright then, I’ll go ahead and sleep on the couch I guess,” Wilbur said in defeat, he wasn’t tired but a nap wouldn’t hurt, right?

“Then it’s settled, tomorrow we make a plan to get out of the forest.” Dream said, walking off. Wilbur was about to go to the couch, but when Dream’s door could be heard opening and slamming shut, he felt a burly hand grab his shoulder.

“Look, I know something’s up with you, and I’ll give you a pass since you clearly are with injury, but just know, this is my family, this is my house. Try anything, and I’ll have your disembodied head mounted next to my sword.” Techno warned, his shoulder spines bristling. “Anyways, get some rest.” Techno said casually, as if he didn’t just threaten to rip Wilbur’s head off 10 seconds ago.

Wilbur clutched his heart, okay, so he was under suspicion by only Dream. Good to know. He didn’t sleep for the whole night, uncomfortable in the presence of danger.

(And that’s where we end Chapter 2! I have made the decision to take a month long break, partially because Owl House is ending and I know there will be lots of spoilers I won’t be able to avoid, but the main reason is because I have started my “Magnum Opus,” if you will, a sort of fictional autobiography. That will release on my birthday! Well, close to it… so that’s why aim taking April off. The hope is so I can focus all of my energy to write this piece I have been thinking about nonstop, so that’s also why it was difficult to complete this chapter. Thank you for reading, see you in late April! Enjoy these funny fillers below, lol)

Shaft afansgm dev dvathsgn sfw thx wvdvdvdqge

Loremipsumwahoobotemdog! (Deletion prevention 101)

Loremipsumbotemhubblespace WHAOOO.

Loremipsembippityboppotiyfuck (another filler to avoid deletion :/)

[guppybubbles]

You wanted prompts so let me hit you with some fake fic titles! No pressure to do them all and you can take as long as you like🥰 will send em separately too!

A Glass half Full

A GLASS HALF FULL

Borrower Wilbur and Borrower Techno are realists. When reality gets too negative, Techno is always there to be Wilbur's optimist.

Word Count: 1,714 words

CONTENT WARNING!!! : mentions of blood, decapitation, and a rat. these are only mentioned once, but a warning is good.

( A/N: i wrote these in between my study sessions for the exams,,,,,,,,, also yayy my first fic in like.. seven years i think? have mercy on me idk what i'm doing. ALSO THIS IS MOSTLY JUST TECHNO AND WILBUR BONDING I JUST LOVE THEM OKAY. also also ty for the fic title beckyu!! )

Wilbur paced back and forth, arms crossed and in deep thought. "How many days do you think our food can last?" 

"About two days— three, if we can portion it out correctly." Techno replied, sitting on their makeshift couch as he opened their very own medical kit, filled with cut up bandages, drops of alcohol, a little roll of tape and other things they've borrowed over the years. 

"And… your arm?" 

Techno unwrapped the bandages and winced at the horrible sight, dried blood and bite marks after they encountered an abnormally big rat yesterday. He handled it better than he expected, but before the injured rat scurried away, it attempted to bite his head head off, which resulted with him blocking with his arm. “S’fine. Nothing too bad.”

Wilbur sighed, and Techno could imagine the exasperated eye-roll behind him. “It really isn’t that bad.”

“Yeah. Nothing too bad my arse.” His twin circled around the couch and took a cotton ball, pouring alcohol and taking hold of his arm. His eyebrows furrowed in a way that meant he was thinking of so many things, his eyes were on Techno’s arm but his mind was elsewhere. Despite being distracted, he was careful. Of course, the alcohol gently cleaning his fresh wounds still hurt and he would wince every time it stung a little too much, but Wilbur knew when to pause and give him a break before continuing. 

Wilbur took a new bandage roll and wrapped it around Techno’s arm. “What’s wrong?”

“What?” Wilbur looked at him, a confused look on his face.

“You’re thinking about something. What are you thinking about?” 

“Oh.” Wilbur avoided his gaze again, biting off the tape and securing his wounds in his newly bandaged arm. “It’s— We just need more food. I’ll go borrow some right now, and don’t come with me, I swear to Prime, you’re injured.”

──────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────

Techno still ended up following him.

Wilbur had thought he convinced him to stay behind and rest, he even stayed for TWENTY more minutes trying to get Techno to lay down and not get up. He listed potential things he could do while waiting for him to get back, it wasn’t a very long list, and it only lessened because Techno was injured and what they mostly did was build new furniture or upgrade their equipment. For extra measure, Wilbur took Techno’s borrowing equipment to make sure he doesn’t have anything to use to venture out, forcing his twin into house arrest. It was with good intentions, Wilbur thought, He was literally injured.

“You think I could just let you leave to go borrow so early in the morning?” Techno argued, holding Wilbur’s borrowing equipment. After that, there was nothing else Wilbur could do to convince Techno to go back, because Techno was stupidly stubborn, and held his hand to drag him to the pantry.

His stubbornness irritated Wilbur so much, because it was exactly like him. While having incredibly different interests, they still acted the same, that’s what made them get along after spending their entire life in tandem. Together, they were raised for different jobs in their old colony. Together, they’d switch their looks just so they could avoid the chore they hate. Together, they grew up and left the colony. Everything they did, they did it together. Wilbur guessed simply getting food from the pantry wouldn’t be an exception from that.

They moved in silence, but not one of them needed instructions from the other for the reason that they were also moving in sync. As they gathered food, not a single sound was made, not even when they ruffled through plastic material did it make a noise. “There’s something still bothering you.” Techno noted, almost finished with packing his own bag of food. Not including the stash they had at home, the food bags they were holding could last them for a week or so. Wilbur stayed silent, tying up his pack and slinging it over his shoulder. “I think we got enou—” “Wil.”

Techno cut him off, already knowing his evasion tactics. Wilbur found their surroundings much more interesting than his twin. “If you wanna say something, we got to talk it out. Were you so distracted with your thoughts that you didn’t notice the pantry door isn’t locked? You didn’t even tell me to hide from the doors opening view or anything.” 

“What’s wrong?” Techno asked again. There was a slight shift in his tone, unnoticeable to anyone that wasn’t his twin. He was worried, and Wilbur felt bad that he was hiding his thoughts to his only companion for years. He still wanted to think about it some more, it’s the reason why he made the excuse of leaving so he could have just a little time for himself before speaking with Techno about it.

“I think it’s time we move out.” Wilbur finally looked at the pink-haired borrower for his reaction, only for Techno to make a gesture that told him to go on and elaborate. He took a seat on the floor before he spoke again.

“... The humans are in here too much. The kid’s got this.. Summer break so I don’t think he leaves for school until.. I don’t know how long! You know this, we can’t even go out at night most of the time because his schedule is unpredictable. I mean, one moment, he’s awake the whole day and night and the other he’s just sleeping for how long. Then the dad, his shifts are different too. He goes out early and we don’t know how long we have until he gets back, and even when he leaves, the kid’s still here too! We stay inside most of the time and we barely even have a chance to go and refill when our supply runs out. Not to mention, that fucking rat! Have you seen how huge that thing was?!”

He continued, “No matter how long we wait, one of them will always be wandering around. It’s not safe.”

They stood in silence for Prime knows how long. “But… Why now? You said you loved it here.” Techno asked, leaning against a box of cereals. “Even when they had Christmas break and stayed here almost every day for those long weeks, you never even thought about leaving.”

When Wilbur stayed silent, having that same expression of deep thought, it was Techno’s turn to continue talking. “I think this house is pretty great. Many hiding spots, escape routes, and they always buy a lot of stuff so they never notice when anything goes missing. Even though they stay up late, they’re always too focused on their work so we have enough time to do what we need to before they notice. It’s way better than going to a new home and having to relearn this all over again, right?”

“No. Maybe— I thought maybe I liked it here, but it’s just not safe.”

“It’s safer here than it is out there.” Techno sat next to Wilbur, awkwardly patting his shoulder in a way to show his affection. Wilbur would’ve laughed at his awkwardness, but only shrugged his hand away. “We’re borrowers, Tech. No where is safe for us.”

There was silence again. 

…

“Okay.”

“Hm?” Wilbur hummed, looking at his twin.

“If you think it’s best if we leave. Then, I trust you. We’ll leave.” Techno stood up from where he sat, and hung the bag of food on his shoulder once more. “Besides, I’m 100% sure that there are better houses than this. Maybe we could even land on a cool big house, a mansion.”

“I doubt that we can find a mansion here, but you know what, we never know.” Wilbur shrugs, following after Techno.

“I got to say though, I’ll miss this place. We were the first ones here before they moved in and they have the audacity to kick us out? Granted, we never did pay rent but first come, first serve.” Wilbur laughed at Techno, covering his mouth to muffle his laugh. His giggles were silent and quiet. Together, they began walking to their passageway back home.

“I’ll probably miss the humans too. They are kind of funny sometimes.” Wilbur only hummed. He’ll miss them too. But, they were the reason he thought of leaving in the first place. 

It was just one night. The kid was half-asleep, and Wilbur was in a tipsy state. He accidentally replied to the kid when they were just talking to themself, then it devolved into an hours long conversation until they both drifted asleep. With him hidden safely in the walls, and the kid sleeping on his bed— seemingly just speaking to his wall for an insane amount of time. Wilbur hated it.

He hated that he genuinely enjoyed his time speaking with him. He hated it that he was the one who broke the basic rules of borrowing. He hated being curious about that one drink the dad prevented the younger blond from drinking.

After that incident, Wilbur noticed the kid would occasionally look at the walls longer than normal and his heart would spike whenever he would be close to seeing him. Guilt only ate at him as the habit remained, sending shivers of anxiety through him whenever they would go borrow— he would turn around and expect to find those same blue eyes looking straight at him. Looking straight at Techno.

He can’t afford his own twin flame pay for the mistakes that he made. It’s why they have to leave.

“Let’s go. My arm is starting to ache again.”

“Yeah. That’s what you get for not listening to me.”

Behind him, Techno choked and coughed.

“Tech? What’s wrong, are you si—” Wilbur was interrupted when Techno stood in front of him, dropping his bag of food and instead holding a pin with his good arm. He stared at the pink-haired borrower, noticing the coughing continued, but not from him.

His gaze travelled to the entrance of the pantry. Coughing up a storm, the blond pounded on his chest, attempting to calm himself down. Wilbur noticed the glass of water that he was presumably drinking out of. A human caught them, not just a human, it was the kid.

… Fucking hell. 

[beansthough]

Ch. 8 {Free Me from the Fire and Fangs}

|Previous|Next|

Cw/Tw: v0re, fear of death, g0reish, injuries, violence, angst, suicidal tendencies if you squint, don’t like don’t read and stay safe<3

Techno found one of the most relaxing things he could do was clean his weapons at dead night. It did good to calm his nerves when he would get overwhelmed by the duties of the guard, however it wasn’t helping that much tonight. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t help but feel like something was off.

The rhythmic rain that was usually calming was much more erratic and aggressive. Lightning seemed to constantly flash in the pitch black sky. There was no moon tonight.

Maybe that was it…The pure darkness of the night. Perhaps Techno was weak to have such a childish fear, but he preferred to be able to see the threats that the night brought.

He let out a displeased grunt before starting to sharpen his sword. Wilbur had only gotten home right before the rain had started, he really didn’t like how risky his brother had been acting lately.

