Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

~The Knowing~

The God sighed, looking down upon what could only be described as infinite universes. Nothing like this could be understood by any mortal; that was clear. He sighed once again, or what would be called a sigh in mortal terms. As a god, he did not breathe, and for good reason, as the void he resided in had no air.

He looked down upon them and marveled at their lack of knowledge. The unknown that could only grace the minds of few. Most of those passed, living in the afterlife of those worlds. Mortals who have lived through much, too much, while others in their living realm continue to suffer.

He had the power to change that. The flick of the wrist, the snap of fingers, and these mortals would not suffer such terrible fates.

But that's why it must continue, isn't it? If all these people lived happy lives, they wouldn't differ from each other; they wouldn't experience the pain of truly living. It would be a godly paradise if he stepped in, made by something they wouldn't know. They wouldn't even know that their lives could be different.

And that's the sad part, isn't it? Knowing that these mortals don't have to suffer, yet knowing that they must anyway. If you were in the position of this god, would you set them free? Give them the life they wanted or deserved, many would say.

You could.

All in a split second.

And I'm sure many mortals would. But that's the problem, isn't it? Many would call this god cruel, but he isn't heartless; he just understands. That's something mortals lack; understanding. But it's not their fault; it was made to be that way. They weren't ever supposed to know and never will.

But who says a god can't have a little fun? You must surely understand the aching boredom that comes with staring at multiple universes go by, and why can't he change it a little bit? One might say he should know better, but I'm sure the same can be said about you.

Gods become bored, so they change the things they see. In this god's eyes: the fate laid before the mortals. Of course, this could be interpreted as the God abusing his power and using these people as pawns. After all, they can't fight back. But you don't understand, but that's okay; you aren't expected to.

The god sighed one last time before descending into the universe labeled the "DreamSMP."

Now, he knew this universe well. It sparked the creation of many more universes, which is something he must applaud; not all universes can achieve such great power. But, of course, he didn't dive straight into the living realm of the universe. Instead, he stopped at the realm labeled "The Superior," where the gods of the universe resided. He smiled when he came face-to-face with the god known as XD.

XD looked at the god with something that can only be described as shock. The gods in these universes had no idea of this god or what he liked to call himself; The Knowing or TK. TK smiled at XD.

"Hello, XD," TK's deep voice rumbled. If there was one way to describe the god's voice, it would be every voice ever to exist, talking all at once.

TK didn't overlook the slight tremble in XD's hand before straightening up. XD pulled the green cloak that covered his shoulders straight, along with the hood, over his head, before addressing the god that stood before him.

"And who may you be? I have no knowledge of another god being formed in my realm, so why is there a god I do not recognize in front of me?" XD asked. His hands continued to tremble, and TK realized it may have to do with his tremendous height. Most gods can manipulate their height, which does not exclude TK or XD. Yet TK overrode the other gods' power by always seeming 40 feet taller than their current state. It did not matter if they grew or not; he always would be unless he consciously made a change.

This would be one of those times. TK shrunk down to XD's size to show he meant peace. While XD was not one of his favorite gods, they had to be on the same page for what he wanted to achieve. The size difference did not stop the trembling in XD's hands, but it seemed to calm down the god a bit, which was good enough for TK.

"I'm one known as The Knowing or TK," he explained. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to clarify enough, as XDs expression did not change. TK sighed again, something that could be described as unhealthy for mortals. "I look upon all the universes that exist."

This led to XD giving him a questioning look.

"Unlike what you currently know, I am a higher up power than you," TK could see XD go to speak, maybe to argue, call his statement false, but it wouldn't get the conversation anywhere. TK cut XD before he could speak, "Although you may not like the thought, it's true, and it's something you must deal with."

XD's hands stopped trembling and instead turned to fists, but he did not speak. TK chuckled.

"As you may understand, immorality is boring," TK explained to the Watcher.

XD snorted, "You can say that again,"

"I would, but I do not want to waste such time," XD stood awkwardly. Did TK miss a joke? "But I have decided to meddle with your universe and others similar to it."

XD took a breath as though he was going to ask a question but closed it as though he had changed his mind. But he thought about it more because he asked, "Why mine?"

"Two reasons. First, your universe is… well… interesting, to say the least," TK explained, "Secondly, I believed you would be the most understanding, as you seem to also be quite over your universe." XD gave a nod, and TK chuckled, "I assume you would also enjoy watching upon such a thing."

XD thought about TK's statement before sighing. Oh, the thoughts of the immortal.

"I suppose you're right," XD said, looking at the rapidly changing face of TK. The face of every being smiled.

"Wonderful," TK stated. "Now, I must speak to other Watchers." TK left before XD could ask any more questions.

A Watcher was a god that looked over their universe, making sure it should run as it will. Other gods can live in that universe, but the Watcher is the highest-ranking god in that universe.

TK looked upon the many "DreamSMP" universes before deciding to enter the universe "This is Not an Act of Spite," ruled over by two Watchers, A-Author and Ellis. Universes didn't often have more than one Watcher, but that didn't mean it was impossible.

The god Ellis was giggling about something to A-Author before TK cleared his throat. The two Watchers jumped and turned around. Surprise laced their eyes, more so than XD's more skeptical look. TK believed he remembered there being no other gods in this realm, so this must be a surprise to see another being in The Superior realm.

Ellis stepped forward and looked TK in the eyes, "And who might you be?" Ellis looked TK up and down, trying to grasp any understanding. TK chuckled at the younger immortal.

"I mean no harm," TK said defensively, then thought about what he said. "Though, I suppose that depends on how you define harm,"

Ellis continued to stare TK down, and TK could see A-Author giving TK the same look. TK shook his head. "I wish to borrow some of your mortals," TK explained.

"What?! You can't just steal our characters," Ellis exclaimed. A-Author nodded her head in agreement.

"It would destroy the timeline we've created," A-Author agreed, thinking about the outcome.

TK disregarded their dismay. "I will simply stop your universe in its place; nothing will change. Then, I will grab the mortals I wish, put them in the scenario I've planned, and once they're done," TK snapped his fingers, "Bam! They're home. Memories of the scenario: erased, timeline: unpaused, and your story continues as planned."

A-Author looked over at Ellis, "I don't see the problem," they glanced over at TK before looking back at Ellis, "And by the sound of it, do we really have a choice?"

Ellis still looked very skeptical, "I still don't like the idea,"

A-Author sighed before putting a hand on Ellis's shoulder, "Me either, but what's the worst that could happen?" Ellis muttered something about the total destruction of their realm under their breath.

"Fine," Ellis sighed. Then, Ellis turned to TK, "And when do you plan on doing this?" TK thought about it.

"Soon," he said, "Very soon,"

"Ah, I love the day 'soon,'" A-Author deadpanned.

TK rolled his eyes. "I cannot give you an exact date," he looked the two in their eyes, "But you will know when your characters stop moving."

Ellis turned to A-Author like they could not believe what TK was saying. It just shrugged back.

"Great," Ellis pinched the bridge of their nose.

TK started leaving the universe and caught Ellis saying something as he left, "Hopefully, we never have to interact with him again, in our whole immortal-"

TK left the universe before he could hear Ellis finish their sentence.

TK looked upon the multiverse, looking at each swirling portal. Each one contained an uncountable amount of beings living the lives they always have. Their Watchers watching over them, creating the story they want to see. TK's eyes roamed before landing on the universe "Passerine."

TK entered the Passerine universe just behind the Watcher blujamas. She heard TK enter and immediately turned around. She was much calmer than all the other Watchers TK came across. Her eyes had a hint of curiosity, but nothing more.

"Hello," TK said lightly.

"Hello," blujamas responded. Blue power was radiating off her palms, showing that TK interrupted her in the middle of manipulating her universe. "What is it that you need?"

"I have a plan to combine some characters from other universes and put them all in a single universe, the DreamSMP. You've heard of that one, correct?" TK asked. blujamas hummed, confirming TK's questions.

A very few select Watchers knew of universes outside of those they already knew or watched over. They do not know how to contact these other universes, their Watchers, nor have they ever tried, as they know better than to stick their head where it doesn't belong. They simply knew these other ones existed and possibly incorporated that knowledge into their storyline, but that was the extent.

"Well, how long does this plan on taking?" blujamas asked, "I wouldn't want it to interrupt the Passerine storyline," She expressed her worry. TK shook it off.

"I will freeze your timeline to borrow your characters," TK stopped himself from saying steal because he wasn't stealing them, "Besides, none of them will remember their time on the DreamSMP."

Yet TK couldn't keep a thought out of his mind; if the characters somehow found their way back to the DreamSMP, their memories would be immediately restored. It's something that TK really shouldn't worry about because there shouldn't be a way for them to make it back, so he tried to ignore its lingering.

blujamas hummed, thinking it over. She closed her eyes, likely thinking about the possibility of anything going wrong. She must've thought of nothing as she sighed and said, "Alright, sounds good to me,"

TK turned to leave the Passerine universe, but blujamas stopped him with a thought.

"Will I be able to view my characters while they are in the DreamSMP?" blujamas inquired.

TK smiled at the question. "Why, yes, you will," TK clarified, "You can view the universe from The Superior void here. You will not be able to manipulate anything, but you can view them."

blujamas nodded, "I see. Thank you,"

"My pleasure," TK said, finally ascending out of the universe.

TK looked upon all the universes again, glossing over the IRL universe. Or otherwise known as the Original. The universe that started everything. All the universes, the whole reason there is a multiverse, was due to the IRL universe's existence. The one universe sprouted the existence of all the others. The Watcher of that universe scared him (It was older than TK himself), so TK made the decision to not take people from that universe. If that timeline froze, and the Watcher did not know why it would get mad; very mad. And that was the last thing TK wanted. TK knew that Watcher was the most powerful Watcher and may have the power to get to the multiverse and find TK; if it truly wanted to.

So TK moved onto the Manhunt universe.

TK planned on taking a character known from the DreamSMP as TommyInnit from each universe, yet the difference with this universe was that there was no Tommy in this universe. TK was visiting with the intention of taking Dream from the Manhunt universe.

The Watcher of the Manhunt universe was Callahan, a mute Watcher. Callahan communicated through ASL, and thankfully, TK knew every language, including sign language.

"Hello," TK signed to the Watcher.

Callahan narrowed his eyes. "Hello," he signed. TK noticed how warry the Watcher was. To TK's knowledge, this was a very warry Watcher, so TK is not surprised.

"I wish to take a few characters from your world," TK signed. TK got the nice long response of Callahan's narrowing eyes. "In the end, it won't affect your world's timeline, so there is no reason to worry, and you can view the whole process."

Callahan watched TK skeptically, maybe to find a hint of a lie. TK must be someone who seems like an honest person because Callahan nodded his head.

"That easy?" With a Watcher known to be warry, TK assumed it would have been harder to convince Callahan of his plan, but apparently not. All it took was a quick explanation.

Callahan replied with a shrug.
Honestly, Callahan's easy response made TK skeptical. Maybe Callahan knew something he shouldn't? Maybe TK should look into it? Yet, TK decided against it, as he was likely over-thinking, and it was all alright. So TK gave Callahan a nod and left; no reason to spend extra time in a universe when he didn't need to.

TK had one last Watcher to visit, yet two more universes to pull characters from.

See, it wasn't necessarily unusual for a Watcher to look upon multiple universes, but it wasn't exactly common either. Many Watchers looked upon many universes before most of them died out, leaving one to remain for them to watch over. Some Watchers begin watching one and only ever watch one. Some Watchers are able to keep multiple universes alive, watching over them all simultaneously, helping them move along.

The Watcher TK was looking for not only looked over two universes but many more. They were a strong Watcher with the ability to keep so many thriving. But TK did not need all those universes, he just needed two, and that's what he was going with the intention of doing.

TK visited the realm bonesandthebees was actively watching over: "The World Forgetting by the World Forgot." Although this wasn't the world that TK needed people from, it was still the place he would be speaking with bonesandthebees.

When TK saw the Watcher, she looked as though she was working intently on her universe. To try to grab her attention, TK cleared his throat.

That got bonesandthebees's attention, as she jumped and whipped her head around in surprise before calming down a bit when seeing TK. Not calm in a way that she trusted TK, but more in a way that she wasn't about to be jumped by a murderer.

bonesandthebees narrowed her eyes.

"And who may you be?" she asked.

"I am TK. I come with the intention of-"

"Okay, I don't need a long-drawn-out explanation, I'm busy, and I've got work to do," she deadpanned. She looked TK dead in his changing eyes, "Give me the short story."

TK huffed. "I wish to borrow some of your characters, and in the end, their stories will not be affected."

bonesandthebees sighed and turned away from TK. "I'm currently focusing on this universe. I can't simply give them up right now," she explained.

"I don't want characters from this universe; I want characters from 'Tommyinnit's Clinic for Supervillains' and 'Nocturnal Animals,'" TK politely corrected.

bonesandthebees turned back to TK. She didn't reply at first. She stood there, thinking about her answer, and TK let her. If she needed him to expand, he would, but it wouldn't help his case if he interrupted her thinking.

TK would say it took seconds for bonesandthebees to reply, maybe minutes, days, or months even. But he couldn't, time was a weird concept no matter where he went, and it was something he really couldn't be bothered to think about in his situation. But she did end up replying.

"And you're sure it won't affect their current world's timeline?" she asked.

TK nodded his head, confirming her question. She thought about it a little more,

"And I'd like to assume I can view them while you whisk them away to wherever you are taking them?"

"Yes," TK confirmed, "You'll be able to view them while they are at the DreamSMP."

bonesandthebees's eyes widened in surprise, "The DreamSMP? That should be interesting," she thought she mumbled to herself, but TK caught onto.

"You… know of the DreamSMP?"

Like TK had said, very few Watchers already knew of other universes besides their own. TK was just surprised that bonesandthebees was one of them. Maybe that would be a problem… but TK would assure that it wouldn't be.

bonesandthebees looked at TK and narrowed her eyes.

"I do," she replied simply, "Nothing to worry about, I hope?"

"It shouldn't be," TK said, leaving a half-threat in his tone, something that bonesandthebees wasn't deaf to. bonesandthebees tensed.

"Is that all you need from me?" bonesandthebees asked.
"For now," TK answered before leaving. TK wasn't oblivious to bonesandthebees's eyes that allowed him as he left.

That was it.

He had visited all the universes he needed to, and now he just needed to prepare it all.

He stopped the Passerine timeline and grabbed the characters he needed from there. He pulled the DreamSMP close, watched, and waited, for the right moment, before throwing the Passerine characters into the world.

TK smiled.

He watched and waited for the chaos to unfold.

Chapter Text

~Tommy~

Tommy walked down the prime path, allowing his feet to drag. He avoided the many holes that littered the path, knowing sooner or later that someone would have to change it because it’s borderline un-walkable. Yet Tommy had a nagging feeling telling him to not get rid of the path, it’s been there forever, and he can’t part with the old oak.

Wilbur had just been revived. The sun had risen above the horizon, shining on all four of them, and Wilbur claimed the sunrise as his. He said he was starting over, he would be better than he was when he left, and he would be a better person. He promised he didn’t even remember how TNT worked.

Yet the scene of Dream killing Ghostbur, sending him to the afterlife, and swapping him out, couldn’t leave his mind. It haunted his mind constantly, and it often made Tommy want to cry (sometimes he did).

Wilbur had slung his arm over Tommy’s shoulder, ranting about the beauty of the morning. Tommy couldn’t help but flinch at the contact. Part of him said he should calm down; it was just Wilbur. He has got to be better now, and Tommy should get over himself. But, the other part of him couldn’t forget Pogtopia. The yelling, the closed spaces, the crying. It lingered in his mind and kept nipping at him when he thought positively of Wilbur. 

He was supposed to be a big man. Not some emotional child. 

The path thought differently because Tommy didn’t see where he was going and fell foot-first into a hole. Tommy cursed loud enough for everyone in the area to hear before climbing back out, ignoring the dirt that now stained his pants.

“The world must hate me,” Tommy mumbled aloud to himself. He half-hoped someone heard him so that they could disagree and tell him that the world wasn’t against him. But he knew that they’d be lying to him, and he would just have to add them to his long list of people who have lied to him. 

He came up to the community house and stared at it. Tommy forgot where he was walking to. Maybe it was just away from Wilbur, but then again, Tommy hated being alone, so he wasn’t sure. 

The discs, Tubbo! The discs were worth more than you ever were!

Tommy thought back to when the community house was in shambles. Water pouring down the sides, bricks scattered everywhere. All Dream’s fault, of course, but no one had known that at the time. 

Had Tommy meant what he said? Tommy hoped he didn’t, but everything he’s ever done has pointed to yes. Tommy thought about the discs sitting in his enderchest, and he thought about Tubbo with Ranboo in Snowchester.

Tubbo with Ranboo.

Tubbo was fed up with Tommy, wasn’t he? He was tired of Tommy’s shit, and Ranboo was a better friend ( husband, Tommy thought bitterly)  than Tommy ever was. Tommy wanted to be mad, he did, but he couldn’t help but think of all the times Ranboo was there for Tommy, helped him, and honestly, he couldn’t blame Tubbo.

Tommy stood in the middle of the community house, unsure of what he wanted to do with himself. He stared at the classic crafting-table floor, letting out a small laugh, remembering happier times. Tommy stiffened, remembering how kind and happy Dream had been. When Dream had been… almost a friend.

Had been? He’s still your friend, though.

Tommy closed his eyes and prayed to Prime that his mind would just shut up. But instead, what caught Tommy’s attention was a whirring sound, similar to a nether portal, except Tommy wasn’t near a nether portal, and he commonly wasn’t.

Ever since his time in exile, Tommy didn’t like going through nether portals; it reminded him too much of his time there. The spinning while entering the portal reminded him too much of the feeling of looking down at the ground from high on his pillar. The nether, in general, just reminded him of when he was alone, hoping friends would one day walk through his portal, or when Tommy would stare down at the lava, or when he hallucinated Tubbo walking through the portal. He hated it, so he avoided it when he could.

So why was that sound haunting him? 

He looked up expecting a nether portal, yet came face to face with a swirling yellow portal attached to nothing, not even obsidian. 

“What the fuck,” fell out of Tommy’s mouth as he stared blankly at the foreign portal.

The portal didn’t like his language. Or it did. It was a portal; it didn’t have feelings. 

Two people came falling out of the portal and onto the ground of the community house. First came a man with a crown on his head, with messy brown hair falling over his face, and a royal outfit made for a king. The second was a man with braided pink hair down his back and an outfit made for an army general (It reminded Tommy of Wilbur’s L’manburg outfit if the country had been rich). 

Tommy stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do and who these people were. His feet were glued to the floor, and Tommy wanted to move, to run away, but his body willed him to do otherwise.

The brown-hair man groaned with the weight of the pink-hair man on top of him.

Tommy started panicking, turning to leave when the brown-haired boy said, “Ugh, Techno, get off of me,”

Tommy froze again. The voice sounded exactly like Wilbur. Yet, Wilbur didn’t have a crown or royal clothes. And,  Techno?  Like,  The  Technoblade? The one person who wanted him  dead ?

Tommy’s mind was telling him to run, run as far away as he could, and not look back, but his feet were glued to the ground, arguing with his head. If his legs won’t move, then maybe his hands will, he thinks and goes to pull out his communicator. 

TommyInnit: emergenc athe comunitiy house

Tubbo_: alright, me and boo are on our way

Tommy would have normally rolled his eyes at that, but he didn’t have it in him to care right now. 

The brown-haired boy (Wilbur?) groaned under the weight of Technoblade. 

“Alright, alright, I’m getting off of you,” Technoblade huffed, “You need to gain some weight,”

“I do not! You’re just very muscleur, and it makes you too heavy.” 

Now that Tommy thought about it, Technoblade didn’t look anything like Techno. Instead, Technoblade was a piglin hybrid, and this Technoblade seemed very human. It was almost creepy in a way. His eyes still pierced Tommy, something that always sent a shiver down his spine, yet now it seemed just a bit more human. Almost… trustworthy. ( Almost.  Like Tommy could trust Technoblade.)

Technoblade stood up, straightening out his jacket before noticing where he was and, most importantly, seeing Tommy.

“Wilbur,” Technoblade said, “I don’t think we’re home anymore,”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Wilbur asked, getting up off the ground. Then he looked around and understood exactly what Technoblade was saying. Wilbur also froze.

Wilbur? Like, the person he was running from? The person he didn’t want to see right now, that he didn’t want to see ever?

Yet, he seemed different. He  was  different. Sure, there was the obvious: he was missing his moldy jacket, and his hair wasn’t a rat’s nest. But, he seemed different as in he seemed like L’manburg Wilbur. He seemed like Wilbur who cared.

“Techno. He looks like…  him .”

Technoblade took a sharp breath in. 

“I know,” he exhaled, “I know.”

This snapped Tommy out of his mind just a little bit. 

“You know I’m right here?” Tommy snarked, “Bitch,” he added to the end, cringing just a bit at his own confidence.

Wilbur grabbed Technoblade’s hand and squeezed it. “He  sounds  like him,” Wilbur turned to Techno, “I’m not dreaming, right?” Wilbur asked, desperation lacing his voice.

Technoblade squeezed Wilbur’s hand back. “I promise you’re not dreaming again,” Technoblade said with false confidence.

Tommy’s face warped in confusion. “What are you all on about? I know you just got fucking revived, but don’t tell me you have memory problems like fucking Ranboob.”

“So, what’ll be the lesson for today?” A slimy-green boy asked a scar-faced man.

Everyone’s heads snapped to the voice coming from outside the community house.

Coming from the direction of Eret’s castle were Slimecicle and Quackity. Slimecicle was in the lead but taking circles around Quackity, no doubt making him dizzy. Quackity had a look of seriousness plastered on his face but was obviously trying to hide the joy he got from seeing the slime have fun.

Then Slimecicle noticed the people staring at them. He stopped right in his tracks, which made Quackity stop as well, whipping his head to see what Slime was staring at. Then, Quackity stiffened.

“Technoblade, what’re you doing here?” Quackity said nastily, “And where’s your royal outfit? Did it get muddy?” Quackity ended with mock dismay and a smirk.

Technoblade eyes warped in confusion yet held a protective stance over Wilbur, pushing him behind him. Technoblade’s eyes narrowed seriously,

“I have no idea what you’re on about or who you are, but-”

Quackity cut him off. 

“You don’t know who I am?” Quackity shrieked, face warped in anger. “Just because you’re strong and you have a monotone voice doesn’t mean you can-”

Without anyone noticing, Slimecicle had walked up behind both Technoblade and Wilbur. A bright smile was plastered across his face as he said, “Hi, Wilbur from Passerine!”

Everyone’s heads whipped toward the chirpy boy’s voice. Technoblade pushed Wilbur back, trying to cover him from both Slimecicle and Quackity, while Wilbur just let it happen, still trying to take in the situation and, most importantly, the blonde-haired boy who continued standing still in front of him.

“What is the green boy on about?”

“Actually, my name is Slimecicle, Technoblade from Passerine,” Somehow, Slimecicle’s smile grew wider. “And I promise you I’m 100% human!” He smacked his arm as if to prove a point, although green slime stuck to his fingers. Slimecicle noticed the green goo that now clung to his hand and immediately slapped his hand back down in an attempt to cover the slime. “No need to worry! Because I’m definitely not a slime which has been living under the ground for-”

“Thank you! Thank you, Slime,” Quackity cut the excited boy off. He motioned for Slime to come back to his side, and he happily bounced back over. “But no need to go on about that right now. I think he gets the point.”

The look Technoblade was making clearly said he didn’t and that he believed Slimecicle was crazy. Still, no one was going to comment on that.

“But what do you mean, ‘Passerine.’ It’s always been ‘L’manburg’ or ‘The Train Station’ even though I have no clue what that is,” Quackity explained, “But you’ve never said ‘Passerine.’” Quackity took one long look at Wilbur. “He doesn’t look like Ghostbur either; he’s missing the greyscale.”

Tommy bit the inside of his mouth, forgetting that only Tubbo, Ranboo, and Tommy (and Dream) knew Wilbur was now revived. “Hey, uh, Big Q,” Tommy spoke up just a little bit and tried to get his attention. 

Quackity snapped to who was calling his voice, and he knew exactly who it was. “Tommy!” Quackity said with a hint of surprise. Quackity’s face warped from confusion then to looking a little awkward. “Were you standing there the whole time?”

Tommy nodded his head.

“Ah, shit, sorry for not noticing, man,” Quackity groaned and apologized, pulling his hand down his face. “What’s up?”

Tommy cringed a bit before breaking the news to him. “Uh- so you see... Wilbur was actually revived not too long ago, so….”

Quackity’s eyes widened in surprise and left his mouth hanging open in shock. “He was… revived?”

Tommy’s whole body cringed a bit, but he nodded.

“Oh, um-” Quackity muttered, a little uncomfortable, “I’m sorry, I know Wilbur is a sore topic for you.” 

It was true, and Tommy knew it. He knew Quackity knew it. Although Quackity wasn’t there during the beginning, he was still there towards the end. Although Wilbur held back just a little bit during those times because people were around, it was still difficult for an insane man to hold back his thoughts.

“Hey, Wil-” Tommy called to Wilbur, only to be cut off.

“Oh my prime, can you just  shut up , Tommy?” Wilbur yelled. Tommy shrunk back, trying to ignore the eyes now on them. Niki, Tubbo, and now Quackity were with them in Pogtopia. It was a closed space, so they couldn’t exactly hide away from Wilbur’s angry screams. 

“I’ve been stuck with you in this hell-hole of a place for ages, and you can never seem to shut up! You only ever speak of useless shit, and I’m tired of it! So maybe be useful for once and keep your fucking mouth shut!” Wilbur ended his rant, practically fuming. 

Quackity saw that look in Tommy’s eyes. He was thinking back to Pogtopia.

Wilbur stormed off, leaving Tommy standing. He stood there silently, everyone waiting to see what would happen next. Tommy ran off, trying to get away from everyone, and Quackity tried to go after him. But Niki grabbed his shoulder and shook her head. 

At first, Quackity hesitated. But, in the end, he decided to stay. After all, he only joined Pogtopia yesterday; Tommy wouldn’t feel comfortable around Quackity yet.

“It’s fine big man,” Tommy reassured Quackity, his voice wavering, “I’m fine.”

Quackity wasn’t in any place to believe him, but he let it slide.

Then they both remembered they had an audience. The two turned back to the figures standing frozen still, eyes wide.

Quackity huffed. “What’s so shocking? You both know the kid. What, you think Tommy  loves  you, Wilbur?” Quackity ended it with a mocking tone.

Tommy wanted Quackity to shut up. Because honestly, he didn’t know if he loved Wilbur. Every part of him screamed no, but a tiny voice in the back of the mind still saw L’manburg Wilbur, caring when Tommy scraped his knee.

“You guys!” 

Everyone’s heads (except Tommy’s) whipped around to Slimecicle, having forgotten the green boy was still in the room. 

“This is Wilbur from Passerine, not Wilbur from L’manburg. Though I can see you can get the two confused, there  is  a clear difference,” The gooey boy ended with a smile.

Everyone stared at him in silence, trying to process what he had just said. Technoblade seemed to be the one to process it first, “Are you implying there are two Wilburs?”

“Well, duh!”

“Two Wilburs?!” Quackity exclaimed, “Last time I checked, there was only one-”

“Uh, yeah, I like to hope there is just one of Wil-”

“Oh, shut it, bacon. I wasn’t talking to you-”

“Quiet! The both of you,” Wilbur commanded, standing forward. He moved in front of Technoblade, dismissing the hand that tried to pull him away from the hostile people. “I’m getting tired of your bickering,” He said, staring down both Technoblade and Quackity. Wilbur looked at Technoblade, his eyes serious, “I think we know the bigger elephant in the room,”

Quackity didn’t, and he voiced his confusion. “ Bigger  elephant? You’ve just heard there’s two of you, and there’s a bigger elephant?”

“You said his name’s Tommy,” Wilbur said, indicating Tommy, who was now staring at Wilbur, waiting for him to say something else.

“Yeah? And what? It always has been,” Quackity said nonchalantly. 

Wilbur took a deep breath to try and calm his rattling nerves, “How is that possible when he died during-”

Wilbur was cut off by the yelling of a young boy.

“Tommy! What happened?!” Tubbo came running down the prime path and right into the community house, Ranboo tailing behind him. Tommy stood there not talking, and Ranboo headed over to him, grabbing an allium out of his inventory. Tubbo then noticed the two red flags standing in the room, and his eyes turned deadly.

“What the  fuck  are you two doing here,” Tubbo snarled, but Ranboo didn’t miss the way Tubbo backed up a little bit in the presence of Technoblade. He was sure Tubbo only had the confidence because Quackity was there, the one person who hated Technoblade just as much as he did, if not more.

“I think there seems to be a misunderstanding-” Wilbur tried to explain.

“Oh- misunderstanding my ass-”

“No, I think he’s right,” Tommy muttered. Tubbo whipped over to see Tommy. Tubbo’s face softened. “You missed quite a bit of info Big T.”

“So what should we all do then?”

Quackity took the opportunity to speak up. 

“I think we hold a meeting,” Quackity suggested, “And not just with us, but with everyone on the server,” Technoblade and Wilbur gave a confused look at that. Yet Tubbo, Ranboo, and Tommy were nodding along. Quackity pulled out his communicator.

Quackity: A meeting at the community house in 10 min

Quackity: This is serious

Quackity: As many people as possible, come please

Foolish_Gamers: Awww but I’m working on something

CaptainPuffy: Alright, I’m on my way!

awesam dude: I’m on guard right now

Quackity: You can afford to leave the prison unguarded for like, a couple minutes sam

awesamdude: . . .

awesamdude: fine I’m coming

Quackity: someone wake up sleeping beauty too

“Alright,” Quackity grinned, showing off a couple of his golden teeth, “Let’s get this party started.”

Chapter Text

~P!Wilbur~

Wilbur didn’t know what had happened in the past 20 minutes.

First, he had fallen out of a portal and into a whole new place. Then he saw him.

It was Tommy. 

Tommy had died years ago, and after a failed attempt to revive him, Wilbur thought he’d never see him again. So he buried him under the willow tree. Their willow tree.

It wasn’t Tommy.

His face was littered with scars from unknown reasons. His eyes looked like he was scared (of what? What hurt him?) and like he witnessed things Wilbur would never wish to see. He wrapped himself up with a blue-wool sweater, hugging it tight like his life depended on it (Maybe it did?). He spoke with a false sense of confidence, curling in on himself at any sort of outburst.

Where was his Tommy?

The one who smiled. The one who you saw a knife go right through? The one who picked golden flowers. The one who promised he hated you? The one who Wilbur held tight when he cried. The one who Wilbur held in his arms while he died?

Wilbur thought he had moved on. Wilbur thought he had grown. He left his guitar at his grave, and he thought he was starting anew. 

Yet seeing him standing there, staring right at him, just as frozen as he is. It broke him. Something inside him.

Now he was sitting at a swiftly made table (They cut down a couple of trees outside and made it in a couple of seconds, how in the world-) with Technoblade sitting beside him. Techno was staring at him, concern lacing his eyes. Wilbur shook his head, indicating he didn’t want to talk about it. Techno huffed but nodded, acknowledging him. 

Wilbur needed to take in his surroundings and try and attempt to understand what was going on. 

Wilbur took a deep breath in and out, calming himself, before looking up at everyone else at the table.

To his left was a boy with fluffy brown hair. He was wearing some sort of a sweater with a hood, and it was made up of multiple colors. A pair of goggles sat on his head, and Wilbur was sure that if light reflected off them, colorful lights would dance around the room. 

He was talking to a guy on his left. He had black hair with a white scarf tied across his forehead, holding back some of his hair. He was wearing a white shirt with a flame design stitched on it. He sat comfortably in his chair, one hand slung over the back of it, and was smiling at whatever the other boy was telling him. Wilbur didn’t like how similar he looked to the god that killed Tommy.

Next to him was a man who looked royal yet wasn’t acting like it. A crown sat on his head (so were mushrooms, was that sanitary?), which indicated the possibility of being a royal. He was also wearing a red royal cape (covered in moss?). Yet he had his head down on the table as if he was trying to fall asleep, which a person of royalty should never do, as it can be seen as rude. Wilbur couldn’t see his face, so maybe he was asleep.

Next to him was a person who wasn’t human. She had big fluffy, curly split-dyed hair; half-white, half-brown. Two large curling ewe-like horns came out the side of her head. Wilbur had never seen anyone like it before. She also was wearing a captain outfit, one out at sea. Wilbur didn’t know her at all, but he had already gained a little respect from her with the way she smiled and held herself; she looked friendly and approachable. She reminded Wilbur of Captain Puffy, who died during the war.