What if his twin had been caught in a flash flood? Or worse…

Techno had seen some signs on his patrol of…something…

He wasn’t sure what something was, but he did know it was big. The only thing that he could conclude was that it wasn’t human. They always left a big mess wherever they went, making it obvious that they were in the area.

This was more… careful.

That’s what worried Techno. There weren’t any tracks, it was almost always trees that seemed to receive the most damage, and maybe it was just his paranoia, but he couldn’t help but feel like there were eyes watching him as he did his rounds.

It had to be a predator of some type as well. There had been a decrease in the number of rabbits and squirrels in the area, Techno honestly didn’t have a problem with that. It was population control at best, and there was less competition between the hybrids and the rodents over storable food for the winter.

But at worse, that could mean if it found a hybrid like his brother in the woods… it probably wouldn’t see him as anything other than a quick snack.

The only animal he could think of that it could possibly be was a mountain lion, but even then he doubted that. They were rare in this region and never stuck around one place for long.

This thing had been around for a while. It frustrated techno to no end that he hasn’t even caught a glimpse of it.

Techno worried for his brother more than anything else. He couldn’t live with himself if Wilbur got hurt when Techno knew there was a threat. That’s why he’s been urging his twin to stay in the village, but it seemed Wilbur had other ideas.

He had no idea what could possibly motivate Wilbur to go into the forest so often. It was strange. He had tried following Wilbur before but the mouse knew him all to well to fall for that. Whenever Techno asked what he was up to it was always an excuse that he was working on his songs or improving on his training that Techno had taught him.

At first Techno had believed him. After all Wilbur’s stamina and strength had improved a lot over these pass few months, but Wilbur still refuses to even look the guards way when Techno suggested that he finally join.

His brother was hiding something from him. Techno could only hope it wasn’t something too bad. After all this definitely wasn’t the first time that Wilbur had distanced himself from his family.

Techno vaguely remembered the last time Wilbur ran off was for some girl he met. He had told techno she was a salmon hybrid. He had met her by the stream, and apparently had fallen deeply in love with her.

He disappeared into the forest for days at a time, only returning every now and again to keep Phil from sending out a search party for him. It had lasted a couple of months, but eventually Wilbur returned heart broken.

Apparently the girl had a boyfriend, a small detail that she apparently forgot to tell Wilbur about. Then like all salmons do, she left Wilbur and swam upstream. Wilbur had been amusing to her with his songs and lovely gifts, but she eventually grew tired of him and went her own way back to her boyfriend that she had left.

Wilbur had felt completely and utterly used. He had given his all to her and she threw it all away when she grew bored.

After that instance it was hard to even get his brother out of his room. That was a rut in Wilbur’s life that he hoped his brother would never experience again. But eventually Wilbur came around and his twin was back to his happy carefree self.

He could only hope that his brother wasn’t in a similar situation as before. Techno can’t stand his brother being upset.

Techno let out a hum of approval when he was satisfied with his sword. He stood up from his work bench and stretched. No matter how he tried he couldn’t shake the restless feeling in his bones.

Maybe he just needed some fresh air. He stepped out onto their porch that overlooked the village, carved to perfection with Phil’s own hands. The leaf roof held strong against the heavy rain, the leaves layered and pulled taut.

Techno gazed upon his home, he breathed in the crisp air deep into his lungs. The rat sat down on the ledge and closed his eyes, trying to at least get a little rest.

Techno was jolted out of his peaceful sit down by a strange sound. He waited a few more moments but the sound seemed to have stopped. He flicked his ear in annoyance and tried once more to relax.

“HELP!” Techno shot to his feet and got his sword, adrenaline pumping through is veins. Phil shot out of the house by his side in less than a second.

“Where’s that coming from?” Phil asked, eyes analyzing through the thick rain. Techno squinted at the base of the tree, someone was waving their hands in a frenzy. “There.”

Phil spread is wings wide and dived down from the tree. Wilbur rushed out of the house panicked, “What’s going on?”

But Techno had already grabbed a vine and slid down the tree before he could answer.

———————————————————————————

Philza dive bombed down from the tree. The rain beating down on his wings while he navigated towards the desperate pleas for help. Despite the harsh conditions he stuck the landing with practiced ease. It was Jack. The shrew had looked like he had seen death herself. The color almost completely drained out of his face.

Techno dropped down to his side, immediately his son was scanning for threats, leaving him to deal with the panicked shrew.

He laid a hand on his shoulder to give the boy some comfort. “Are you alright Jack? What happened? Is there any danger?” The bird spoke in a calm and clear manner.

“I-I was out hunting with my party and I got separated with my group a-and…”Jack got choked up on his words, he gave a pained cough. “I heard a noise, It was a rabbit I think…” Phil nodded his head and rubbed the shews shoulder.

“I thought I had found them after a successful hunt, but when I r-rounded the tree…” He gasped for breath before sputtering out.

“Phil…” Jack looked up to him with the upmost dread in his eyes, “It was a Naga.”

The Avian felt his heart sink to the depths of the earth. He was suddenly transported back to his old village. Fires raged all around him and giant snakes cackled, their bellies full of his neighbors, his friends…his family.

He was just a child when it happened, he thinks he only survived due to the mercy of lady death. He had barely managed to escape, his flight feathers had barely grown in, without his wings his savior came in the form of a river. He was surrounded by flames on all sides. A great beast blocked his path before him. It’s white scales glowing in the fire light, blocking any chance to escape. It had devoured all that he held dear and he was all that was left. A freezing cold river to his back, deep and violent. He had no other choice but to jump and pray that the river would take him to safety.

He was thrown this way and that, turned around and dunked under over and over again. He found security in a floating log and clung on for his life. His small pitiful wings soaked to the bone.

Once he finally made it to calmer waters he heard the gentle calling of an owl in the distance. A sound that would usually cause fear instead filled him with a reassurance that he would be alright. He had survived.

After he was washed to the shore of the river bank a group of traveling tiny hybrids took him in. They were going to a village, a safe haven for all tiny hybrids to escape the cruel grasp of a world much to large for them.

He became a strong warrior and a skilled leader, it wasn’t long before he was asked to be put in charge after the last elder pasted on. He took his place with pride and joy in his newfound home and made the village what it is today.

Then he found a new family to protect. One that he would not fail ever again.

Phil was brought back to reality by Techno shaking his shoulders. “Phil? You with us?” Techno’s eyes were worried and Phil’s hands trembled ever so slightly.

He looked to his youngest with eyes that have seen devastation. “Go sound the alarms, prepare the guards for the fight of their lives.” Phil was more serious than Techno had ever seen him before. He felt a deep pit of fear in his stomach at the look in his father’s eyes.

Techno signaled to a near by guard tower to sound the alarms. His long pink hair clung to his face in the heavy rain. The light flashed two times and in seconds a loud clang was echoing throughout the village warning them to seek cover and hide. Soldiers rushed to the great tree. Struggling to put on their armor and get their weapons in a short amount of time.

“Dad!” Phil turned around to see his oldest rushing to him. He was surprised to see Wilbur wielding a sword, his hair an utter mess, he even had a chest plate slapped on as if it were a last thought. “What’s going on?!”

“Wilbur, I need you to go warn the villagers.” Phil pulled his son along to the emergency supplies station. The healers already handing out the emergency bags to each villager. “I need you to hand out these care packages with the healers. Techno and I are leading the guard.” Wilbur looked utterly confused as big packs were shoved into his arms.

“Dad, what’s happening?” Wilbur’s words were panicked, he looked so unsure. Phil’s instincts only grew to keep Wilbur out of dangers way.

“Jack got separated from his party. He finally found what Techno has been trailing for months.” Philza looked to his son, he could since his boy’s growing dread. “He found a Naga, Wilbur.”

Wilbur threw the supplies to the ground and grabbed his father’s wrists. Phil was surprised to find the mouse’s dull craws griping into his skin.

“You can’t go. Please don’t go.” His son sounded more desperate than he ever heard in his life.

“We must. We have to protect the village, no matter how dangerous it is.” Phil softly pet Wilbur’s head trying to comfort his son, but Wilbur shook off his hand only to grab it in an even tighter grip. Wilbur looked strangely conflicted.

“He hasn’t hurt anyone. Has he?” Phil sighed and pulled his son into a hug. “It hasn’t hurt anyone yet. Jack said he was able to get away unnoticed.”

Wilbur nodded his head into his father’s chest. “Don’t worry Wilbur, we’ll exterminate it before it can cause any damage.”

Phil was suddenly thrown back from Wilbur, he was surprised to see a look of utter hatred. A vicious snarl took up his son’s face. “You can’t go.”

“Wilbur? What are you-” lighting struck the forest with a vengeance, the force alone shaking the ground. The smell of smoke suddenly filled the air, sending the village into a panic. Phil looked in the distance and saw a building orange glow. Tonight of all nights.

“Techno!”

His boy’s hulking frame was at his side in an instant, leaving the guardsmen fumbling with their armor.

“A fires broken out. I need you to stay here and help evacuate. Get them to the other side of the creek. I go to the Naga alone.” Techno snorted and crossed his arms, a determined look in his eyes. “No chance old man. You’re the one with wings remember?”

Phil looked to Techno with desperation. “You and the other avian soldiers, or anyone with wings, need to help carry everyone to safety. It’s the only way to get everyone safely out of the fire’s reach in time.” Techno lifted the giant axe of his shoulder and made his way towards his black and white rabbit Carl. He mounted his trusty steed and looked back to Phil.

“I’ll take the rest of the guard to handle our Naga.” Phil crooned and reached out for Techno’s hand. “I don’t want to lose you. Either of my boys.” Techno closed his eyes and bumped heads with Phil. “I promise you won’t Phil.” Then his son snorted once more. “Besides, this monster has never gone up against the Blade before.”

With that Techno raised his sword and called to his men. They began to march into the direction that Jack had come from. The hunt was on.

Philza watched Techno go. Fear deep in his bones. He’s be by his son’s side soon enough, he just had to get everyone to safety first.

He reached behind him to grab his eldest’s hand only to clench at the open air. He whipped his head around. “Wilbur?”

The mouse was nowhere to be seen. The emergency kits were still scattered to the ground. Where on Earth did he go?

“Wil?!” Phil called out, looking around for his son’s familiar form in the crowds. His calls and trills growing more frantic as more smoke filled the air.

Philza groaned in frustration and fear. He turned towards the avian soldiers, already guiding the villagers away from the direction of the fire. Phil shook his wings of the raindrops that collected in his feathers. He spread his wings and joined the men of his own guard.

Wilbur knew the safety protocols well, he probably just went to help gather people when the fire broke out. Phil could only hope that his son was being safe. His son wasn’t a fighter. He was always much better with his words. He could imagine Wilbur now, calming the crowds and giving them clear directions. His son knows to stick clear of danger.

———————————————————————————

Ranboo shot awake as Tubbo shook him violently, the first thing his panicked mind processed was the village alarm. Their eyes locked onto Tubbo’s own worried one’s.

“There’s a fire. It’s moving pretty slow, but we still need to get out of here. They’re relocating us to the other side of the river.” Tubbo quickly packed the pair’s essentials, he moved quickly and calmly. He grabbed Ranboo’s hand and rushed out the door.

But instead of heading towards the river, Ranboo found that Tubbo was pulling him towards the guard’s facility. “Tubbo, what are we doing here?”

The bee pulled Ranboo behind a stone wall a peaked over at the scene. The soldiers were frantically strapping on their armor and harnessing their weapons.

However the thing that puzzled Tubbo, was that only the avians and other hybrids with wings were helping those evacuate. The grounded hybrids were marching into the woods.

It gave Tubbo a bad feeling. “You see that.” The Bee nudged Ranboo to look towards the guardsmen. “They’re preparing for battle. Only half of them are on fire duty.”

Ranboo looked on in confusion before a scary realization came to mind. “You don’t think…”

“Oh, I know.” Ranboo squeezed Tubbo’s hand a little tighter, Ranboo’s heart skipped a beat as he looked out at the sea of sharp weapons. Tubbo suddenly raised his arm and pointed to a familiar form. “Seems that sorry excuse of a guard over there caught sight of Tommy. It would’ve been old Manifold.”

Ranboo couldn’t help but let out a little breath of relief. If it was anyone other than Jack, Tommy might’ve actually been in danger.

“We need to warn him. If the guard finds him first they’ll never listen to him.” Tubbo nodded his head, but his eyes were kept firmly held on Jack Manifold. “Jack didn’t run from the direction of our normal meetup spot. He was closer to the hunting grounds.” Tubbo narrowed his eyes in thought.

“The guard seems to be heading in that direction, but we can beat them if they’re on foot. Techno may have his Rabbit, but he’ll stay behind to lead his men. We can safely travel above and get to Tommy first.”

Ranboo nodded his head at the plan but then realized one flaw. “How will we now where Tommy exactly is? I don’t know the hunting grounds well enough to navigate them without some sort of sight aid, and neither of us are exactly trackers like the guard.”

Tubbo gave a mischievous laugh, his eyes gleaming with delight. “Well my dear Beloved…” Tubbo pulled a long strand of rope out of his bag, a smirk on his face. “That’s where our eyewitness and personal tracker comes in.”

Ranboo sighed in disappointment. Of course Tubbo would resort to kidnapping first, but at the end of the day this was a life or death situation. They’d just have to apologize to Jack later, after all Tommy was really the one who was in danger.

He looked up to see Tubbo was already heading in the poor shrews direction. He could only hope Jack would forgive them after all this mess.

———————————————————————————

Wilbur sprinted through the thick rain, his face stung from the many leaves and branches that whipped his face. He didn’t feel any of it. The only thing that was on his mind was Tommy.

He had to get his little brother out of here. He didn’t want anyone to hurt Tommy, and he didn’t want Tommy to have to hurt someone.

He burst into the clearing calling Tommy’s name, but the naga was nowhere to be found. Even with the rain beating down, the smell of smoke was still persistent. Wilbur’s nerves only increased the longer he saw no signs of the snake.

Frustrated beyond belief Wilbur hit himself in the head over and over. Think think think. If I were Tommy where would I be?

It was hopeless. The snake could be anywhere. He liked to hunt all over, and if he was hunting or here in the clearing he was probably patrolling.

Wilbur curled up with his arms wrapped around his legs. Praying to whatever gods that would listen that they would help him find his baby brother.

All that answered him was an owl calling out in the distance. Wilbur sighed in defeat before another sound reached his ears. It was not the graceful calling of an owl or the mud splattering from the rain. No this was a sound he was much more familiar with.

He took off in their direction, following the familiar cries for help and the angry voice of a certain bee. He stayed hidden in the brush as he observed the strange scene in front of him.

There was Ranboo, with a rather uncharacteristic anger in their eyes, wings crossed and his ears held firmly back. Then there was Tubbo, his hands gripped firmly in Jack’s shirt, screaming in the shrews face.

“WHERE IS HE?!” Tubbo shook him more. “I KNOW YOU SAW HIM! NOW WHERE IS HE?!” Jack Manifold looked utterly distraught, his arms tied firmly behind his back, completely stripped of all his weapons and perhaps his dignity.

“What’s wrong with you guys?!” Jack struggled in his restraints. “Let me go! Please! Are you guys crazy?!”

“YOU SAID HE WAS RIGHT HERE JACK! AND GUESS WHAT? HE’S NOT! I DON’T LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE LIE TO ME JACK!” All Jack could do was to plead for Tubbo to not sting him.

“Please! I swear it was right here! Why are you guys doing this?!” He looked to Ranboo for mercy. “Ranboo! This isn’t like you! Tell Tubbo to stop joking around! This is a little extreme for a prank! It’s not safe to be out here with it!”

Ranboo rolled his eyes and walked forward towering over Jack. Wilbur had never seen this side of Ranboo before. The bat sneered down at Jack, their fangs on full display. “Listen Jack, I tried to be civil with you at first. I know that you’re scared but our friend is in serious danger because of you. This isn’t some stupid prank, Now where is he?”

Wilbur looked at all the hope drain from Jack’s face. “Y-you’re hypnotized or something… It’s made you guys it’s dark servants.” Jack looked like he was about to pass out, Tubbo growled in frustration. “THAT’S IT!” Tubbo raised his stinger high, Wilbur guessed that was his queue to intervene.

He sprinted out of the foliage, “Wait!” Tubbo and Ranboo whipped around towards him, but their anger was soon replaced with… relief?

“What are you guys doing out here? There’s a fire!” Jack struggled to crawl towards the mouse. “Wilbur! Help me! They’ve gone insane!”

Tubbo and Ranboo ran over to meet him. Ranboo grabbed ahold of his shoulders, “Have you seen Tommy?”

Wilbur was completely taken aback. He began to question the last several months of his life. “You’ve met Tommy?!”

“All of us have!” Tubbo supplied, “Though, I don’t know if we should count Jack or not.” Wilbur was completely baffled.

“Why didn’t he tell me, or any of you?!” Ranboo looked a little guilty at that. “He told me he didn’t want you to know. He said he wasn’t supposed to be seen by anyone else, that was one of your rules.”

Wilbur groaned in frustration, of course Tommy would keep it secret. He didn’t want Wilbur to be upset with him. Especially if it happened after the incident.

“Whatever! That’s not important right now.” Wilbur looked to Ranboo with Desperation. “I haven’t found him. He’s not in the clearing, I have no idea where else he could be.”

Tubbo cleared his throat and gestured towards their hostage.“Well he should’ve been right here, or at least that’s what Manifold said.” Wilbur turned to Jack who was currently trying to wriggle out of his ropes.

“Was this where you saw him Jack?” The poor shrew wilted at Wilbur’s question. “Oh no… Not you too Wilbur…”

Wilbur huffed and crouched down to where the poor man was writhing. “Yes Jack, me too…” The mouse sighed and helped Jack to his feet. “I know you’re scared Jack. Your instincts are probably going haywire right now . Trust me I know.”

The mouse looked the shrew firmly in the eyes. “He’s not gonna hurt you.”

Jack let out a sharp wet laugh. “Yeah right!” Jack’s mind flashed to Blood coating sharp teeth, it slowly dripping down it’s chin. “Gods… you guys really are under it’s control! It’s using you guys to do it’s hunting for it!”

“Jack, listen to yourself! You’re spouting complete nonsense!” Wilbur pleaded but Jack wouldn’t hear any of it. People who he once thought were his friends lured him away from the village with the lie that someone needed help, now here he is, tied up and being lead to his death.

“You’re the one that’s talking nonsense! You guys are gonna get us all killed! We need to leave before it comes back!” Jack cried his voice wavering with anxiety.

Wilbur sighed, Jack was just a lost cause. He turned to Ranboo, the younger’s face coated in worry and stress. Tubbo tried his best to comfort him, but he himself had the shadow of doubt on his face.

Wilbur looked back towards West, the orange glow was growing brighter by the second, even with the ever persistent drops of the rain, but it just wasn’t enough.

“I don’t know what to do.” Wilbur stated defeated. Tears were brewing in his eyes, Ranboo and Tubbo clung to each other.

Wilbur closed his eyes, trying to conger any kind of hope, the cold rain trailed down his face, but then suddenly it wasn’t. He opened his eyes confused, as the rain was still hitting the ground all around the group.

“Wilbur?” It was quiet and fearful. It was pure relief. It was Tommy.

Everyone’s head bolted upwards. Wilbur cried out in relief as his eyes met familiar glowing red ones. Ranboo and Tubbo cheered, while Jack shrieked in fear, backpedaling away before he tripped backwards on a root and fell hard to the ground.

“Wilbur what’s going on? There’s a fire somewhere and everyone smells so scared…”Tommy slowly descended from the tree, eyeing the shrew shaking on the floor with wariness. “And what are you guys doing here?!” Tommy’s voice was strained and scared, Ranboo stepped up first to answer, but was cut off by Wilbur.

“It’s okay Tommy. I know.” There was shame in the snake’s eyes, tears started to poor down the boys face, he tried to apologize. “I’m sorry Wilby…I-I was gonna tell you, I was…I was just scared you’d get mad.”

Wilbur reached upwards and Tommy took it as his queue to wrap his tail around Wilbur and lift him up, they both tried to ignore the gasp that came from the shrew below. Wilbur squeezed the boy’s tail with all his might. “Tommy, I can’t ever stay mad at you. I just want you to be safe. I don’t want you to be afraid to tell me things.” The child nodded his head and then gently pressed it into Wilbur.

Wilbur was suddenly brought back to reality by his own words, he pushed back from the blonde curls and looked his brother in the eyes. “Tommy you need to get out of here. The guard is on their way.” Tommy looked shocked. “What?”

Tubbo suddenly flew to Tommy’s face. “Yeah, and they wouldn’t be if not for him…” Tommy turned his head down to the trembling form in the mud that Ranboo was currently trying to console. “Also not to mention the ever growing forest fire.” Tubbo added on as a afterthought. Tommy couldn’t help but let his eyes wander back to the unknown hybrid. His pitiful struggles catching Tommy’s trained eyes.

“Is he okay?” Tommy gestured towards the hostage on the ground, Ranboo had tried and failed to remove the restraints. Jack grew deathly still as he realized all the attention was on him. It was looking right at him.

He couldn’t even muster up a scream, the noise dying in the back of his throat with any hope of survival. “He’ll be alright. He’s just a big baby.” Tubbo explained.

Tommy felt guilt eat away at his heart. He sat Wilbur back to the ground and crouched down to their level, Jack tried to scoot away but Ranboo held him firmly in place.

“Hello…” Tommy tried but Jack stayed frozen. “I’m sorry if I scared you…” The naga looked to the too tight ropes digging into the shrews arms. “Here…let me help.”

Jack cried out as he was pushed closer to the monster as it reached out for him with it’s deadly claws. He squeezed his eyes closed as tight as he could, not wanting to accept his fate. But instead of the sharp claws piercing him, he found the tight pressure on his arms were cut away. He fell backwards as Ranboo dropped him back to the ground. “Calm down, you’re fine…” Ranboo huffed out. Above him he was met with a soft smile and kind red eyes. Nothing like he had witnessed mere hours ago.

“There you go, I bet that feels better.” The naga said with a sort of kindness that reminded him of Niki. Only she would make sure to ask if he was feeling alright in a stressful situation, and here was this great beast taking her place.

While Jack was still fearful, he couldn’t find it in himself to run away. The Naga had done nothing but treat him with kindness so far, and his friends, however crazy they were, seemed to trust the giant. He’d have to give him a chance.

“Come on Tommy, We need to get out of here.” Wilbur climbed onto Tommy’s head before turning to Ranboo and Tubbo. “You guys take Jack across the river to safety. I’ll go with Tommy to make sure he’s alright.” The pair nodded and helped Jack to his feet, determination plastered on their faces, while Jack looked unsure. “We’ll find someplace safe to hide until the guard gives up, and hopefully when the fire dies down.”