Wilbur wasn’t really sure what was sitting after him. He (Wilbur assumed it was a he?) was covered in green fur with black spots. He had a mask covering the bottom half of his face, and he had piercing-black eyes that sent a shiver down his spine. He also had a trident in hand that was shining purple, even though the trident itself was blue. He held the trident in a way that told people not to mess with him, and Wilbur hoped he wouldn’t have to.

Another weird creature was sitting after him. His skin was completely golden like Midas had touched him. His eyes were shining emerald green, and his teeth were pointy when he smiled. He was also holding a trident, yet he seemed much happier and approachable. He was laughing happily at whatever the ewe-lady told him.

Then at the other end of the table sat Slimecicle and the scar-faced fellow (Tommy called him Big Q?) 

Q likely had some form of power. He commanded Slimecicle around, and he also had gold teeth. While gold teeth weren’t something that Wilbur had never seen before, it was often something only Kings had. While Q didn’t look like a King, Wilbur could never be sure, and he had already been aggressive with Technoblade. Still, Wilbur didn’t want to deal with the possibility of fighting on foreign land. Not to mention without an army.

Slimecicle was an odd fellow. Slime littered his arms and hair, and even when it didn’t look like he was covered in slime, slime was left on Q’s arm every time Slimecicle brushed past Q. He also said there were two of Wilbur. Wilbur wasn’t sure how much he believed it. This other “Wilbur” was nowhere in sight at all. Yet some voice in the back of his mind was nagging at him, saying Slimecicle was right.

On Wilbur’s right sat Technoblade, who also seemed to be trying to get an understanding of his surroundings. Though Wilbur bet he was looking for different things like an escape route, people’s strengths and weaknesses. It was just how Technoblade functioned.

Next to Technoblade sat a man with curly hair that came to his shoulders, a crown with every color of gem, a beautifully gorgeous purple gown, and a red royal cape. A pair of tinted glasses covered his eyes and left Wilbur to wonder what he may be hiding. There was no doubt in his mind that he was a royal. Likely a king. From the way he held himself to how he smiled politely when he noticed Wilbur staring at him.

Wilbur smiled back, nodded his head, and looked away, slightly embarrassed that he noticed Wilbur staring at him.

Next to the king was a man who sat bitterly with his arms crossed. Short brown hair sat on the top of his head, and glasses (one side tinted blue, one red) covered his eyes. Wilbur couldn’t really gather much about him, especially since Wilbur wasn’t sure what covered his ears. Yet Wilbur knew the boy would wish to be anywhere but at this table. 

Next to him sat a boy (Big T?) whose eyes were completely covered by his brown hair. Two little horns that resembled goat horns poked through his hair, and on one sat a ring. Wilbur could see a scar on the boy’s arm and on the boy’s face (what he could see, anyway), and the severity of the scar made Wilbur wonder how the boy received it. He definitely seemed to be the over-protective type with how he yelled at Wilbur. Loyalty isn’t exactly a bad thing, though.

(Next to him was Tommy, Wilbur couldn’t stand to look at him right now.)

After that was another odd creature. Half of his face was black, and the other was white. On the black side, his eye was green and white freckles spotted his face. On the white side, his eye was red, with black freckles decorating his face. He also had two large horns coming out the top of his head, with a ring sitting on one. A long black tail also swished behind him. It was an interesting sight to see.

And that was everyone (People? Creatures?). 

Then Q cleared his throat.

The small chatter in the room quieted down, and everyone turned to listen to Q (except the sleeping royal; he stayed asleep).

“Alright,” Q said, gathering any attention that wasn’t already on him, “It seems that mostly everyone is here, besides the Syndicate and the Eggpire,” Quackity rolled his eyes at the two names; of what Wilbur could only assume were both empires? Everyone nodded, agreeing with what Q said. 

“So, the elephant in the room,” Q said, starring Wilbur and Techno down (Wilbur didn’t like the way it gave him goosebumps), “There’s Wilbur.”

It seemed that most of the people in the room hadn’t realized he was in there.

“Wilbur? Not Ghostbur?”

“He’s fucking alive?!”

Some people didn’t say anything; they just stared. Some people looked awkward like they were meeting a new face. Some people looked annoyed. Some smiled. 

Wilbur didn’t know how to feel. The person questioning if he was alive was definitely weird and didn’t leave a great feeling in his stomach. Maybe his anxiety was showing because Techno gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Wilbur gave Techno a nod, thanking him. Techno nodded back, acknowledging the silent conversation. 

“Woah, woah, woah,” Q raised his voice over the commotion, “Everyone calm down.”

It took a little bit for everyone to calm down. However, eventually, the room was quiet enough for Q to speak again (the sleeping royal was still asleep. How did he sleep through that?)

“Alright, so according to Slimecicle, this isn’t our Wilbur?” Q ended his statement in a question, looking back at Slimecicle in doubt. Slimecicle just smiled and nodded his head happily. Quackity gave an awkward smile back.

The double-colored glasses boy squinted his eyes. “What in the hell do you mean ‘not our Wilbur’?” 

“Um,” Quackity answered awkwardly, “I’m not really sure, but from what I gathered… Maybe this Wilbur is from an alternate universe?”

What?

The room erupted into chaos.

—

It had taken a couple minutes for everyone to calm down. 

Wilbur himself had trouble understanding that maybe there was another one of him, that he could be in a whole new universe. 

Wait.

Maybe that was another Tommy…?

It would make sense. Wilbur’s Tommy was dead. Not living and breathing. 

“Alright, alright !” Quackity yelled, getting everyone’s attention and drowning out Wilbur’s thoughts. “I understand how crazy that sounds! But it makes sense!”

“How?” T said flatly, not believing Q one bit.

“Slimecicle called him ‘Wilbur from Passerine’ and suggested there were two Wilburs,” Quackity explained, shrugging, “I guess it just made sense.”

“Made sense?” The fire-shirt man asked, “In what world does that make sense?” He warily eyed Slimecicle. “And you’re just going to believe Slime?”

“Yes, I am, Sapnap ,” Quackity responded bitterly.

Wilbur didn’t miss the tension in their conversation. Wilbur guessed there was old beef.

Sapnap (apparently, that was his name) rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. 

“I believe Quackity,” the royal with the rainbow crown said, glancing at Wilbur.

“Thank you, Eret,” Quackity said with a smile, appreciation shining in his tone, “But why?”

“Well,” Eret said, turning to Wilbur and, what Wilbur assumed, looking him right in the eyes. “Do you know who I am, Wilbur?”

“I know you go by the name Eret, and I assume you are a king?” Wilbur said, ending his answer with a question. Eret smiled and nodded, confirming Wilbur’s answer. Yet everyone else in the room seemed shocked.

“Is that all you know about me?”

“It is, but I would love to get to know you,” Wilbur said, trying to be diplomatic. 

“My point,” Eret said, referring to their conversation. It definitely confused Wilbur but apparently confirmed the ‘alternate universe’ theory.

“So you don’t know who I am?” T asked Wilbur. Wilbur shook his head. “Oh, my prime….” T muttered.

Apparently, T and Eret were important people to Wilbur, and he knew them well. 

“I think we should go around and introduce ourselves because this Wilbur and Technoblade doesn’t know any of us,” the ewe-lady suggested.

“Good idea,” Eret nodded, “I start.” He rose from his seat and said, “I’m Eret, King of the DreamSMP.” He sat back down, and the guy next to him rose.

“Ayup, I’m Jack.”

They continued around the circle.

“I’m Tubbo.”

“The name’s Tommy, bitch.”

“I’m Ranboo.”

“My name’s Slimecicle, but you already know that, Wilbur from Passerine!”

“I’m Quackity, leader of Las Nevadas.”

“I’m Foolish!”

“I’m Sam, Warden of Pandora’s Vault.”

“I’m Captain Puffy, but you can just call me Puffy!”

“I’m Sapnap, general of Kinko Kingdom,” Sapnap said, glancing at the man sleeping beside him. Wilbur assumed he was the king of the so-called ‘Kinko Kingdom.’ “That’s George. He’s asleep like 99% of the time.”

“I’m Karl, founder of Kinko Kingdom!” Oh. Turns out George isn’t king. 

Wilbur rose from his seat. “I’m Wilbur, King of [redacted].” Wilbur sat back in his chair as Techno rose beside him. 

“I’m Technoblade, General of the Kingdom of [redacted],” Techno said before sitting back down. 

“Alright, now that we know everyone’s names,” Quackity said, “Is it alright if we ask you some questions, Wilbur?”

Wilbur nodded. “As long as I’m able to ask questions in return,” Wilbur said.

“Of course,” Quackity agreed. “We know people in your world with the name Wilbur and Technoblade, which both look and sound very similar to you. We just wanted to ask, does anyone here look and sound similar to people here?”

Wilbur froze. “Y-yes,” Wilbur said, not liking the way he stuttered, “Puffy, Sapnap,” Wilbur said the last name with distaste. Wilbur didn’t miss the way it made the Sapnap nearby uncomfortable. “And Tommy.”

The room was silent.

Tommy took a sharp breath across the room, interrupting the deafening silence that followed Wilbur’s answer.

“So what I’ve gathered,” Technoblade next to him said, “Is in this world, Tommy and Wilbur don’t have the best relationship?”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Quackity muttered. 

Wilbur breathed in and out, trying to get a hold of himself before asking the question. “What did this world’s Wilbur do to Tommy?”

Wilbur watched Quackity glance at Tommy, trying to get permission to answer the question. Tommy nodded at Quackity and looked everywhere but at Wilbur. Quackity sighed.

“In our world, Wilbur abused Tommy.”

Wilbur’s world fell apart.

———

~Tommy~

Everyone watched as Wilbur froze at Quackity’s words. The whole room was quiet, watching Wilbur’s reaction. Were tears welling up in his eyes?

“Sorry, but I’m going to excuse myself from the room,” Wilbur said, his voice wavering, on the verge of bursting into rolling tears. 

Wilbur got up out of his seat and walked out of the community house; everyone was silent as he went.

“Do you mind explaining Technoblade?” Puffy asked, voice light and caring.

Technoblade took a deep breath. 

“It’s been difficult. Wilbur and Tommy were very close, going through the death of their mother, the departure of their father, then a brutal war,” Technoblade explained, “When Tommy died in battle when he and Wilbur had an argument, it wrecked Wilbur; it wrecked all of us,” Technoblade said, failing to hide his sorrow. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check on Wilbur,” Technoblade got up and left the room.

The room was silent.

Its silence was broken by Tommy’s crying.

Puffy jumped out of her seat and ran over to Tommy.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Tommy’s mind was racing.

Wilbur had loved Tommy. Maybe it wasn’t this universe, his Wilbur, or him; somewhere, sometime, Wilbur loved him.

Tears rolled down his face, Tommy unable to control them. He was beating himself up, telling himself to stop crying. He was making himself seem weak and vulnerable to the other people in the room.

“Tommy! Hey, Tommy!”

Someone’s shouting snapped him out of it. 

Tommy hadn’t realized, but he had curled in on himself, trying to hide from everyone.

Tommy looked up to see what was going on. Everyone was staring up above the table because there was another portal.

“What is that?!” Tubbo screeched.

Instead of a yellow portal like Wilbur and Technoblade came out of, this one was purple.

“That looks like the same portal Wilbur and Techno came out of,” Tommy nervously commented.

Quackity’s eyes widened. “Do you think that means more from his universe?!”

“I’m not sure!” Tommy replied, “Yet their portal was yellow, not purple,”

“Do you think this is a different universe?” Karl asked.

“Maybe-” Quackity was cut off by people falling out of the portal.

Four people fell face-first onto the middle of the Community House’s meeting table.

“What the fuck, man? I was sleeping…” says a voice that sounds a shit ton like Tommy’s. 

Yet that is when he sees it.

The fucking lime hoodie. The fucking mask, smiling that sinister smile. It smiled and told Tommy that it was his friend while simultaneously hitting him across the face. Pushing him underwater. Digging a hole. TNT blowing up. Jail cells. Dark obsidian. Closed spaces. Blood pouring down the side of his face. 

But it was his friend. It held him close (And muttered cruel words). It was there when he wanted it (Yet hiding away the people he needed).

Tommy couldn’t breathe. Tommy couldn’t think. Tommy couldn’t see. Tommy couldn’t-

“Tommy!”

What?

“Tommy listen, alright? Breathe in and out with me, okay?” Someone beside him took a deep breath.

Tommy tried to mimic it. Unfortunately, it was a weak attempt. 

“Hey, alright, so Tommy-”

Someone touched his shoulder. It felt like thousands of thorns dug into Tommy’s skin, and then the vine was lit on fire. It was Dream. Tommy had messed up. Dream was next to him, with his nails digging into his shoulders, and it hurt so bad . 

“I’m sorry-”

No, no, no, no. He was better than this! He was the TommyInnit! He was braver than this, stronger than this!

Tommy had to run. Tommy had to get away.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Tommy screamed and ran.

He didn’t know where to, just away.

His feet hit wood, grass, stone, and gravel, and then Tommy passed out.

—

Not too far away from Tommy, a swirling maroon portal opened. Out of it fell a vampire and a vampire hunter.

Chapter Text

~n!Tommy~

“Shit. Wilbur, are you alright?” Tommy asked frantically, climbing off Wilbur’s back.

Wilbur groaned.

Seconds ago, Tommy and Wilbur were packing up to run from the hunters trying to kill Wilbur when they fell face-first onto the ground, Wilbur underneath him. Tommy wasn’t really sure how it happened. 

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Wilbur confirmed.

That’s when Tommy realized they weren’t in his apartment anymore.

“Wilbur,” Tommy said nervously.

“What, what’s wrong?” Wilbur asked, getting up off the ground. Then he also realized. “Oh, shit.” Wilbur looked at Tommy. “Where are we?”

“I have no idea,” Tommy said truthfully.

Thankfully, Wilbur still had his backpack in hand, which contained his “wine” bottle, so Tommy wouldn’t have to worry if there was an emergency. Tommy also had his knife on him so in case they ran into the hunters, he could somewhat defend himself and Wilbur. 

Part of Tommy was telling him to run, that the hunters were close by. Yet, he seemed safe. He was in an unfamiliar place, which was surely unknown to the other hunters? If he ran into them, they could run and lose them in the forest.

“What should we do?” Wilbur asked.

“I think we stay,” Tommy said, “We’re in unfamiliar territory, so surely the hunters don’t know about this place? Besides, we can start exploring tomorrow to look for signs of life. It’ll likely be safer then.”

Wilbur nodded. “What do we do while we wait?”

“Good question,” Tommy said, “I dunno. Maybe we-”

Then Tommy heard the footsteps of something running. Fuck, maybe--? 

No. This area should be safe.

Sure enough, a thump indicated the person had fallen to the ground.

Tommy looked at Wilbur, whose eyes were thrown wide. Tommy mouthed to Wilbur to stay. Wilbur shook his head, telling Tommy that he was going with him. Tommy sighed, knowing that it would be pointless if Tommy tried to argue.

Tommy sneaked to where he heard the person fall, trying to get an understanding of what they were dealing with. 

Not far away, Tommy saw someone who looked exactly like him. His hair and his face were almost identical to Tommy’s. Yet it was covered in scars that Tommy never received from his job. 

“Uh, he looks a ton like you,” Wilbur commented, like the total genius he was. 

“Yeah, I got that,” Tommy deadpanned. 

“What do we do?” Wilbur asked, “Should we help him?”

Tommy wasn’t sure what they should do. It wasn’t every day he went from his apartment to a random forest with an unconscious person that looked suspiciously like him lying in it.

“Tommy! Tommy!” 

Wilbur and Tommy looked at each other when they heard someone calling his name.

“Do you think that’s a hunter?” Wilbur whispered, eyes wide.

Tommy shook his head. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t sound like anyone I know,” Tommy whispered back, looking back at the body of a boy lying in the grass. “Do you think he’s also named Tommy?”

Wilbur thought about it for a moment. “It would be a crazy coincidence, but it’s a possibility,” Wilbur replied. 

“Let’s see,” Tommy said, pulling Wilbur behind a big spruce tree. The rough bark scratched Tommy’s arm, but he ignored it. Instead, the two of them peaked around the corner when they saw the person who had been calling run up to the boy’s body.

She was unlike anyone Tommy had seen before. She had the clothes a captain of a ship may wear. In addition, she had a ton of white, curly hair that Tommy had no doubt was super soft. But that wasn’t the odd part. On both sides of her head were a pair of horns that mimicked a sheep’s. 

Tommy’s rational side of Tommy said he should just watch. His irrational side saw a sign of life and a possibility of getting out of this forest.

“Be ready to run,” Tommy whispered to Wilbur. Tommy was sure Wilbur didn’t know what he was planning, so Tommy was glad he just nodded.

“Shit, Tommy,” the sheep-lady said worryingly. “It’s okay, we’ll get you back-”

Tommy pulled himself from behind the tree to where the lady could see him. He kept his hand on his knife just in case. 

“Hey, lady,” Tommy heard himself say.

The sheep-lady looked up, staring Tommy in his eyes. At first, surprise laced her eyes, before confusion, then it seemed calm. 

“The name’s Captain Puffy, but you can just call me Puffy,” Puffy said, not moving from her spot. “You are?”

“I’m-” 

Shit, should he really tell this random lady his name? Doubt churned in his gut, yet something about her made him want to trust her.

“I’m Tommy,” He said, narrowing his eyes. Tommy gesturing to the body next to Puffy, “And what relation do you have to him?” He asked, wanting to make sure the other Tommy was also safe.

“I’m a friend of his, his therapist, which he doesn’t like to admit.” She replied, smiling. She got up from her spot, and Tommy stepped back a bit, trying to keep his distance. She noticed it, frowning for a moment, before replacing it with a comforting smile.

She sighed. “So this is going to be hard for you to believe me,” she said.

Tommy’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?” he asked.

“It was only a couple minutes ago when I and many others found out about the possibility of multiple universes. So I have reason to believe you are from another universe,” Puffy said.

Tommy snorted. “Yeah, right. And what, vampires don’t exist? Sure, lady,”

Puffy’s eyes blew wide. “You come from a world of vampires?! That’s so interesting…” she said.

“Wait, vampires aren’t real here?” Tommy said, shocked.

Puffy nodded. Puffy looked him in the eyes, serious. “I’m not joking about the whole alternate universe thing. I bet I could name someone you know with the exact same name and looks super similar to someone from my world.”

Tommy raised an eyebrow, doubting her.

“Tubbo?” she asked.

Tommy shook his head.

“Ranboo?”

Tommy shook his head, smiling. This lady was crazy.

“Wilbur?”

Tommy froze and pulled his knife out. “How do you know Wilbur?” Tommy asked, eyes narrowing. 

“There we go. I’m telling the truth. This Tommy,” Puff gestured to the one who laid unconscious, “Also knows a Wilbur Soot. We just met another Wilbur, who also knew a Tommy.” 

Tommy’s stance didn’t change, and he also tried to forget how she said: “knew.” Puffy sighed. 

“Brown hair, brown eyes, around 6’6”, probably into music, maybe potion-making, if that’s a thing in your world,” Puffy said nonchalantly.

Tommy stood there dumbfounded. Then he heard a crunch of leaves behind him. He whipped around to see Wilbur walking out from behind the tree. Tommy groaned, “So are we just going to trust this crazy lady?”

“I mean, yeah,” Wilbur said, “I’ve never seen anyone like her before, and yet she practically knows everything about me.”

“I didn’t realize Wilbur was with you,” Puffy said, surprised.

“Yeah, he is,” Tommy spat. Tommy glanced at the other Tommy. “Why is he out here just lying unconscious?”

Puffy sighed, “He had a panic attack, and during it, his thoughts just told him to run away, and that’s what he did,” she glanced sadly at him on the ground, “I guess he ran until he passed out,”

She looked back up at the two, “Would one of you mind helping me carry him back to the Community House?”

Tommy still  really  didn’t want to go with this random lady, but the other part of him wanted to make sure the kid was alright (not because it could totally be another him, which is fucking awesome-)

Tommy looked at Wilbur and raised an eyebrow, asking the question in secret. Wilbur nodded his head.

“Alright, we’ll go with you,” Tommy said to Puffy.

“Wonderful!”

Tommy went over and helped Puffy pick up Tommy off of the ground. Once they were all situated, they started heading back.

“Also, it might be a little chaotic when we get back, as new people from another universe just fell out of the sky,” Puffy warned him.

Tommy gave Wilbur a questioning look, and all Wilbur gave him was a shrug.

Great. This was going to be fun. Going to a random place with a random lady. Nothing was going to go wrong. Totally.

—

It had taken a little bit until they had gotten to what Puffy had called the Community House. Most of what they walked through was spruce forest, then they came across some homes, then a large castle, with a pride flag out the top and rainbow-tinted windows. The Community House itself was pretty simple, being made mostly of brick and a simple square shape. 

What baffled Tommy was how the Community House was floating on the water. He guessed it was magic-related somehow.

When they got close, Tommy heard loud shouting and arguing. 

“Oh god,” Puffy muttered, “I hope and pray to Prime that this new Dream is good,”

Tommy stopped, ultimately stopping Puffy as well because she was holding onto the other Tommy. 

“You also know someone named Dream?” Puffy asked, assuming he overheard her.

“Yeah…” Tommy looked at Wilbur, “He was trying to hurt Wilbur when we got sent here somehow,” 

“I see,” Puffy said. “Well, one, our Dream is in prison for the various wrong-doings he has committed. Two, another Dream just arrived, and I’m hoping we don’t have to try and throw him in prison too. Three, you probably arrived through a portal since the other two have as well,” she explained.

“Oh,” was all Tommy had to reply.

“Yeah, a lot has been happening, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all,” Puffy said, “And most importantly,” she pushed, “How to get y’all home,”

Tommy totally forgot about that. If this was truly another universe, then how the hell was he supposed to get home? Try and wait for another portal? What happens when Wilbur runs out of blood? Niki isn’t here to give him blood. Shit, this was worse than Tommy thought.

“Don’t worry,” Puffy assuaged Tommy, “I’m sure everything is under control,”

Everything wasn’t under control.

This dude with an ugly scar down the side of his face was yelling at a person who had to be Dream. Then another dude stepped in front of Dream, and he looked exactly like Tommy. How many other Tommys were there?

“Leave him the fuck alone!” Other other Tommy yelled at scar-face, “Dream has done nothing wrong!”

“You’ve got some nerve-” Quackity was cut off by Puffy yelling over all the commotion. 

“Everyone quiet!” 

Everyone shut up and looked over at Puffy. 

“I understand why you’re angry, Quackity, but we have no idea what this Dream is like,” Puffy explained.

“But-”

“No buts,” Puffy snapped.

“Thank you, uh-” Dream cut himself of uncertainty.

“Puffy,” Puffy told Dream her name. “But no need for thanks. If we find out you’re anything like our Dream, we’re having problems.”

Dream didn’t say anything else.

Tommy saw another Wilbur take a step forward. Dang, Wilbur and Tommy were popular with the multiverse. “What do you mean ‘your Dream’?” Wilbur asked. 

Puffy groaned, “You didn’t tell them, Quackity?”

Quackity sheepishly shook his head.

“Alright, everyone, sit down at the table. We’re having more conversations.” Puffy decided, “Tubbo, Ranboo: take Tommy to Snowchester,”

The two nodded and got up to take Tommy from Tommy’s and Puffy’s arms. The two took Tommy and headed through the Community House and out of sight. Tommy was sure the other Tommy was going to be alright, but doubt churned in his gut, and he just wasn’t sure why.

“Alright, I’ll make more chairs, and we’ll get calmed down.”

—

It had taken a while for everyone to get settled down. Quackity was sending death glares to Dream, and Tommy didn’t blame him. If this Dream also wished to kill Wilbur, they would have problems. Tommy was just glad his Dream didn’t also fall out of the portal from earlier.

Wilbur was sitting right next to him, and he seemed super nervous. Thankfully, he still had his bag on him, which had the ‘wine’ in it. Tommy knew that they shouldn’t tell everyone that Wilbur was a vampire, no matter if they had them or not because he had no idea how they’d respond.

The group of people who had been defending Dream was on one side of the table, warily looking at everyone else. 

“Alright, I apologize for the inconvenience, but hopefully, everything can be explained now,” Puffy said. 

Everyone just nodded, not offering anything else.

“So it wasn’t long before you all fell on our table when we found out about the possibility of multiple universes,”

Mumbles of disbelief flowed through the audience.

“I understand how crazy that must sound, but it must be true; there is no other explanation for why so many people here look like other people we know,” Puffy explained, “No other reason as to why they sound similar and have the same name. Plus, Slimecicle knows from which people came and has revealed places we’ve never heard of before.”

The boy, who was apparently Slimecicle, nodded his head and smiled. 

“Who am I?” Wilbur beside him asked. 

“You’re Wilbur Soot from nocturnal animals!” Slimecicle said cheerily.

Wilbur nodded, his question having been answered. Slimecicle knew Wilbur’s name, although no one had told him, and although Tommy didn’t know what nocturnal animals was, he believed Slimecicle. 

“And who am I?” the other Tommy asked.

“You are Thomas Underscore from This is Not an Act of Spite!” Slimecicle answered.

Tommy scrunched up his face at that, but the Wilbur next to him gave a small chuckle. 

“I think it’s best we all introduced ourselves,” Puffy suggested, “And maybe find a way to differentiate the multiples of people.”

“Maybe we call them something similar to where they came from?” Eret suggested.

“Good idea,” Puffy smiled, “Everyone from this universe’s names won’t change. So you two from nocturnal animals will just be called nocturnal Tommy, etc.”

Nocturnal!Tommy and Nocturnal!Wilbur nodded.

“The Passerines can just go by Passerine!Wilbur, etc.,”

Nocturnal!Tommy guessed that the Passerines were the other universe that he hadn’t met yet.

“And the people from This is Not an Act of Spite can just go by Spite Tommy, etc.,” Puffy decided.

That must’ve been the funniest thing ever because Spite!Wilbur burst out laughing.

“What’s so fucking funny, bitch?” Spite!Tommy questioned.

“It’s so ironic,” Spite!Wilbur gasped between laughs, “That spiteful Tommy himself… IS FROM ‘THIS IS NOT AN ACT OF SPITE,’” he continued laughing, “That  so  sounds like something you’d say,  Spite  Tommy!” 

“Oh, shut the fuck up! I’m not spiteful!”

It took a while for Spite!Wilbur to stop laughing, full of Spite!Tommy cursing Spite!Wilbur out.

“Alright, everyone, introduce yourself,” Puffy said.

Everyone went around introducing themselves. Of the people Nocturnal!Tommy recognized, there was Sapnap, Karl, Jack, and George. It was odd seeing them in another world, living completely different lives. It made Nocturnal!Tommy wonder how many other people he knew would live in this universe.

“What do we do now?” Spite!Technoblade asked.

“I’m not sure,” Puffy said, “But I think we need to work on how to get you all home,”

Everyone nodded. 

“Alright, does anyone have any idea on how to start?”

“I do!” Karl exclaimed, “The library at Kinko Kingdom is full of super old magic books that may be able to help us,” Karl explained, “I can start reading through them tomorrow.”

“Great idea,” Puffy agreed. “Hey, Foolish, do you think you could build the other universes some homes?”

That was a weird request. How the heck is he supposed to build multiple houses by himself in a small period of time?

“Ugh,” Foolish complained, “All I hear is ‘Foolish do this!’ ‘Foolish do that!’”

“We’ll give you some gold blocks!” Puffy offered.

Foolish groaned. “Fine, deal.”

Oh.

Foolish got up and started walking out of the Community House. “The things I do for these people…” he muttered on his way out.

“Great,” Puffy said after watching Foolish walk out. “You all feel free to look around; make sure not to break anything that looks too important. If you all have any questions, feel free to go and find someone to ask, though some people are definitely more welcoming than others,” Puffy explained with a bit of an awkward smile, “Just make sure that you all are here by night so we can get you guys into your houses,”

Holy shit. Not only was Foolish expected to build the houses quickly, but  tonight ?  In a few hours?  How the hell-

“Sounds good with me,” Nocturnal!Wilbur said beside him.

Everyone else expressed their agreement.

“Alright, have fun. Welcome to the hell that is DreamSMP!” Quackity said with a smile that was anything but genuine. He walked out and said, “You’ll learn to hate it here,” then Quackity was gone.

———

~Technoblade~

“Hey, did you hear about the meeting at the Community House?” Philza asked, pouring himself and Techno two cups of tea.

“Mhmm,” was all Techno gave him.

“What do you think that was about?” Phil inquired, sitting down on the couch across from Techno. It had recently formed a hole, and Techno was putting off fixing it up.

“I don’t know, and since it’s Quackity, nor do I care,” Techno deadpanned. He called Steve over to his side, and Steve sat down. Techno began petting Steve’s snow-white fur and then sighed. 

“Hey, Phil, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but I think it’s time I give Dream his favor,” Techno explained.

Phil raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And when do you plan on doing that?” Phil asked him.

He shrugged. “Not sure; maybe in a few days?” 

Phil took a sip of tea and nodded. “Alright, if you need any help, just let me and the Syndicate know,” Phil said.

Techno nodded and smiled. It was going to be exciting. The adrenaline, breaking into a “high-security” prison. Maybe release a couple withers? Dust off the old skulls?

And maybe he can give the voices what they want.

Chapter Text

~M!Dream~

Dream’s feet pounded against the nether brick ground. His breathing was heavy as he tried to put distance between himself and the hunters chasing him. The iron chestplate strapped onto him was digging into his side. Dream tried to ignore it as he turned around another corner.

“Oh, Dream~” George called out from behind him. Dream cursed under his breath because it sounded like they were getting closer.

Bad, Sapnap, and George were all chasing behind him, having caught Dream off guard collecting blaze rods. Dream had enough blaze rods for the end, but he had to find a way to get the hunters off his trail.

Unfortunately, Dream didn’t have enough pearls to just be throwing them around, so that idea was out the window. And Dream’s only pickaxe was close to breaking, so he wanted to avoid using it as much as possible. 

“This is it; we’re gonna get him!” Bad exclaimed to the hunters running with him.

“You’re screwed, Dream!” Sapnap taunted as they whipped around more twists and turns of the nether fortress.

“You are so muffined!” Bad taunted as well, a smile painting his tone.

Dream took a quick glance behind him to see them quickly gaining on him. Dream tried to ignore the sweltering heat of the nether as he tried to think of a plan. Dream came up on another turn.

Maybe if he turned left, he could-

Dream darted to the left, but instead of seeing more fortresses, an odd-looking swirling green portal stood several tens of blocks away from Dream. The sight made Dream falter only a bit, but Dream couldn’t back down now, not after his loss in the last Manhunt.

This portal that Dream was now running full speed at was unlike any portal Dream had seen before. Although the color was definitely an odd factor, it was the fact that the actual portal part wasn’t connected to anything. No obsidian, no end frames. 

Dream heard the hunters behind him voice their confusion as they also turned the corner.

“What the hell is that?” Sapnap asked.

“You don’t actually plan on going through that, do you?” Bad asked, getting a little nervous.

Dream just laughed. Portal Dream had never seen before and will lead to who-knows-where? Sounds great and sounds like a win for Dream.

“See ya!” Dream called out behind him.

Dream turned around just in time to see all three hunters freeze and go wide-eyed as Dream did a trust fall into the random portal.

Right as swirling green filled his vision, it all turned black as Dream fell unconscious.

———

~M!BadBoyHalo~

All of them stood there, shocked. Dream really just fell into a strange, random portal in order to escape from the three of them. He had fallen through and been transported to who-knows-where.

Bad knew it was illegal, but he pulled out his chat and whispered to Callahan.

BadBoyHalo whispers to Callahan :  Where is Dream?

Callahan whispers to BadBoyHalo: No clue. He isn’t on the server

“Oh, muffin,” BadBoyHalo cursed.

Sapnap whipped his head over to the demon. “What’s wrong, Bad?” he asked.

“Dream isn’t on the server anymore. Who knows where he could be,” Bad explained, worried.

Suddenly, Callahan appeared in front of the group. He was floating, indicating he was still in creative mode.

“What’s up, Callahan?” George asked, “Do you have an idea on how to get him back?” 

Callahan shook his head, and George groaned. Callahan pulled out his screen with chat, and so did everyone else.

Callahan: idk what to do. Maybe y’all should follow him  

“Follow Dream?” Sapnap asked sarcastically, “Into an unknown portal that will take us out of the server?”

Callahan nodded his head.

Sapnap groaned, “Ugh, why is this the guy in charge,” 

Bad shook his head, “I think Callahan is right,” He received a couple of annoyed groans at that. “I think we need to go after Dream and make sure that he’s alright,” Bad explained.

“Alright, just before we go, someone hand me some food. I’m running low,” George complained. Bad turned around and tossed some cooked pork to George. 

“Ah, fuck it,” Sapnap said before running straight into the portal and disappearing. Bad was mad at him for cursing, but he couldn’t say anything about it; Sapnap was no longer here.

“Ugh, muffin head,” Bad complained, “Let’s hope we don’t get memed.” Bad walked up to the portal. He stopped and looked behind him at Callahan and George.

“You coming, George?” he asked.

George groaned and waved off his question, “Yeah, yeah,” George ambled up to the portal and walked in. 

Bad now just stared at Callahan, and Callahan just gave him a shrug and a wave. 

“Alright, see ya!” Bad said to the admin before walking into the portal and blacking out.

———

~M!George~

George didn’t want to hunt this time. Everyone had hunted the last game; Sapnap, Bad, Ant, Awesam, and himself had all hunted. Yet when Dream said he wanted to do another round, Ant and Sam had immediately opted out, leaving just Bad, Sapnap, and himself. Another thing is Dream dislikes manhunts with just two people. So, George begrudgingly agreed to do another round.

Now because of this, George had gone through a random never-seen-before portal,

fallen unconscious, then fallen on top of ol’ Sapnap himself.

Sapnap huffed at the weight that had just landed on top of him. “Oh, get over it, Sapnap. I’m not that heavy,” George joked, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, but-”

Suddenly another weight landed on top of George, which could only be Bad. George groaned.  

“Who’s heavy now, George?” Sapnap taunted, barely having the breath to respond.

“Oh, shut up, you-”

Bad began climbing off George’s back, allowing him to breathe more.

“Alright, be quiet, you two,” He snapped, “Dream is at the bottom of this person-stack, so recommend you all get off before you crush him,”

George laughed a little at the thought but proceeded to climb off Sapnap’s back and onto the grass ground. Then George noticed that where they were was unlike anywhere he had ever seen.

Player-made buildings scattered the area, and a long oak plank path went right down the middle of it. George turned around to see a decrepit house made of a collective of odd blocks and another house built into the side of a hillside.

“Where are we?” George asked.

This prompted Sapnap and Dream to get up off the ground and look around.

“No idea; this shouldn’t be on our server,” Dream voiced his confusion.

“Well, that’s because we aren’t on our server muffin head,” Bad deadpanned.

Dream’s eyes shot wide. “We aren’t?! Then where the hell are we?” Dream questioned.

Bad shrugged. “Beats me,” he admitted.

“So… we can just wander around, then?”

Everyone snapped their head around to see who was talking. Not too far down the oak path, there was a group of five people walking down it.

“Oh, shit, people. What do we do?” Sapnap asked.

“Language,” Bad muttered.

“I think we should talk to them. If they’re friendly, we can try to figure out what is going on and where we are,” Dream explained.

“And if they’re hostile?” George asked.

Dream’s tone darkened. “Then I think we’ll just show them what we’ve got,”

All four of them started walking down the path and towards the other group. George noticed that one of the people in the group looked similar to Dream; they had a lime green hoodie, along with his signature mask.

George walked up to Dream. “Looks like someone’s got a fan,” George joked, elbowing Dream on the arm.

If George could see Dream’s face, he’s sure that Dream would be rolling his eyes. “They shouldn’t even know me,” Dream exasperated.

George didn’t miss how he said “shouldn’t,” meaning Dream wasn’t sure.

When the other group noticed them advancing, they stopped, and one said something that George couldn’t make out. After that, everyone in their group nodded and continued moving toward them.

Sapnap leaned over George’s shoulder and whispered, “What do you think they said?”

George just shrugged.

Sapnap rolled his eyes and continued walking.

Once they were within reasonable talking distance of each other, a dude with 3d tinted glasses called out to them,

“Hey, y’all. I really don’t feel like explaining much, so someone here is going to explain it for me,” he deadpanned and turned to the people behind him. “If y’all need anything else from me or a place to stay, feel free to head over to that tall red building,” he explained, pointing behind George. “And Slime should be headed over in a few.”

George turned around to see exactly what the dude explained: a tall, red building. Then the dude just walked past George’s group and moved on.

“Uh, what was he on about?” Dream asked the abandoned group.

“Alright,” a tall dude with pink hair stepped forward, “So, fun fact, y’all are in another universe,” he deadpanned.

George raised a doubtful eyebrow.

“I’m serious. I bet I know all of your names,” he said, his voice not faltering. “Dream,” he said, pointing directly at Dream. 

Dream huffed. “What? Is his name Dream too?” he said, pointing at the copycat. 

“Yup,” said the copycat,  with the exact same voice as Dream’s .

“Freaky,” George muttered.

“Yup, turns out just a ton of alternate universes are all being thrown into this one,” some dude with a yellow sweater explained. He looked at the people beside him, “What did Quackity call this place… the DreamSMP?” he guessed.

“Woah, I’ve got a server named after me?” Dream asked.

“Well  technically,  it’s named after the Dream that lives here,” some kid with blonde hair said. “And I have no idea what you mean by ‘server,’”

George looked at the people beside him, and he could Sapnap raising a questioning eye, but it clicked for Bad.

“So that even includes the fundamentals of our worlds all together… interesting….” Bad thought aloud.

George didn’t like the way pink-hair was warily starring at Bad.

Behind the group, in front of George, he saw some dude skipping up the oak path along with another dude with a nasty scar down his eye. Blonde-kid noticed George’s staring and turned around to see what he was staring at.

“Looks like the ‘slime-who-knows-everyone-in-a-totally-not-creepy-way’ is here,” blonde-hair-kid sarcastically commented.

The yellow sweater guy next to him rolled his eyes.

When they made it up to the group of people, the dude with the scar started the conversation.

“Hey, heard from Jack there’s more of y’all,” he said. Then he noticed an obvious group of four he’d never seen before. “Welp, of course it was the Dream Team,” he looked at Bad, “and Bad,”

Bad gasped, offended.

Scar-face rolled his eyes, “Oh, get over it Bad. Why don’t you run back to your Skeppy,” he laughed at his own joke, “Oh, wait, you can’t! He’s not here!”

Bad’s expression didn’t really change, except maybe confusion which scar-guy caught on to. 

“Wait… you’re telling me there’s a universe where Bad and Skeppy don’t exist together,” scar-guy said, mouth hung wide open.

Bad just gave him a shrug.

Scar-face shook his head, “Maybe this is what their divorces will lead to…” he muttered under his breath. Then, he looked up at his audience and smiled. “Alright, Slime, who are these people?” he asked Slime next to him.

“These people are GeorgeNotFound, Sapnap, Dream, and BadBoyHalo from Manhunt!” he answered cheerfully.

From Manhunt?

“Feel free to just call me Bad,” Bad explained to Slime.

“Of course, BadBoyHalo from Manhunt!”

Bad gave an awkward smile and a nod, making George snort. Bad glared at him.

“What does he mean ‘from Manhunt?’” Dream asked, voicing George’s confusion.

Scar-guy narrowed his eyes at Dream. “That’s the universe you came from,” he explained, some unnecessary spite lacing his words. 

Huh. Maybe this guy had something against this universe’s Dream? He wondered why.

“That’s so cool, actually!” Bad piped up, “That our universe is quite literally the title of our game!”

Blonde-kid took a step back. “You fuckers have a game called  fucking manhunt?! ” he yelled, “What the fuck?! Do you all just go around hunting people or some shit?”

“More or less,” Sapnap smirked, failing to add any bit of sarcasm to his voice.

Blonde-kid just stared at Sapnap, speechless. George rolled his eyes at Sapnap’s smug smirk. Way to go, Sapnap, scaring kids for a living. 

Dream gave a small laugh and shook his head. “No, no, no,” Dream corrected, “They just hunt me,”

Blonde-kid’s state didn’t change; just who he was staring at did. “What happens when you’re caught?” he asked, horrified.

“I lose,” Dream shrugged, “I die.”

Everyone’s eyes shot wide (except everyone from Manhunt, of course.)

“Woah, woah, woah, you mean to tell me you play this game for  fun!?! ” Yellow-sweater screamed.

“Uh, yeah?” Dream answered awkwardly.

“You’d lose a cannon life for that?!”

“You’d lose your life for a game?!”

Multiple people screamed at once, but everyone fell silent at the mention of ‘cannon life’ and whipped their heads towards scar-face (George really needed to learn everyone’s names). 

“What do you mean ‘cannon life’?” yellow-sweater asked.

Quackity gave everyone an odd look. “Uh, I mean everyone’s cannon lives? The three lives everyone is born with?”

What? They only got three lives? Everyone’s horror suddenly made sense. Their lives could be stripped from them while they just played a game with it for  fun . 

Goosebumps ran down George’s spine, making him shiver. 

He couldn’t imagine living with only three lives.

“You only have three lives?”

“You get three lives?”

Everyone snapped their attention to each other.

“What do you mean by that?” Dream asked the other group.

“It means everyone only has one life,” yellow-sweater said, narrowing his eyes at the people from Manhunt.

George’s eyes widened in shock. Scar-face had ‘cannons lives’ or something, meaning he only had three lives. But the other people, they only had  one life . Holy shit. That’s  terrifying . 

“Oh my god….” George heard himself saying.

“What? How many lives do y’all have?” scar-face asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

“We… well, we have infinite lives,” Dream admitted.

Everyone else froze in shock. George didn’t blame them.

“That would make your game make much more sense,” copycat Dream said (look, George knew he was from another universe, but he still found it funny to call him a copycat.)

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

“I wonder if… now that you’re here, you have three cannon lives?” Scar-guy wondered.

“We could,” Bad admitted. Then everyone stared at him. “N-not that we should try it!” He yelped, shaking his hands. “It’d be too risky,”

Dream nodded. “Yeah, I agree. I think we should be more careful now,”

Sapnap rolled his eyes, “Like George can do that,” he smirked.

George grunted. “It was one manhunt!” He argued, “It was one manhunt where I died over and over again, and I don’t ever hear the end of it!”

Everyone from Manhunt started cackling, but everyone else just kinda gave an awkward laugh at George’s complaining.

“Alright, I’m gonna go tell Foolish he needs to build another house,” scar-face said. “If y’all ever get bored, feel free to come to Las Nevadas and ask for Quackity,” he ended with a wink and a smile. He turned away and muttered to himself, “I can’t imagine what Foolish will want for all the building,” before Quackity was out of hearing range.

“Uh, what now?” Sapnap asked, giving an awkward look at the group.

“Well, we were headed to Snowchester if you wanna join us,” yellow-sweater suggested.

“What’s Snowchester?” George asked.

Yellow-sweater shrugged. “Beats us. Puffy mentioned it, and some kids walked there, so we guessed we should just check it out,” he admitted.

“Sounds alright with me,” Sapnap said, “We don’t really have anything else to do,”

Bad and George nodded their heads.

Everyone began walking in the direction the other group had been headed, Manhunt allowing them to lead the way.

“Oh,” Bad remembered, “We never really got your names,” 

“Oh, I’m Spite!Dream,” 

“I’m Spite!Wilbur,”

“I’m Spite!Tommy,” he said, sending a silent glare at Spite!Wilbur, “Don’t say shit, bitch,”

Spite!Wilbur raised his hands in innocence.

Pink-hair rolled his eyes at the bickering two. “I’m Spite!Techno,” he deadpanned. “We’re all going by our universe’s name then our real name since there are so many of us,” he explained, “Like you would be Manhunt!Dream,” 

“So your universe is just named ‘Spite’?” Manhunt!George asked, wrinkling his nose a bit at the odd name.

“No, although that would be funny,” Spite!Wilbur snickered. Spite!Tommy glared at him and Spite!Wilbur made the motion of zipping his lips.

“Our universe is actually named ‘This is Not an Act of Spite,’” Spite!Techno explained, “But that’s super long, so we just go by ‘Spite,’”

Manhunt!George nodded his head in understanding while he tried to ignore Spite!Wilbur’s attempt at holding back a giggle and Spite!Tommy punching him in the arm. They fought like a bunch of siblings. Maybe they were?

“Hey, are you two brothers?” Manhunt!George asked them.

Spite!Tommy stopped, looked at Manhunt!George, and made a face of disgust. “Me and bitchbur? On my fucking grave,” Spite!Tommy spat.

“Oh, come on! I’m not that bad!” Spite!Wilbur fought.

“ Look at me, I’m Wilbur, and everyone loves me!”  Spite!Tommy mocked and burst out laughing.

“Oh my god, you are the bane of my existence,” Spite!Wilbur complained with a smile.

Manhunt!George didn’t miss the way Spite!Techno huffed a laugh. To be honest, Spite!Dream looked a little awkward, and Manhunt!George wondered why he was with them.

“Alright, alright, let’s focus on heading to Snowchester,” Spite!Techno said.

Everyone nodded and continued walking along, ignoring the two “brothers’” small snipes at each other.

Manhunt!George took the time to take in the new universe or the DreamSMP.

It was beautiful, in a sense. 

See, with Manhunt, they never really stopped moving. Every time a game finished, they celebrated, chatted, then started again. They stripped the world clean, then started on a new seed, then again, and again. 

The DreamSMP was just so…  lived  in. These people had settled down and built their lives here. Sure, Manhunt!George wouldn’t be the first to admit that it wasn’t the prettiest server. Random sections of land were blown up by TNT, and odd structures scattered the land. But this place was a home to people.

George was snapped out of his thoughts by Spite!Techno’s knocking on the door of Jack’s place. It took a minute for Jack to get to the door, but he opened it up and greeted the people.

“Hey, what’s up! What do you lads need?” Jack asked, almost a little too cheerfully, borderline fake. Is that his customer service voice-?

“We just wanted to ask how to get to Snowchester,” Spite!Dream explained.

Apparently, that wasn’t what Jack wanted to hear because his mood completely deflated.

“Oh, uh, walk towards the end of the path, then keep walking until you see a stone-brick passageway. In it will be water, so just walk across the top of it. Then you’ll be in Snowchester,” Jack explained.

“Oh, alright, thank yo-” 

Spite!Wilbur was cut off by Jack slamming the door in his face.

“Well, he’s a bit of a bitch,” Spite!Tommy muttered.

Manhunt!George couldn’t help but agree with that statement.

“Well, off to Snowchester!” Manhunt!Sapnap declared, leading the group.

Manhunt!George walked with them but ran up to where Manhunt!Dream was walking, so they were walking side by side.

“What’s up?” Manhunt!Dream asked, glancing at Manhunt!George.

He shrugged. “Nothing, really.” Then he looked at Manhunt! Dream’s stupid little smiley mask. “How do you think we get home?”

Manhunt!Dream stopped for just a moment but picked his steps right back up. “I hadn’t thought about that,” he admitted. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

They continued walking side by side in silence.

“But let’s enjoy ourselves while we’re here, alright?” Manhunt!Dream said.

Manhunt!George smiled. “Yeah, of course,”

Manhunt!George walked down the stone-brick highway, a smile plastered on his face. Then Snowchester came into sight, and his smile dropped. 

“A snow biome?! You’ve got to be kidding me,” Manhunt!George complained.

“Dude, it’s like… in the name,” Manhunt!Sapnap said as if Mahunt!George was stupid.

“Yeah, but I was kinda hoping it was like a metaphor or something,” Manhunt!George huffed, “I am not dressed for cold weather,”

“L+ratio,” Manhunt!Dream commented.

Manhunt!George pushed Manhunt!Dream. “You’re supposed to be on my side, idiot!” 

Manhunt!Dream gave him a shrug. “Who said there were sides?” he asked innocently.

“You all are insufferable,” Manhunt!George complained.

“You love me,” Manhunt!Dream confidently said.

Manhunt!George rolled his eyes and didn’t answer.

He was stuck in an alternate universe with the world’s biggest idiots. Great.

———

~Technoblade~

Technoblade was sitting down at his desk, with all the blueprints to the prison spread out on it.

Technoblade decided it was going to be a reasonably easy prison break.

He was going to go in, get Dream, get out, and leave a wither in his wake just for the style.

If he was caught, he was just going to brute force it and have the Syndicate on standby just in case.

He made the executive decision that it was going to happen in five days, just so that he could get all his armor leveled to the max, breed more dogs, and make any final preparations.

In the back of his mind, he could hear chat chanting, “ blood, blood, blood for the blood god .”

“Hey, chat, calm down. Technically there is a chance that we won’t even fight anyone,” Techno reminded them.

But secretly, Techno prayed that he would get to fight; he was a little out of practice.

Chapter Text

~S!Tommy~

S!Tommy was going to admit, this wasn’t how he expected his day to go.

Walking down a stone-brick path to Snowchester. Or whatever that sentence meant.

The main reason S!Tommy wanted to go to Snowchester was to meet another Tommy. Technically, he could’ve talked to n!Tommy, but the dude gave him bad vibes. Might as well go talk to the one who was last seen unconscious! He will admit: he’s super good at thinking these kinds of things through. Definitely.

S!Tommy looked at the people from Manhunt and how they were enjoying themselves. It made him glance at S!Dream, and honestly, S!Tommy felt bad for the guy. Sure, S!Tommy liked S!Dream; he had nothing against him. S!Tommy wondered if the other Sapnap and George made S!Dream miss his friends from his own universe.

Then, a purple and green swirly portal opened up underneath S!Dream’s feet.

“Oh, shit. S!Dream, look out!” S!Tommy yelled out, trying to warn him. He pushed through the people he was walking with to try and grab onto S!Dream.

S!Dream looks at S!Tommy with wide eyes before he falls right through the portal, and it immediately closes.

“Oh my god,” S!Wilbur said beside him. 

Around him, everyone was staring in shock and some with just a little jealousy. S!Tommy couldn’t blame them; that might’ve been the portal home. Only might’ve, though.

“Where do you think he was transported to?” M!Dream asked.

“Well, I know for a fact that we fell through a portal. I just don’t know what color it was,” S!Techno explained, “So either he just went home, or he was just sent to another universe,”

“Let’s hope that was the fucking portal home,” S!Tommy prayed.

The rest of the walk on the stone bridge was done in silence. S!Tommy hoped S!Dream was home and yet also wished he had fallen through with him. No matter how incredible being in another universe was, it didn’t beat being home. Especially with no current knowledge of how to get back. Besides, what about all the people at home? He was now missing in their eyes; did they think he ran away?

Once they made it across, everyone stopped just to look at the looming mansion that could only be a part of Snowchester. The mansion was so big, S!Tommy was sure it could fit all of the people in Logstechire, and everyone would enjoy themselves. He wondered what kind of rich prick lived in it.

“Holy shit, that’s fucking huge,” S!Tommy gaped.

Then he laughed a bit.

“That’s what she said,” making a joke at his own sentence.

“Language,” M!Bad muttered. S!Tommy ignored him.

“Where do you think they’ll be?” M!Dream asked.

“Good question, maybe-”

Everyone snapped their heads to a sudden scream that echoed through the biome.

Everyone started rushing toward where they heard the sound come from, shoes hitting the snow-covered ground (thankfully, the scream didn’t come from the mansion. He could hear them now,  “Oh, I need an ambulance for my small scratch because I fell down the stairs. Can the heroes get here and save me?” )

When they ran around the corner, they came upon a house in which they could hear bickering.

“Oh my Prime, you’ve got to stop fucking teleporting behind me and scaring the shit outta me, Ranboo,” someone (who sounded like Tubbo. Is alternate universe Tubbo in there?) scolded. “And besides, I might’ve woken up Tommy,”

“Sorry, I’ll try to be more careful,” someone, who S!Tommy guessed could only be Ranboo, apologized.

Alright, so they found the house where the other Tommy was. And possibly some other semi-familiar faces too.

S!Wilbur went up and knocked on the door to the house. Everyone crowded around the door and on the porch of the house as they waited for the door to open.

But sure enough, someone whose features were scarily similar to Tubbo’s opened the door.

“Hey, what do you-” Tubbo cut himself off when he noticed the large number of people occupying the outside of his house. “Holy shit, why are there so many of you? What are you all doing in Snowchester?” He asked skeptically, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, well, Puffy said we could go anywhere we want, and she also told y’all to go to Snowchester, so a destination with a name sounded nice,” S!Techno explained with a shrug. 

Tubbo looked back into the house and whispered something that S!Tommy couldn’t quite make out before looking back at the group. 

“Alright, fine. A couple rules, though,” Tubbo warned, “Technoblade, Dream, and BadBoyHalo aren’t allowed in the house.”

Some people opened their mouths to object, but Tubbo shushed them.

“I don’t care if you’re from another universe or not; sometimes just a familiar  bad  presence can be unsettling for some people here,” Tubbo said, his voice wavering slightly, “So no exceptions. You all can either just leave or head into one of the other houses in Snowchester,”

From inside the house, Ranboo said something to Tubbo.

“And yes, that includes the mansion. As long as y’all don’t break the chandelier. I don’t need Foolish on my ass about that,” Tubbo complained.

“Wait, does Foolish live in the mansion?” S!Tommy asked.

Foolish didn’t seem like the kind of person to live in a rich environment, but with the sound of it earlier, building homes paid well.

“Oh, no. He just had, like, a mental breakdown over that chandelier which I do  not  want to witness again.” Tubbo shivered even though he was wearing the biggest wooly jacket S!Tommy had ever seen. “The mansion’s mine,” Tubbo explained easily.

What the fuck? Tubbo was the rich prick?

Ranboo yelled from inside the house, “It’s mine too!” 

There’s no way his roommates, the people with who he struggled to pay for food in Logstechire, were  rich . Someone catch S!Tommy, he’s fainting-

Tubbo waved him off. “Yeah, yeah,” 

“I get no credit! I paid for most of the thing-!” 

“Ignore him,” Tubbo stated blatantly. Then he looked back at the group. “So, what are you guys doing?” 

“M!Bad and I are chill with leaving. I can’t say anything for S!Techno, though,” M!Dream said.

S!Techno nodded his head in what S!Tommy guessed was:  “Yeah, sure. I’ll go,”

“Great,” Tubbo said before moving to let everyone else in.

S!Wilbur and S!Tommy looked back at S!Techno. 

“Hey, you sure you’ll be alright? We won’t be here too long, I don’t think,” S!Wilbur said. 

S!Techno nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. What about you guys?” he asked, looking directly at S!Tommy.

“We’ll be fine. We’re big men,” S!Tommy said, brushing off Techno’s worry and ignoring the buzz of his power under his skin. Then he took a glance at S!Wilbur beside him. “Well, one of us is,” he corrected.

“Oh, you little gremlin,” S!Wilbur complained, lacking any real annoyance.

S!Techno huffed a laugh and a small smile. “Alright, see you two in a bit,” he said as he turned to join M!Dream, and M!BadBoyHalo. “Of course Phil couldn’t fall through a portal too,” S!Techno muttered as he left, making S!Tommy laugh. Though he had to admit, S!Tommy found it odd that Phil didn’t also go through the portal.

S!Tommy followed S!Wilbur into the house, him being the last one in. Behind him, Tubbo shut the door.

“So, I understand that technically you guys said that you just came here because it was a destination with a name,” Tubbo narrowed his eyes at the group, “But one of you must have some sort of goal,”

No one said anything at first, just awkwardly glanced at each other.

“I really want to see other me,” S!Tommy admitted. He thought it was a valid reason.

“That it?” Tubbo asked, looking at the rest of the group. Nobody piped up to argue. Tubbo sighed. “Well, I suppose that’s alright. Tommy is currently sleeping, though, so you’ll have to wait,” he explained.

Everyone nodded in understanding. M!Sapnap and M!George took a seat on a couch on the far right, and Tubbo sat on the sofa across from them. S!Tommy stood by a window along with S!Wilbur. 

S!Tommy could feel his red power buzzing with unused excitement underneath his skin. S!Tommy had been so sleep-deprived he hadn’t used his power in a while, and now it was making its presence clear. It wasn’t like S!Tommy had his vigilante outfit with him, and S!Wil didn’t know about his power either. Maybe tonight, he could sneak out and hope he wasn’t caught by anyone.

Ranboo stood oddly in the corner, rocking slightly on his feet and wringing his hands nervously. S!Tommy wanted to comfort him, but this Ranboo didn’t know him, so S!Tommy kept himself from moving.

“I’m going to go check in on Tommy,” Ranboo told Tubbo. He looked at all the people in the room and gave an awkward wave before climbing down the ladder on the far side of the room.

“Alright, so I left right before Slime could tell us where you guys are from,” Tubbo explained. He smiled, making his long hair bounce a bit. “So tell me yourselves.”

“Well, we’re from This is Not an Act of Spite, and we’ve been going by S!our name,” S!Wilbur explained.

Tubbo nodded his head in understanding. “So they kinda just stole your universe name and your real name and shoved them together?” Tubbo asked.

S!Wilbur nodded his head in confirmation.

“Well, that’s one way to get that done,” Tubbo shrugged. He shifted a bit on the couch to get more comfortable. He looked at M!George and M!Sapnap. “And what about you two?”

“We’re from a universe called ‘Manhunt,’” M!Sapnap explained.

Tubbo gave an odd, questioning look at that. M!Sapnap went to reassure him. 

“And I swear it’s not as bad as it sounds,” M!Sapnap promised. “We all hunt M!Dream and-”

Tubbo cringed a bit at the mention of M!Dream.

“So, uh, just a heads up, don’t mention the name Dream when Tommy is awake and around,” Tubbo said, looking everyone in the eyes to make sure they all understood. “He’s had some bad past experiences with him-”

S!Tommy caught the regretful look in his eyes as he said that.

“-so avoid talking about him as much as possible. But, if you  have  to, just refer to him as ‘ him ,’” Tubbo explained, emphasizing the word “him” as if it was describing the most horrid thing to exist in a children’s story that everyone had read when they were younger. Except nobody in the room besides Tubbo had read the book.

It made S!Tommy wonder what he did. In his universe, S!Dream was one of the top heroes, and every interaction S!Tommy had ever had with him was positive. Heck, he had even seen S!Dream hit S!Sapnap with a cowboy hat. What had he done to only be referred to as “ him ”?

“Where is he? “M!George asked.

“Currently, he’s in prison,”

What? 

“So thankfully, he won’t be bothering anyone,” Tubbo sighed. “Alright, I’m done talking about  him . Any other questions?”

S!Tommy tried to think of something to ask, but all his mind swarmed with was,  “What did Dream do? What did he do?”

“Do you know what color portal we fell out of was?” S!Wil asked.

S!Tommy was glad one of them was thinking straight.

“Oh, um, it was purple. Why?” Tubbo asked.

It was purple and green. Did that mean it counted as the same universe or not? Unfortunately, it wasn’t like anyone here could answer his question.

“Because D-” Wilbur cut himself off and cleared his throat. “Because ‘ him’  from our universe just fell through a purple and green portal on our way here,” S!Wilbur explained.

“Oh. So that wasn’t him outside?” Tubbo asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.

S!Wilbur shook his head.

“He’s from our universe,” M!Sapnap stated. 

It looked like something clicked in Tubbo’s brain because his eyes lit up before looking very confused.

“Are you two friends?” Tubbo asked M!Sapnap.

“Uh, yeah?”

Tubbo snapped his head to M!George. “Are all three of you friends?”

M!George nodded.

It made sense. The Dream Team was iconic.

“Oh my Prime,” Tubbo gasped, “The team is together,” he shook his head as if he was in shock after being told surprising news. Tubbo looked up to see the odd stares he was receiving. “Oh, um, The Team hasn’t been friends for years,” Tubbo explained.

M!Sapnap and M!George stiffened. 

“Why not?” M!Sapnap asked nervously as if he didn’t actually want to hear the answer.

“Something about  ‘Not having attachments making him stronger , I think,” Tubbo explained, with a dark look in his eyes like he was thinking back to something. “Anyway, I’m pretty sure Sapnap threatened to take  his  final cannon life if he were to ever escape from prison,”

M!Sapnap suddenly looked super uncomfortable and like he wanted to leave. S!Tommy couldn’t really tell what M!George was thinking.

But the whole “getting rid of his friends because they are attachments making him stronger” thing freaked S!Tommy out. It implied that Dream dropped everything he loved for power, to just be better, and become stronger. A shiver was sent down S!Tommy’s back, and he willed himself to stop thinking about it.

“What is Tommy’s relationship with Wilbur?” S!Tommy asked.

From the sound of it, everyone practically had it out for each other’s necks in this world. S!Tommy at least knew that Tommy was friends with Tubbo and Ranboo, but he also hoped he was friends with Wilbur, Techno, Phil, and Purpled.

Tubbo cringed at S!Tommy’s question.

Well, shit.

“Pogtopia wasn’t pretty-”

“That’s putting it lightly,” someone deadpanned from S!Tommy’s left. 

And, of course, it was Tommy.

He just stared for a moment, forgetting how rude it was. 

He was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed, cringing slightly due to all the eyes on him (S!Tommy himself, also guilty.) Scars littered his body, along with one nasty scar on his head above his eye. His eyes were grayer than S!Tommy’s, a contrast to his own cornflower blue eyes. Honestly, it looked like he had seen some things, but so had S!Tommy, so who knows.

“You just dumping my trauma on other people without me in the room?” Tommy asked with slight offense. When Tubbo looked like he wanted to apologize, Tommy shrugged. “Just kidding. I don’t care.”

Then he looked at S!Tommy. “Are you me from another universe?” He asked with genuine curiosity.

S!Tommy nodded his head. 

Tommy’s face lit up. “Can we like, chat or something? The Tommy from Passerine didn’t come fall through his portal,” he stated.

Tubbo rolled his eyes. “That’s because their Tommy is dead, dickhead,” he deadpanned.

“Well that’s not my fault!” Tommy exclaimed, “Maybe he should’ve tried, I dunno,  not dying? ”

S!Tommy wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be scared. He went with the third option: do nothing and try to forget about it.

“Hey, wasn’t Ranboo supposed to be down there with you?” Tubbo asked.

Tommy shrugged. “I dunno, they weren’t there when I woke up.”

Tubbo sighed. “Let’s just hope they’ll be back later tonight.”

S!Tommy was shocked by Tubbo’s lack of worry. “Um, you aren’t going to go look for him or something?” S!Tommy asked, a little worried for Ranboo.

Tubbo shook his head. “Nah, they do this every once and a while; they just teleport away. Especially when they’re anxious. Besides, it’s practically impossible to find them unless they come to you. They’ll likely be back soon, anyway,” Tubbo explained, shrugging.

That didn’t make S!Tommy concerned at all. 

“Well, enough about Ranboob-”

Pff, Tommy also called Ranboo “Ranboob.” Two minds think alike, ay?

“-and more about hanging out with alternate universe me,” Tommy said with a smile. “Where do you want to chat, big man?”

S!Tommy grinned. “Where ever you want, Big T!” 

Tommy clapped. “Alright, we’re sitting at The Bench,”

S!Tommy’s eyes went wide. “Woah, you also have a bench?”

Tommy grinned wickedly. “Heck yeah! It’s the bench me, and Tubbo made during the beginning of L’manburg!”

S!Tommy didn’t really know what to think of that. “The… beginning?”

“Hell yeah!” Tommy yelled, slinging his arm around S!Tommy. “Let’s go; we’ve got a shit ton to talk about,” he said as he began to lead S!Tommy out of the house.

“S!Tommy! Make sure you’re at the Community House by nightfall,” Wilbur warned him.

S!Tommy waved him off. “Of course, stop babying me. I’m not a child,” he said with a smirk.

Then it fell, along with S!Wilbur’s. S!Tommy’s eyes shot wide. 

Shit. S!Tommy forgot that right before they fell through the portal, S!Tommy’s shitty fucking sleepy brain revealed that he was sixteen and  not  nineteen, which he had been telling Wilbur for ages (and Phil, but that’s future S!Tommy’s problem.)

S!Wilbur opened his mouth to say something but S!Tommy cut him off.

“Wow! I am so excited to chat with you, Tommy!” S!Tommy said a little too quickly, “Let’s go immediately!” Then he was the one pulling Tommy out the door, and he let it slam shut behind them.

Tommy was staring at him for a moment. He opened his mouth almost like he wanted to ask about that but then closed it and shrugged. 

“Whatever, not my problem,” Tommy brushed off. “Let’s go,” and began leading S!Tommy to The Bench.

They started to head back the way S!Tommy came from, and it was just awkward silence for a while. 