Wilbur gently patted Tommy on the head trying to provide any comfort. “Alright Tommy let’s g—!”

Wilbur could only stare in horror at the approaching arrow. Everything was happening in slow motion and he tried to cry out to warn his little brother, but it was too late. The next thing Wilbur knew he was thrown into the air and a painful near deafening scream filled his eardrums. Wilbur hit the ground hard, his back ached, and his ears ringing. He tried his best to get back up to his feet only to see Tommy clutching his right eye in pain, the younger was sobbing uncontrollably, unable to do anything but flinch as arrows with ropes imbedded deep into his skin. Wilbur ran forward and screamed for Tommy to run before he was pulled back and away from his baby brother. They were too late.

And there was the Blade in all of his violent glory. His bow now tossed to the side after having hit his mark. A single arrow coated in weakness had struck deep in Tommy’s right eye.

———————————————————————————

Little did the village know… another visitor was upon them. When the scent of this much fear and panic hits the air, it can travel for miles around even with all the smoke. It’s hard for someone to not come see what’s happening after their latest business deal. Especially if someone is quite familiar with one of the scents in particular. It seems he, had finally found one of his star pupils. A malicious sharp grin spread over their scarred white face. Snow white scales flashed with the strikes for lightning.

It was an excellent night for a hunt. The fear was almost overwhelming. He hoped he could control himself long enough to not go into a frenzy.

He first had to find what he had lost long ago, and make him pay for the pain they had caused him. It was never fun explaining how the champion you promised had disappeared with all the others, face wounded with one dead eye. It was even harder to kill half of the hunters who were less than forgiving of his slip up with his newly acquired wounds. Let’s just say he was grateful that rage was a motivator.

The remaining hunters were quick to be back on his side after witnessing over half of their men be slaughtered. Shameful cowards it what they were.

The Viper inhaled deep and long, letting the scent lead him in the right direction.

I’ll find you Tommy.

———————————————————————————

Wilbur was relieved it wasn’t a lethal poison, only his father would carry those. Techno much preferred his hand combat or rather his blade combat. Wilbur watched with growing dread as Techno started to make his way towards Tommy, sword in hand, the poor child was pinned in place painfully from the many arrows and ropes tying him down.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe now.” It was some random solider, pulling the mouse away, white hot rage filled the Charmer as he saw the Blade lift his black sword, his baby brother crying for help. Wilbur head butted the solider and reached for his own blade . The poor guard member sat dazed on the ground with a very broken nose.

Tommy was pulled to the ground now. His arms strapped down to his sides and his head pulled back leaving his neck vulnerable to any attack.

Tommy whined in fear, his one good eye blinded by salty tears. The Blade raised his deadly sword, ready to end it all in one fatal swing. Wilbur never ran faster in his entire life.

Instead of fresh blood pouring from a wound, Techno was met with sparks as his blade struck another with all of his force. How strange… Techno didn’t hesitate, he tried to strike down his opponent but they held strong. Every swing of his sword was met with one of equal strength. After a minute of hit after intense hit the pair stepped apart exhausted. When Techno looked up to meet his opponent’s face he was surprised to see the small form of his twin brother in the place of where the skilled warrior stood. Techno stood taken aback, nothing could of prepared him to see that he almost battled his own brother to the death. What was his brother even doing here? Wilbur took advantage of his shocked state and suddenly there was a sharp burning in his calf. His own brother had just slashed him. Techno fell to his knees and his hand was next. His sword dropped to the ground and was kicked away. Techno had a faint memory come to mind of him teaching Wilbur those moves when they were young.

“Wilbur?! What are you doing?!” Techno growled in pain. “What I have to!” The warrior cried. “I won’t let you kill him!”

“Him?” Techno looked to the Naga behind his brother. It’s one slit eye shot daggers at Techno, it’s growls rivaled thunder itself, and it was all directed right at Techno.

If he were a weaker man he would of cowered under it’s gaze, but Techno was not. He sat kneeled and took the beast’s rage head on, and glared at the monster right back.

A cry from one of his men caught his attention and he spun around quickly. He was surprised to see his men being taken down by his own students. Tubbo had already stung half of the guard and disarmed most while he did, while Ranboo made quick work of the potions, throwing them against trees and rocks and watching them shatter and poor into the mud.

Techno was speechless… what was happening? First his own brother protecting a monster and now a revolution. He turned back forward to face his brother, utter betrayal pumping through his veins.

“You would hurt your own Brother to protect that monster?” Wilbur remained silent as tears trailed down his cheeks.

A hurt deeper than Techno had ever know stabbed into his gut. His face contorted into a deep scowl.This didn’t make sense. Why would Wilbur…

The beast groaned in pain and strained against the binds. “Wilbur…” It growled and his brother called out a desperate reassurance to it. It wanted his brother’s help?

Then Techno understood. He understood Wilbur coming back late at night or not coming back at all. Why his brother never let him follow him into the woods and always seemed nervous when Techno asked where he was going.

He understood why Ranboo would show up to his potion lessons less and less, and why Tubbo seemed to never be in his study anymore when Techno would need him.

He had heard legends of creatures that could control minds or hypnotize their prey. Playing with their food by messing with their very minds. That had to be what’s happening.

This… this monster had made them into it’s pets. It had to have them in some kind of dark bind, forcing them to the forest when it wanted and making them obey it’s every whim. But worst of all It had brainwashed them into thinking it actually cared.

“Wilbur, Can’t you see?! It’s forcing you to be it’s pet! It doesn’t care about you, it’s only using you!” Techno desperately tried to bring his brother back to him.

More fuel was thrown onto the fire that was Wilbur’s anger. He stormed forward his eyes blazing. He gripped is twin by the collar now consumed by pure wrath.

“Listen to me now Techno, that boy who you call a monster is just a child. He hasn’t even hurt anyone! Then here you come charging in without even assessing the situation… Calling me hypnotized and under what proof…That is a child you’ve shot down with your bows.” His twins claws dug into his flesh. “I swear to the goddess of Death herself that if you kill my little brother, then so help me gods, I will never ever call you my brother again.”

Techno’s wounds burned from rain and sweat. He could only stare in shock at his twins words. His little brother?

Wilbur threw Techno to the ground and ran to the beast. He started slash at the restraints, desperate to get the naga free. He was soon joined by Ranboo and Tubbo. Ranboo splashing healing all over Tommy’s wounds. Even Jack was at the snake’s side, helping to remove the arrows and tend to wounds.

Techno’s men stood back awaiting more orders as they looked on baffled at the strange sight before them. The Blade himself could only sit and watch his brother in sorrow.

This was no longer his fragile passive twin, hiding behind him in a fight, this was a warrior protecting those he loved. He guessed Wilbur really his twin in every way.

Techno’s eye’s traveled to the face of the Naga… No…The child he had order his men to shoot down. Wilbur was there, gently tending to the boy’s wounded eye, pouring bottle after bottle of healing potion. Techno could only pray that it wouldn’t cause permanent damage.

Only one of the serpent’s arms were free. He couldn’t help but feel his heart spark with a fresh wave of fear as it reached out for Wilbur. The hand simple cradled Wilbur gently as he worked.

The thing that made Techno’s stomach turn the worst were the whispered apologies from the boy, repeated over and over again. Techno could only sit as if he were frozen in time.

———————————————————————————

Philza flew as fast as he could. The last of the villagers were safely across the river in a makeshift camp, the rest of the flyers where busy setting up a makeshift camp for the next few days. The fire chased after him as he flew, it burned the forest without forgiveness, the rain was doing it’s best to fight off the hellish flames, but it could not save all from the fires path.

The fire had already passed through the Village. It had suffered from the flames, shelter and cover burned away, but they had fought the flames off well enough that a majority of the trees, buildings,and shrubs survived. It would take a lot of work to rebuild and recover the lost shelter, but it could be done.

Now with his people safely out of harm’s way, he could focus on the other threat. Philza prayed that Techno was holding his own well enough. The old bird knew the power of these beasts first hand.

The avian patted his side where his poison arrows stayed. Reassuring him self that they were still there. He only had three, being unprepared for a fight, but he would have to make do. He had to try his best for his boys.

He followed the guards trail the best he could in the dark night. The rain weighed down heavy on his wings.

He flew with grace. Ducking and dodging around everything in his path. His speed only increased as did his heart rate when he heard a commotion up ahead.

Philza burst through the trees with his bow drawn carefully with his talons. There it was in all of it’s monstrous glory, it took all of Phil’s willpower to not let the arrow shoot right away.

It was down, but it appeared that one arm was free. He looked to the guard in confusion as to why the Naga was still alive. Then he saw Techno, bloody cuts lined his body, his hair a muddy mess of knots and tangles. He sat crouched on the ground almost like a plea of surrender, his sword tossed to the side.

He reexamined the Naga only to see that it was holding something in it’s grip, Philza’s heart stopped.

In the claws of the Naga was Wilbur. His boy that was supposed to be far away and out of harms way, was here. They very last place that Phil ever wanted him to be.

The avian was seething. These monsters stole his family from him once before, he would not allow that to happen again.

“NAGA!” Phil spit fire as he spoke, the rage of a thousand suns on his very own tongue. Every head snapped upwards at the murderous call.

“Release my boy now, and I will give you the mercy of a quick death.”

Philza flapped his wings steadily, he pulled the arrow back firmly, ready to release it’s deadly power. The Naga released is son almost instantly to Phil’s surprise, but what had Phil questioning reality what that Wilbur refused to leave the snake’s side.

“Wilbur! Move aside! I’ll protect you!” Philza desperately called to his oldest, but instead of running to his father’s call, Wilbur sneered and planted his feet apart and stretched his arms out wide, as if trying to shield the snake behind him. Phil was also stunned to see three others at the naga’s aid as well, there stood Ranboo, Tubbo, and even Jack?

“You will not hurt him.” Wilbur spat with such a venom he might’ve well become a serpent himself. “If you dare release that arrow I will jump in it’s path.”

Philza was completely taken aback. Why are they protecting him? Why would his son threaten his own life over a Naga?

He glanced back to Techno, only to see his boy staring right back, pure shame and regret in his tired eyes. Phil didn’t understand.

“Wilbur why would you—” A vicious cackle erupted from the night. One that struck Phil with such fear he nearly dropped out of the air right then and there, leaving the rest of the question to die in the bird’s throat.

A single emerald green eye, glowing eerily through the rain squinted in delight, peered out of the darkness of the trees.

“Well what a pleasant surprise .” Out of the forest crawled the devil himself. The fire was upon them now, it’s golden orange glow soaked into the Naga’s pale white scales, giving the illusion that this beast crawled out of the depths of hell itself.

Phil could only stare in pure horror at the Naga who had massacred is village, and took away everything that Phil had ever loved.

A sharp gasp and heightened breathing broke Philza’s spiral into despair. It was the restrained Naga, it’s breathing grew quick and panicked. The snake grabbed it’s four protectors with it’s one lose hand and pushed them quickly over to Techno.

“RUN!” It pleaded frantically, it’s voice strained and cracking. The White Viper howled in amusement at the scene before him. Phil suddenly realized just how small the first Naga was when in comparison to one that now towered over them all.

“Really Tommy? After all this time I would have at least hoped you’d learn to not play with your food. It’s quite bad manners you know.” The Viper clasped his clawed hands together in sick satisfaction. “And look at the mess it’s got you in! Oh how my once mighty has fallen.” The Naga fell back into a fit of crazed laughter.