“So, Wilbur in there called you S!Tommy. What’s that about?” And boy does S!Tommy just want someone to point a gun at his spine (that’s a joke, that has happened before, and he’d prefer if it didn’t happen again) because he is so done explaining the whole name thing to everyone. Why couldn’t they all be at the meeting? 

(Yes, Tommy was unconscious, and realistically, it wouldn’t have made a difference if he was there or not, but it’s the thought that counts.)

“I’m from this universe called ‘This is Not an Act of Spite,’ and everyone has been going by their universe name then their original name,” S!Tommy explained before sending a glare Tommy’s way, “Besides people from your universe. But anyway, our universe’s name is super fucking long, so we’ve just been going by ‘Spite,’”

Tommy nodded his head in understanding. “Who’d you come with?”

“Uh, S!Techno and S!Wilbur,” S!Tommy answered, yet not missing the way Tommy’s posture straightens at the names, “And me, of course,”

By now, they had crossed the stone bridge and were now passing the tall red building that Jack had been in earlier. 

“Hey, what’s that building?” S!Tommy asked, referring to what he assumed was Jack’s house, but he just wanted to start up a conversation.

“Ugh, don’t get me started on that. That’s  supposed  to be  my  hotel,” Tommy explained grimly. “But Jackass Manifuck stole it from me,” 

“Holy shit, that was yours?” 

S!Tommy was shocked. It was fairly big, and it had to have cost a fuck ton. Dang, this Tommy must be much better financially than himself.

Tommy shrugged. “Yeah, I think Puffy tried getting it back for me, but I can never be sure,”

Then Tommy stopped, and S!Tommy barely stopped himself from bumping into Tommy. In front of him was a small oak tree, and right beside it was a small, simple bench. It was all it needed to be, really. Now that S!Tommy thought about it, he was pretty sure he passed this earlier on the way to Snowchester.

Tommy held his arms out like he was showcasing the best thing in existence (and you know, it could be.)

“Welcome to The Bench!” Tommy smiled and sat down, leaving room for someone beside him. He patted the bench. “Sit down. I’m sure we’ve got a shit ton to talk about, big man.”

Chapter Text

~S!Wilbur~

S!Wilbur watched as S!Tommy scrambled to get out of the house (pulling Tommy out with him) and letting the door slam shut behind them.

S!Tommy had to be fucking with him.

Yesterday S!Tommy had admitted to being  sixteen  and  not  nineteen, which is what he had been telling the SBI. Not to mention,  all his fucking legal documents  said he was nineteen. No holes either! My god.

S!Wilbur offered the kid alcohol . That was wrong in so many ways. 

Because that's what he was, wasn't he?  He was a kid.

"Uh, you good there, S!Wilbur?" Someone awkwardly asked.

S!Wilbur snapped his attention back to his surroundings and who was talking to him. It was M!Sapnap.

"Yeah, I'm fine," S!Wilbur said, hoping everyone didn't notice the waver in his voice.

M!Sapnap raised a questioning eyebrow as if he didn't believe him but then shrugged.

"Alright, what were we talking about?" Tubbo asked. Then his eyes shot wide; if it was a cartoon, a lightbulb would've been over his head. "Oh, yeah, we were talking about Pogtopia," Tubbo remembered.

S!Wilbur really didn't like where this was headed. Tubbo had cringed when S!Tommy first mentioned their relationship. Tubbo called Pogtopia "not pretty," and Tommy had the pleasure of waltzing in and calling that an understatement. S!Wilbur prayed that it wasn't as bad as he thought.

"So, it started with Wilbur wanting to hold a rigged election in L'manburg to he would win and be president," Tubbo explained.

"Woah, woah, woah, I ran for president of  L'manburg ?! Why'd I do that?" S!Wilbur asked, shocked.

"Uh… you led us to gain its independence?" Tubbo said, hinting that it should be obvious.

S!Wilbur's jaw dropped. 

"I'm guessing that didn't happen in your universe," Tubbo sighed. He shrugged. "I guess that should be a good thing."

"I led a nation to  independence ?!" S!Wilbur exclaimed.  

"Yeah, but your morals were mid, so…" Tubbo explained. S!Wilbur wrinkled his eyebrows in a non-verbal question. Tubbo shrugged. "Sending kids to war at nine is just so very questionable,"

What. How does one even  think -

"Age  nine ?!" S!Wilbur practically screamed. "Oh my god, what in the ever-loving fuck is wrong with him," 

'Me,'  S!Wilbur stopped himself from saying aloud. 

In no way ever was S!Wilbur  him.  Sending fucking  children  to war is unthinkable! S!Wilbur already had trouble wrapping his mind around S!Tommy being sixteen and having done all the shit he did. The day people broke into the tower! He could've been shot! Oh my god. Were children using  guns  and being  shot at ?

"Did he give the kids  guns ?" Wilbur asked barely above a whisper just so Tubbo could hear him.

"Like, a crossbow? Yeah, of course," Tubbo answered.

And although kids using crossbows wasn't good either, it wasn't exactly a gun.

"No, no, no. Like, a gun. Shoots bullets?" S!Wilbur clarified.

"What the fuck are bullets? I guess we don't have the guns you're thinking about," Tubbo scrunched his face in confusion.

S!Wilbur let out a sigh of relief. No children with guns, great. Heck,  no guns at all . Guns just didn't exist here. That's a blessing. Gun wounds were a pain in the ass to deal with, and bullets were super hard to dodge. And they could kill you  in an instant . Not exactly fun when criminals waltz around L'manburg carrying them.

"Well, that's good," S!Wilbur commented.

"Anyway, back to where I was," Tubbo picked back up where he left off. "So Wilbur was attempting to rig the election but failed when Quackity started running against him. Skip a couple chapters, blah blah blah, now look at that, Schlatt won the election," Tubbo explained. 

Schlatt? Like, the guy who's in charge of managing the merchandise? Odd, but not totally bizarre. A businessman's a businessman, ya know?

Also, Quackity  would  be the one to run against him. Just to shove it in his face.

"Which seems fine until you realize about five seconds into Schlatt becoming president that he's a power-hungry manic after screaming that he's 'Emperor of L'manburg,'" Tubbo said flatly.

Oh. 

"Yeah, 'oh,'" Tubbo deadpanned.

Whoops. He said that out loud.

"Then he exiles both Wilbur and Tommy from L'manburg, and in a fit of feeling cool, re-names it to Manburg, and then makes me his right-hand man," Tubbo said, giving what S!Wilbur guessed to be the most simplistic explanation of whatever the hell happened. 

He was  exiled  from L'manburg? With Tommy? Oh, god. That must've been terrible. Being stripped of all you had and sent away. All the power was being put in the hands of what sounded like a crazed man.

"So you guys found a ravine, decided to settle there, and boom! Pogtopia was born," Tubbo explained with just a hint of sadness in his tone.

"That doesn't sound too bad?" S!Wilbur half-heartedly tried.

Tubbo gave a humorless laugh that made S!Wilbur cringe.

"I wasn't there," Tubbo admitted. "I didn't watch Wilbur spiral. That was left to Tommy and Technoblade. I only saw as he grew closer and closer to letting his insane mind win." Tubbo wasn't looking at S!Wilbur anymore; he was looking behind him, lost in the memory as he described it. "I talked to the two of them when I could. I got away from Schlatt when I could," he said that last part with disgust, "I got snippets of what was going on in Pogtopia." 

Tubbo took a deep breath that made S!Wilbur prepare for the worst.

"We were having fun at first. Tommy had been taking Wilbur's diamond blocks-"

Woah, diamond blocks? S!Wilbur missed a chapter or two because there was no way they were rich after having just been kicked out of their country. S!Wilbur mentally slapped himself across the face and told himself to focus because he needed to pay attention to what Tubbo was saying. 

"-and using them to decorate the area. He also stole my observers and other things, then scattered them across the place, so I was also beginning to get irritated. Tommy took what he could as Wilbur started taking the stuff down. Tommy began digging out his own little room when he accidentally placed Redstone blocks next to pistons-"

What is Tubbo saying? A Redstone block next to a piston? S!Wilbur knew that he didn't dabble in the technology and engineering stuff, as that was all left to Sam, but he was still confused as hell. But he couldn't let that stop him from listening to Tubbo. 

"-and he got trapped under two pistons."

S!Wilbur took a sharp inhale in but kept quiet. Tubbo looked anywhere in the room but at S!Wilbur. 

"I'll admit, I was still angry with Tommy when it happened. But Tommy began calling to Wilbur, asking for help and to be let out. Wilbur saw this as an opportunity to get back at Tommy."

S!Wilbur was frozen and dead silent as he listened to Tubbo explain,

"Wilbur covered up the hole Tommy had dug, so he was even more trapped than he previously was. And I ignored Tommy. I even laughed. When I saw Tommy, and he said, 'This isn't funny anymore,' and 'Wilbur let me out,' or 'I have extreme claustrophobia, Tubbo,' I ignored him. I thought he deserved it. Which I obviously see now was extremely stupid of me. Because he was there for a long time. I was gone by the time he was let out, but I know for a fact that he had cried. I hadn't realized how bad his claustrophobia was with what I thought was his playful tone and my anger," Tubbo confessed, his eyes slightly watery. "And I  also  know that after that day, Wilbur used Tommy's claustrophobia to his advantage. Anytime Tommy irritated Wilbur, Tommy would be forced back into the box."

S!Wilbur wanted to vomit. He wanted to punch Tubbo across the face, even though he could see the guilt laced in his eyes. He wanted to ask why Technoblade hadn't done anything. (He was also still trying not to vomit.)

"Wilbur abused Tommy. Not physically, sure. But mentally? Absolutely."

S!Wilbur wanted to beat Wilbur up to the point that he couldn't feel his own fists anymore, and Wilbur was unrecognizable, and then gut Wilbur out and leave him to die. S!Wilbur's fits were clenched tightly, and he could feel his nails digging into his palm. Rage coursed through his body, and he just wanted to kick Wilbur off a roof for good measure. 

S!Wilbur stood up. 

"You alright, S!Wilbur?" Tubbo warily asked.  

"Sun's going to set soon. I think I should start heading back to the community house," S!Wilbur dismissed, trying (and failing) to hide his anger in his tone, not wanting to direct it at practically strangers around him.

"Oh, um, alright."

"Should we go with you-" M!Sapnap hesitantly began asking.

"Do whatever you want, I don't care," S!Wilbur cut him off, then stormed out of the house.

Even with rage blinding him, he couldn't get the feeling of almost vomiting out of his stomach. 

Wilbur  was horrifyingly disgusting,  and it made S!Wilbur's stomach roll. 

He hadn't realized the snow was crunching because of someone's footsteps beside him.

"S!Wilbur," S!Techno cautioned.

S!Wilbur jumped at the sudden calling of his name. 

S!Techno sighed, "What happened?"

S!Wilbur's jaw clenched. "That fucking-"

"Breathe, S!Wilbur," S!Techno warned.

S!Wilbur hadn't realized he had stopped breathing. He took a deep inhale to try and steady himself (only partly working). "Fucking Wilbur, from this world, right? H-he- he- fuck, he fucking, like-  mentally abused  Tommy, and I just can't stand for that shit! I can't- I can't fucking believe that I share the same name as someone so fucking  sick  and  twisted -"

" Breathe, S!Wil! " S!Techno snapped. 

S!Wilbur inhaled sharply.

"I understand that you're pissed. Believe me, I now have some very important questions that need answering, but we can't do that if you're dead," S!Techno deadpanned. S!Wilbur stood still and inhaled, trying to find rhythm in his breathing again, as S!Techno just watched (But S!Wilbur appreciated it). S!Techno sighed. "How about we go and check on S!Tommy," S!Techno suggested. "Where is he, by the way?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Oh, he headed out with Tommy," S!Wilbur remembered, "I'm not sure where, though."

S!Techno dragged a hand down his face with the most tired-parent-look ever before, sighing. "Alright, I'm guessing the two probably crossed back out of Snowchester because this place looks like its sole purpose is to inspire boredom," he deadpanned. "Let's head back across."

So that they did. They left the people from Manhunt to their own devices because it wasn't Spite's responsibility to stick with them. S!Wilbur was still having an internal battle with his mind and stomach (he had almost won that one, thankfully), and it was… going. 

Beside S!Wilbur, S!Techno was dead silent, no doubt thinking a bajillion things that S!Wilbur couldn't even begin to guess. S!Techno was a nerd like that. They let their steps on the cold stone brick fall in sync. So in sync that it hit the point when it was all S!Wilbur focused on, just to make sure they didn't fall out of sync. It was a nice distraction.

When they made it across, they continued on the path, passing the hotel, not bothering to request Jack's assistance. That's when S!Wilbur heard a Tommy's voice.

"I think this is called trauma bonding," 

S!Wilbur groaned. Great. Trauma bonding sounds like a perfect pastime. 

S!Tommy and Tommy were sitting on a bench not far away, and it almost looked like Tommy was… crying?

"S!Tommy! Tommy! Are you guys alright?" S!Wilbur called out, running over to the two. Both snapped their heads to the sound of their names being called. S!Tommy smiled a bit at the sight of S!Wilbur and S!Techno, while Tommy seemed to visibly tense a little bit. Tommy whispered something in S!Tommy's ear, and S!Tommy looked Tommy in the eyes and nodded. S!Wilbur wondered what Tommy said. 

"Hey, S!Wil!" S!Tommy exclaimed, "We're alright."

S!Wilbur wasn't sure how true that was as he watched as Tommy tried to subtly wipe his tears, but he let it slide. If they weren't going to talk about it, he wasn't going to force them. 

"That's good to hear," S!Wilbur commented. "I was done talking with Tubbo, and I just wanted to check in on you guys. On an unrelated note," S!Wilbur directed his attention to Tommy, "Do you know where I can find Wilbur?"

"S!Wil," S!Technoblade warned. S!Wil groaned.

"What?! I just want to chat with the guy," S!Wilbur lied. 

"Mhmm. And by 'chat,' you mean 'kill'?" S!Techno deadpanned. 

S!Wilbur huffed. "You never let me do anything fun,"

S!Techno rolled his eyes and didn't respond. 

"So… are you two, like, friends now? Is that how that works?" S!Wilbur guessed.

"Oh my god, S!Wil," S!Tommy complained, "You sound like a grandma," he rolled his eyes. 

S!Wilbur gasped in fake offense and went to retort when he noticed how Tommy had tensed. S!Wil shut his mouth and changed his mind before he said anything. 

"Well, I noticed that it's getting close to sunset, so S!Techno and I are headed back to the community house if you want to join us," S!Wil offered, "That goes to you too, Tommy. But only if you want," he clarified, not wanting to pressure the kid (Was he a kid? It was hard to tell.)

"Um, sure," Tommy shrugged.

"Hell yeah!" S!Tommy yelled, "Let's go, Big T!"

The two proceeded to bolt down the oak path. 

"I feel as though I'm a mother with two kids," S!Wilbur muttered.

S!Techno shrugged and walked ahead of S!Wil. "Who knows, maybe you are," he smirked, "I can already see your gray hairs."

S!Wilbur gasped, "No, you can not! I have no gray hairs,"

S!Techno laughed, "Now you sound like Phil." 

S!Wil deliberately chose to ignore him. "Let's make sure the gremlins don't get into any trouble," SWil huffed. 

They both walked down the path, S!Tommy and Tommy not too far ahead, chatting about something that S!Wil couldn't hear. Tommy pointed at something, and S!Tommy laughed, and it made S!Wilbur smile, seeing the two enjoy themselves. 

When they got closer to the community house, S!Wil noticed two people standing inside, talking to each other. When he got even closer, he noticed they looked a lot like himself and S!Techno. Was that Wilbur? 

Tommy also noticed the people in the community house. "Hey, look," Tommy called out, "It's the Passerines!"

The two people snapped at the mention of them. S!Wilbur noticed that they both smiled at the sight of Tommy (Oh, wait. Wasn't their Tommy dead-). 

"Hey, Tommy. How are you?" P!Wilbur asked.

"I'm alright, Big man, you?" Tommy asked, having more behind the question.

P!Wilbur slightly cringed but nodded his head. "I'm alright. Sorry if I worried you," P!Wilbur apologized.

How might have P!Wilbur worried Tommy?

Tommy seemed surprised at the apology, and it made S!Wilbur's heart break just a little bit.

"Oh, it's fine," Tommy stuttered. 

P!Wilbur nodded his head but didn't get rid of his slightly concerned look (one that S!Wilbur was sure he was also giving.) P! Wilbur's eyes turned to S!Wilbur. 

"Who are you?" P!Wilbur asked. 

"I'm S!Wilbur. I come from "This Is Not an Act of Spite," S!Wilbur explained. 

P!Wilbur nodded in understanding. "Well, we aren't really sure what to do. So we've just been standing here and talking," P!Wilbur explained.

"Oh, well, we'd walked back here because it's almost sunset, and we'll be heading to our houses," S!Wilbur explained, reasonably sure that the Passerines weren't there when that was explained.

"Houses?" P!Technoblade asked.

S!Wilbur was right. "Yeah, this guy named Foolish is apparently building temporary houses for everyone to stay in until they find a way to get home," S!Wilbur repeated what he learned earlier. "Oh, by any chance, have you seen Wilbur?" S!Wilbur asked, ignoring S!Techno's annoyed huff behind him. 

S!Wilbur expected a simple yes or no answer. What he did not expect was his face to warp into this face of absolute disgust before immediately masking it. Seemed like P!Wilbur and himself were on the same page.

"Absolutely not," P!Wilbur firmly answered. 

"Darn," S!Wilbur muttered.

P!Technoblade narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to him-"

"S!Wil, like I said, there is an obvious difference between 'talking' and 'killing'-"

"And I was hoping you had seen him," S!Wilbur stated. 

The hostility had melted away, and P!Technoblade nodded his head.

S!Wilbur heard footsteps coming from behind, and he turned around to see the people from Manhunt walking down the path. 

"Hey S!Wilbur, you good now, man?" M!Sapnap wondered. 

"Yeah," S!Wilbur lied through his teeth.

M!Sapnap nodded.

"Yeah, we decided we had nothing better to do, and we really didn't want to be bothered with mobs when it turned night, so we decided to head back here," M!Dream explained, then thought over what he said and turned to Tommy. "You do have mobs here, right?"

"Yeah, of course, we do dickhead," Tommy spat with what S!Wilbur could read as false confidence.

"Language," M!Bad muttered.

"What do you mean by mobs?" S!Techno asked.

"Spiders, skeletons, zombies, and creepers," M!Dream explained, "I'm guessing those aren't a thing in your world?"

"I mean, we have spiders, skeletons and zombies are fairy tales, but I have no idea what a creeper is," S!Wilbur explained.

"Just be careful around them. If they get too close, they explode," M!Dream shrugged.

Yep. S!Wilbur hated this world even more now. 

"So we just chill here till Foolish comes?" M!Sapnap asked.

"I think so," S!Wilbur guessed.

"Alright, might as well get comfortable," M!Sapnap said as he walked over to the table that still sat in the middle of the community house, sat in a chair, and threw his legs on top of the table. A very Sapnap thing to do. 

Everyone went in and sat down, making small-talk with each other. Nothing serious, just light conversations like the Manhunt's talking about their last win and S!Tommy talking to Tommy about their favorite animal.

What S!Wilbur failed to notice was the figure looming at the entrance of the community house.

"Woah, who threw a party and didn't invite me?"

Chapter Text

~Karl~

Karl needed to find a way to get those people from alternate universes home. He had so many old magic books in his library, and he was almost certain that he would find at least something. Yet things never went to plan.

Like when he time traveled. On accident. Again.

Falling through a purple and green swirly portal wasn’t anything new, and it got easier over time. 5 times, to be exact. 5 times going through the portal without throwing up. And at some point along the way, he learned to land on his feet after getting out of the portal.

Karl’s feet hit some metal floor, a metal he had never seen before, likely indicating that this was the future.

He looked around, trying to understand where he was and who he had to be. Hallways stretched in all directions, plain and white. A window was to his right and outside of it was entirely black, save for a couple of small stars that littered it. 

They were in space?!

The weighing down of Karl’s outfit suddenly became aching obvious, and he looked down and noticed the purple space suit he was wearing. 

Karl was going to start roaming the hallways to try and find someone? But a second portal opened. 

You see, when Karl was done with a tale, unless he dies, the portal opens for him to walk into. So a second portal isn’t anything new. What is new is the fact that this tale is definitely not over yet.

But his questions were answered by a person falling through and the portal closing behind them.

Okay, what. 

Karl had never had another person go to a tale with him. 

This person had the iconic smile mask, indicating that it was Dream. Yet, with all this alternate universe stuff, it could mean that it was a Dream from an alternate universe, especially after seeing S!Dream. 

No matter who it was, this was going to be really honking challenging to explain.

Karl looked around for anything and found a trash chute near the window that Karl assumed led outside. Karl went over to Dream, picked him up, and threw one of Dream’s arms around his shoulder.

Dream groaned in protest but didn’t try to fight. Karl bent him over to the trash chute and leaned Dream’s head over the opening. Karl moved Dream’s mask up slightly, so it wasn’t covering his mouth anymore. Soon enough, Dream puked right into it, just like Karl expected him to.

Karl made sure Dream finished puking, pulled his mask back down, and laid him on the ground. 

Karl double-checked that no one was around and decided they were good.

Karl sat and watched as Dream started to get his bearings, coughing and sitting up straight. He snapped to attention when he noticed Karl crouching in front of him. He flinched and tried to put space between them, but he was already backed up against the wall. 

Karl backed up a little bit, understanding how taxing time traveling can be.

“You alright?” Karl asked.

Dream pulled himself up and off of the ground and looked around. “Where are we?” Dream asked, “And why do I have a space suit on?” he looked down at his lime green space suit.

“Before I answer that, are you Dream or an alternate universe Dream?” Karl questioned, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, um, I’m S!Dream,” S!Dream answered.

Karl nodded. It made sense that with all this alternate universe confusion that it would end up affecting his time traveling.

“Alright, so fun fact, I time travel,” Karl stated nonchalantly. 

S!Dream just stared at him (or so he assumed, the mask covered his eyes). “…what?” S!Dream faltered.

“Yup! Nobody on the SMP knows, but at random times that I don’t have control over, I time travel,” Karl explained, “and we are likely now in the future.”

“Oh,” was all S!Dream had to say about that.

“Anyway, a couple things you should know about this,” Karl stated, “One, start thinking of an alternative name to use now because if we use the same name, it messes up the timeline blah blah blah. Or, if you don’t feel like coming up with a new name, just make sure you don’t give them your real first and last name. Whatever. Two, there is a high chance you’ll die, but that’s totally out of my control, and there’s like a 75% chance you’ll come back alive after, though, so don’t worry.”

“75 percent?” S!Dream asked, a bit of anxiety painting his tone.

“Yeah, so you see, I always come back alive, but I’ve never had another person time travel with me before, so I don’t really know how that works,” Karl shrugged.

S!Dream nodded.

It must be nice hiding all your emotions behind a mask.

“How are you so nonchalant about all of this?” S!Dream asked.

Karl sighed, “I’ve done this too many times now. You just get used to it.”

S!Dream nodded again.

“Alright, if you’re ready to find the other people, let’s go,” Karl beckoned, heading down one of the hallways. 

S!Dream jogged a bit to catch up, but soon enough, the two were walking side-by-side.

They walked in silence, as before now, the two had never talked to each other, seeing as S!Dream was from an alternate universe and all.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for them to run into someone.

A person in a rose space suit turned the corner.

“Oh!” they exclaimed, “You must be the crew that the Captain was talking about,” she sounded an awful lot like Niki, so she must be a descendant. 

“Yup!” Karl replied, smiling, “My name’s Karl. What about you?”

“Oh, I’m Eleanor! Nice to meet you,” she answered happily. Karl held out his hand, and they shook hands. Then, Eleanor turned to S!Dream. “And what’s your name?”

“I’m Elliot. Nice to meet you, Eleanor,” S!Dream revealed. The two shook hands.

“Well, it’s nice to meet the both of you, but we’d better go meet up with the captain,” Eleanor explained.

Karl nodded and let her lead him and S!Dream to whoever this captain was. She took a right into another hallway, then took a right into what could only be the navigation. 

In the middle stood what Karl assumed to be the captain as he commanded someone to change coordinates. He wore a pink space suit and was a pig hybrid, a likely indicator that it was a Technoblade descendant. 

“Captain!” Eleanor called, “I found the other crew.”

The Captain turned around to face Eleanor and noticed the people beside her.

“Oh, hello,” the Captain greeted with a monotone voice. Definitely a Technoblade descendant.

“I’m Karl. Nice to meet you, Captain…?” Karl cut himself off with the lack of information.

“Captain Theodore Porkius,” Captain Theodore answered (why was it that most Technoblade descendants had Pork in their name?) “And you are…?” he asked, referring to S!Dream beside Karl.

“Elliot,” S!Dream told him.

Captain Theodore nodded in understanding. “Anyway, the first lesson of being a space explorer is to be on time. You two remember that,” He stated seriously. He sighed. “Eleanor,”

Eleanor perked up at the mention of her name.

“You go and get the other crew and bring them here for introductions,” Captain Theodore commanded.

“Yes, Captain,” she turned and quickly walked out of the room.

“Hey, black, get over here,” 

Captain Theodore was referring to the person sitting at what seemed to be a map of some sort. They were wearing a black space suit and were the only other person in the room.

Black got up and walked over to the group of people.

“What is it that you need, Captain?” he asked.

By the sound of his voice, he was likely a descendant of BadBoyHalo. Another hint was his freakishly tall height.

“Introduce yourself to these crew,” Captain Theodore said.

“I’m Samuel! Nice to meet you two,” Samuel said with a bright smile, sticking out his hand. Karl and S!Dream shook it.

Then someone in a red space suit ran right between Karl and S!Dream, pushing them out of the way and pulling someone in a maroon space suit behind them. 

“You called for us, Captain?” Red asked. 

He sounded like Tommy. Karl hardly ever met any Tommy descendants, so this was a big surprise.

Captain Theodore heavily sighed. “Yes, to meet the new crew. It would be nice if you didn’t push through them,” he deadpanned.

Maroon fidgeted sheepishly, but Red rolled his eyes. Yet the two moved beside Samuel and faced them.

Karl heard the sound of someone heavily huffing as if they had just run a marathon, and he turned around to see who. Eleanor turned the corner, then stopped and held onto the wall to try and catch her breath.

“Sorry, Captain, I tried to get them to walk, but they refused,” Eleanor stuttered between breaths.

Captain Theodore shook his head. “It’s alright. You were fighting a losing battle.”

Eleanor nodded with a smile, not giving any effort to talk.

Then the rest of the crew rounded the corner, all chatting with each other about things that Karl couldn’t quite make out. 

“Alright, alright. Everyone settle down!” Captain Theodore called out.

Everyone’s talking turned to whispers before turning silent, except for one person in a blue space suit who called out, “You can’t tell me what to do, old man!”

Captain Theodore did not find that funny. “I am quite literally younger than you,” he deadpanned. 

Sure enough, Blue pushed through the crowd and was obliviously old, likely in his 60s or 70s, and now that Karl thought about it, his voice was reasonably raspy too. 

Captain Theodore managed to age three decades with how annoyed he looked when staring at Blue. He sighed. “Why was I assigned to do this,” he muttered. “Okay, everyone who hasn’t yet, introduce yourself,” he explained.

No one went to introduce themselves, so Karl took charge. “Hey, Orange, what’s your name?” 

Orange smirked, and he was already leaning on the wall. “The name’s Liam Higginson,” he finished his introduction with a wink aimed at Karl. Karl wished he could ignore the way it made him blush a little. Definitely a Sapnap descendant. 

“Nice to meet you, Liam,” Karl said with a smile, “What’s your name, Cyan?” 

“My name is… Gary Garyson?” Sounded like a Foolish descendant.

Something that always confused Karl was how the people he met while time traveling were almost… uncertain as to what their names were. Also, some names were just… questionable.

Karl giggled at Gary’s odd name. “What’s your name Blue?”

“The name’s Heywood Jablowme,” he huffed. 

Karl should’ve realized earlier, but with a name like that, he is definitely a Quackity descendant. Almost everyone in the room groaned at Heywood’s name but left it at that. White and Coral had begun chatting, and Karl turned to them.

“What’s your name, White?” Karl asked. His eyes snapped to the tissue box in White’s hand that Karl had somehow failed to notice earlier.  

“Oh, um,” White stopped himself to take a huge sniff. It sounded like he was sick, maybe? “My name is Noz T. Ril,” he stated, “And before you ask, yes, I have very, very, very, very severe allergies.”

Allergies to what? They were in space.

Karl couldn’t hold back a slight laugh at the George descendant, and he received a glare from Noz. 

“ANYWAY,” Karl loudly transitioned, “What’s your name, Coral?” 

“The name’s Abraham John Von Beethoven,” he said with the most southern accident Karl had ever heard (and he’d been to the wild west), “But you can just call me Tim.”

Looks like Karl had a Fundy descendant on his hands.

Karl giggled again, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Tim.” He turned to Maroon and Red. “And your names are?”

Maroon opened his mouth to answer but was immediately cut off by Red.

“My name’s Rick… A. Roo?” he began with a shout and ended with uncertainty. 

Maroon waited to see if he was done. When he thought Rick was, he opened his mouth to speak but was once again cut off by Rick.

“And he’s Roo A. Rick!” he stated officially, not wavering the second time. 

Karl looked at Roo to see if he was going to protest, but he just nodded. 

“Yup, I’m Roo!” he said half-heartedly.

So it was a Ranboo descendant.

“Okay, now is everyone ready for the Space Explorer Trials?” Captain Theodore asked, his monotone voice staying monotone throughout the whole sentence. 

Everyone cheered in excitement, except for S!Dream and Karl.

“Um, sorry for asking, but what are the Space Explorer Trials?” Karl asked with an awkward smile. 

Captain Theodore stared at him blankly. “Bruh,” he muttered. “Lesson number two: Know what you’re signing up for,” he huffed. “The Space Explorer Trials are trials that are conducted by a chosen captain every year to see if the chosen candidates are good enough to be official Space Explorers. If I deem you fit after these Trials, you will officially earn the rank of Space Explorer.” 

Alright. Good to know what he’s dealing with. Hopefully, the trials weren’t too bad, and most of them could make it out alive. He hated growing attached to people, then having to watch them die horrifically in front of him.

“Alright, everyone, head to the rec room!” Captain Theodore ordered.

Everyone shuffled out of the room, chatting with each other about all kinds of different things. Karl tried to tune into as many interactions as possible.

Noz sneezed, and Heywood visibly flinched beside him. 

“Woah, do not sneeze on me! I can’t believe they let the illest person on earth on this spaceship,” Heywood complained.

“Well, at least I’m not on my deathbed, old man,” he shot back.

“HEY!”

“At least I’m not the shortest person in the room, standing at a whopping 4 feet tall!”

“Listen here, I am not short-”

“Woah, woah, woah, boys,” Karl cut in, attempting to deescalate the situation before anything got out of hand, “Calm down.”

Both of them shut up but sent silent death glares at each other. Karl rolled his eyes and sighed but moved on anyway.

“The only reason I signed up for this is because I thought space was cool,” Gary admitted to Liam.

“Oh, really? The only reason I signed up was so I could get women,” Liam shrugged, “I thought that the title Space Explorer would impress the ladies.”

Gary gave Liam a blank look. “Really, dude?”

“What?!” Liam exclaimed defensively, “It sounded like a good idea.”

Gary rolled his eyes.

“Hey, how much do you think being an explorer pays?” Tim asked. He was walking with Eleanor and Samuel.

“I’m sure it pays well,” Samuel guessed. “I mean, you see how rich Captain Penelope is.”

“True, true,” Tim nodded.

“I hope that I can be as good or better than Captain Penelope to show the world just how good female explorers can be,” Eleanor said, determined. 

“I dunno; Commander Bartholomew was a great Captain before he was a commander,” Tim smirked.

Eleanor sent him a glare.

Rick was ranting about how good biscuits were to Roo, and Roo just nodded along. Karl was sure that most of what Rick was saying wasn’t even registering in Roo’s head, especially with how fast Rick was talking.

Then the group came up to a door without handles and a button on the side, presumably the way to open the door. Captain Theodore stood in front of it with his arms crossed.

“Alright, everyone,”

The Captain’s monotone voice didn’t quite reach everyone, as the crew in the back were still chatting.

“Everyone, shut it!” Karl yelled, effectively silencing the room.

Captain Theodore gave an appreciative nod to Karl before turning his focus to the group.

“Alright, everyone. Behind this door are several rooms, each with an environment you might encounter while exploring the universe. You must make it through while showing teamwork to demonstrate your ability to be a Space Explorer.” Captain Theodore explained.

“Shut up, and let us in already!” Heywood complained from the back.

Captain Theodore groaned. “Why did Command choose me for this year’s trials,” he muttered. “Alright, alright.”

He turned around, swiped his ID card at a card reader under the button then pressed the button.

The door opened, and behind it was a dense jungle that blocked Karl’s vision so he couldn’t see the other side of the room. It was full of tall trees, leafy plants, and long grass, which made Karl wonder how it fit and thrived on this spaceship.

S!Dream beside him complained about not signing up for this.

Eventually, everyone but the Captain shuffled inside, standing on the small metal platform in the jungle room. 

“Have fun,” Captain Theodore deadpanned. He pushed the button, and everyone watched as the door closed.

Well, this was going to be fun.

Chapter Text

~S!Wilbur~

“Woah, who threw a party and didn’t invite me?”

In flesh and bone was Wilbur (or so he assumed) himself, with a smug smirk plastered on his face, and S!Wilbur was just about ready to smack it right off of him. His hands were in his pockets, his weight was shifted onto one foot, and he looked more confident than S!Wilbur bet he felt.

S!Wilbur had already seen n!Wilbur and met P!Wilbur, so unless there was another universe that joined the DreamSMP, this was Wilbur. Especially with the edgy and uncertain look Tommy was giving him.

Oh, boy, was S!Wilbur going to beat the shit out of him.

“Is your name Wilbur, by chance?” S!Wilbur asked evenly, not letting any of his anger seep through.

“Yes, it is,” he answered, narrowing his eyes, “And who might you be?”

“S!Wilbur.” He smirked. “Fuck you.”

S!Wilbur leaped out from behind the table and out of his seat and bolted towards Wilbur.

Whether it was the surprise, S!Wilbur’s experience with being a hero, or Wilbur’s stupidity, S!Wilbur wasn’t quite sure. But Wilbur was frozen still as S!Wilbur came up to him and threw the most brutal punch he could.

His fist connected with Wilbur’s face, and S!Wilbur smiled at the feeling.

The room filled with gasps of shock, but it didn’t really register. Or the other chair that creaked from being moved.

S!Wilbur threw another punch that was even harder, and it sent Wilbur to the ground.

Then suddenly, S! Techno’s arms were hooked under S! Wilbur’s armpits, holding him back.

“What the fuck, Techno! Let me at him!” he screeched, fighting the tough grip.

Then he remembered he was a superhero with the power to go intangible.

S!Wilbur went ghosty to get out of S!Techno’s grip then returned to his previous state and kicked Wilbur multiple times while he was on the ground.

“S!Wilbur! I know he sucks, and I want to beat him up too, but you remember how my attempt at killing a government official went,” S!Techno warned.

S!Wilbur considered his words and sneered. “Fine,” he muttered and turned away.

Then he finally noticed all the eyes on him. S!Tommy stared at him with an unreadable expression, and Tommy’s face was warped with uncertainty. On the other hand, P! Wilbur’s expression was mostly blank besides the slight smile on his lips and the nod of respect given to S!Wilbur.

S!Wilbur brushed it all off and sat down.

S!Wilbur watched as Wilbur pulled himself up from off the ground. Nobody moved to help him.

Once he was up, he dusted his coat off, and S!Wilbur finally got a good look at him.

His hair was a mess, and although one could argue that so was S! Wilbur’s, it looked like a family of rats had nested in it. A streak of white hair stood out against the rest of the brunet mess. The classic round gold glasses had some medical tape on the right side, attempting to hold the glasses together. His trench coat that he had on looked as though it hadn’t been washed in 13 years. Yet, the part that stood out the most was the patch of green skin he had along his face. It seemed to be held to the rest of his face through a series of odd stitches. 

“What’s your problem?” Wilbur bit, snapping S!Wilbur out of thought. 

“You,” S!Wilbur spat back, not giving the man any more than that. 

Wilbur groaned. “Can someone explain what is going on?” he asked the large group of people. 

Everyone looked at each other, speaking an unspoken conversation.

“I’m not speaking to that bitch.”

“No.”

“What just happened?”

“So who’s doing it?”

M!Dream sighed. “I’ll explain,” he told Wilbur.

Wilbur smiled in such a way that, had S!Wilbur not just beaten up the man, would have sent shivers down his spine. But, instead, S!Wilbur sent him a snarl that Wilbur promptly ignored. The bastard. 

———

~n!Tommy~

n!Tommy and n!Wilbur stood in front of a… crater? A very, very, deep hole?

A wooden bridge stood in the middle of it; the whole thing was overgrown; its age shown by the plants’ rebirth. At the bottom of the crater was a pool of water with a flag that n!Tommy didn’t recognize, planted waving in the middle of it.

The two of them had wandered there when Puffy told them they could do whatever they wanted, and they just walked until they landed there. n!Tommy wasn’t exactly sure what made this their destination, but he was sure it was at least a little related to its mystery. 

They stood on the bridge, leaning on the railing of it. n!Tommy tore his eyes away from its beauty to look at n!Wilbur.

“How do you think this got here?” n!Tommy asked.

n!Wilbur looked at him, sunglasses hiding his eyes as he looked at n!Tommy. He shrugged.

“Likely a meteor, due to the size. Maybe this is just how the land formed?” Wilbur suggested, “But that just doesn’t sound right.”

n!Tommy looked back down at the crater. “Do you think it could be man-made?” he asked.

This world was just… odd. n!Tommy didn’t know how else to say it. Something about it made him on edge and in a constant state of confusion and curiosity.

“Man-made? I’m not sure,” n!Wilbur answered unevenly, “Unless this was previously a mine or maybe a ton of explosives went off.”

n!Tommy wondered if he jumped off if he’d be able to survive the fall. Probably not. But you never know. 

“How do you think we were sent here?” n!Tommy wondered aloud. “Or even, why.”

n!Wilbur shrugged. “If you weren’t n!Tommy, I would say you’re beginning to sound philosophical,” he said with a slight laugh. “I can’t answer that question.” n!Wilbur admitted, “And I doubt anyone here could,”

“What about that Karl guy?” n!Tommy offered.  

“Maybe.”

“Do you think we could help him?”

n!Wilbur looked at him with silent question.

“Like, we kind of know some magic, so maybe we’d be able to help him look through and understand his magical books,” n!Tommy suggested. He hadn’t seen any yet, but maybe these people also had sigils. Or maybe not. 

“It’s a possibility,” n!Wilbur stated, “And although magic from our world could be totally different, it’s worth a shot.” 

n!Tommy nodded. He watched as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky, casting orange, pink, and yellow hues into what once was entirely blue. n!Wilbur sighed beside him.

“We should probably head back to the community house,” n!Wilbur acknowledged, “It’s becoming night.”

n!Tommy nodded, and the two walked off the bridge. They headed back to where they came from, walking on the wooden path that connected to the community house. 

“Is it just me, or does this world feel… magical?” n!Wilbur asked.

“No, I feel it too,” n!Tommy admitted. The way the air made his skin prickle. The wind felt like it was dancing instead of pushing. It felt odd, and it made him feel more on edge. 

n!Wilbur nodded, and n!Tommy liked to think he read his mind.

Once the community house came into view, he noticed the vast number of people gathered inside, and he guessed that they were the last ones to head back. Someone inside pointed at n!Tommy and n!Wilbur and everyone turned their heads to look at the people heading toward them. When they arrived, there was a new Wilbur to greet them.

“I’m Wilbur. Nice to meet you two,” Wilbur said with a confident smirk, hands in his pockets.

n!Tommy raised an eyebrow. He read right through the man’s false confidence, which almost made him laugh. Who was he trying to impress? The person that gave him that bruise on his jaw that n!Tommy could see forming?

“The name’s n!Tommy,” he stated and gave an unimpressed stare.

Wilbur grit his jaw.

“I’m n!Wilbur,” n!Wilbur beside him introduced himself as he began taking off his sunglasses and hood; the sun was practically set, so there was no need to worry about it irritating him anymore. 

Wilbur released his clenched jaw and exhaled; he was more nervous than he meant to lead on. “So I’ve heard there’s been a couple of alternate universes that have been thrown in here?” he said, not really a question, more of a statement. 

n!Tommy nodded. Ignoring Wilbur, he looked at the other people in the room. 

There were quite a couple of new people. And there was Tommy. It was nice to see him conscious again (if n!Tommy ignored Tommy’s anxious eyes.)

Wilbur’s mouth was moving, indicating that he was talking, but n!Tommy wasn’t really paying attention.

“Alright, so who are the new people?” n!Tommy asked, cutting Wilbur off and ignoring the pointed glare he received because of it. 

The new people went around introducing themselves (Although Passerine wasn’t exactly new because Puffy had talked about them earlier; n!Tommy and n!Wilbur hadn’t met them.) 

“So your universe is just named, ‘Manhunt’?” n!Tommy asked, not caring to leave any of his judgment out of his tone. 

M!Dream sighed, “Yes, and I  promise  it’s not as bad as it sounds.” Everyone around M!Dream nodded in agreement, so n!Tommy just accepted the short and boring explanation. 

Then n!Tommy noticed Foolish walking down the path from a castle.

“Hey, everyone,” Foolish called, effectively grabbing everyone’s attention. “I made your houses, so follow me,” he stated bluntly.

Everyone got up from where they were, the scraping of chair legs on wood filling the room. Foolish led the way, leading them on the oak path that headed straight through a castle with rainbow-tinted windows. By now, the sun had finally set, and it cast the sky in a night black with beautiful stars that scattered the sky. Back in the city n!Tommy could hardly see stars. 

n!Tommy stopped and stared at the sky, only to be reminded that he should be walking by a tug of his shirt by n!Wilbur. 

They walked through the fairly empty castle, save for the gold throne that sat on the left. It felt… lackluster for what should’ve been an impressive throne room. Sure, the castle itself was gorgeous; it was just the inside that let him down. 

They were then led out of the castle, and up ahead, there seemed to be another place where people lived, but instead, they took a right onto what appeared to be a newly constructed path. It led to an area with four houses that surrounded a wooden circle. It looked like such a nice, homey community, and n!Tommy felt as though a couple perfect families should be living in them.

“Alright, these are your temporary houses,” Foolish stated, “I don’t care which universe takes which house; they’re all the same.” He gave them one stern look, “If there is something wrong with a house, don’t tell me: I don’t want to know,” he deadpanned. Then he turned and left, abandoning the alternates to themselves. 

Everyone clumped together with their universes and gave half-hearted goodbyes to each other as Tommy and Wilbur waved them goodbye. 

n!Tommy and n!Wilbur ended up taking the house on the far right. Inside was a kitchen, a room with a bunch of chests, and four bedrooms. n!Tommy was happy that n!Wilbur got a bed since he’d been sleeping on n!Tommy couch for so long (even if he hardly slept.) n!Tommy muttered a goodnight to n!Wilbur before flopping on his bed and promptly passing out. 

—

n!Tommy woke up the following day, groaning at the sun piercing through the window. 

To no one’s surprise, n!Wilbur was already up and about, making breakfast for n!Tommy while his “wine bottle” sat on the counter, open. n!Wilbur perked up and turned around at the creek of n! Tommy’s opening door. 

“How’d you sleep?” n!Wilbur asked.

n!Tommy shrugged. “Eh, alright,” 

n!Wil nodded and went back to cooking. There was a sofa in the same area with the chests and n!Tommy flopped down on it, kicking his legs over the arm of it, relaxing into the soft material. 

“How do you think we find Karl?” n!Wilbur asked, glancing in n! Tommy’s direction.

“Ask someone?” n!Tommy suggested.

n! Wilbur’s face deflated and gave him the  “really?”  look. “Well, yeah. But who are we gonna ask? It’s not like we know where anybody else lives either,” he pointed out.

n!Tommy audibly sighed. “Why did we have to be thrown into an alternate universe?!” he complained, “Don’t get me wrong, 100% would recommend as an escape route when in danger, but now it’s just difficult. We don’t know what we’re doing.”

n!Wilbur nodded. He finished cooking and ended up handing an omelet to n!Tommy. He ate that like it was the best thing ever to exist and n!Wilbur laughed. n!Tommy sent him a glare but, overall, ignored him as he finished his omelet.

n!Wilbur took his plate and cleaned it after putting his wine bottle away. n!Tommy threw on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt that he had in his bag, and both n!Tommy and n!Wilbur headed outside.

The people from Manhunt were standing outside their house, talking about something that n!Tommy couldn’t quite hear. A little farther away from Manhunt, but closer to n!Tommy, stood Puffy and Sapnap.

Puffy sighed. “Alright, thanks for letting me know, Sapnap. Hope he’s back soon,” she waved as Sapnap walked off. She sighed, turned around, and jumped when she noticed the two people looking at her.

“Jeez,” she laughed, “You scared me.”

n!Tommy gave an apologetic smile. 

“Sorry about that,” n!Wilbur apologized beside him.

She waved them off. “It’s alright,” she said, “But I do have some unfortunate news. Turns out Karl left Kinko, and it’ll be a while till he gets back. So there goes that plan,”

“Well, actually,” n!Wilbur said, “We come from a place where magic isn’t uncommon, so we were going to see if we could help Karl, but now that he’s not here…” he trailed off, letting Puffy understand.

She nodded. “Well, that sounds like a good idea,” she turned around and pointed in the direction that Sapnap had left, “That way is Kinoko Kingdom; that’s where Karl lives. It’s got huge mushrooms and other architecture, so it’d be hard to miss. If you go there, you can ask Sapnap where Karl’s library is, and I’m sure he’d be happy to tell you.”

“Thanks, Puffy,” n!Tommy called to her and waved, as n!Wil and n!Tommy began heading towards Kinoko Kingdom.

They walked through a wooded area, then down a beach with crashing waves before Kinoko finally came into view. A looming mushroom that defied all laws of nature stood to the far left. Everything else was made with the same spotty pattern often associated with mushrooms. n!Tommy saw Sapnap standing near a pool of water, and in it were a couple of fish, and the bottom was the… zing-zang symbol? Yin-Yang.

Sapnap noticed the two of them approaching before they alerted him.

“Hey,” he greeted, “What brings you two to Kinko?” 

n!Tommy was only kind of distracted by the pretty fish in the water. Ignore the fact that n!Tommy forgot to respond to Sapnap; that’s completely unrelated. 

“Well, we were hoping to check out Karl’s library in hopes of finding books about universe travel as we also have magic in our world,” n!Wilbur explained.

Sapnap thought for a moment, then nodded. “That sounds fine with me. Normally Karl doesn’t allow anyone else in his library, but I don’t really know what else to do right now,” he sighed, “Sometimes Karl just ups and leaves and doesn’t return for a couple days, and recently that happened. So now you all are still stuck here with what would’ve been no current plan to find a way home.” Sapnap’s shoulders had tensed when talking about it, likely due to the stress.

n!Wilbur sent him a smile and said, “Well, we’re glad to help.”

Sapnap sent him a grateful smile in return. 

———

~Technoblade~

Techno had just added an efficiency IV book to his efficiency IV pickaxe, effectively maxing it out. He looked out the window and sighed as what seemed to be another snowstorm was beginning.

The snow had been on and off for the past couple of hours, and it kept getting worse every time a new storm started. With his time in the Arctic, Techno knew that another snow storm would hit, and it would hit hard. There would be no leaving the house. 

Although yesterday Techno had planned to have Prison Break in five days, he was going to have to cut it shorter, maybe three days, or even two, in hopes of beating the worst of the storm. Heck, he should check out the prison tomorrow just to scope it out and see what he was dealing with in person. 

This also meant he had to call a Syndicate meeting because he still had yet to inform them of his plan. 

Techno pulled out his comm and sent a message to Niki, Phil, and Ranboo.

Technoblade: Hey, meeting at the Syndicate in an hour, does that sound alright?

Niki: yup, I’ll be there! :)

Phil: alright, mate, sounds good

Techno didn’t get a response from Ranboo, but he just assumed he was busy. Techno remembered all the times Ranboo would spend hours and hours on end mining, and he guessed this was no different. 

Techno sighed and looked at Steve. “Got a lot going on, huh, Steve?” he asked, ruffling his fur.

The polar bear huffed, and it made Techno smile just a bit.

Technosoft

STEVE

Eeee

Dude I love steve so much

Polar bear pog

#modsupport

E

STEVE MY BELOVED

Techno was glad Chat loved Steve so much, it was one thing he could enjoy, and Chat didn’t ruin too much. But Techno had places to be, so he got up and grabbed his heavy snow cape, designed just for harsh snow storms, and headed out into the cold. He ignored the way it sniped at him, having done this too many times now. 

Why a piglin consistently chooses to live in snow biomes? Techno couldn’t tell you as he muttered complaints about the icy air. Finally, he made it to the ice path, hopped into a boat, and began boating down the path until he reached the Syndicate room. Unsurprisingly, he was the first one there, but that’s what he gets for founding the anarchy club. 

He went over a quick mental list of what he needed to review this meeting:

Possibly that mention about Tubbo’s area called Snowchester?

Prison break.

Great. Short and simple. This meeting shouldn’t be too long. 

Chapter Text

~M!Dream~

M!Dream thought that he could handle anything. 

He’s had years of practice running, jumping, climbing, and swimming through all kinds of terrain to escape his friends with promises of death close behind. He’s even fallen into the void (one of his least favorite ways to die, by the way,) and he’s narrowly escaped doing so as well. He knows how to kill the Ender Dragon just as well as he knows how to chop down a tree. But none of that, none of it prepared him for the conversation that was happening. 

“What the fuck do you mean, you eat stir-fry with your hands?!”

“S!Tommy, why the hell did you have to tell them that,” S!Wilbur groaned.

“Because you’re a fucking freak of nature, that’s fucking why!” S!Tommy bit back.

“It’s not that weird. Wilbur eats sand,” Tommy shrugged, standing beside S!Tommy.

It just got weirder.

Everyone’s heads snapped to face Wilbur, who didn’t look guilty in the slightest. Wilbur shrugged.

“What can I say,” he said, “It’s crunchy.”

“THAT’S YOUR DEFENSE?!?” M!Sapnap shouted in disbelief, “‘IT’S CRUNCHY’?”

“You can’t bully me for eating food with my hands anymore, S!Tommy,” S!Wilbur declared.

S!Tommy nodded and leaned towards Tommy. He whispered something in his ear, and Tommy shook his head and whispered something back. Somehow, S!Tommy’s face warped into a mix of horrified and disgusted. It only added to the shock already written there.

“What the fuck….” S!Tommy muttered and shook his head.

“I love this conversation as much as the person beside me,” M!Dream said, standing directly beside M!Sapnap, as if to prove his point. “But didn’t you want us to do something today, Tommy and Wilbur?”

They nodded and changed the topic of conversation back to its original plan. M!Dream wasn’t even sure how the subject became so weird anyway.

“Oh, yeah. So I need to-”

Wilbur was cut off by the sound of a whirring portal. Sure enough, several feet away from Wilbur was a blue portal. 

S!Tommy groaned, “More universes?”

“What do you think happens if someone tries to go through it?” Tommy asked.

Wilbur rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “Be my guest and find out,” he said.

Tommy shrugged, and suddenly he was sprinting full force toward the portal.

“Wait, Tommy, I wasn’t serious-”

But as everyone went to try and stop Tommy, it was already too late, and he was through the portal.

“Why’d he do that?” M!Bad asked.

Wilbur shrugged. “It’s Tommy. Anything he does is beyond me.”

S!Technoblade nodded in understanding, and you could tell S!Tommy was actively trying to ignore that.

“So… is someone going to follow him?” M!Dream asked.

“I’m not,” Wilbur shook his head, “That was his decision.”

“But he’s your Tommy?” S!Wilbur asked with a hint of confusion and uncertainty. 

“Nah, that’s valid,” S!Technoblade nodded.

S!Wilbur looked like he was going to ask another question, but then he decided against it.

“So do we just wait here, or-?”

M!Sapnap’s question was cut off by someone falling through the portal. For a split second, M!Dream thought it was Tommy, but then M!Dream realized the differences.

This Tommy had an odd sort of medical mask on, along with the red cross symbol on his arm. Technically, there could be a chance it wasn’t a Tommy because he couldn’t clearly see his face. Still, these universes usually knew a Tommy (his universe being the only exception) and his signature gold hair. This Tommy also had a white streak in his hair, just like the DreamSMP’s Tommy.

After a moment of groaning, he jumped up and looked around warily. Then, before he could ask any questions, another Wilbur came tumbling out of the portal. 

“-ommy, Supreme-?!” 

Whatever he was trying to say was cut off by him falling head-first onto the ground.

He recovered much faster than masked Tommy. This Wilbur also had a white streak through his hair, but his eyes were covered by a blue fabric, and M!Dream wondered how he could see through it.

Before any of them could possibly try heading back into the portal, it closed. 

“Tommy didn’t come back out.” M!Sapnap observed.

Ignoring the way masked Tommy slightly flinched at the mention of his name, M!George rolled his eyes. 

“Great observation, M!Sapnap,” M!George commented sarcastically.

“Shut it-”

“Does that mean he’s stuck in that universe?” Wilbur asked.

“Maybe? I’m not sure-”

Suddenly another blue portal opened beside Wilbur, and out came Tommy, who fell straight into Wilbur, taking them both out. The portal disappeared soon after.

“Oi, get off me, Tommy,” Wilbur complained.

“And what if I don’t, dickhead?” Tommy asked, smirking.

Wilbur got up, effectively shoving Tommy to the ground, and stood up. Tommy groaned. 

“Bitch,” he muttered before also getting up. 

The masked Wilbur and Tommy were standing still, with Wilbur positioned slightly in front of Tommy in a protective stance. Tommy turned to them and clapped his hands to bring attention to himself.

“Alrighty,” he said, “Welcome to the DreamSMP! Now you may be wondering, ‘Hey, what’s the DreamSMP?’ ‘Why’d I fall through a random ass portal?’ ‘Why do so many people have the name Tommy?’ or even the classic, ‘Why the fuck is this SMP named after a green bitch?’ Well, it’s because Dream’s such an egotistical, homeless bastard-’”

Wilbur cleared his throat and glared at Tommy. Tommy’s head snapped to Wilbur and glared back, but he shut up. Tommy sighed.

“So, Wilbur and Tommy, what’s up with the odd masks?” Tommy asked.

Masked Wilbur’s back snapped straight, and if M!Dream could see through the fabric, he would see his glaring eyes.

“Oh, calm down,” Wilbur said, stepping in for Tommy, “To sum it up, you just left your universe and entered a new one. How did that happen? We don’t know. How do we know your name? We keep seeing alternates of ourselves.” He pointed at masked Wilbur. “For example, you’re an alternate version of me, Wilbur Soot.”

Masked Wilbur spoke for the first time. “So, you didn’t bring us here?”

Wilbur shook his head. “Someone in Kinko Kingdom is trying to figure out why it’s happening.”

For a second, no one did anything. Then Masked Tommy took his mask off. 

“Tommy-” Masked Wilbur tried to scold.

“What, Wil? They already know our names. There really is no reason to keep our identities secret.” Masked Tommy stated.

Masked Wilbur sighed and took off his mask as well.

“What was with the masks?” S!Wilbur asked, repeating Tommy’s question, although it felt like he knew something.

“Wilbur here is scary, terrifying supervillain Siren, and I’m the Syndicate’s medic!” Masked Tommy explained. “My Syndicate name is Apollo.”

S!Wilbur’s jaw tightened, and he seemed more defensive. “Villains?”

Siren (M!Dream was really getting tired of calling him “masked Wilbur”)  raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, what’s the matter?”

“Technoblade and I are heroes.”

Everyone was dead silent, and it felt like you could cut the tense atmosphere with a knife. And it looked like Apollo had that knife. 

Apollo burst out laughing, clutching his stomach as he tried to get words out. 

“T-the big bad Blade himself-” more laughing- “is a HERO?!” He laughed even harder, and you could see Siren beside him, trying to hold back his own laughs. “You’re telling me, an anarchist who is actively trying to overthrow the government, is a hero?” Apollo shook his head in disbelief.

S!Technoblade nodded. “I mean, we don’t sound too different.”

S!Wilbur whipped his head to face S!Technoblade. “What?!”

S!Technoblade raised his hands in self-defense. “I’m not saying I am a villain; I’m just saying we may have some similar ideologies,” he finished with a shrug.

Wilbur pulled out his communicator and began messaging someone, but no one brought attention to it. M!Dream wondered who he was messaging? Maybe Quackity and/or Slimecicle since they needed to figure out where Siren and Apollo were from.

“How’d you end up working for villains?” S!Tommy asked curiously.

“I found Siren bleeding out in an alleyway, and after trying to convince myself not to heal one of the city’s most feared villains, it was too late, and I healed him with my powers,” Apollo explained. “Then suddenly I healed them again, befriended them, skip the bad part, and now I’m happily healing them!” he ended with a smile.

“What’s the bad part?” S!Wilbur asked, narrowing his eyes skeptically. 

Apollo’s smile faltered a bit. “Uh, some issues with the heroes. But we figured it out!” he explained.

Siren beside him was warily eyeing S!Wilbur, and it wasn’t lost on anyone. Everyone could feel the tension between hero S!Wilbur, and villain Siren. 

“Well!” Wilbur clapped his hands, and all heads whipped toward the noise, “Might as well explain some things that have been laid out since the first people fell out of a portal.”

Siren and Apollo nodded, and the tension died down a bit.

“So we’ve had a grand total of,” there was a pause as he mentally counted, “five, alternate universes now that have come here,” he explained. “We’ve made it easier to know who everyone is talking about by shortening and adding the name of their universe to the front of everyone’s name.” he turned to M!Dream. “For example, that’s M!Dream.”

Apollo flinched slightly at the name, and Siren’s hands clenched. 

This wasn’t exactly surprising, just disappointing. M!Sapnap and M!George had given M!Dream a quick rundown of what had happened in Snowchester, and it had sounded anything but pleasant. Apparently, Dream had traumatized Tommy in some way. How? M!Dream didn’t know because Tubbo had refused to reveal anything about Dream (and it sounded like he hadn’t known too much about it either?), and M!Dream really tried to stop himself from spiraling. No matter how much his friends chased after him and threatened each other’s lives, he still cared for them as they did him. He couldn’t imagine hurting someone else for any reason, and it made him sick in the stomach. But, unfortunately, it looked like Dream from Apollo’s universe wasn’t good either, and M!Dream didn’t know how to feel about that.

But Wilbur moved on without noticing. “That’s S!Tommy, etc.,” he said.

Siren raised an eyebrow. “How did you know what universe they were from?”

“Well, this guy we know, whose name is Slimecicle, just apparently knows? Don’t ask me how; I have no idea. But he addresses everyone but their name and where they’re from,” Wilbur explained, “I just messaged Quackity, and they should be here soon, so we’ll know where you guys are from.” He sighed. “Any more questions?”

“Yeah,” Siren said, “Do you have any idea how we could get back?”

Wilbur shook his head. “No, Karl was going to look into getting it done, but then he left. So now n!Tommy and n!Wilbur are looking to see if they can get anything done. But until then, we are just sitting around with no plan.” He sighed again. “Well, I was going to-”

“Hey, Wilbur!” 

Wilbur was cut off by the calling of Quackity, who was walking along the newly constructed path with Slimecicle beside him. Wilbur turned around to face the man, and when he recognized who it was, he smiled. 

“Hey, Quackity! How are you doing, man? It’s been a while,” he replied.

Quackity made it over to the group and nodded. “It has indeed. But we’ll catch up later.” He turned to Siren and Apollo. “Anyway! Nice to meet you bunch; I’m Quackity from Las Nevadas, and this is my friend, Slimecicle.”

Slimecicle smiled and waved.

Quackity turned to Slimecicle. “So, would you like to introduce us to these guys?”

“Of course!” He replied happily, turning to them, “This is Wilbur and Tommy from tommyinnit’s clinic for supervillains!”

“They can go by Tommyinnit’s Clinic,” Quackity decided.

“Hell yeah!” TC!Tommy celebrated, “I got our whole universe named after me!”

TC!Wilbur groaned, “His ego’s already big enough.”

TC!Tommy punched him in the arm and TC!Wilbur gasped. 

“That’s going to bruise!” TC!Wilbur complained. TC!Tommy rolled his eyes.

“And if it does, I’ll just heal it. Besides, you’ve handled much worse,” he deadpanned.

TC!Wilbur frowned but didn’t argue.

“Hey, Wilbur, I was hoping to invite you to Las Nevadas to talk business if you’re not busy?” Quackity offered.

Wilbur glanced back at the group for a moment before turning back to Quackity and nodding. “Alright,” he agreed. He turned to Tommy and motioned toward TC!Tommy. “You chill with staying here and chatting? I know you like talking with alternate yous.”

Tommy nodded and waved him away. “Yeah, you go do whatever old people do.”

“I’m not old!” Wilbur protested, but Tommy wasn’t listening. He was turned the other way, arms crossed. Wilbur sighed. “Well, I’m going now,” he said as he turned away to walk with Quackity.

Quackity offered a wave goodbye to the group, and many of them waved back before he turned away and walked off as well, with Slimecicle skipping happily behind him.

Now that they had left, TC!Wilbur felt the need to confront him. More specifically, M!Dream.

“I don’t trust anyone with the name ‘Dream,’ so explain to me why I should. Especially with your universe being named ‘Manhunt,’” he spoke with narrowed eyes.

M!Dream sighed. He knew this was coming but hoped it could’ve been avoided.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure how I can convince you I’m trustworthy, but I can explain Manhunt. Me and my friends,” he gestured to M!George, M!Sapnap, and M!BadBoyHalo, “Play this game called Manhunt. In Manhunt, they try to chase me down and kill me while I attempt to defeat the enderdragon before they can.”

TC!Wilbur’s face morphed into confusion. “You call them your friends, yet they try to kill you?”

M!Dream sighed but remembered the conversation from earlier; not everyone had infinite lives. “My friends and I have infinite lives, so there’s no worry.”

That made TC!Wilbur think. “You’re… immortal?” he asked, leaving out the unspoken question, “Are you a god?”

“Well, we aren’t exactly gods, and we can die; we just wake up from where we last slept. It doesn’t make much sense, even to us, but we just accept it since we’ve lived with it our whole lives,” he explained.

“What about everyone else in your world?” TC!Wilbur asked.

“Well, there’s also Antfront and Awesamedue, who also have infinite lives. And then we also have Callahan, who I guess could be counted as a god, but he’s our admin. He can fly, make anything he wants materialize from thin air, etc.,” TC!Dream explained.

“But besides your friends. Everyone else.” TC!Wilbur repeated.

M!Dream shrugged. “That’s it. There is no one else.”

“No one else in the whole world?” 

M!Dream shook his head. 

TC!Wilbur nodded, looking only a little less skeptical, and turned to the people beside him (though he seemed to be mainly focused on M!Bad). “And you all can confirm this?” he asked. “Can I trust him?” went unsaid but heard.

“Yes. He’s one of my closest friends,” M!Bad answered.

TC!Wilbur nodded and didn’t say anything else. 

“I have wondered for a while what everyone else’s universes are like besides what we’ve already told each other. Is everyone okay with just sitting and talking?” M!Bad suggested.

Everyone looked at each other and nodded, coming to a unanimous agreement. It took a little bit of effort and questioning everyone’s geometry abilities before they were sitting in a circle. 

“Is there anything specific you want to start with?” M!Dream asked.

“Well, since so many people already know each other from their own universe, I want to see who else we may know that everyone else does. Does anyone want to start?”

“Sure!” TC!Tommy said, “I-”

Suddenly, M!Dream couldn’t hear him anymore, and he was falling. Then, he blacked out.

———

~Tommy~

Tommy stared at where M!Dream had just been sitting. 

Everyone had taken quite a bit to finally get into a sitting circle when TC!Tommy had started talking. But then suddenly, a green portal opened up beneath M!Dream, he fell through, and the portal closed right back up.

Everyone sat in silent shock. 

“Why does he get to go home?!” M!Sapnap groaned.

S!Wilbur looked over at him. “How can you be sure that was your portal home? No one saw your portal color,” S!Wilbur asked.

M!George shook his head. “No, we willingly chose to go through the portal, so we saw it appear. It was definitely yellow,” M!George explained.

“Um-” S!Wilbur started, going to correct M!George’s mistake.

“Ignore him. He’s color blind,” M!Sapnap said.

M!George turned to M!Sapnap. “Wait, what color was it then?”