While the Naga was focused on the smaller, Phil took his chance and aimed his arrow straight for the beast’s heart as it laughed away. The bird released the arrow with a perfectly practiced talent. Timed seemed to slow before it hit it’s target, but instead of imbedded deep into the Viper’s pale skin, it instead bounces of its chest and fell to the ground. Phil stared in shock at the sheer thickness of this monster’s skin. The laughter had stopped.

In an instant the Vipers tail shot out towards the Avian and smacked the little bird to the ground, a snarl on the snakes face. Phil cried out in pain, the sheer force of the hit cracking several ribs instantly. He hit the ground without forgiveness, his wing snapping next. He was nearly delirious with pain, he could faintly register is son’s crying out for him. He felt hands grab is cloak and pull him back. He opened his eyes to see Techno at his side, frantically shaking him awake. He could hear frightened screams and someone desperately crying for them to run. It was the first Naga.

———————————————————————————

Tommy thrashed and clawed at the ropes, screaming for the hybrids to get away. His eye still burned violently even with all of the healing potions. Wilbur’s dad lay crumpled on the ground, Wilbur crying out to him. XD looked on with disgust. Why did the Gods hate him so? The monster he had gotten away from all those years ago had found him at the worst possible time.

His tormentor. His captor. His abuser. XD. The Viper was all Tommy had ever know. He was told he was found alone as an egg. Abandoned and left in the snow. Somehow, Tommy doubted that, now that he knew the truth about the snake who raised him.

Everyday was true hell for Tommy the moment he could slither on his own. He once had siblings, all different degrees of deadly hybrids, though he was sure they were all gone now. They were forced to fight one another, told it was to keep them healthy and strong, and to protect them from danger. They were kept in separate cages when they weren’t fighting and carted to various towns and cities. Many of his sibling’s cages were taken away. Handed to humans in the cover of night with the promise of XD saying they’d be going to a good home. Tommy had once believed him when he was little.

Now Tommy knew the dark reality because his oldest brother found out the truth. His brother was something called a Warden. He was given to some humans with two of his other siblings, it was sad to see them go, but Tommy was also excited. Because Xd had said that someone was coming to pick him up that next morning. That he was going to go somewhere very special and be the Champion of a King. Tommy had never felt for happy in his life.

He had went to sleep as soundly as he could in a cage, but he quite surprised when Sam had woke him up in the dead of night.

He was alone. Blood had stained his claws and face. He let Tommy out first and then opened everyone else’s cages. He had took them away then he told them the truth.

That they we’re being sold. Sold to hunters, to kings, to fighting rings. That they were sold for their parts, for their strength, for their magical properties. Sam had been the only one to make it back alive.

XD had found them that night, screaming for them to get back into their cages, but Sam kept us safe behind him. The Viper was absolutely furious.

But Samm wouldn’t listen to XD anymore. He was a Warden after all, and they were know to be rather protective of what they loved.

They had escaped. Leaving then Naga with one less eye and more than a few deep scars. They hid in the forest, hunting and living together as a true family should. They were happy.

But then the hunters came and they had to run. Tommy wasn’t the fastest then, he wasn’t very big either. So he did what he does best. The Naga stayed out of view, hiding from the hunters while his siblings ran. He hid until the forest grew quiet and the night turned to day, but his siblings never did come back. He never saw any of them again.

Tommy was on his own. Learning to survive by himself and live among the trees. A silent and lonely life, and that’s how it was for a long long time.

Then he met Wilbur and everything changed, and he was happy. He finally had a brother again. But now that was all about to change again. Because he had screwed it all up. He had been seen and forced the guard to come after him, now XD was here and everyone was going to get hurt because of him. Why was he cursed with such a cruel fate?

“Tommy? Do your little pets not have any manners? Honestly, I thought I raised you better.” The serpent snarled and dusted off where the arrow had hit. “Really, the only good thing they’re for is to eat.” Tommy growled deep and long, XD only seemed more amused.

“You know…for how much you seem to care about them, they still seem rather afraid of you.” XD hissed a smile on his face. “I just so happened to be in the area after my latest business deal, when the smell of all this fear hit the air.” The Naga inhaled deeply though his nose and sighed in satisfaction. “It’s quite a mouthwatering scent, but I was pleasantly surprised to suddenly smell your fear mixed in as well… You see Tommy, I am still rather angry for you and your siblings running away, and that Warden definitely didn’t help your cases after he took my eye….”

The Naga gave a dark laugh as he looked at Tommy’s face. “Though now, I bet you understand how painful it is to lose an eye. Would you look at that…” XD gripped Tommy’s chin to meet his own scared face.

“We match.” XD spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone. Tommy only growled louder. “I’ll be honest with you Tommy, but only because I find you situation to be so amusing. I was just going to kill you first and enjoy the spoils for myself, but now I suppose I’ll let have one last meal. After all I do love to watch these pests get what they deserve, now which one took your eye.” He asked with a sharp grin. Tommy remained silent, not daring to make even a motion towards any of the smaller beings.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Someone shouted from the crowd. “Hmmm, who said that?” XD asked with a joyous expression. Tommy felt all the color drain from his face. His heart pounded against his chest. “IT WAS ME!” A lone mouse marched from the crowd, his family cried for them him to stop, a single sword drawn in hand and pointed right at the White Serpent. What was Wilbur doing?

XD cackled at the sight of the mouse. Where had he got all this courage? “I’ll suppose you’ll do just fine instead.” And Wilbur was suddenly scooped up in a soul crushing grip, the mouse suddenly felt bad for scolding Tommy for squeezing to tight, because it was like nothing in comparison to this. Wilbur wheezed, his lungs suddenly void of any air.

The crowd cried out, Techno and Philza louder than any of them. Techno rushed forward, his wounds gushing blood as he slayed the white scales with his sword. His constant swinging barley even left a scratch.

XD leaned down and flicked the rat away. He growled in anger and squeezed the pest in his grip even tighter, he felt something snap under the pressure…It’s leg.

Wilbur screeched in pain and XD laughed with pleasure.

“No please! Leave him alone!” Tommy begged reaching out for his big brother. “Don’t hurt him!”

XD tsked and shook his head. “Tommy, you should know by now to not get attached to your food.” The viper scratched his head as if in thought. “I guess I can’t trust you to not just store this one. More for me I guess.” Tommy watched in terror as Wilbur’s struggling form was dangled over XD’s deadly maw.

XD tossed Wilbur into the air and something in Tommy’s mind flipped like a switch. The restraints holding the red naga down all suddenly snapped away and he lunged for the white beast. He pushed the Viper back into a tree and bashed his head against it over and over. Wilbur landed on Tommy’s head, all the air rushed out of his lungs as he tried to recover from his second fall this evening. Wilbur desperately tried to grip Tommy’s golden hair to keep from falling, but his brother’s fighting didn’t create the most steady of holds.

Wilbur found himself falling once more that night before someone swooped down and gripped the back of his shirt. Ranboo held onto him tightly, but they we’re still approaching the ground at an alarming rate. Tubbo soon came from below and smacked into Wilbur’s middle. The mouse hissed as his leg was jostled around before he was sat far back from the battling giants.

Techno screamed for his men to retreat. If not to get out of the way of the giants, then to escape the fire that almost completely surrounded them now. Many refused until Techno ordered them to go warn the people across the river and to protect them from any other threats.

Philza was busy crawling closer to the raging giants, his bow in hand and two arrows left. Even with a broken wing, he could still use his talons to shoot. The red scaled naga was currently clawing at the White Viper’s gut. Their great tails fighting for dominance against the other, squeezing and strangling. Though Phil could tell that the red one was being to lose control over white.

Phil would have to take out the biggest threat first, then he’d worry about the smaller one. Phil pulled back the bow and aimed for the White Naga’s one remaining eyes. He waited for and opening. There. The white naga suddenly ducked down trying to strike at red’s throat but failing. The arrow flying safely above it’s head.

One arrow left.

Techno grabbed Ranboo and Tubbo and handed them to several guards. “Get them across the river and to safety.” The two kids shouted with displeasure and struggled in the solider’s grip to try and get back to Tommy. Techno turned to Jack and gripped his shoulder. “Make sure they get there.”

Jack nodded his head but looked unsure. “What about you three? Aren’t you coming?” Techno shook his head. “No, we’ll only slow the group down with our injuries, and I don’t think I could even get Wilbur to leave anyways.” Techno sighed as he began to hobble back to his twin’s side before he turned back. “I’ll try to get us to a safer spot, away from the flames, but Jack if you want to live I suggest you leave now. I know Niki’s waiting for you.” Despair stabbed through Jack’s heart and he saluted to his General for what maybe the last time. “I’ll see you later Captain.” Techno smiled and nodded his head. “See ya later, Jack.” Jack took off after the group, tears streaming down his face.

Techno pulled Wilbur over his shoulder shuffled away from the flames path as the naga’s clawed at each other’s throats. Techno squinted to see his father crawling closer and closer an arrow drawn. Fear pooled in Techno and Wilbur’s gut.

Wilbur’s hands were clasped tightly together, he was mumbling in prayer over and over again, “Oh please, spare them Lady Death. Have mercy on them.” Techno held Wilbur closer, and while he was skeptical of the gods, he too couldn’t help but say a silent prayer.

Tommy was losing his strength, he glanced to see that Wilbur was safely on the ground and that was enough to give him hope, but XD was so much larger than him it was only a matter of time before he could over power him.

“You’re nothing but a sorry excuse for a Naga.” XD snarled. “You would’ve been better off if those hunters got to you like the others, because at least they would’ve given you the mercy of a quick death!”

Tommy growled at the thought of his siblings deaths, tears coming to his eyes. XD yanked his hand out of Tommy’s tail and wrapped it around the younger’s throat, his claws piercing the child’s skin, Tommy fought to pull it back with his tail.

Tommy was losing strength with every second. His vision was beginning to fade to back around the edges, and his tail was growing limp. He used his last remaining strength to hold back XD’s claws.

“You’re just a stupid child! Did you really think you could defeat me?!” Tommy whined at the lack of air in his lungs. “I’ll make sure to eat your favorite pet first after I kill you. No….maybe I should make it my pet and drawl out it’s suffering, then I’ll bite it’s pitiful head off and watch the blood pour out!”

Philza drew the bow back once more. He let out a shaky breath and a prayer to Lady Death. He released the arrow and fell back exhausted. Eyes rolling back into his head.

Air rushed back into Tommy’s lungs as a horrifying scream left XD’s lips. The Snow White serpent was clawing desperately at his remaining eyes, blood gushed from the wound. Tommy’s eyes locked onto XD’s unprotected throat and lunged forward once more.

Tommy’s fangs sunk deep into the tender flesh and blood rushed into Tommy’s mouth. The Naga began to writhe in his hold, but Tommy only bit down harder.

Once the Viper’s struggles and cries turned deathly still, only then did Tommy tear back with a hunk of flesh in his teeth.

Tommy quickly spit it out to the ground with the blood that at poured into his mouth. He gagged on the disgusting taste. An oddly peaceful silence over came the forest, ever with the fire raging around them. The sky began to pour down harder than it ever had, the rain finally becoming strong enough to smother the fire.

Tommy slithered over to Wilbur immediately, the mouse reaching out to him while the Blade adverted his gaze. Tears fell with the rain as he gently cradled his big brother. “I’m sorry Wilbur… I never meant for any of this to happen.”