“It’s practically the exact same color as M! Dream’s hoodie– a lime green,” M!Sapnap explained.

M!George sighed and nodded.

“Well, is there anything we can take away from that that could lead us to figure out how to get home?” TC!Wilbur asked.

“Um,” TC!Tommy said, “Well, maybe-”

Suddenly TC!Tommy was cut off by more green portals opening underneath M!Bad, M!Sapnap, and M!George. M!Sapnap even managed to get in a small cheer before all three of them fell through their portals, which then proceeded to close. 

“Maybe TC!Tommy is the reason the portals keep opening up. The portals have opened up every time he’s spoken,” Tommy pointed out. He narrowed his eyes at TC!Tommy. “Do you have secret portal powers?”

“What? No!” TC!Tommy exclaimed.

Everyone went silent.

They looked around expectantly for a portal, but one never appeared. Everyone looked back at TC!Tommy.

“What?! I told you I’m not the reason those portals appeared!” TC!Tommy insisted.

Tommy sighed, “Well, there goes our only lead.”

“Not our only lead,” TC!Wilbur shook his head, “TC!Tommy was about to say something.”

“Oh yeah,” S!Wilbur remembered, “What were you going to say?”

“Well, I was going to suggest that maybe it was a time thing? If they were the first ones here, then they’re the first to leave,” TC!Tommy explained, “Except I don’t know if they were the first ones here.”

Tommy shook his head. “No, Passerine was the first ones to arrive.”

S!Tommy nodded his head. “Yeah, Manhunt was like the 4th universe to arrive.”

“Well, that’s all I had.” TC!Tommy muttered, sounding a little dejected.

“Don’t worry, big man, we’ll figure it out,” Tommy reassured.

“Yeah!” S!Tommy exclaimed.

Tommy would make sure that at least the Tommys looked out for each other. Because although he’d never admit it aloud, he cared about them. It was nice having people who understood him, even if they sort of really didn’t.

———

~The Knowing~

DreamXD stared at what TK had just done. Honestly, it was beginning to feel a bit like an overreaction. 

“Why’d you-” DreamXD was– and this is the best way to put it– flabbergasted. “Why’d you just, like, take them out? For no reason?”

TK shook his head. “No, there was a reason.”

“Well, what was it? Because I understood taking S!Dream to Karl’s time-traveling adventure, but Manhunt just left! And went home!” DreamXD exclaimed, his deep voice hitting some new highs.

“They were boring,” TK put simply.

“Boring?! That’s all you have to say?!” 

“Look, what is your problem?” TK yelled, starting to get irritated with DreamXD’s questions. 

DreamXD clenched his jaw but didn’t explain himself.

“Fine, you don’t have to explain, but you do have to shut it if you aren’t,” TK ordered, “Don’t go around questioning my decisions. Your corporation is most helpful for you.” He didn’t miss the way DreamXD glowered at that, but he chose to ignore it. He had more entertaining things to do than deal with an incompetent god.

Chapter Text

Karl didn’t like what was happening because it implied that things were not working correctly. More specifically, time. Time should work correctly.

Sometimes it felt like he was watching everything that was going on in the Spaceship through a screen. Sometimes things sped up, and sometimes, he skipped things entirely. 

One moment he was in a jungle room, then in an Arctic room without any idea how he got there. 

One moment, he was standing safely next to Liam, then he was standing on the edge of a mountain cliff, calling out to Noz T. Ril as he fell down to his death.

The next moment, they were broken into groups, and he was paired up with S!Dream. Then Karl watched S!Dream fall to his death in a volcanic setting, yet falling into an entirely purple portal before hitting the lava.

Then he was watching Eleanor be stabbed by Tim in a dusty planet setting. Then time slowed back to normal.

It took Karl a moment to fully return to his senses because the last… Karl wasn’t even sure how long; it was definitely an experience. Not a good one. 

He was standing on a rickety platform in a desert room. It looked like it was the final one because behind Tim was a diamond door. Beneath the unstable platform was a pool of lava, which would quickly but painfully kill Karl, along with Liam and Gary, who were standing next to him. Karl notices that Heywood, Rick, Roo, and Samuel are noticeably absent with zero explanation. In front of them, Tim was standing on a desert-style tower.

Tim laughed an evil-villain kind of laugh. 

“You all thought you were going to make it through. You all thought that you would become professional space explorers!” he shook his head with a smile, “But no, what really happened today was a tragic accident! Gary here was a killer! He’s the engineer who messed with space suits, made sure the lava was real and even stabbed Eleanor!”

Gary looked frightened, but Karl stepped in.

“That’s not true! It’s you who’s the villain! You’re the one behind all of this!” Karl shouted, reasonably sure that what he said was true because he didn’t remember much of what had happened. No one protested, and Tim nodded, confirming that he was right. 

“Yes, that’s true. But no one will ever know!” Tim laughed sinisterly.

“You won’t get away with this!” Liam promised.

“Oh, but I will! Who will stop me? You all? Hah!” he shook his head, “You’ll be dead before then.”

Tim hit something that Karl couldn’t see from where he was standing, but he assumed it was a button because the platform began to fall apart. 

“Why are you doing this, Tim?” Karl yelled above the creaking wood and splashing lava. 

“I’ll be crowned a hero! I’ll say I tried to save everyone I could, and even though I failed, I managed to kill Gary before he could kill me, saving the world from a dangerous space explorer.” Tim explained, “I’ll soon be one of the richest people alive!”

“We’ll find a way to stop you!” Liam challenged.

“Oh, but it’s already too late,” Tim sighed as more wood planks fell to their fiery deaths. Soon it’d be them too.

Because Tim was right, these tales rarely have a happy ending. And most of them ended in his own death. So this was the perfect setup for the tale to end.

Karl turned to Liam and Gary. “This is it. We can’t find another way out.”

Liam refused for it to be true. “No! I can! We can make it out,” he tried, looking around the room for a way to escape. There was still one wooden plank that was pretty close to Tim’s tower. Karl caught on to what Liam was trying to do. He tried to stop him, but it was too late. Liam leaped to the other wooden plank, but the moment his feet hit the wood, it fell, and so did Liam.

Karl hated when he lost people on these tales, no matter if he’d only met them several hours ago. They reminded him too much of his friends back home.

Gary was panicking beside him, and Karl turned to him. “Calm down, Gary. I understand that this may be the end, but you can’t let him have your fear. No matter what happens after we go, we can’t let him have the better of us. The fear that he had the last laugh.” Karl grabbed Gary’s hand, and Gary tried putting on a brave face. “We have to jump.”

“Are you sure?” Gary asked, a little bit of his panic coming back through.

Karl nodded. Gary took a deep breath and nodded his head.

“I’ve got this,” Gary promised as the two of them headed toward the planks’ edge. “We’ve got this.”

Karl nodded. “We do. You understand what we’re doing?”

Gary nodded.

“Three… two… one!”

Karl called one, and at the same time, the two of them jumped off, letting their deaths be their own, not Tim’s.

Karl felt the familiar burning pain of lava before he blacked out. 

———

Karl expected to wake up in the InBetween like he always did after a tale. But he didn’t.

That’s not good. That means things are falling apart. But he couldn’t get too hung up on that right now.

At first, he thought he’d entered another tale, but then he noticed the familiar cracks in the cave walls and the rickety wooden stairs on the sides of the ravine.

He was in Pogtopia. To anyone else who lived in the DSMP, they’d think Karl wouldn’t be able to recognize Pogtopia because he’d never been. It’s actually quite the opposite.

Karl had two kinds of time travel. “Present” time-traveling and tale time-traveling. Tale time-traveling tended to happen in the far past or far future, many generations before or after the current members of the DSMP. “Present” traveling wasn’t exactly in the present because no time-traveling occurs when you’re in the present. After all, the present is the now. But he called it “present” time-traveling because it happened during the current DSMP generation or Karl’s generation.

He hadn’t “present” time-traveled in a while. This occurrence was weird. Usually, a “present” time travel occurred when something ruined the proper timeline of the present, ultimately destroying time itself. So it’d be Karl’s job to go back and fix what happened and make sure it didn’t happen. Yet Karl usually knew what he had to fix because it would be like an annoying fly in the back of his mind saying,  “fix this, fix that,”  but this time, there was no fly.

So why was Karl here? He had to figure out how to either get home or to get the InBetween. The InBetween might be better because it could contain some answers.

He was standing right in the middle of Pogtopia, besides some chests and the hole into Technoblade’s potato farm.

Karl looked at his unique watch, which he didn’t always use, but it told him the date, no matter how far he time-traveled. 

November 6th, 2020.

Alright. It’s something to work with. Buttons were scattered around the ravine, so it was after Schlatt’s false threat of rigging the place with TNT. 

So why was no one in the ravine at this time? What were they out doing, and how long would it take for them to return? Because Karl couldn’t be seen. That’s the only downside of “present” time-traveling. Yet, he’d have to stay nearby because “present” time-traveling always put him near the action. Maybe the members of Pogtopia had the answers?

Then, a purple portal opens nearby. Karl is a little tempted to enter it at first, but his reason gets the better of him. He knows that his portals are purple and green, so walking into a portal he doesn’t recognize could possibly mess up the timeline more. It was also strikingly similar to the portal S!Dream had fallen through. And the rest of Spite fell through during the meeting. So it was very likely that this was another person from the Spite universe. Especially since Tommy had said Passerine’s portal was a different color.

Someone with enormous black wings and blond hair stumbled out of the portal. He looked very similar to someone in Karl’s universe, but the name refused to come to mind. Patrick? Paul? Pablo? Peter? Philp? Yes! Wait, no. Close… Philza! That’s what it was. Karl was sure of it now.

“Excuse me, do you have any explanation as to what happened and where I am?” S!Philza asked as the portal closed behind him. He narrowed his eyes. “Did you bring me here?”

Karl shook his head, wondering why another person from Spite had been sent time-traveling with him by these mysterious portals. “No, I didn’t.” He sighed, realizing that he’d have to explain the whole “alternate universe” situation. “So, this is me trying to put it simply, but… We at the DSMP have found the existence of alternate universes. You, for example, are from an alternate universe called ‘This is Not an Act of Spite.’ Earlier, we met other people who were also from that universe, like S!Tommy, S!Wilbur, and S!Technoblade. You are S!Philza. Hopefully, I can introduce you to the other universes once we return. So now the question is,” Karl waved his arms around, “Where are we? Well, we’d be in the past, a couple of years ago, during the Pogtopia rebellion. Why is that? I time travel without the power of when and where I do. I just do. And it’s my job to ensure our world’s timeline doesn’t collapse.”

S!Philza nodded as he requested, “Let me take a moment to process that.”

They stood there silently for a little bit as S!Philza did so. By the end, Karl was getting a little anxious, unsure if someone who shouldn’t see them was about to enter Pogtopia. But they didn’t, and S!Philza was ready to talk.

“Alright,” S!Philza sighed, “I suppose I have to accept this. So are you the only time traveler?”

“Yes,” Karl confirmed, “And no one else on the DSMP knows about it. Though, after this expedition, I guess I’ll have to expose myself,” Karl realized, beginning to think of the things he’ll have to explain. “But for now, we need a place to hide. Since the people from the past cannot see us. Otherwise, it’ll ruin the whole timeline, spinning it out of control,” Karl explained, racking his brain for an idea. Then he remembered he kept some invisibility potions on him. He opened his inventory, pulled two out, and handed them to S!Philza. “Drink one of those. It’ll keep you invisible for 8 minutes, and once you see yourself beginning to fade back to normal, drink the other one, and it’ll reset the time. Hopefully, it’ll be enough until I can find or make more.”

S!Philza looked at the invisibility potion skeptically. Then he sighed, muttering something about how he was too old for this, then uncorked the bottle and drank it. Sure enough, the potion kicked in right away. Karl took that as a sign to down one of the other two he had in his inventory. Then they were both invisible. 

“Alright, so we should probably find a place that’s not right in the middle of Pogtopia,” Karl explained, looking around. Sure enough, up a bit was a ledge that could fit the both of them. Karl pointed to the spot. “That’s probably our best bet, but I’m not sure how to get us up there.”

“Do you easily get motion sickness?” S!Philza asked. 

Karl shook his head no. He’d had plenty of twisting, falling, and flying experiences in his tales before to be pretty motion-sickness-free. 

“Alright, then I can fly us both up there,” S!Philza suggested. 

Somehow Karl had forgotten the two giant black wings on S! Philza’s back. Karl couldn’t blame himself too much because they were now invisible, but still. Something itched in the back of Karl’s mind, just like every time he tried to remember something. Wasn’t there some reason Philza couldn’t fly? 

“That sounds good,” Karl nodded. 

S!Philza walked around and stood behind Karl, hooking his arms underneath Karl’s and taking them up. S! Philza’s giant wings made the relatively large ravine feel cramped as they landed on the ledge.

They were just in time as voices began to enter the ravine. 

“We have to get prepared. We must consider who is on our side and who is not.”

“Dream said that now he has to defend Manburg. What do you think Schlatt gave him? He said it’s not a merch plug, but I’m not quite sure whether or not I believe him.”

S!Philza took a sharp intake as he recognized the voices filtering in. Then the two of them came into view. 

They were walking down the rickety staircase that Karl’s seen people fall down several times (he’ll even admit to being guilty of that too). Tommy looked a little anxious but also determined, with his slightly disheveled hair and worn, mismatched armor. 

But Wilbur lacked any of the sorts. Instead, he had dull, manic eyes with deep bruises underneath his eyes, indicating an apparent lack of sleep. Even while he seemed calmer, you could tell he’d fully lost his mind by then. His hair had a mind of its own, and his brown jacket was begging to be washed. 

But none of that stopped Tommy from following Wilbur around. 

Wilbur’s hands were fidgety, even going to push a couple of buttons here and there as he walked down the staircase. Every time Wilbur pushed a button, Tommy slightly cringed because he believed that one of those buttons could genuinely set the whole place off. Karl knew better. But Wilbur didn’t. 

They made it all the way down the stairs and stood where S!Philza and Karl had a minute ago. 

“Listen here, Tommy, it doesn’t matter what Dream got from Schlatt. What matters is we make sure that we know who is on our side and who isn’t,” Wilbur warned, staring Tommy down.

Huh. Ironic coming from Wilbur.

“Yeah, well, now we’ve got plenty of people on our side! We’ve got Quackity, Fundy-”

“But how can you be sure?” Wilbur asked, cutting Tommy off, “Fundy just joined. How can you be sure he’s on our side? Maybe that ‘spy diary’ was a ruse, and really, he’s with Schlatt?”

“I didn’t think of that,” Tommy mumbled.

“Yeah, like that’s anything new,” Wilbur rolled his eyes.

Tommy cringed but didn’t protest. 

“Well, I need to go do something, so you get busy,” Wilbur ordered, turning away from Tommy and heading towards the Manburg underground tunnel.

Once Wilbur left, Tommy turned around so Karl and S!Philza could see his face. He looked exhausted and downbeat as he turned to go back up the stairs, mumbling something about getting wood.

Right as Tommy was out of sight, S!Philza and Karl’s invisibility potions began to wear off. Once Karl could see, he noticed how unnerved S!Philza was. It was understandable as he knew those two people as entirely different people, not as how they were acting now.

“Let me remind you,” Karl whispered, just in case someone was still nearby, “You  cannot  interfere. I mean it.”

S!Philza nodded. “I understand.”

“Good. So-”

Then Karl was falling, surrounded by the familiar green and purple swirls of his time-travel portals. 

You see, most of the time, Karl would black out and be transported to his destination. However, on rare occasions, he would be conscious during them, and it was his job to navigate the moving, hypnotic swirls. In order to make it to his destination, he had to find an opening. Openings were much easier to find with the goggles he made which could focus on the gaps. (Before his goggles, he could be stuck for hours, and that, was not fun.)

Karl slipped on his goggles, letting the portal’s swirls come into focus. He could see S!Philza wandering deliriously and, honestly, a little sick too. Karl grabbed S!Philza’s hand before looking around for an opening. Sure enough, the familiar dark purple rift came into focus, and Karl led them to it. Once they got there, Karl went through it, pulling S!Philza in with him.

Once they were through, Karl took off his goggles, letting reality set in around him. They were inside Technoblade’s cottage in the arctic, and thankfully, no one was home. Karl turned to S!Philza to make sure he was alright.

“How are you feeling?” Karl asked, remembering the multiple times he passed out after physically time traveling in the past.

“One moment,” S!Philza choked out, his voice wavering. He took several deep breaths, managing to avoid passing out. Kudos to him. “Alright, I’m good,” S!Philza stated, standing up straighter. “Do you know where we are?”

“We’re currently at Technoblade’s cottage,” Karl explained, checking his watch.

December 19th, 2020.

Once again, there was no buzz saying,  “You need to fix this.”  So what in the world was going on?

———

Sapnap groaned and slowly opened his eyes. Why was his head pounding? He’s in the middle of a Manhunt, he needs to focus and find Dream. When Sapnap came to his senses, he realized everyone else around him was also gathering their senses, and Callahan was floating above them. They were at a dead end in a nether fortress, and the sweltering heat of the nether suddenly became achingly obvious again. 

Even Dream was standing there. Sapnap switched to his iron sword, thinking he was the only one with common sense as he charged at Dream, going for the win-

Before Dream was teleported away.

Sapnap looked around to see Dream standing several feet away, looking just as confused as Sapnap felt. Before Sapnap could charge at him again, and before Dream could run away, Callahan typed in chat.

Callahan: cut it out Sapnap. I was the one who tped him

“Why?” Sapnap complained.

Callahan: because you all just got back. How was your journey?

Sapnap scrunched his face in confusion, and everyone around him didn’t seem to know much more than he did. Just got back? From where? Sure it was weird that he was passed out in a Nether Fortress, but a blaze probably just hit him in the head. Those guys sucked.

“What journey?” Bad asked for all of them.

Callahan raised his eyebrows in surprise for just a second before it was gone just as quickly. 

Callahan: nevermind. Anyway, I call this manhunt a tie. Let’s start a new one.

“What?! Come on,” Dream complained.

“Yeah, I was so close!” Sapnap complained as well.

But Callahan shook his head.

Callahan: I’m not taking any complaints

Suddenly Sapnap’s inventory cleared as Callahan entered the command. Everyone muttered their protests but didn’t pipe up.

Antfrost: Can I join in on the next one?

awesamdude: Me too!

Dream groaned. “Five hunters? Ugh, alright, just give me a second to warm up.”

The hunters went into creative mode as they took a little bit to discuss tactics. Sapnap made sure to put this weird Manhunt behind them because they would definitely win the next round.

Chapter Text

~n!Tommy~

n!Tommy and n!Wilbur stood in the middle of the most extensive library n!Tommy had ever seen. It was similar to something you’d read in fantasy tales, with ceiling-height bookshelves, moving ladders, vines, and mushrooms sprouting from all corners of the room. At the far end of the room, opposite the door, was a giant mushroom that didn’t look real. Beside n!Tommy, n!Wilbur sighed.

“Well, this was a bigger library than I expected,” n!Wilbur muttered. 

“You’re telling me,” n!Tommy grumbled. “Are you sure we can’t back out?”

“I’m seriously debating it,” n!Wilbur admitted, “But no. We have to get through this. This is our contribution to finding out how to get home.”

n!Tommy sighed but nodded, understanding they couldn’t stay forever. n!Wilbur only had so much “wine.” 

“So how do you suppose we tackle this?” n!Tommy asked, taking another look around the giant room, ignoring the dread pooling in his stomach.

“I was thinking that I go from the right, you go from the left, and we wrap around until we meet at the center mushroom,” he suggested, pointing to the unrealistically large mushroom, “We just need to read the spine of the books, and if they mention nothing about dimension travel, we move on.”

n!Tommy nodded. “That’s still going to take us ages, though,” he pointed out.

n!Wilbur walked over to the right end of the bookshelf, “But right now, we’ve got no other choice, especially with Karl gone. Might as well get started.”

n!Tommy took one more dramatic sigh just for the sake of it before going to the left wall bookshelf and starting to read the spines.

The Moon Phases, Mushroom Growth, Potions 101, How to Find Unique Flowers, Potions for Dummies, Lost Stories: Beach of the Forgotten…

There was no rhyme or reason to the order of the books. n!Tommy grunted in annoyance. He had slightly hoped that there was some order so they could skim the sections they knew the book wouldn’t be in (if there even was a dimension-travel book in the first place,) but that wasn’t the case. So how did Karl manage to find anything on these shelves?

Tropical Fishes: A Care Guide, Searching For the Perfect Flower, Stylized Building, Myths Surrounding the SMP Deserts, Potions to Battle Vomiting ( “Ew,” n!Tommy thought, ) Creating Useful Gadgets: Simplistic Redstone, The Symbolism in Colors, The Upkeep of Netherwart…

This was going to take ages.

———

~Tommy~

“Hey, Bossman!” Tubbo called out to Tommy.

Everyone’s heads turned around as Tubbo walked toward the group. Tommy smiled.

“What’s up, Big T?” Tommy greeted.

“Nothing much, I-” Tubbo cut himself short when he noticed TC!Tommy and TC!Wilbur. “There’s  another  Tommy?” he groaned.

“Come on, Big man, can’t handle three of me?” S!Tommy and TC!Tommy both smiling at the mention.

“No,” Tubbo answered very matter-of-factly.

“What brings you here, Tubso?” Tommy asked, frankly ignoring Tubbo’s reply. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out since Ranboo’s still not back,” Tubbo explained, “But it looks like you’ve got your hands full, so-”

“Come over and sit down, Big man!” Tommy cut Tubbo off, getting up from where he was sitting and grabbing Tubbo’s wrist. He then dragged Tubbo over to where he had been sitting, and they both sat down. “We weren’t doing anything important. I’m sure no one cares if you join us,” he said, looking around at the people sitting in the circle. Everyone shook their heads, an invitation for Tubbo to join them. Tubbo smiled slightly before sitting between Tommy and… P!Wilbur. If Tommy were being completely honest, he’d totally forgotten about the Passerines. 

“So, what are you guys doing?” Tubbo asked.

Tommy shrugged. “We were planning on going around the circle talking about our universes since it was… it was someone’s idea. I can’t remember whose,” Tommy said, trying to recall who had asked for them to sit down and chat in the first place. 

“Wow, you’ve already forgotten?” Tubbo laughed. Tommy glared at Tubbo.

“I can’t seem to remember either,” P!Wilbur stated, puzzled. 

“Me neither,” TC!Wilbur mumbled.

“See! I’m not the only one,” Tommy said defensively.

“For once,” Tubbo muttered.

“You take that back, bitch-”

“Alright, calm down, you two,” S!Techno said. 

The two sent death glares at each other but shut up. 

“Moving on,” P!Wilbur said, “I believe it would be best if we continue as planned. We do not need to know who devised the plan to know it’s a fairly good one.” He looked around at the people sitting in the circle. He still looked incredibly regal for sitting down on a hastily constructed wooden path. “Would anyone care to start?”

“We volunteer!” TC!Tommy declared.

“What? Why us-”

“We want to go first,” TC!Tommy insisted, ignoring TC!Wilbur who didn’t want to go first. “Right, TC!Wilbur?”

TC!Wilbur made a massive show of taking a dramatic sigh of annoyance before agreeing, “Right.”

“So, I guess we start with the basics! Um… what’re the basics?” TC!Tommy asked. TC!Wilbur gave TC!Tommy a dead look. “Oh, fuck off, TC!Wilbur! It’s not like you know where to start!”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who volunteered us!”

“Okay, this is getting no one nowhere,” S!Wilbur stated, “What’d you two talk about earlier? Maybe we could take some inspiration of where to start from that.” He was referring to Tommy and S!Tommy. More specifically, when they had headed to The Bench the day before. 

You see... At first, it was a really pleasant conversation. They’d bonded over Tubbo and Ranboo (though Tommy insisted he hated the guy, he had a feeling S!Tommy saw right through him.) They’d talked about L’manburg, to which S!Tommy was surprised to find out Tommy was a founder of L’manburg on the Dream SMP. Apparently, where S!Tommy was from, L’manburg had been around long before he was. It was also still around and not blown to smithereens. It was fascinating to hear how their worlds were different. 

But hurt always found a way into conversations.

“Who’s Techno to you?” S!Tommy asked.

Tommy froze at that. 

Who  was  Techno to him? During Pogtopia, he  was  more than just a weapon, even though Techno insisted he wasn’t. He was a companion. Almost like a brother because Tommy looked up to Techno. And Techno looked out for them. Or, he looked out for Wilbur on nights he wasn’t quite himself. He didn’t always look out for Tommy, but what did Tommy expect? A hero to swoop in and save the day? (He did, and Tommy was an idiot for doing so.) After Exile, Tommy ran to Techno like a small child would to an older brother. That must have meant something, right? Techno could’ve just kicked him out! (Techno tried to.) Why had it hurt so much every time Techno betrayed him, even when he should’ve seen it coming? Besides, Tommy’s fairly sure Techno celebrated his death. Tommy wanted to pretend he didn’t feel like crying every time he heard Techno in his head, saying, “You want to be a hero, Tommy? Then DIE like one!”

Without noticing, Tommy had zoned out.

“-ommy? Hey, you good, man?” S!Tommy was calling out to Tommy.

Tommy blinked a few times before he felt himself return to the present.

“Uh, yeah, sorry about that, man,” Tommy apologized awkwardly.

“No need to apologize. I should be the one apologizing. Sorry-”

“Oh, shut up.”

S!Tommy shut up.

“You didn’t know; it’s not your fault. So shut the fuck up,” Tommy spat. He sighed. They sat in silence for a moment before Tommy spoke. “I don’t know who Techno is to me.”

S!Tommy nodded, giving permission for Tommy to continue. 

“He’s betrayed me, yet some part of me still cares about him a little bit. Yet he constantly talks about how I’ve betrayed him, so I’m not good either,” Tommy didn’t feel like talking about it anymore. “But whatever. Who’s Techno to you?”

“I guess I’m not sure either,” S!Tommy admitted, “But I owe a lot to him. I don’t deserve to be his friend, so I’m not sure why he sticks around.” He had a pained expression while talking about it.

Tommy assumed there was a lot to unpack with that, but he wasn’t going to push for S!Tommy to elaborate. And he didn’t. But S!Tommy did call S!Techno his friend, so at the very least, they were on semi-good terms, if not better. Tommy would be lying if he didn’t say he was a little jealous. 

S!Tommy gave a humorless laugh. “I guess we’re both fucked up in our own ways, huh?”

“Yeah, why is that?” Tommy asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, why is it that our lives are so fucked up? We’ve both seen some terrible shit, and P!Tommy’s dead, for fucks sake!”

“It’s just how life goes, I suppose?” 

Tommy sighed. “Life’s a bitch.”

“And then we die, right?”

Tommy thought back to limbo. The endless, dull void. Nothing there at all besides three people who Tommy couldn’t face. Wilbur taunting him. Talking about how awful his limbo was (something about a train station), as though he wasn’t the whole reason he was dead in the first place. Schlatt, the ram who ruined his life, sitting there, just as drunk as he was when he died. Tommy couldn’t look at Mexican Dream, and Tommy wouldn’t be surprised if Mexican Dream hated him anyway. Tommy was the reason he died, after all. But Tommy doesn’t know if he could stand looking at someone he used to enjoy the company of, looking at him with hatred in their eyes.

Goosebumps ran all over Tommy. Tommy would do anything to stay away from limbo. There really wasn’t an escape, was there? Sometimes Tommy liked to imagine that limbo changed, and he’d go back, and it’d be paradise. But he knows those are just childish fantasies.

Tommy shook his head in reply to S!Tommy. “No.”

“Huh?”

“Life’s a bitch then death’s a bitch, too.”

Tommy wasn’t giving S!Tommy more than that, even as S!Tommy stared at him with question and concern filled in his eyes. Tommy looked away as his eyes began to tear up. Fuck. He hated crying. 

“Welp, don’t you just love talking about trauma?”

What.

“What?”

“We all do it,” S!Tommy shrugged. Then he smiled. “But look, we’re becoming closer friends because of it!”

Tommy thought about it. S!Tommy wasn’t wrong. Would he have trusted S!Tommy with his life before this talk? Maybe. Now? Yeah, he would. The real question was: Did Tommy trust people too easily? Definitely yes. Especially himself. There’s no one greater than himself. But that’s besides the point.

“I think this is called trauma bonding.”

“Nothing important,” Tommy and S!Tommy both responded simultaneously. 

S!Wilbur didn’t look convinced in the slightest. Tommy was pretty certain that S!Wilbur had seen Tommy crying earlier; because after The Bench, he wouldn’t stop sending these small fucking pity glances Tommy’s way. It was really beginning to get on his nerves. 

“Are you guys sure?” S!Wilbur asked, pity warped in his eyes. Tommy wanted to punch it right off.

S!Tommy looked at Tommy. By the way S!Tommy was looking at him, Tommy believed that they were both thinking about the same thing.

“I think this is called trauma bonding.”

Then it was like S!Wilbur appeared out of nowhere. Tommy hadn’t heard him arrive, which already put him on edge.

“S!Tommy! Tommy! Are you guys alright?” S!Wilbur called out. Tommy’s head snapped up to see S!Wilbur running over to the two with S!Techno trailing behind him. The pity laced in his eyes had to be the product of only one thing: the tears in Tommy’s eyes. And it pissed him off. He didn’t need some  Wilbur  caring about him (Yes, he did. But after Wilbur had gone mad during Pogtopia, he couldn’t fall for Wilbur caring for him again. It hurt too much.) 

Tommy tensed, but S!Tommy beside him smiled. The last thing Tommy wanted was S!Tommy spilling everything Tommy just said to S!Wilbur. He didn’t need the bitch pitying him more. 

Tommy tapped S!Tommy’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Don’t tell S!Wilbur anything I said. I’ll murder you if you do.” 

S!Tommy wasn’t fazed at all by Tommy’s light threat and nodded his head.

“We’re sure, S!Wil,” S!Tommy confirmed. 

S!Wilbur looked disappointed for a moment but thankfully let it go.

“But I still think I have an idea of where to start,” S!Tommy explained, “When Tommy and I were talking, we found that L’manburg meant something different to both of us. For example, L’manburg is just the city I live in, but Tommy was a founder of L’manburg as a nation in this universe.”

Everyone turned to look at Tommy. S! Wilbur’s jaw was hanging wide open in shock while S! Techno’s eyes were wide with a hint of respect. The Passerines were also shocked but also a little impressed, too. Tommy suddenly felt very awkward with the eyes on him, and he had a feeling Tubbo felt the same way beside him. “Yeah, Wilbur and I founded L’manburg along with Tubbo. Niki and Wilbur’s son Fundy were also there.” Tommy decided to leave Eret out of that list because there’s a reason L’manburg’s national anthem said, “fuck Eret.”

“I feel I have to ask now, but,” TC!Wilbur butted in, “Is Fundy  actually  Wilbur’s son?”

“Um, yeah, he is.” 

What the fuck kind of question is that?  “Actually?”  Was it, like, a joke in his universe?  “Ooo look it’s my son Fundy but not actually haha.”

TC!Wilbur looked mildly uncomfortable. “That sounds wrong. In my universe, it’s just an inside joke that he’s my son, but he’s not really my son.”

Oh. Tommy was right. TC!Wilbur was a fucking weirdo. 

“Same,” S!Wilbur chimed in.

P!Wilbur shook his head. “Not in mine. Fundy is actually my son,” he smiled, “I’m married to my wife, Sally.”

TC!Wilbur and S!Wilbur looked shocked at the news. Tommy believed it was likely because they were shocked that P!Wilbur was married. But Tommy groaned. Tommy thought P!Wilbur might be safe from Wilbur’s multi-universal shenanigans, but apparently not. Apparently, he was married to a fucking fish. Tommy never let Sally go after he learned that Wilbur fucked a salmon, and he wasn’t going to let P!Wilbur live it down either. 

He guessed no matter the universe, Wilbur was always bound to be a fucking bellend. 

“Why, for the love of fuck are you married to a fish,” Tommy complained.

P!Wilbur immediately made a face full of confusion and disgust. “What are you on about?”

“What do  you  mean, ‘What are you on about?’! You’re the one married to a fish!”

“No, I am most definitely not married to a fish. Last time I checked, my wife was human.” 

Oh. Huh? He guessed P!Wilbur was in the clear. For now.

“What? In my universe, Wilbur fucked Sally the Salmon, and boom! Fundy was born. How that works is beyond me. Especially since Fundy’s a fox hybrid...”

Immediately everyone became uncomfortable. Mostly the Wilburs, who looked like they wished their name was anything but Wilbur. But Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s good to hear that none of you have fucked a fish,” he said happily.