Wilbur gave a loud wet laugh that sounded more like a sob. “Oh Tommy, this isn’t your fault. This isn’t anyone’s fault. You’re still my baby brother and that’s all that matters.”

Tommy did sob into Wilbur’s small frame. Wilbur gently pet Tommy’s cheek before sighing and looking into Tommy’s eye. “Tommy I’m gonna ask of something that might be pretty big for you.” The blonde boy just nodded his head. “I need you to store me and my family and take us back to the village. It should be a safe place for you to sleep for the night.”

“But Wil…” Tommy looked to with with fear and uncertainty but Wilbur only smiled. “It’s the safest way to travel fast with all of our injuries, and I know your instincts are going wild right now.” The mouse laughed softly. “Yeah…” The boy admitted.

“They may not like it, but I’ll be right with you the whole time.” Tommy closed his eye and took a deep breath. “Okay…”

Wilbur scooted over to Techno and pulled him closer to Tommy. “Techno, this is Tommy. Tommy, this is Techno.” Techno glanced up at the child but quietly adverted his gaze one he saw his injured eye. “Hi Techno…” Tommy tried.

“I’ve heard such amazing stories about you. Wilbur was right, you really are the coolest brother.” Tears flooded from Techno’s eye as he finally looked up at Tommy.

“I’m so sorry… I didn’t know and now you…” Techno kneeled down before the golden boy. “ I don’t ask for your forgiveness, I don’t deserve it… But please know I’m forever in your debt.” Tommy nodded his head once more and then looked to Wilbur.

“Okay Techno, Tommy’s gonna do something that’s kinda scary, but I’m gonna need you to stay calm.” Techno looked a little uneasy as Wilbur approached Tommy’s mouth in front of him. “He’s gonna store us. I promise that you’ll be safe. I’m gonna go first so you can watch, but I need to know that you’ll stay calm.” He watched Techno for conformation.

His twin nodded his head but folded his arms together tightly. “Okay Wilbur…”

Techno watched in disbelief as his brother willingly crawled into the naga’s mouth, or as best as he could with a broken leg. Techno couldn’t help but imagine those sharp teeth biting down and cutting Wilbur right in two, but even with his nerves he stood his ground and let Tommy gently guide his brother inside the cavern.

Once Wilbur was fully inside, the Naga closed his mouth and tilted his head back. The blonde child sallowed in one go then he locked eyes with Techno. Soft purrs left the child’s lips before he shook his head and was quiet once more.

“Are you ready?” It was spoken softly and scared and it made Techno’s heart melt, even if the action did terrify him to his very core. But there was no other way as the fire surrounded them.

“I think so.” The bloodied lips parted before him and Techno was met with rows of deadly sharp teeth. Techno’s hands trembled as hot breath washed over him. He could only hope that Wilbur wasn’t wrong about this kid.

Techno took a deep breath and jumped in. The warm air of the mouth surrounded him in am instant, and in some strange way… it was comforting. The tongue beneath him began to softly coat him in spit, the loud purring started up again. Then after a few more coats, Techno was pushed to the back of the throat and swallowed down. It was tight but not unbearable and soon he dropped into a squishy bed of warmth. Next to him was Wilbur who immediately came over to comfort him, but Techno’s instincts were already please with the safe, dark, and warm surroundings. He held Wilbur tightly anyways.

“Tommy, I need you to go find my dad now. He might be afraid but I need you to be as patient as you can. If he gives you any trouble, Techno and I will settle him down.” A gentle pressure pushed down on them as Tommy laid a hand on his stomach. “I’ll find him Wil.”

Tommy’s eyes became mere slits as he scanned his surroundings. The fire’s light making the battlefield much easier to see. Tommy’s pupils widened considerably when he laid eyes on the crumpled form of the avian. He broken wing tucked closely to his chest and his eyes closed in exhaustion.

Tommy approached slowly and cautiously. This man was still a powerful warrior after all. “Excuse me…sir?” The avian’s head shot up, a wild fear in his eyes. “They’re gone aren’t they? My boys…” It was said with a sorrow of a man who had already seemed to know the answer. Tommy felt his heart break at the pure look of hatred that Wilbur’s father bestowed upon him.

Philza was suddenly a child again, his back to a river and facing a beast, his loved ones all gone. Fire surrounded them on all sides, and he couldn’t fly away. Grounded to the cold and unforgiving earth, but strangely this Naga wasn’t cackling with glee at Phil’s misery.

“No sir… I’m keeping them safe. I promise that they’re okay.” Phil laughed biter and cold at that. It was taunting him though.

“Beast, the Viper was right. It’s not very kind to play with your food.” Philza spit in anger, hanging his head low, not wanting the monster to get the satisfaction of seeing the fear in his eyes. He expected retaliation, for the monster to act out in rage and finish the job.

Instead the broken cries of a child met his ears. Philza’s head whipped up instantly, his instincts calling for him to help the child. It was the naga…

Phil looked up at the Naga in shock. He really was just a child. His instincts cried for the child as he realized that the Naga had the same scared look on his face that he had seen on himself reflected in the eyes of the monster that had tormented him.

Philza’s instincts began to overtake him and he couldn’t stop the soft coo that left his lips. The child’s crying stopped and his puffy eyes met Phil’s own. Phil suddenly knew that this wasn’t a creature that would hurt someone else willingly.

“You said my sons are safe?” The boy nodded his head but he still looked frightened. “T-they are with me…tucked away… they want me to store you as well…” Phil felt his heart drop at the Naga’s words. A charred branch suddenly fell next to the pair from above, they both jumped.

The boy scooped the bird up in his palms, Philza cried out in alarm, to powerless to even try to escape, but the boy just held him gently. “I know you’re afraid… but you’re gonna be okay. You’ll be with them again soon.”

Philza heart beat in is throat as he was suddenly lifted upwards to it’s lips. They parted open to reveal the creature’s deadly teeth and forked tongue. Phil was to exhausted to even fight as it dropped him on its tongue. Phil went limp and accepted his fate.

But the Naga never sliced him with his teeth, and he was gentle with Phil’s broken wing. This was nothing compared to what he saw his family go through.

When he thought about it he guessed the Naga had no real reason to lie. Phil supposed that even if the Naga wasn’t telling the truth he would be with his sons soon.

But with each promise of the safety of his sons, Phil’s instincts began to believe the child more and more. Even as he felt himself begin to side backwards into the back of the throat, Phil couldn’t find it in himself to be afraid.

The warmth that surrounding him made his already exhausted eyes grow heavy. He felt his consciousness start to slip away, when his journey down came to a stop he could since his boys hugging him. Phil fell into a dreamless sleep.

———————————————————————————

Tommy purred happily at the feeling of his storage being more full than it ever was before. He could feel the healing potions finally start to take affect. Tommy could even start to open his right eye again, although everything was still a little blurry.

He slithered with caution, avoiding what was left of the fire and the flames, the rain was in the final half of the battle, and it was winning by a long shot.

Tommy approached the thicket that protected the village, a lot of it was burned away, but the old trees and many of the buildings from what Tommy could see had held up well with minimal damage.

Tommy climbed up high in the largest tree and stretched out over the many branches. He fell into a deep sleep with the feeling of his new family stored safely inside him.

They’d tend to their injuries in the mornings, for now they got their much needed rest. From the stars above, a celestial owl looked down on the family with love. She had always know them since they were young, but now they had each other, and she wouldn’t let anything hurt them again. She sung softly into the night as the rain danced with her call.

———————————————————————————

[nobodywritingao3]

Your Love (Deja Vu) [ch 5]

Phil is panicking. He can't find the boys anywhere.

"Technoblade?!" He yells. He agonizingly waits for an answer before calling out to Wilbur and Tommy as well. The cold silence greets him.

They're not here. They're not here, where the fuck did they go?!

Phil inhales sharply and forces his brain to turn its gears.

Wilbur told him over breakfast that he was going to spend the day practicing guitar in his room. Techno had said at lunch that he was taking a nap. And Tommy had just shrugged a little when Phil asked what he was - andohshitfuckfuck, they tricked him.

He leans against the wall of the bedroom hallway and takes another breath.

He's less scared now. There had been images in his head of soldiers sneaking into his home and abducting his children, dragging them kicking and screaming from their bedrooms while he obliviously worked away in the garden. But the soldiers hadn't returned. If they had, he would have smelled them.

No. His boys just ran away. He ignores the pang in his chest.

Had their trip been that bad?

He pushes the thought from his mind. No, no, it had been fine. He's not the problem. He isn't.

Oh, what are they thinking? Scaring him like this... He shoves his guilt away.

He has to bring them home. It's not safe in the woods, especially at night, and especially for three human children.

Phil storms into Techno's room. For the first time since searching through, he takes note of the opened window. Wilbur's is opened too, but Tommy's is closed. He notes that they didn't bring much with them. Nearly all of their belongings are still in their rooms, and he almost lets himself hope that they plan to come back, that this has been a silly misunderstanding. But Wilbur took his guitar with him and he instinctively knows that unless he brings them back, they won't return on their own.

He exits the home and takes a look at Techno's window from the outside. He opens his mouth slightly, tasting the air. Tommy and Techno faintly hang in the breeze, and when he follows their trail across the perimeter of the house, he reaches Wilbur's window. All three scents intermingle, and though it's fast disappearing, he knows he can follow.

He frowns in thought. His human senses are dull and if he was able to survey the forest from his natural height, he'd surely find them sooner. But then they'd know he's looking for them and they might give way to chase. He'd still catch them but retrieval has to be a delicate process. He normally doesn't care about whether his prey is afraid or not, but these are his kids, not his food.

Their fear of him is restrictive, (and hurtful and heartbreaking and so, so shameful,) but he's willing to work with it. Work around it. He is their father.

With a sigh, he starts to follow the scent trail into the forest.

~

"No!" Tommy howls, kicking at Techno's back. "I don't want to go with you!"

"Toms, sunshine," Wilbur pleads, "we can't leave you there by yourself, you know that - "

"I wouldn't be by myself," he sobs, "I would be with dad!"

Techno bites down frustration. "Tommy! What did I say about calling it that - !"

"Fuck you!" Tommy spits out.

Wilbur readies to retort, but Technoblade shoots him a look. "Leave it be. We can discuss all that after we reach town."

Tommy wails inconsolably but his brothers pay no mind. Night is starting to fall and they'll need to find somewhere safe to spend the night before they start again in the morning.

They left Phil in the garden. For as long as they'd known him, he adored that garden to the point of tunnel vision. He would spend hours outside and usually only realized how much time had passed when the sun was starting to set and visibility became limited. Techno kept trying to explain that they had sundown before it was worth getting antsy, but Wilbur had been clearly terrified the whole time.

"We should find somewhere to camp tonight. Now, Tech." Wilbur fidgets restlessly with the straps on his guitar case.

Techno pauses and adjusts his grip on a still sniffling Tommy. "You've been saying that for the past three hours."

"Night is falling. I'd rather be safe than sorry and find somewhere now, before it realizes. Do you want to test how fast it can find us?"

He pauses and looks at the sky. It's starting to darken. Maybe Wil has a point. He gently sets Tommy down on the ground and combs his hair with his fingers.

"I have a cave in mind we can go to."

Wilbur frowns. "Won't a cave be more danger than it's worth? Monsters will start spawning soon too."

An edge of dread started to forms in his heart. They hadn't brought any weapons with them. He thought they would have reached town by now, but they still have a quarter of the trip to make.