“It’s unbelievable that that’s something you must look out for,” P!Techno muttered.

Tubbo shrugged. “That’s Wilbur for you,”

All the other Wilburs just grimaced in response.

“We’ve gotten a little off track,” S!Tommy said.

“You think?” Tubbo mocked him.

Tommy hit Tubbo on the arm. 

“Hey!” Tubbo proceeded to push Tommy into TC!Tommy, whom Tommy apologized to before leaping on Tubbo and rough-housing. 

“Get the fuck off of me!”

“You’re the one who jumped on me!”

“No, I didn’t!”

“The fuck do you mean?! Yes, you did!”

“ Meh, meh, meh, My name’s Tubbo, and I’m a clingy bastard who loves bees! ”

“Oh, fuck off!”

“Oi, cut it out, you two!” TC!Wilbur called out, glaring at the two of them to stop.

They paused for a moment, sending silent death glares at each other before sitting back in the circle. 

“ Anyway ,” TC!Wilbur said, pulling the attention away from Tommy and Tubbo and towards himself, “In our universe, L’manburg is the city we live in. We definitely weren’t founders,” TC!Tommy, beside him, nodded his head in confirmation.

“I haven’t ever heard of a L’manburg in our universe,” P!Techno explained, “I traveled around the world for several years in the past and have yet to hear whispers of any place with that name.”

“I couldn’t help but notice that everyone here has a Tommy with them, except you guys. Is there a Tommy in the Passerine universe?” TC!Wilbur asked. 

Suddenly, everyone was tense except TC!Wilbur, TC!Tommy, and S!Techno. Tommy had forgotten they didn’t know that P!Tommy wasn’t here because he was dead. Spite had arrived after the Passerines had arrived, and S!Wilbur and S!Tommy only knew because Tommy had commented on it the day before in Snowchester. P!Wilbur and P!Techno both stiffened, and P!Wilbur looked away. 

That’s what confused Tommy. 

P!Wilbur and P!Techno  cared  about P!Tommy. 

Techno definitely didn’t care about Tommy. That was a given. If Tommy were around to see someone mention Tommy’s death, Techno would barely be phased. Unphased, even. Yet, for some reason, Tommy still looked up to him sometimes. It drove Tommy crazy. 

See… Tommy was very conflicted when it came to Wilbur. Anytime Tommy tried to think that Wilbur didn’t care about him, Tommy’s mind went to all the good times they had together. When Wilbur looked out for him. In the early days of L’manburg when they wasted the day away singing songs, building L’manburg, and brewing drugs. But then his mind immediately fought back with times in Pogtopia and all the times Wilbur yelled at him. Then his mind told him he was being ridiculous and overreacting. Then his mind went to the time in limbo when he said to Tommy, “Me and you were never good for that server.” 

Wilbur wasn’t good. He fucking blew up L’manburg and ruined so many people’s lives. But was Tommy? 

. . .

No. Tommy wasn’t either.

“You’ve only ever caused problems for the server Tommy,” Dream spat.

Fuck, shit-

. . .

So Tommy tried to avoid going down the “Does Wilbur care about me?” rabbit hole that often found its way into everyday life. Because it hurt.

Why did thinking have to hurt so much?

Why was it so hard for people to care about him?

“Tommy, can you hear me?”

Fuck, not again-

Tommy came back to his senses and realized that he was fucking crying. Again. Except for this time, it wasn’t just in front of S!Tommy. It was in front of all the alternate universes. Fucking phenomenal. 

P!Wilbur was crouching in front of Tommy, just enough distance between them, so it wasn’t too suffocating, with pity (concern?) in his eyes. To the right of Tommy sat Tubbo, who also looked concerned but awkward. That was the thing with Tubbo. Tommy knew Tubbo cared for him (Did he? Fuck, Tommy was still spiraling-), but Tubbo struggled with handling emotions (So did Tommy, so he didn’t have room to talk.)

Tommy backed up slightly, frantically wiping his eyes, trying to get rid of all the tears staining his face. 

“Tommy, are you alright?”

Shit, he was making things about him again. P!Wilbur and P!Techno’s Tommy is  dead , and now Tommy’s bothering P!Wilbur-

“Shit, um, sorry. Yeah, I’m alright-” His breathing was picking up. Shit. Piss. Calm down, Tommy, calm down!

“No need to apologize, Tommy. Is there any way I can help?”

WHY WAS HE BEING SO NICE?!

Tommy needed to leave. 

“I’m just going to go to The Bench; I’ll be back later-”

Tommy got up and took off, ignoring the looks of everyone in the circle because he couldn’t deal with them right now. He could hardly handle himself.

“Tommy-!”

Tommy was around the corner of the wooden path, ignoring whoever called after him. Tommy prayed that no one would follow after him. They didn’t need to see him like this; he didn’t need to burden them-

Why was it that Tommy always found himself running from his problems?

Chapter Text

~Tommy~

Tommy had meant to run to The Bench. He’d really meant to. He had meant to run through Eret’s castle, straight through the community house, up the prime path, and to The Bench. He’d meant to sit alone until he felt he could be around people again. He meant to sit at The Bench until he’d gotten his panic under control. He’d meant to.

But something, somewhere inside him, pulled him somewhere else. 

The rational side of Tommy knew that going there right now would do quite literally the opposite of calming him down.

Yet his legs kept moving. So instead of going straight through the community house, he took a left towards the SMP’s nether portal. 

Which wasn’t good in itself because Tommy had a bad history with the nether. But the nether wasn’t his destination. 

The swirling of the nether portal made the panic in his chest so much more apparent. And Tommy couldn’t do anything to calm it down. His breathing was picking up again, and it felt like someone was choking him, stealing all the air from him.

“Exile is a place to keep you out of trouble,” Dream spat. “Because Prime knows you need that.”

It was Dream, Dream was right behind him, choking him-

Tommy whipped around only to see the stretch of the rickety nether bridge and the far-off nether portal. 

Dream wasn’t behind him. 

That should’ve been calming. Instead, it was quite the opposite. 

Dream could be anywhere, waiting for Tommy, waiting to take him away again. Farther than Exile, where he’d never be able to escape-

Tommy was slipping, and he gave up caring. He let himself slip. He let go of that small thread that had been holding him together for the past couple of days. Ever since he’d returned from the prison to see Wilbur standing at the ruin of L’manburg, watching the sunrise. Since Ranboo spat, “Tommy, what did you do? ” Since he’d seen P!Wilbur and P!Techno standing in the community house. Since S!Dream had fallen out of the portal. Since he’d talked to S!Tommy. He’d been slipping, slipping, and slipping, trying desperately to hold himself together in front of these familiar strangers. He’d been grasping onto the threads miserably, searching for any hope to not slip away. 

Then he’d reached his breaking point. 

He ignored the sweat trickling down his back from the heat of the nether. He ignored how he stumbled on the rickety path, not caring if he accidentally tumbled off the edge. Then immediately followed by more panic of not wanting to return to the empty, nothingness void of limbo. He ignored the swirl of the all-too-familiar portal that led to one place and one place alone.

Logstedshire. 

He stumbled out of the portal, scrambling up off the ground when he tripped over a stray oak plank. Coughing with the choking gunpowder in the air. Why did gunpowder still haunt the air? Exile hadn’t been touched in ages.

Tommy let his eyes scan the broken rubble of his old home. Where he suffered and was broken until he’d almost lost himself. His eyes wandered to the tower. Where he’d gone to kill himself. 

All Tommy did was cry, choking on the thoughts as every memory of Exile came rushing back in small waves, lapping at his feet like a tidal wave. He didn’t want these painful memories to return. They hurt. They hurt too much. He could fight through this, whatever it is, until-

“T-Tommy?”

Tommy whipped around, expecting it to be Dream because even though he should’ve known that the voice belonged to Tubbo, he was expecting Dream to be somewhere nearby, waiting for Tommy. Waiting for Tommy to mess up. To speak when he shouldn’t. To withhold his items. To argue-

There stood Tubbo. His best friend, who’d left his side when Tommy (deserved it) needed him most. Tubbo, L’manburg’s president, stood there in his presidential suit. With that hurtful look of disapproval and distaste, Tommy’s best friend turned into another person. Tommy was hallucinating again, wasn’t he? He thought he was better. That he’d beaten most of the pain from Exile, yet he was right back where he began. He’d relapsed right back to when he’d been cutting down a tree to find Tubbo standing at his nether portal. Dream arrived moments later. Dream was coming for him! Tommy was right! 

Tommy laughed a humorless laugh. Oh, Prime-

Then the tidal wave that had been dancing around his ankles turned into a tsunami in an instant, which left Tommy drowning. 

———

~Tubbo~

Tommy was running from the group, panicking, and Tubbo didn’t know what to do. Tubbo was Tommy’s friend, who was supposed to be there for Tommy. 

“Tommy-!” Tubbo called out, trying to get Tommy to turn, maybe even hesitate a little bit. Still, he didn’t even falter or acknowledge his voice. 

Tubbo cursed under his breath. That panic attack at the Community House wasn’t good, but thankfully, Puffy was there to help Tommy. Now, Puffy was nowhere in sight, and the last thing they needed was for Tommy to pass out with no one around to help him.

Tubbo started running after Tommy, not allowing Tommy out of his sight. 

“Tubbo!” S!Wilbur called out to him.

“I’m going after Tommy! Don’t follow us, please!” He pleaded over his shoulder, not stopping.

Tubbo didn’t want the alternate universes following him and Tommy. Tubbo wasn’t sure how Tommy felt around the alternate universes and how well his panic attack could handle them. Tubbo could help Tommy by himself… (could he?)

Tommy was running without signs of stopping, which resembled his earlier panic attack. But, hopefully, this time, Tommy wouldn’t pass out. The two ran through Eret’s castle, then through the Community House. But, instead of going straight through it and to The Bench like Tommy said he would, he took a left toward the community nether portal.

Where was Tommy running off to? Why was he going to the nether portal? 

“Tommy!” Tubbo called out again, uncertainly. 

Once again, no reaction. Tubbo really wished Ranboo was with him right now. Then they could help Tubbo calm down and maybe even Tommy, even though Tommy insisted he hated them. Yet Ranboo had disappeared again.

Tubbo was up late one night, having put Michael to bed a few hours ago. It had been almost three days since Tubbo had seen Ranboo, and he was beginning to get a little worried. Tubbo had tried asking Ranboo about their disappearances, but every time he tried, they immediately found a way to shut it down and change the subject. That night was not much different. 

Tubbo was close to giving up and heading to bed until he heard the angry sounds of an enderman outside. That was surprising because not only did some have to have made eye contact with the enderman to make them mad, but endermen also hardly spent time around Snowchester due to the snow. 

Tubbo got up from the couch and headed to the door, trying to peek out the window but seeing nothing but the familiar snow of his home. Tubbo sighed and slowly began opening the door, peeking through the crack. Suddenly, the noise stopped, and in a flurry of purple particles stood Ranboo. Tubbo gave a relieved smile and opened the door fully. 

“Ranboo? You okay?”

Ranboo’s purple particles danced around them frantically, and there were more than usual. Ranboo had a hand gripping their hair while breathing heavily. They seemed to be anywhere but in Snowchester.

“⍙⊑⟒⍀⟒’⎅    ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔   ☌⍜?  ⊑⟒   ⍙⏃⌇  ⍀⟟☌⊑⏁   ⏁⊑⟒⍀⟒-”

“Boo?”

At the second call, Ranboo snapped their head up to see Tubbo standing in the doorway. They immediately relaxed once they saw him, letting their hand fall from their head and to their side. They took one deep to steady themself. 

“⏁⎍⏚⏚⍜,  ⟟-” They cleared their throat after accidentally speaking enderman. A while ago, Tubbo insisted on learning enderman to better communicate at times like this. Still, Ranboo insisted it was fine and wouldn’t teach him. “Hi, Bee. You should get inside. It’s cold out.” They ushered Tubbo inside worriedly and closed the door behind them.

“But you were the one out in the cold,” Tubbo thought to himself but didn’t mention it aloud. Instead, he asked, “Where were you for the past three days?”

Ranboo seemed surprised at that like they didn’t know they’d been gone that long. “⟟    ⍙⏃⌇   ☌⍜⋏⟒   ⎎⍜⍀    ⏁⊑⍀⟒⟒    ⎅⏃⊬⌇?” They muttered. “Oh, um, it was really nothing to worry about. I, um, was just on one of my mining trips,” they explained, stuttering. Ranboo was a terrible liar. Ranboo never went on mining trips without letting Tubbo know first. They also tended to stutter when nervous. Once again, they tried to change the subject. “Does Michael need to be put to bed? It seems to be pretty late-”

“It’s one in the morning. I put him to bed four hours ago.” 

“Oh.” They fidgeted with their hands nervously. “Why aren’t you in bed?”

“I was waiting for you.”

“But what if I hadn’t come back today?”

“Exactly. What if you hadn’t? How long would you have been away for?”

Silence. 

“It’s really nothing to worry about, Tubbo. Let’s head to bed.”

Tubbo desperately wanted to push Ranboo to tell him. Beg them to tell him anything. About why they’d disappear for days on end with no explanation and return like nothing happened. Why Tubbo had to simply accept it and move on. But by the look Ranboo was giving him, one that was begging Tubbo instead, begging him not to ask, Tubbo knew that if he did push, all he’d be doing would be pushing Ranboo away. Ranboo would shut in on themself, and Tubbo wouldn’t even get anything out of them. Not unless they broke down, which wasn’t good for either of them. Tubbo sighed.

“Alright,” Tubbo gave in, pushing past Ranboo as he headed to bed with Ranboo shuffling behind him.

Tommy had entirely made it through the nether portal by now, out of sight and in the nether. 

Tubbo picked up his speed a little bit, getting to the nether portal slightly faster. Then, he let the familiar purple swirls take him away into the sweltering heat of the nether. 

When he stepped out of the portal and onto the obsidian platform surrounding the portal, he found Tommy walking along the path Tubbo tried to avoid as much as he could: Exile’s path. Tommy was stumbling down the path, having given up on his running, so it’d be much easier for Tubbo to catch up with him, but Tubbo could tell something was off. Suddenly, Tommy whipped his head around to look behind him, and he should’ve seen Tubbo standing there at the start of exile’s path. But Tommy’s eyes had a faraway look, soon filled with panic too. 

Then Tommy turned back around, speed-walking to the portal, yet failing to walk straight as he stumbled to each side of the path every other second with ragged breaths. 

“Tommy…” Tubbo thought to himself, letting his worry sink in. He almost called out to Tommy, but something kept him in place. He wanted to move, to run and reach Tommy before Tommy got to the portal, but Tubbo’s feet refused to move. Soon enough, Tommy was through the exile portal, and Tubbo hadn’t reached him; he hadn’t even moved yet. “Prime, Dammit! ” Tubbo cursed in his head as he finally could move and began running toward the portal. 

Then he heard the swish of the main community portal swish from behind. 

Tubbo stopped where he was on the rickety path, making sure he felt safe at where he was before he looked up to see P!Wilbur and P!Techno walk out of the portal. They were very disoriented, shaking off the nauseating feel of the nether portal that you eventually get used to while living in Tubbo’s universe. Although he guessed nether portals weren’t a thing where they came from, especially with their shocked reaction to the terrain and sweltering heat of the nether.

“What. Were they doing here?” Tubbo thought. He was so annoyed, he was angry. He almost debated ignoring them and running off after Tommy, but he specifically asked for no one to follow them. But grumbled and called out to them, “Over here! Watch out, the bridge is rickety,” he let his anger seep into his tone. 

The two Passerines eventually got their bearings and managed to walk regally, nonetheless, to Tubbo in the suffocating heat with heavy capes on. Though, by the time they reached Tubbo, he could see the sweat trickling down the sides of their faces.

“What is this place?” S!Techno asked, “It’s most interesting to find that in this alternate universe, there are, well, alternate dimensions.”

“It’s called the nether. It’s extra dangerous, so be careful. But I thought I told you guys not to follow me!” Tubbo accused them.

P!Wilbur looked only slightly guilty, but P!Techno didn’t look sorry in the slightest, and it pissed Tubbo off.  

“We just wanted to ensure that Tommy would be okay,” P!Techno explained.

If Tubbo wasn’t also scared that P!Techno would pull out a rocket launcher and launch a rocket in his face, Tubbo would punch him. He would. Maybe stab him too. Prime, now he sounds like Tommy. 

“Well, he’ll be fine,” Tubbo insisted, not allowing any of his worry to seep through, “He’s my friend. I can look out for him.”

“And we believe you,” P!Techno said (Okay, then why were they here?), “But we just want to play it safe. You know?”

“No, I don’t,” Tubbo spat. “Stay here while I go through and bring Tommy back.” 

P!Techno narrowed his eyes, and Tubbo did the same back, giving as much attitude as possible. P!Techno sighed before breaking eye contact. 

“Fine. We’ll give you just a few minutes before we’ll head right in.”

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Five.” 

“Ten.”

“Five.”

“Ten?”

“Six. We’ll give you six minutes. And don’t try to negotiate; it won’t work,” P!Techno deadpanned. The look he was giving Tubbo almost made him want to negotiate, but he knew rationally that it wouldn’t work. 

“Fine,” Tubbo grumbled. He continued to glare at the Passerines as he walked into the portal and allowed the purple swirls to take him away. Going through the portal felt like it took years, as Tubbo dreaded it. Yet, no matter how much he insisted that he wanted to go through alone, a small part of him didn’t because all he could think about was the time he had finally decided to visit Tommy for the first time during exile, only to find a tall tower where Tubbo thought Tommy… well…

Tubbo hated remembering that day and how miserable he was afterwards. How Ranboo had to practically drag him out of his room some days. How he pretended to be unaffected by it to show citizens that he could lead this nation that he never should’ve been in charge of. 

What Tubbo hoped to find on the other side of the portal was Tommy sitting by the beach, and Tubbo could go over and sit down next to him, and Tubbo could be there for him and help him through it. 

What he found instead was Tommy standing in front of the tower. Staring up at it like- almost like he-

What?

No, no, no, no, Tommy was better! He wasn’t in exile anymore, and he and Tubbo were still friends! Tommy even went to therapy with Puffy! He had a panic attack earlier, but he was fine afterward. It’s not like- That didn’t mean- Tommy was supposed to be better-

“T-Tommy?” Tubbo muttered out in shock. Because surely Tommy wasn’t thinking-

Tommy whipped his head around to see Tubbo standing there, staring at Tommy. Tommy had tears rolling down the side of his face, and when he looked at Tubbo, he didn’t look relieved. He didn’t smile. He didn’t ask why Tubbo had followed him. He didn’t call him clingy. Instead, Tommy looked hurt, scared, and beaten, with eyes that looked far away. He laughed humorlessly before breaking down and falling to the abused dirt. 

Tubbo winced when Tommy’s knees jabbed right into broken oak pieces, and Tommy didn’t even flinch.

Tubbo stared, frozen. Just like he had when he’d seen the tower. Without realizing it, Tubbo began crying. Tubbo was as worthless as he was before. He couldn’t bear all this responsibility. Schlatt was right, wasn’t he?

Tubbo couldn’t find it in himself to fight the jarring thoughts and stood there, useless, when he was supposed to be helpful. He had a job. He was supposed to be a good friend. For Tommy, for Ranboo. He failed. Again.

———

~P!Wilbur~

They had come upon the uncomfortable topic of P! Tommy’s death. TC!Wilbur was unaware that P!Tommy was dead because Clinic had only arrived moments earlier and had no way of knowing. Hence, they weren’t at fault for asking. Unintentionally, while awkwardly explaining the situation as best he could, he stared at Tommy throughout the whole conversation. 

When suddenly, Tommy fell into a panic attack. 

He had watched Tommy’s eyes begin to water, and he asked Tommy if he was alright, but there had been no response. Then Tommy’s breathing picked up, and Wilbur knew what was happening because he wasn’t too unfamiliar with panic attacks himself. P!Wilbur cut off the conversation as he stood up and ran over to Tommy. He made sure to keep some space between them because P!Wilbur knew that the two of them weren’t very close, and well, Wilbur from the DreamSMP universe…

Anyway, P!Wilbur asked if Tommy was alright. Thankfully, he wasn’t too far into the panic attack because he responded to P! Wilbur’s question. Well, not verbally, but his eyes cleared up a bit, and he looked up at P!Wilbur, and he looked so conflicted. He desperately whipped the tears falling down his face away and tried to ground himself. P!Wilbur asked if Tommy was alright again but immediately regretted it. It was a rhetorical question. It was clear that Tommy wasn’t alright, and P!Wilbur should know that asking a question like that while someone has a panic attack is the opposite of what you should do. 

And it only backfired more when Tommy frantically apologized and insisted he was fine. P!Wilbur felt a pang of sympathy for the kid. He immediately tried correcting his mistake by telling Tommy there was no need to apologize and asked if P!Wilbur could help. 

But Tommy didn’t accept the help and instead ran off to “The Bench,” as he called it.

That is where P!Wilbur is now. 

Tommy has run away, and Tubbo has just run after him, begging that no one follow them, but it didn’t quite sit right with him. But, of course, he was not the only one, either.

“I think someone needs to go after Tommy and Tubbo,” S!Wilbur stated, S!Technoblade beside him, nodding. 

“Who do you think should follow them?” TC!Wilbur asked.

“I think it should be the Passerines,” S!Technoblade suggested.

“Why us?” P!Wilbur asked, “I was the one who caused him to run away. I believe it would be best if someone else did it.” Although P!Wilbur wanted to go and help Tommy, he thought it would likely be best if he stayed out of it, but S!Technoblade thought otherwise. 

“I actually think there’s a chance that he trusts you a bit, so I really do think that you both are the best ones to go help,” S!Technoblade explained, “Since we can’t all go because that could overwhelm him.”

“I agree,” P!Technoblade said, looking P!Wilbur in the eyes, telling him that he meant it. P!Wilbur nodded his head. 

“Alright, then, we don’t have any time to waste,” P!Techno said seriously. 

The two of them turned away and ran from the group and towards Tommy. When they had reached the path, P!Wilbur peered through the windows of Eret’s castle to see Tubbo just making it out on the other side. Thankfully they weren’t too far behind. They ran through Eret’s castle, and P!Wilbur apologized under his breath for rushing through the royal’s throne room, which was often found to be disrespectful, especially for nobles. 

Once they made it through the castle, P!Wilbur saw Tubbo running out of the left side of the Community House and towards a purple portal. Had that always been there? Or was it another universe? It looked different from the other alternate universe portals. Those tended to be oval-shaped and weren’t connected to anything. This portal was shaped like a rectangle and attached to some dark-purplish blocks. 

By the time they’d made it through the Community House and to the portal, Tubbo had already gone through it. 

P!Wilbur and P!Techno looked at each other before giving a quick nod of agreement. If they went through the portal, the Passerines had to go through the portal. 

They both stepped into the portal and were immediately greeted by nauseating purple swirls. When he stumbled out of the other side of the portal, he was so disoriented that he didn’t notice the boiling heat of their new environment. Once he steadied himself with some help from P!Technoblade, the sweltering heat began to make itself present. It was scorching , and his royal cape was not doing him any favors. 

“Over here! Watch out; The bridge is rickety.”

P!Wilbur looked over to see Tubbo standing in the middle of an oddly shaped bridge that looked anything but stable. P!Wilbur also didn’t miss the anger in Tubbo’s tone when he called out to them. P!Wilbur composed himself, and P!Techno and himself made it over to Tubbo, who was standing next to another portal. Unfortunately, there was nothing P!Wilbur could do to stop the sweat from forming on his brow because it was simply too hot.

“What is this place?” S!Techno asked, “It’s most interesting to find that in this alternate universe, there are, well, alternate dimensions.”

Especially an alternate dimension that was so miserable to be in.

“It’s called the nether. It’s extra dangerous, so be careful. But I thought I told you guys not to follow me!” Tubbo accused them.

P!Wilbur felt slightly guilty because Tubbo had asked them not to follow. But another part of him felt like he should be there for Tommy. Tubbo was also getting defensive, so P!Wilbur guessed there was a possibility of a little more than just simple annoyance. 

“We just wanted to ensure that Tommy would be okay,” P!Techno explained.

Tubbo glared at P!Techno with eyes that could kill, but P!Techno didn’t even falter. He was once known as the Blood God, and Tubbo was just a child.

“Well, he’ll be fine,” Tubbo gritted through his teeth, “He’s my friend. I can look out for him.”

“And we believe you,” P!Techno said, “But we just want to play it safe. You know?”

P!Wilbur could tell that P!Techno was just as concerned as P!Wilbur, but he had more experience hiding his emotions.

“No, I don’t,” Tubbo spat. “Stay here while I go through and bring Tommy back.” 

P!Techno narrowed his eyes, and Tubbo did the same back. Both Passerines didn’t want to leave helping Tommy to the sole responsibility of a kid. But, P!Techno must have decided they wouldn’t get anywhere with the stubborn kid because he sighed before breaking eye contact. 

“Fine. We’ll give you just a few minutes before we’ll head right in.”

P!Wilbur wanted to argue, but he knew that Tubbo wanted to do the same for the opposite reason.

“Fifteen minutes.” 

“Five.” 

“Ten.”

“Five.”

“Ten?” Tubbo tried again.

“Six. We’ll give you six minutes. And don’t try to negotiate; it won’t work,” P!Techno deadpanned. The way Tubbo glared at P!Techno, it looked like he wanted to negotiate, but thankfully, he gave in. P!Wilbur didn’t want to waste any more time bickering.

“Fine,” Tubbo grumbled. That didn’t stop him from glaring at P!Wilbur and P!Techno as he entered the portal Tommy supposedly went through. 

Once Tubbo was through, P!Wilbur began to mentally count the minutes. 

He believed Tubbo could help Tommy, but he doubted it would take under six minutes. He knew that, and so did P!Techno. So hopefully, when they made it through, Tommy would be calmed down at least a little bit, and then the Passerines could pitch in and get everyone back to the circle, happy. 

After two minutes, the icky heat was becoming unbearable. 

P!Wilbur grumbled before removing his royal cloak. P!Techno followed his lead. P! Wilbur’s nervous energy began to get the best of him. P!Wilbur started to pace back and forth in front of the portal. Deep down, P!Wilbur felt like he owed it to this Tommy to be there for him. P!Wilbur hadn’t been able to always be there for P!Tommy, but now he’d try his best to be there for Tommy. He’d make it his responsibility to-

“P!Wilbur. Stop pacing.”

P!Wilbur stopped dead in his tracks and tried to take a deep breath to calm himself. Then he realized he had stopped counting.

“I lost count,” P!Wilbur admitted, “How many more minutes?”

“Just one,” P!Techno answered.

It felt like an eternity, but eventually, the minute passed, and Tubbo and Tommy hadn’t come back through the portal. Finally, P!Wilbur and P!Techno were both ready when P!Techno said, “Alright. Time to go through.”

P!Techno had barely finished speaking when P!Wilbur stepped through the portal.

When P!Wilbur made it through the other side, he expected Tubbo to be sat next to Tommy, trying to calm him down or having calmed him down a little already. What he was not expecting, though, was to find both teenagers in the depths of a panic attack. 

To begin, the terrain was in a horrid state. The ground was torn up in several spots, with bits of rubble and scraps scattered across the landscape. It was evident that there had been an explosion, but there was no smell of gunpowder, so it mustn’t have happened recently. What looked to be once a home was in a state that hardly counted as shelter anymore. Then, this tall, rickety tower made P!Wilbur question how it was still standing.

But the boys. 

Tubbo stood frozen, and it seemed almost as though he wasn’t breathing, and it was very possible that he wasn’t. He was staring at Tommy and the eyes he had looked far, far away, and P!Wilbur could tell he was lost. 

Tommy was on the ground, hyperventilating, and was taking choking breaths in and out. He was hunched over himself with his hands in his hair and pulling on it hard enough to almost tear some from his head. Tears were coming down the side of his face, several hitting the ground. 

Oh, gods above. This was way worse than what P!Wilbur was expecting. What had these children been through?

Chapter Text

~TC!Tommy~

TC!Tommy had been struggling ever since he’d been taken from his universe and fell into this alternate universe. Which sounds like a dream. Which was the problem. It sounded just like the plot of some dream .

Ever since TC!Tommy had been rescued from the heroes, TC!Tommy constantly worried whether or not he was still trapped dreaming by 404. Which TC!Tommy knew was probably was stupid, because everything pointed to the opposite: the windows were the right temperature, he bled, his friends didn’t act out of the ordinary. That was until all laws of what should and shouldn’t be possible were thrown out the window.

Because it shouldn’t be possible to go into alternate universes. Things like that just didn’t happen. It was something you only heard in stories. Fantasy books. 

Several of the people around TC!Tommy were panicking. 

TC!Tommy was too. 

But probably for a different reason.

TC!Tommy had been holding out for a while. Trying to keep his funny demeanor; keeping the energy high, cracking jokes, and just trying to keep his nerves at bay. But the moment Tommy started having a panic attack, he couldn’t help but begin to lose himself.

It was overwhelming: everyone’s quick, panicked discussion, Tubbo’s yelling; it was all a little too much.

TC!Tommy began to zone out. He felt his mind trying to leave his body so he immediately willed his hand to dig his nails into the palm of his hand to ground himself. The pain cleared his mind a little bit, but it wasn’t enough to snap himself out of his panic. He was focused intently on his palm, staring at it, trying to break skin. If he could see the blood trickle down his hand then he could be comforted with the fact that he was awake.

Except when the skin broke and the blood began its slow journey down TC!Tommy’s wrist. It didn’t help. He wasn’t bleeding enough. He was bleeding too much. The blood was too cold. It was too dark to be his own blood. He was dreaming. He was still trapped. Maybe Siren had been captured by TC!Dream. He couldn’t know if any of it was real if could just wake up dammit-

“TC!Tommy!”

TC!Tommy found the hand that had been digging his nails into his other palm was ripped from him by the wrist. TC!Tommy fought to wrench his wrist from his attacker but the villain only tightened their grip. 

“Let me go!” TC!Tommy cried out, “Siren, help!”

If Siren could help him- Wait, no, he couldn’t rely on Siren because this was a dream-

“I’m right here, TC!Tommy. Focus on my voice.”

Slowly, TC!Wilbur coaxed TC!Tommy until he could focus on the texture of TC!Wilbur’s clothes, and the hug of his arms around TC!Tommy. Once TC!Tommy wasn’t panicking as much, he just began crying. He couldn’t stop himself. He forgot everything about all the people still around them.

Finally TC!Wilbur broke the hug and looked at TC!Tommy in the eyes with a stern stare.

“What happened? What’s the matter, TC!Tommy?” TC!Wilbur said so softly that TC!Tommy couldn’t help but spill everything.

“W-well,” he choked at first, wiping away the last of his tears, “I often worry whether or not I’m still dreaming. You know 404’s powers, and how he used them on me, right? Well part of his tricks were trying to get me into thinking that I was awake so I’d spill the Syndicate’s secret identities. But I always managed to find something wrong. Like the idiot would sometimes forget to put anything outside the windows, or one time I didn’t bleed when I broke skin, and sometimes the ‘waking’ world was just too ridiculous to be real. But I sometimes wonder if maybe I never did wake up, and ever since I was rescued it was really just all a dream-

“Tommy-”

“-so when we were brought here it all felt kinda unreal, you know? Like, traveling to an alternate universe is not something that happens. That’s something you dream about, not something you live-”

“Tommy!” TC!Wilbur managed to cut off TC!Tommy’s rambling.  

TC!Tommy’s hands were shaking violently and he couldn’t get them to stop for the life of him. 

“F-fuck,” TC!Tommy cleared his throat, “Sorry about that. It’s fine.” TC!Tommy settled his breathing. He was making such a big deal out of nothing. TC!Wilbur was so concerned for him for no reason. 

“If TC!Wilbur truly was kneeling in front of him at all,” the back of his mind traitorously thought.

“TC!Tommy. Please ,” he sounded so desperate, “You don’t have to be fine TC!Tommy. I’ll help you in any way you need. I don’t want you hurting yourself. Is there any reason you did that?”

“No, I did it unintentionally. But-” TC!Tommy’s mind wandered to the dream where he broke skin without blood. But he stopped his thoughts aloud. “-nevermind.”

TC!Wilbur shook his head. “No, TC!Tommy. Please tell me what you were about to say.”

TC!Tommy bit his lip for a second but TC!Wilbur looked nervous like TC!Tommy was going to make his lip bleed as well so he let it go. He took a deep breath instead. 