Regardless, he knows somewhere they can stay. Techno points out the exposed side of a mountain, somewhere far off. "When the giant first took us, I scoped out the forest for months in case we needed to run away." He ignores the surprised look from Wilbur. "I know a few good caves. Trust me, we'll be safe."

He takes Wilbur's guitar and hands him Tommy, who is still distraught.

"The mountains are a little far, Tech. Do you think we can make it before mobs start spawning?"

He shoots him an unimpressed look. "Well if you'd said something sooner - "

"You mean the whole time?"

" - then we could have gotten there on time."

Wilbur rolls his eyes but the two start towards the hills anyway.

They walk for fifteen minutes and are almost there when the sun finally sets. Mobs spawn in the distance.

"Tech?" Wilbur looks solidly freaked out. "Are you sure there won't be anything in the cave? Which one even is it?"

"It's the glowing one, Wilbur. I set up torches there when I was eight, do you think I'm daft?"

Wilbur laughs nervously. "Of course not. I'm just - what the fuck, man? Can we appreciate how fucked this situation is?"

Tech sighs and doesn't say anything.

They continue walking in silence. Tommy's fallen asleep.

Wil swallows. "Did you ever think this was going to work out?"

He's quiet for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"Months looking for an escape route. And you hardly seem surprised that we're here. Did you ever think he could have been home? Or did you doubt the whole time?"

"I thought that... I though he was too good to be true."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Wilbur sighs. "Tech - "

An arrow lodges itself into a tree next to his head. He widens his eyes and ducks down just as another one is fired right where his eyes had been.

"FUCK!"

"Skeleton?!"

Tommy wakes up with a cry.

They start running for the cave.

The further they run, the more mobs seemed to appear. From behind trees, from a pond, from the dark. Somewhere to Wilbur's left, a creeper explodes and decimates a few trees. Techno hears Tommy screaming ahead of him. He hears his heart pounding in his chest.

"It's never been this bad before!"

"I fucking know!"

They dive into the cave. Most of the mobs have lost interest but a few zombies still drag themselves forward.

Techno curls his lip in disgust at the sight and pushes Tommy towards Wilbur.

"You want to go at it, hm?" He murmurs. "I've had the most shit week. Give me an excuse. Give me a fucking excuse."

Wilbur leans against a wall and slides down the side, clutching at Tommy. He closes his eyes and wills his heart to slow. At least the cave is well lit.

Tommy is still sobbing. He hugs him close. "Shh... I know. I know, we've had a really bad time, huh?" He can feel his jacket start to dampen with warm tears. He dully watches as Technoblade beats a zombie to its second death with a rock, screaming obscenities and threatening to do unspeakable acts to its family. He kisses Tommy's hair.

After about twenty minutes, Techno finishes and stomps back into the cave. He curls up roughly against his brother.

"How are you doing?" he asks after a moment.

Wilbur bursts into tears.

Tech sighs. "I'm sorry dad ate us."

But that just makes him cry harder.

They doze off like that, on the hard cave floor.

~

It's been two hours since Phil started his search, and he still doesn't have his boys.

The night has fallen. He's torn through hundreds of mobs.

He screams and smashes a spider's skull open, a lot harder than necessary. He rakes his hands through his hair.

It's been too long. The boys' trail heads directly for town. If they started at noon, when he first headed into the garden, then they'll still be an hour out, but God knows they don't know that, or else they would have planned more carefully. And none of his weapons were missing.

Fuck. Fuck.

He presses his palms into his eyes. The odds of them being alive are slim. So fucking slim.

A horrible mix of disbelief, grief, and panic overwhelms him.

It's his fault. If he hadn't scared them off, if hadn't been absorbed in the garden, if he had just looked for them as a giant instead of a human then -

He starts to cry. God. He's fucked up. He's such a fuck up.

He can feel his subhuman instincts start to cloud his mind. He sniffles and lets it happen. If his boys are alive, then he wants them back. Now. He doesn't care if he scares them anymore. And if they aren't -

God.

If they aren't, then he at least wants something to bury.

As the changes take over, he can feel his emotions start to fade at the edges as his mind starts to soften and become something else.

He opens his eyes and looks down. He frowns and steps on a creeper.

His boys. Where are his boys? The coil of fear in his gut hasn't lessened, but the grief has subsided enough for him to think.

The trees come to his knees. He idly crushes a zombie in his fist and eats its broken body.

Like this, his sense of smell is strong. He can smell them so clearly like this. He can smell Tommy's sadness, and Technoblade's fearful rage, and Wilbur's resignation. He can smell how recently they were here - only two hours before him. He presses forward and scans the area, looking for some kind of sign.

There's a glow in the distance. A fiery glow, but not the kind that comes from a forest fire out of control or a pool of lava in the dirt. No. Torch glow.

"Oh, Techno." A glimmer of hope ignites in his heart. "Sweetheart. You wonderful little genius."

With renewed energy, he moves forward.

~

Wilbur wakes up to a booming noise outside.

"Tech. Techno!"

His brother wakes up with a jolt and gasp, sitting up like someone's dumped ice water on him. His attention snaps to the cave entrance. A giant silhouette in the moonlight creeps closer.

"Fuck."

Tommy sits up excitedly. "Dad - !" Technoblade clamps a hand over his mouth but it's too late.

The giant hears. Its footsteps quicken.

Neither of them are thinking as they scramble up. Technoblade destroys the torches and shoves them into his inventory, where they won't make any light. The cave bends in a U formation and Wilbur runs deeper inside, clutching Tommy to his chest in spite of his violent wiggling. He curls up in fetal position as the cave goes dark, and just a moment later, Tech is there next to him, pulling Tommy into his chest and shaking like a leaf.

The footsteps stop outside the cave entrance.

Can the giant hear his heart?

Techno clamps a hand over Tommy's mouth.

They hear the giant speak. "Kids?" Its voice is raspy and soft. "Are you okay? Please come out of there, it's not safe."

Tommy wiggles harder and Techno can feel his brother's hot tears on his hand. He can feel his own tears too.

"Guys, please. It's just me."

That's the fucking problem.

WIlbur presses into him, sandwiching Tommy. "I thought we got away..." His voice is broken.

Techno suppresses a sob. He's the only thing standing between his brothers and Phil. He's supposed to be the oldest, supposed to keep them safe.

They can't see him from where they are, only faint moonlight being cast through the cave entrance. But suddenly the light is totally obscured.

Phil speaks again, his voice pained. "Please just come to me." It's practically a beg. "I know you're there, I can smell you. Let me take you home." He takes a sweeter tone. "We can put on a movie, or have some cocoa. Isn't it chilly out here? I can get you all warmed up."

Wilbur has no doubt that he can. Being inside his stomach had been -

He trembles.

None of them respond.

"You're scared. I know you are, but you have nothing to be scared of. My babies - I love you so much. Let me take care of you." They can hear him shifting around outside, preparing to do something. What's he doing?

They don't have to wonder for long.

Wilbur's heart stops as fingers start to curl around the edge of a wall. They're long. Taller than any of them by a lot, and they're feeling around and creeping closer. An index finger brushes against his guitar case where it leans against the cave, and it falls over with a soft thump. The fingers freeze and then they gently curl around the little instrument and drag it outside.

His shoulders shake in silent sobs.

There's a small exhale from outside. "Your guitar? Oh, honey... I'll hold onto this for you, okay? Just come out."

The fingers enter the cave again, more excited than before. "Are you hurt in there? Is that why you won't move? I can bring you out. I'll you get the three of you taken care of." His voice grows eager. "I can eat you up and take you home."

Wilbur bites back a whimper. Even Tommy stills in their arms.

There's nothing they can do.

When the finger brushes against Wilbur's back, he knows it's over. He harshly shoves Tommy into Techno's arms and prays that his little brother will stay silent.

The finger curls around his midsection and there's a relieved grunt from outside the cave.

Techno sniffles but doesn't do anything, knowing what's happening and knowing that there's nothing he can do. He presses himself further into the cave. He's failed as a big brother. Again.

As Wilbur is pulled into the light, he closes his eyes. The cool night air greets him and curls tighter into a ball, silently shaking from sobs and fear.

"Oh Wil, sweetie," Phil coos around him. The hand is almost pleasantly warm underneath him. A thumb starts to stroke his head. "Are you hurt? You have to tell me if you're hurt."

He hides his face in his hands and prays to the stars.

"Are your brothers hurt?"

The giant waits for a response that won't come. It keeps stroking along his back in a move that's supposed to be comforting.

"That's okay. We can talk about it at home." The giant adjusts his hold on him. "Let me eat you up, dear. That sounds nice, innit? We'll get you warmed up and safe from the world."

He's petrified but shaking. Against his will, a sob tumbles from his mouth.

The giant starts to coo again. He's raised to its mouth. He waits for the inevitable, but the giant just plants a soft kiss to his face. "What's wrong? Can you tell me what's wrong?"

Wilbur shakes his head. All of this is wrong. Phil is supposed to be his dad. He shouldn't get to act like a dad, say things that dads say, and comfort him like a dad, all while threatening to eat him. He doesn't get to threaten to eat him in the most dadlike way. It's wrong. It's cruel.

He can't help the sobbing fit that overtakes him. It isn't fair. 

The giant keeps whispering sweet nothings to him.

He hates that it works. He hates how it comforts him.

"I'm going to get your brothers out now. I'll get the three of you together, and then we can go home, okay? And I have your guitar in my pocket."

Wilbur is hardly paying attention.

When the giant finds Techno and Tommy, Wilbur knows because of the screaming. To his credit, Tech is putting up a fight. And he can hear Tommy wailing. Maybe it's sick of him, but he's glad they'll be together again. He was so scared alone.

The giant holds the three of them in its hands and whispers assurances, rubbing their backs soothingly with his fingers and occasionally kissing them.

Wilbur feels defeated. What can he do? He almost wishes Techno would stop fighting it. He's so tired of fighting it.

He settles into the warm skin and lets his body relax as the tears start to dry on his face. If he's going to die, is it so wrong of him to enjoy his last moments?

The giant sighs above them, noticing how he gives in. "There you go, dear. Settle down. Settle down."

Techno is brokenly sobbing beside him and Tommy just stays quiet and still, save for shakes in his little body and his eyes squeezed shut. Wilbur reaches out and pulls him into his warmth.

The giant coos above them.

"I'm going to eat you now," it says sweetly. "You'll feel better, I promise."

Techno screams even louder but the energy in Wilbur's body only seems to drain even further with that remark.

The fingers around them freeze, the whole hand seeming to tense up.

Techno doesn't seem to notice.

"I..." The giant sounds uncertain above them. "What's wrong?"

It doesn't sound comforting anymore, just confused. Deeply confused.

"Do - do you not want me to eat you?" There's almost a note of hurt in its voice.

Wilbur feels a faint spark of hysteria in his chest. Techno is still screaming. Tommy just huddles closer.

The giant doesn't speak and doesn't move to touch them. "Is that why you're upset?" And then softer, "Is that why you're upset with me?"

No one really responds.

"Oh. Oh. I'm sorry." It sounds sincere enough to hurt.

Wil can feel the giant stand up.

"I won't eat you then. Not tonight at least." Its voice sounds odd, a little strangled. "Let's go home, okay? You had a long day today, didn't you? Let's go home."

Wilbur is too tired for this. He falls asleep to the giant's swaying footsteps and the sound of his crying brothers.

[brick-a-doodle-do]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! ITS HALLOWEEN! THAT MEANS ITS TIME FOR A HAUNTED AU BECAUSE WHY NOT? :D I've been working on this for literal MONTHS because procrastination and writers block is a biiitch

The Act of Making Noise (i)

Words: 2427

TW: Swearing, Slight panic

—–—–—

“Techno, why are they so tall?” Tommy asked, leaning against the wall beside the hole the two of them used as a doorway. Near him, still inside the tunnels they’d made, was his brother, grunting and mumbling things  to himself as he pushed a glass bottle through the last little bit of the corridor. 

Techno huffed, in amusement. “They’re humans, Tommy. They’re tall. What did you expect?”

Tommy shrugged. While he’d never encountered a human nearing anywhere his size, he still had enough experience with them to understand that, typically, they were much shorter than the two that chatted incoherently in the living quarters the home had to offer. The blond folded his arms. 

“Of course they’re humans, I’m not fucking stupid. They’re taller than they should be.” Tommy pondered on what to say for just a moment, eyes scanning all over the home for a useful comparison. “You see that window?” He pointed to it, despite knowing full-well that his brother’s attention was on everything but him. “Well, usually, they don’t go very far above that little…bar in the middle of it. They’re nearly to the top of the window, though. Something is wrong with them.”

Techno let out a sharp exhale as he let go of the breath he’d held while pushing the glass onto the counter. The pinket looked at him, a faux look of interest all over his face. “You.. you found an alien, Tommy.” 

Tommy folded his arms, “I'm just saying,”

His brother huffed again, turning his attention back to the bottle. “Are you helping me with this?” He motioned to the glass that easily tripled his size. Tommy stared it up and down, eyes flicking back-and-forth from the humans to the bottle.

 “Is that really a good idea?” Tommy questioned after a small moment. 

Techno’s face fell, eyes glaring into his own. He snickered, trying to stay quiet. To be fair, he still was on the fence about it. While it seemed like a good idea and was often their go-to in situations like this, there was something off about the humans. Not the height or their appearance, but something Tommy couldn’t quite place. They looked so calm in a place that humans typically found unsettling. Between the quiet, brief fits of laughter and the subtle smiles on their face, nothing there looked like it usually did. And he found that a bit discomforting, even if his brother doesn’t. 

He watched through the corner of his eye as Techno shrugged to himself and returned to the bottle, leaving Tommy’s unsaid response in the dust as he prepared to continue on the job independently. He shifted his weight to his feet and joined the pinket, allowing Techno to make room for him before he placed his hands on the glass and applied little pressure while the two of them took small steps forward. “Won’t they see this?” Tommy spoke up, quieter now. 

“Humans aren’t that observant.” 

“If I saw a glass bottle fucking wiggling around on the counter, I would notice it,” he tried to defend himself.

“Tommy, that's why you’re a borrower, not a human.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, once again fucking defeated. He murmured to himself, reassuring his pissed off mind that he was right and they’d be caught any minute. Don’t get him wrong, he did agree with Techno that humans were more than dumb when it came to using their senses, but again, that feeling in his chest told him that the humans the two of them are currently dealing with aren’t like the typical cocky teenagers they get. But, he knew there  wasn’t room for argument when it came to his brother, so he kept his mouth shut.

Eventually, after a few moments of nearly stumbling over his own feet, they reached the edge.

This was the hardest part. 

Not the final push, that was easy, but the run back to the walls. The bottle didn’t take a while to fall, if anything by the time they began to make their journey back to safety, the glass would’ve already shattered and caught the humans’ attention. Usually they were pretty good at hiding.  But those were the days where the trespassers were spread out around the house, and didn’t have the same relaxed bodies like the current ones did. He assumed it would be easy for Techno, seeing as he’s older than him and has much better stamina than him, but Tommy doesn’t know if he’ll make it without tripping. 

Soon, before Tommy could form a proper plan and discuss his worries with Techno, his hands were no longer touching the cold material. Tommy wasted no time in leaving. Panic flooded throughout him as he took the lead easily, focussing far too hard on keeping his footing steady as he ran along the old counter. He approached the hole in the wall too slowly for his liking, still only a little bit over half-way when the bottle shattered on the ground. Shit. He added another tone he didn’t know he had to his speed, and found himself nearly sliding into the hole. His feet slid on the dusty surface, but he still huffed in relief of now being hidden away in the shadows. He panted, now slowing his movements down while he stepped aside, away from the opening. He watched as Techno came in after him, however at a much more calm speed. “You’re faster than me, that’s an improvement.”

“You didn’t give me a fucking warning,” Tommy complained, now holding a hand to his chest as it heaved, harsh inhales and exhales traveling through his lungs.

“Are you still scared of humans, loser?”

“No,” Tommy scoffed.

Techno looked like he wanted to say something, but he shut up when he noticed the new arrival of the humans.

The tall duo still held that awful smile, just adding to his theory. Tommy watched the two of them crouch and go almost out of view. The only thing visible was the very top of their heads, where similarly-colored hair lay atop. He swallowed, attempting to try and listen in on the conversation. But, it was pretty damn hard to do that when his heart was pounding in his ears. 

Tommy frowned, standing. No use in watching them if he couldn’t hear them, it would just pile frustration onto him. So, he walked past Techno and set off down the dark tunnel only slightly luminated at the end, where their makeshift home was.

The place itself was much more modern and clean than the rest of the house, but it still was small. It was a given, since they decided to dedicate most of their storage to different types of empty bottles and other fragile objects. Tommy noticed as he entered the main body of their home that they were running low on their stock of said bottles. A few of them rested in the corner, but not enough to last for more than two parties, if that.

The blond huffed as he sat on his bed, the almost-stiff “mattress” under him failing to act like a real one, instead making the dramatic fall almost uncomfortable. He has to admit that, even if he enjoys the so-called “easy life of a borrower”, he still hates the fact that their living conditions are so shitty. It would be much easier to live a life they had now, but in a home occupied with a human. Then maybe his life wouldn’t be so miserable when he overthinks it. But, then again, if they lived with a human, then he wouldn’t be able to have that freedom the two of them crave. But, then again–

“They left,” Techno announced, somewhat of a smile on his face. Tommy returned the expression, though his was more genuine and far more visible. The blond shifted to the side so his brother could take a seat next to him.

“Are you sure? They didn’t look scared.”

“I watched them walk out the door. Unless they climb back in through the window upstairs, they’re gone, Tommy.”

“They were weird, Techno. I thought you were supposed to be ‘observant’ or some shit.” 

“Weird or not, they are gone.”

—

Gone. They were everything but gone. The evening came and went, and by the time Techno was finally stirring with the sun, Tommy had already been awake for two hours to watch the humans. They arrived at an oddly early hour, with mounds of equipment that Tommy couldn’t name. Something was wrong, and he was right about that. And he thought Techno was supposed to be the more put-together and “smart” one. That’s total bullshit. 

Tommy hadn’t moved. He just sat in the shadows, right in front of the opening, studying every little thing the duo did. One thing that made Tommy disappointed and doubtful was the sheer amount of stuff they had. Under normal circumstances, humans usually only had a little backpack, if that – usually they had nothing.

But even after they’d discarded the overly-packed backpacks and multiple other things Tommy didn’t recognize, they still had equipment all over themselves. The one thing Tommy could recognize was a flashlight, something he’d seen the humans have more than once. And if he’s not mistaken, they’ve also set up many cameras around the home, which just added to the uncomfortably tight feeling in his chest. While he watches, he wonders what Techno would say. Tommy had been right this entire fucking time and Techno just had to be the “correct” one and not even stop to think for a second that sometimes Tommy can be exceptionally bright despite being the younger and the more unorganized one in their lonely duo. 

Small footsteps broke his train of thought and he looked up and to the side, where he could just barely make out the outline of Techno, who’s long hair was frizzled and made his appearance a small bit frightening. “They’re back, Tech,” Tommy said aloud, sounding a mix of unimpressed and cocky. 

“What?” Techno asked, his pace quickening as his brother rushed to the small opening in the wall. Tommy watched with a gentle smirk as Techno’s expression shifted into something of shock, where his eyes widened and his mouth went agape, like he was rethinking everything he’s ever said. 

“See, you should listen to me. And, and, they’ve got fucking cameras everywhere. Look at the bags by the window, Techno! I don’t think they’re leaving anytime soon,”

The man looked defeated. And, Tommy didn't expect him to do this, but he nodded. “..you’re right,” Techno admitted, and the blond scoffed. “Of course I’m right! I told you from the beginning that–”

“Now is not the time to argue about–”

The two of them paused when eyes landed right by them. Logically they were safe within the shadows but they still stumbled back behind the walls. “What the fuck, could they see us, Techno?” Tommy huffed, struggling to find his brother in the dark. “No,” Techno said, but he sounded unsure of himself, like he was just saying it to make himself feel better. 

Tommy tried to calm himself, knowing that even if the two humans had seen them, they wouldn't jump straight to the conclusion of a borrower, they’d start smaller. A mouse or a rat would be just as plausible. 

“Can we go?” Tommy asks. 

“I think we have to. To get a better plan.”

Tommy nodded and stood up, straining his eyes so he could make sure Techno did the same. They set off down the hall again. 

—

Actually visiting a house was fairly common, but returning a second time just a day after was a bit less frequent than they’d like to admit. Everything in a supposedly ‘haunted’ house intrigued both Wilbur and Ranboo, especially when they both agreed that something may be there, but their more advanced  equipment didn't typically make an appearance unless they were certain that something was there. And, after the events with the bottle, multiple apparitions appearing in photos they took around the house, and the uneasy feeling around the entire home that the two of them both noticed, was definitely enough to make them suspicious. Not completely convinced, not yet, but pretty damn close. 

“Here, set that there, and– yeah,” Wilbur instructed, watching as Ranboo set up one of the many cameras they had. The shorter of the two was working on a motion sensing device, one of two that they had. A lot of people they came across said that they might be a bit over-equipped, but seeing as this was just for fun, they had no problem with going all out. Besides, more is usually better. 

“Ranboo?” Wilbur asked as he leaned over to get a new device from his bag. He pulled out random shit he packed while looking for something easy to set up. “Yep?” 

“You know the bottle, from yesterday?” He pulled another camera out, however this one detected skeleton-like objects that stood in front of it. This was one that rarely displayed anything other than real humans, which was a little disappointing to them. But, then again, he couldn't really say that some of the other stuff they got didn't make up for a possibly-faulty piece of equipment. 

“I'd be concerned if I didn’t remember it. I mean, my memory is bad but not that bad. Why do you ask?”

Wilbur laughed, “I don’t know, I was just wondering if we could put something up there. Maybe another bottle, or a can, or something for this thing to move.”

Through the corner of his eye, he saw Ranboo’s head go in the direction of the kitchen, which was just across the house. Wilbur followed his gaze, staring at it. “It's worth a try, but do we have a bottle?”

Wilbur shrugged. Just as he did, movement from under him caught his attention. He looked down at the camera, hope sparking. “Ranboo, Ranboo, come here,” Wilbur gestured excitedly for his friend to join his side. He heard Ranboo set something down then shuffle his way. “What the hell? It works?”

On the screen, small green bars and white dots built up to create a perfect figure, however nothing was actually there. “I–I guess–” Wilbur exhaled, eyes wide and alert. There was a high grin on his face as he continued to study the unexistent figure. It moved just barely, the skeleton-like outline’s arm moved like it was waving. The duo were at a comical loss of words as they were both amazed and humored at the action.