“Well, it just reminded me of one of the dreams 404 put me in where-” All of sudden, TC!Tommy was very of all the alternate universes that were still standing around. Watching and listening to this all unfold. 

TC!Wilbur managed to catch on. “It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me right now. We can talk about this later when we’re alone. Just promise you won’t hurt yourself again.”

“I promise not to purposely hurt myself,” TC!Tommy said. He knew it was the best he could do, because sometimes losing himself in the panic attack was too much.

TC!Wilbur held onto his wrists for a moment longer before dropping them, accepting that that was the best he was going to get. “Alright.”

Then TC!Tommy truly came back to reality. It had been weird floating in a space in between but truly feeling like he was back in his body felt good; grounding. 

He got a good look at his palm and noticed that the indents he made in his palm were already healed due to his healing abilities. 

He also noticed that the Passerines were nowhere to be found along with Tubbo. So it was just Spite and Clinic. Which was a little awkward since Spite was similar to their universe, in the sense of there being heroes and villains, except the SBI were the heroes in Spite, not villains. 

It was a little difficult to wrap around TC!Tommy’s head. TC!Technoblade spoke so much on anarchy that is S!Technoblade was any similar-

It was just weird. 

S!Tommy made his way over to TC!Tommy. 

“Hey, you doing alright, Big Man?” S!Tommy asked and shrugged his shoulders, “I’m not really one for comfort, but I do want to check in on you.”

And TC!Tommy appreciated it. He’s sure that it was incredibly odd watching himself-but-not-himself have a full blown panic attack. “I’m doing fine, thanks.” He smiled.

S!Tommy smiled right back and clapped TC!Tommy on the shoulder. “Thanks for saying that even if you didn’t mean it. Though I’m sure TC!Wilbur wouldn’t be too happy about lying about that,” he muttered the latter under his breath while gesturing over to TC!Wilbur who was out of earshot but still glancing over at TC!Tommy every few seconds. “But I’m not TC!Wilbur!” TC!Tommy stated very matter-of-factly. 

TC!Tommy glanced around noticing that the Passerines were still nowhere in sight. “Where are the Passerines?” TC!Tommy asked S!Tommy. 

“Oh, they left to go check on Tommy,” S!Tommy answered. 

“Do you think we should all go check on him?” TC!Tommy asked.

“Did you feel comfortable with us watching you have a panic attack?”

Point taken. 

“Alright, so what do we do now?” TC!Tommy wondered. 

“Do you want to wander around the place? We walked around a bit earlier but I bet there’s still a ton to look at. And besides, we can show you some of the shit we saw earlier!” S!Tommy suggested.

Apparently the others had been listening in because S!Wilbur chipped in, “But they’ll be expecting us to be here when they come back.”

S!Tommy turned around to face S!Wilbur and then rolled his eyes. 

“So we’re just supposed to sit around on our asses?” S!Tommy laughed, “Fuck that! Let’s go!”

S!Wilbur sighed and looked over at S!Techno who just shrugged. TC!Wilbur was already on board because he was new to this universe just like TC!Tommy. 

So that was that. S!Tommy led the way with TC!Tommy right behind him and then the others trailing behind them.

S!Tommy began rambling, “I think first I have to introduce you to The Bench here. Oh! Talking about The Bench, do you have one in your universe? Oh and are you friends with Tubbo and Ranboo-?”

It was distracting in a calming way. It was nice being around someone TC!Tommy felt like he could trust even though they just met. Because he was him.

———

~P!Technoblade~

The situation they were in certainly wasn’t ideal. Two boys, who neither P!Wilbur or himself knew particularly well, were in the middle of panic attacks.

P!Wilbur didn’t know how to handle himself either. For a moment he stood frozen before running to Tommy. It was sweet and must’ve been his brotherly instincts but not what P!Wilbur should’ve done.

They both needed to sit down with one boy and calm them down and P!Techno was not the person to be calming Tubbo down, he had made that abundantly clear earlier.

“Hey, P!Wilbur-” P!Techno tried and failed to grab P!Wilbur’s attention.

“Hey, Tommy, can you hear me?” P!Wilbur asked Tommy.

Tommy stopped pulling on his hair but remained holding onto it. He looked up from the ground, but his eyes still looked clouded, and far away. “Ghostbur? What’re you doing here?”

“No, Tommy, it’s me P!Wilbur. Not, um, Ghostbur…”

“Ghostbur,” Tommy cried, “Fuck off! I’ve told you over and over this isn’t vacation!”

P!Wilbur was frozen and at a loss of what to do. P!Techno walked up beside and put a hand on P!Wilbur’s shoulder. He flinched. 

“P!Wilbur, go help Tubbo. I’ll help Tommy.”

P!Wilbur looked hesitant at first but eventually gave in and walked over to calm Tubbo. P!Techno walked over to Tommy, hopefully able to calm him down with more success than P!Wilbur.

“I’m so sorry, Ghostbur, I’m so sorry I yelled at you. I shouldn’t have…” Tommy was muttering sorrys when P!Techno made it over to him.

Although P!Techno wasn’t known for being calm or kind, because he was once known as the Blood God, he still tried to shed that title when talking to Tommy. 

“Hey, Tommy. I’m sure Ghostbur wouldn’t mind you yelling at him,” P!Techno tried reasoning. Although he didn’t know this “Ghostbur” P!Techno knew that Tommy was too deep into his panic attack for P!Techno to just deny everything that was happening to him. He had to coax him out of it. 

“T-techno?”

Was that who Tommy wanted to see right now? Was that who P!Techno needed to be right now?

“Uh, yeah..?” P!Techno answered cautiously. 

“Is Dream gone?” Tommy asked warily. 

Oh.

“Yeah, bud. He’s gone.”

Tommy’s hands left his hair and suddenly Tommy was lunging toward P!Techno for a hug. P!Techno didn’t stop him. He normally wasn’t one for physical touch, but there was no way he was going to deny Tommy a hug right now. 

Tommy clung to P!Techno like a lifeline. He cried until there were no more tears to cry and just sobbed dryly. Eventually he wore himself out, and he eventually quieted. P!Techno thought he was sleeping, but then Tommy muttered something. P!Techno didn’t quite hear what he said so he asked.

“You’re going to keep me safe, right?” Tommy repeated, just above a whisper.

P!Techno wasn’t sure if Tommy still thought he was talking to his Techno, or to P!Techno, but P!Techno knew the answer no matter what the case was.

“Of course,” P!Techno promised.

That put Tommy’s mind at ease and he fell asleep. P!Techno carried Tommy bridal style over to where P!Wilbur and Tubbo were sitting. Thankfully, there seemed to be no glass or wood pieces where they were sitting, unlike the minefield of scraps where Tommy had been.

P!Wilbur seemed to have helped Tubbo calm down because he was no longer crying, and P!Wilbur kept asking questions that Tubbo kept brushing off. 

“Leave the kid alone,” P!Techno grumbled, and rolled his eyes when P!Wilbur gave him a slightly guilty look. 

P!Techno didn’t miss the way Tubbo flinched slightly at P!Techno’s voice, but was proud of the kid when he took a deep breath to calm himself. 

Tubbo looked at Tommy laying in P!Techno’s arms. 

“How’s he doing?” Tubbo asked in a small voice.

“He’s fine, just worn out. Just as you are probably, too. So how about we go someplace you both call home so you can rest. Then I can clean up Tommy’s knees as well,” P!Techno added, looking down at the bloodied state of Tommy’s knees. 

Tubbo nodded and picked himself up off the ground as P!Wilbur beside him did the same.

Tubbo sighed, “Let’s just go back to Snowchester.”

So that’s what they did. They went back through the portal, leaving the beach ruins behind. P!Wilbur grabbed both his and P!Techno’s royal capes (P!Techno’s hands were a little full) and walked back to the other portal, bringing them back to the Community House. 

P!Techno and P!Wilbur allowed Tubbo to lead the way to Tubbo’s place, deemed Snowchester. P!Techno faintly remembers the Spites mentioning Snowchester but he doesn’t remember enough to really use energy thinking about it. 

When they get there, it’s perfect for their royal cloaks because it is freezing. P!Wilbur puts his cloak back on and P!Techno stills for a moment allowing P!Wilbur to put on P!Techno’s for him. Eventually they make it to Tubbos house and for a moment Tubbo hesitates allowing P!Techno in. P!Techno was perfectly fine with waiting outside but Tubbo must’ve convinced himself that P!Techno should be there because he was let inside.

When they got there, it wasn’t long before Tubbo was passed out on his bed.

P!Techno laid Tommy on the couch, found some medical supplies in some nearby chests and began cleaning Tommy’s wounds. P!Wilbur stood beside him as he worked. 

“Do you think we can help them?” P!Wilbur broke the silence with his question.

P!Techno stopped what he was doing for a moment to look up at P!Wilbur. “Help erase what’s probably years and years of trauma? Absolutely not.” P!Techno deadpanned.

P!Wilbur sighed, “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

P!Wilbur didn’t have an answer for that.

“Why’d you word it like that?” P!Wilbur asked.

“Because that’s exactly what it is. We can help be there for them when they are hurt and protect them as much as possible, but we can’t erase the past,” P!Techno explained, looking P!Wilbur dead in his eyes even though he hated eye contact. 

P!Wilbur looked away and sighed again, aging slightly with each breath, “I wish it was that easy.”

P!Techo didn’t answer for a moment, allowing himself to focus on wrapping Tommy’s knees. Once he was done, he put the medical supplies away and sat next to Tommy. He stared for a moment before adding, “I wish it were that easy, too.”

———

~Technoblade~

Technoblade sat at the Syndicate table with Niki and Phil as well. They still hadn’t gotten a response from Ranboo, which slightly disappointed him, but he didn’t let it worry him.

“Alright, let’s start this meeting,” Technoblade announced.

Niki and Phil both smiled as Techno stood up.

“As you both know, I owe Dream a favor and he recently called upon that favor to break him out. So that’s what I plan to do. In two days from now I hope to break Dream out with the assistance of you two, hopefully three when Ranboo responds,” Techno explains, “You two can wait outside as I go inside and break him out. Then you both can act as backup if that back up Sam calls upon gets crazy. Sound like a plan?”

“Anything you’re going to do the prep, mate?” Phil asked, his one intact raven wing stretched out behind him. 

“I think I’m going to go out later today to scope out the prison. I don’t remember there being any guards out front, but since I escaped, who knows what safety precautions they’ve done to up the security for the prison.” Techno deadpanned, internally groaning if there was something unexpected he would have to plan for. 

Once nobody else piped up with anything to say, Technoblade announced the end of the meeting.

“Well, that concludes this Syndicate meeting, thank you both for coming,” Techno said gratefully. When they exited, Niki went her separate way while Techno and Phil headed back to their cottages together. 

“You still haven’t heard anything from Ranboo?” Phil asked as they were walking, “That’s unlike them.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, they’re probably just strip-mining again and left their comm at home,” Techno offered.

Phil sighed with his dad worry, “If ya say so mate.” 

They walked the rest of the way home in silence. Techno didn’t like silence with Phil.

Chapter Text

~n!Tommy~

n!Tommy felt like he’d been skimming book spines for aging. He was almost afraid that he’d accidentally skipped one, because he still hadn’t found a single book related to dimension travel yet, and he was halfway through his side of the room. 

n!Wilbur was on the other side, and he was about two-thirds of the way through his side, working slightly faster than n!Tommy. 

Best Living Conditions for Frogs, Herbs to Combat Vomiting, Learning Hybrid Language: Enderman Edition, The Ins (and Hopefully Outs) of Dimension Travel…

Wait.

“n!Wilbur! n!Wilbur! I found something!” n!Tommy called over n!Wilbur as he pulled the book off the shelf. n!Wilbur ran up beside him. 

“What is it?”

n!Tommy showed off the book, “It’s called, The Ins (and Hopefully Outs) of Dimension Travel ,” n!Tommy, “Totally not ominous at all.”

“Well go ahead and open it,” n!Wilbur encouraged.

Finally after hours and hours of reading odd book spines, their hard work paid off with…

An empty book. The pages were blank. If n!Wilbur hadn’t pulled the book from n!Tommy’s hands, he would’ve thrown it across the room.

“What the hell? Every single page is completely blank…” n!Wilbur noted as he flipped through pages, “Is this the only book like this? Or are all of them like this?”

n!Tommy goes over to the nearest book, Meditations to Help With Memory Loss , grabs it off the shelf and immediately flips it open. Full of words.

“Nope. Only that fucking book,” n!Tommy sneered. n!Tommy yelled out in frustration. “Just our fucking luck, huh?!” 

n!Wilbur sighed as he put the book to the side, and n!Tommy put the other book back.  

“I’m taking a break,” n!Tommy declared. He couldn’t stand mechanically reading book spines for another couple hours. It would drive him crazy. Already was.

n!Wilbur sighed. “Yeah, I guess we should,”

n!Tommy walked over to the giant mushroom that had earlier been their goal and was now going to be n!Tommy’s resting place. He walked under the mushroom, grumbling about how convenient it was that Karl was gone, as he plopped onto the floor. 

Except the floor made a hollow thud. Like the floor was false.

“n!Tommy?” He’d stopped talking so it’d grabbed n!Wilbur’s attention.

n!Tommy stood back up. “I think there’s a false floor over here,” he tells n!Wilbur. 

n!Wilbur’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “You sure?”

“Check for yourself.”

n!Wilbur walked over and knocked on the floor. Sure enough, it made an echo-y, hollow sound that indicated an open space below. 

“Do you think we should see what it is?”

“And just tear up their floorboards to look at something that’s probably kept secret for a reason?” n!Wilbur said deadpanned, “Tommy, we’re still just guests here.”

“But that’s exactly my point! It’s probably kept secret for a reason, and what if it’s what we’ve been looking for? We can’t just ignore that possibility, can we?” n!Tommy persuaded n!Wilbur. 

n!Wilbur was quiet for a second, before he sighed with a pained look on his face. “Fine. But if we get kicked out, I’m blaming you.”

“Perfect!” n!Tommy exclaimed in a sing-song voice. He walked over to the floor and tried wedging his fingers between the boards, trying to find a loose one. Sure enough, a couple loose boards gave and he pulled them away, revealing a ladder leading into a room. 

“Hey, this Karl guys got a secret room!” n!Tommy exclaimed, pulling a few more boards away, giving enough space for a person to climb down. 

“Let me go down first,” n!Wilbur offered. 

“Why-?”

“Just let me do it. I’m sure it’s nothing bad anyway,” n!Wilbur didn’t seem super confident but n!Tommy sighed. He didn’t sense any danger. 

“Alright, go ahead.”

n!Wilbur climbed down and he disappeared from n!Tommy’s view. At first it’s silent as n!Wilbur looks around the mystery room but then n!Wilbur orders, “n!Tommy, get down here.”

n!Tommy immediately scrambled down the ladder and looked around at the secret room. 

It wasn’t anything impressive. Just a bunch of books lying around with posters for the books hanging from the wall above them. They were all titled “Tales of the SMP.” 

“Karl’s hiding his secret book series obsession?” n!Tommy guessed, confused.

“No, look at this.” n!Wilbur pointed to all the posters. “Each one includes Karl.”

Suddenly n!Tommy realized that it wasn’t just Karl, but there were other people on the posters that n!Tommy thought were familiar.

“Did Karl already know about alternate dimensions?” n!Tommy asked, flabbergasted. 

“Hold on,” n!Wilbur said, grabbing a book. He skimmed it a bit before shaking his head. “I don’t think so. Besides Karl, all the characters in these books have different names than the ones we know.” n!Wilbur put the book back down and let out a frustrated huff. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Wait, check out this chest,” n!Tommy said, noticing the chest hidden behind a table, mostly out of sight. n!Tommy pulled the chest out from behind the table and opened it. Inside were just a bunch more books. Except they didn’t have titles like the books lying around. “Does Karl write the books? Is he secretly a fantasy author? Is he a fucking egoistical bastard?” 

n!Wilbur reached in and grabbed a notebook at random. He opened it and began to read it aloud:

Diary Entry #14

I am Karl Jacobs. I am Karl Jacobs.

…

The InBetween is giving me nothing. It insists that it will teach me to better my time-traveling abilities, yet all I’ve learned, I’ve learned by myself. And I still can’t do anything for my memories. They’re still slipping away.

Sapnap

George

Tina

Foolish

I can’t forget them. Especially them.

But I can’t stop time-traveling either. That’s one thing the InBetween taught me. That our world’s timeline relies on me. 

I still haven’t told anyone. I can’t. 

Don’t forget.

…

I am Karl Jacobs.

n!Wilbur was at a loss for words. The two sat in silent shock. 

Then n!Tommy broke the silence, “So… he’s a time traveler. Not an alternate universe traveler,” he looks down at the diary, “And the bastard hasn’t told anyone? ”

n!Wilbur shrugged. “It makes sense. Sapnap said Karl disappears for days on end for no reason. Now we know it’s because he time travels.”

“But why doesn’t he tell anyone? He doesn’t explain it in his diary,” n!Tommy wondered. He reached into the chest, “We could try reading more-”

n!Wilbur grabbed n!Tommy’s hand to stop him. “These are Karl’s personal diaries. I already feel bad enough reading through this one without his permission, no need to violate more of his secrets,” n!Wilbur held eye contact with n!Tommy. 

For a moment n!Tommy really wanted to grab another one anyway, but eventually he gave in and n!Wilbur let go. “Alright, alright, we go through any more. But we have to tell someone about Karl’s time traveling. Because he might be able to help with dimension traveling, because although they’re different, he should know more than us,” n!Tommy speculated.

n!Wilbur slightly pained, as though he didn’t love the idea of reading someone’s personal thoughts then revealing their secret, but he had to admit that n!Tommy wasn’t wrong. 

n!Wilbur gave a large sigh more suitable for an 80-year-old man than a 27-year-old one. “Alright, let’s go find Sapnap and fill him in.”

n!Wilbur put the diary he was holding back in the chest before n!Tommy pushed it back to where it had been before. 

Then n!Tommy stood behind n!Wilbur as he climbed the ladder.

Except a purple and green portal opened at the bottom of the ladder. n!Tommy jumped away in surprise, trying to avoid falling in it, but n!Wilbur wasn’t quite so lucky.

n!Tommy watched as the ladder n!Wilbur was climbing disappeared into thin air and n!Wilbur fell into the portal. 

“n!Wilbur-” n!Tommy cried desperately. But before n!Tommy could try and follow, the portal was gone and the ladder returned as though it never had left. 

n!Tommy stood, frozen. “What. The. Fuck.”

n!Tommy then scrambled to get out of the room. He hesitantly touched the ladder, afraid it’d disappear again, but it remained solid, so he climbed up it and out of the hidden room.

n!Tommy decided that the library was cursed, first with the empty dimension travel book, then with the random portal— he had enough. He ran out of the building without bothering to fix the floorboards. 

That random fucking portal just stole n!Wilbur. And n!Tommy was gonna try everything in his fucking power to get n!Wilbur back then get fucking home. He was tired of being in an alternate dimension. 

“Sapnap!” n!Tommy called out, running through Kinko Kingdom. “Sapnap!”

It took n!Tommy yelling and sprinting around the Kingdom a couple times until Sapnap came running out of a house with Foolish by his side. 

“What’s the matter, n!Tommy? Did you find something?” Sapnap asked, then noticed the current lack of n!Wilbur. “Where’d n!Wilbur go?”

“That’s part of the problem. But here’s the main thing: We found out why Karl keeps disappearing,” n!Tommy explained.

Sapnap’s eyebrows shot up. “How’d you find that out by going through his library?”

n!Tommy awkwardly shuffled as he was forced to explain how they tore up the floorboards of the library . Foolish looked like he either wanted to cry or tear n!Tommy to shreds. “But that’s besides the point,” n!Tommy stumbled over his words, trying to change the subject, “Because under there was a secret room full of more books. Turns out, Karl’s a time traveler .”

Silence. 

Followed by Sapnap’s laughter. “My fiance? A time traveler?” he continued laughing, “Yeah, right, funny joke. He would’ve told me.”

Except n!Tommy wasn’t laughing.

Sapnap furrowed his eyebrows. “ What .”

“Yeah, apparently that time traveling has also been affecting his memory or something? I’m not sure, n!Wilbur and I didn’t look into it too much,” n!Tommy, not yet ready to explain that they’d snooped through personal diaries, “But after deciding that we needed to tell you, n!Wilbur fell into a purple and green portal.” 

“So now we’re dealing with two disappeared people, and a fiance who time travels .” Sapnap muttered under his breath something about Karl being an idiot. He sighed,  “Alright. Foolish, let’s talk building later. You can go.”

“Wonderful, I’m going back to the desert if you need me,” Foolish looked relieved as he walked off.

“n!Tommy. You said n!Wilbur fell into a purple and green portal?” Sapnap clarified.

“Yeah, it was purple and green, swirling in a circle,” n!Tommy recalled.

Sapnap sighed. “Ok, so, Karl always wears this purple sweatshirt with a green swirl in the middle, meaning-”

“So you think it was Karl’s time travel portal,” n!Tommy finished his thought. 

“Yeah. I have no idea why Karl would take him time traveling, but let’s just assume he’s with Karl. He’ll be fine. So all we can do is wait for them to get back now. Were you able to find anything about dimension travel in his library?” Sapnap asked.

n!Tommy shook his head. “No. We only found one book that ended up being completely blank.”

“So I’m going to return to his library and take a look in his supposed secret room. You can go ahead and meet up with the other alternate universes and catch them up. Your guys’ current plan to get back home relies all on Karl coming back to our time,” Sapnap explained with stress knitted in his eyebrows. “Karl you… idiot,”  Sapnap muttered under his breath, just loud enough for n!Tommy to hear. 

n!Tommy no longer wanted to stay around and watch Sapnap’s possible marital problems unfold, so he said his goodbyes and set off to find his fellow alternate universes.

———

~n!Wilbur~

n!Wilbur wasn’t sure what he expected to happen after learning Karl was a time traveler, but it certainly wasn’t to time travel with him. 

One moment he’d been falling off the ladder and the next he was waking up in a new room. 

He groaned as he tried to grab at any sense of awareness but the pain in his back from falling and his killer headache were not helping. He sat up on what seemed to be a wood floor and blinked several times in an attempt to get his vision to focus. 

When it did, he realized that n!Tommy was nowhere to be found but instead a blond-haired man with giant blacks was crouching next to him and Karl was busy doing something behind him. 

“He’s aware now,” the blond-haired guy said to Karl, who stopped what he was doing. “You alright, mate?”

“Uh, yeah, besides this pounding headache I’ve got,” he groaned. 

“n!Wilbur, right?” Karl asked.

n!Wilbur nodded his head. 

“Alright well it seems I’ve got another person time-traveling with me,” he muttered, sounding both annoyed and worried. 

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” n!Wilbur asks.

“Sorry?”

“Right before arriving here, n!Tommy and I found your little secret time-traveling room or whatever,” n!Wilbur explained as Karl’s expression slowly became more and more pained, “So do you also know anything about dimension travel as well?”

Karl immediately shook his head, “No, I had been planning on going through my library because I’m certain I have a book that covers the topic but was transported here before I could,” he shrugged, “I can’t even control when I time travel, let alone try to dimension travel.”

That surprised n!Wilbur. “What do you mean you can’t control it?”

“It means exactly as it sounds,” Karl shook his head, “but right now we need to figure out how to get back to the present day. First, introductions! n!Wilbur, S!Philza; S!Philza, n!Wilbur,” 

“What’s with the wings?”

S!Philza gave a good-natured laugh, “Nice to meet you, mate,” and shrugged, “I was just born with ‘em.”

That immediately reminded n!Wilbur of his own vampire-ness. And n!Tommy was no longer with him to back him up…

“n!Wilbur? What’s the problem?”

S!Philza was looking at him curiously, seemingly having noticed n!Wilbur’s internal crisis.

“Oh, uh, nothing-”

“Spit it out n!Wilbur,”

n!Wilbur was taken aback by Karl’s sudden brashness. But, he was still hesitant. How would these people feel if they were spending time around a vampire-

“I’m already dealing with a time travel crisis and currently can’t deal with anything else if you’re hiding secrets.”

n!Wilbur held his breath, but letting out a heavy sigh and looking away. “I’m… a vampire.”

Silence.

Oh god. They were going to kill him. Why would he allow Karl to pressure him into confessing? He’s an idiot-

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

Karl’s nonchalant reply made n!Wilbur whip his head around to look at Karl with wide eyes.

n!Wilbur stumbled over his words, “Aren’t you afraid I might attack you-?” 

“Well you haven’t yet, and you don’t plan on it, do you?”

n!Wilbur shook his head frantically. No way.

“Well then I don’t see a problem,” then Karl thought about something for a moment. “Do you think fire resistance potions would prevent you from burning from the sunlight?”

“Sorry?”

“Well, vampires normally burn in the sun, and it’s likely that we’ll have to go outside, so do you think fire resistance potions would help?”

n!Wilbur picked at the sleeve of his hoodie. He’d already tried making fire resistance potions back at n!Tommy’s place, but they were all too weak.

“Um, I don’t know. I’ve tried to make some in the past, but they were all too weak-”

“Oh, then that shouldn’t be a problem,” Karl turned back around to attend to the potions he was currently brewing. “I can make you plenty of strong fire resistance potions.”

“R-really?!” n!Wilbur knew that fire resistance potions could be pretty hard to make. “Are you very experienced with potion making?”

“Yeah, but so is everyone in the SMP,” Karl said nonchalantly, “Potions are pretty vital around here, so everyone has to be at least fairly experienced with making them.”

That took n!Wilbur by surprise, since potion making was something kept on the down-low where he was from. But he supposed he couldn’t be too taken aback; this was an alternate universe after all. 

Karl finished brewing what seemed to be several invisibility potions and handed them to both S!Philza and n!Wilbur. 

“There, now if we need to hide we’ve got plenty of back up invis pots,” Karl explained, keeping a few for himself as well. “Once these fire potions finish brewing then-”

Suddenly all three of them heard shouting from outside. Both S!Philza and n!Wilbur recognized it.

“Is that Tommy?” 

“ Yes . I’ve already explained to you when and where we are S!Philza, you shouldn’t be surprised, but I’ll give you a pass n!Wilbur,” Karl uncorked an invisibility potion in his hands. “Quickly, down one and hide in a corner or something. Somewhere you think someone wouldn’t stand. Just avoid getting caught.”

S!Philza was already drinking his potion, but n!Wilbur was confused as he watched the two of them turn invisible. 

“Why do we have to hide? And if they can’t see us, why don’t we just run?” n!Wilbur couldn’t see the logic in what they were doing.

Someone grabs his arm and he yelps in surprise. He’s pulled toward a wall and an invisibility potion from his pocket is shoved into his hands.

“I don’t have time to explain right now, I’ll do it later. So drink, and be quiet,” Karl’s voice ordered him from right beside him.

So n!Wilbur uncorked the bottle and downed it, watching as he slowly became invisible. He put the bottle in some random chest before hiding in a corner, dead silent.

Eventually the voices got louder as Tommy and someone else slowly came closer to the cottage it seemed they were in. The door slams open and in walks Tommy along with Technoblade, he assumed, because he looked very similar to S!Technoblade. 

“Tommy- you can’t just wander off if you want me to protect you,” Technoblade chastised; it sounded like they’d been over the same thing ten times already.

“But I want to explore! Standing directly next you all the time is so incredibly boring !” Tommy complained. 

Technoblade face palmed. He went over to a chest to go open it, but his hand hesitated over the lid. n!Wilbur was standing several feet away as he watched Technoblade’s eyes narrow. Tommy caught on to his wariness.

“What’s the matter, Blade?” Tommy questioned.

Technoblade’s narrowed eyes scanned the room, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. n!Wilbur held his breath, afraid Technoblade would notice him. Then Technoblade gave a sigh, letting his hand fall back to his side.

“Nothing,” Technoblade dismissed, “I thought someone was in the room.”

n!Wilbur slowly lets out the breath he was holding. Then a ding resonates in the room.

Technoblade pulls out a communicator as Tommy asks, “Who dmed you?”

All the air seems to leave the room when Technoblade hesitantly revealed,

“...Dream.”

Chapter Text

I’m abandoning this work.

It pains me to say this, and I never wanted it to come to this, but too many horrible things have come up and I can’t continue writing this.

More specifically, how Wilbur Soot was recently revealed to be abusive. It’s fucking disgusting. The thought and idea that this person I used to look up to is such a disgusting human being, is awful. His inability to take true accountability and apologize for his actions is horrific. It’s gross, and ALL my love and support goes out to Shelby. Support Victims.

If you still support Wilbur after learning about his disgusting behavior, please don’t interact with my works.

I’ve already been struggling to write, and this was more than a nail in a coffin. I’m sorry to younger me who just wanted to write a fanfic about characters I used to like watching and reading about. People can be so gross and manipulative and you just don’t realize.

If you still wish to read other stuff by me, I also write for MHA, Zelda, and BSD currently, and am looking forward to writing for other fandoms soon. I am looking forward to a hopefully brighter future as a writer. 

If there are any questions, let me know in the comments.

Otherwise, thank you all for the support you’ve shown over the past two years, it means more than you all could ever, ever begin to understand, as I never thought I'd have a platform to write, but it’s time to put this fic to rest. 

Goodbye. See you in Another Universe. 
#SupportVictims

Chapter Text

Hey! So I know it’s been awhile and I’m not updating this fic anymore, but I thought that I’d at least share some of the ideas I had sitting around in my Planning Document that would’ve been a part of future chapters if I had decided to finish this! This is all very informal, so I hope you enjoy reading some of the unfinished ideas of what would’ve been! Have fun!

☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆

Would Take Place Immediately After Chapter 15, following a sequence where Karl, S!Philza, and n!Wilbur, watch Tommyinnit hide from Dream in the box while Technoblade distracts Dream. Eventually Dream leaves and this happens.

Technoblade realizes why he thought that someone was in his house earlier (which there had, and it had been n!Wilbur). Tommy asks why Technoblade is now on guard even though Dream is gone and Techno responds:

“If you can hide by being invisible in my house, so can someone else.”

Karl, S!Philza, and n!Wilbur realize they need to leave. Now. Conveniently, another time travel portal opens up, so Karl grabs the Fire Resistance Potions and hops into the portal.

Technoblade immediately swings to where n!Karl was except S!Phil distracts Techno for a moment by calling out: “Techno!”

Technoblade hesitates: “Phil?”

Which gives S!Phil and n!Wilbur enough time to hop into the time travel portal before Technoblade can attack them. The portal closes behind them before anyone could follow through. Eventually the Time-Traveling-Trio makes it to their next destination. 

When they pop out Karl is absolutely stressed out.

Karl: “Let’s [honking] hope that didn’t just screw up the timeline.”

Hop to present day Technoblade, hanging around with Philza.

Techno: “Hmph.”

Philza: “What’s up? Something bothering you, mate?”

Techno: “Nah, I was just suddenly reminded of the time you were sneaking around my cottage while invisible. You know, you never explained to me why you did that,” He smiled, “You could’ve just asked for the fire resistance potions, you know?”

Philza: “I… have no idea what you’re talking about. That never happened.”

I thought it’d be funny for all the constant time traveling to eventually affect the present day (minorly) as it otherwise it doesn’t screw up the timeline. I wasn’t going to write about both a dimension crisis and timeline crisis. 

☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆

At the end of the fic, everyone’s memories would be erased/locked away* by The Knowing. So nobody would remember anything. Except for an omniscient perspective, and it would tell a short story. 

*“Locked Away” was a term I commonly used in my planning document, in case I ever decided to write a second fic or a part two in which everyone returns to the SMP with their memories returned.

And in Karl’s library, tucked away among the thousands of books, collected over years and years, sat one book, forgotten. Now, to everyone, it was a meaningless book, not worth looking at. 

The Ins (and Hopefully Outs) of Dimension Travel.

Pages once blank, were now full of words. The first page read:

“Dimension travel is difficult, it’s certainly not something easy to pull off in a day. It takes years of practice, and at least some of that experience being in time travel. However, the very, very first step is talking to god. The god. The Knowing.”

☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆

Karl had many destinations when I intended that he travel through the past with S!Philza and n!Wilbur. All with the expectation that they would slowly reveal the awful treatment and pain Tommy went through during his time in the DSMP.

(In Order of How They’d Appear Through the Fic)

Pogtopia Part I - Chapter 11

Techno’s Cottage - [Started] in Chapter 15

This would follow the events of Tommy hiding in the small spruce trapdoor box, while Dream walks around the cottage with Technoblade. Tommy is practically having a panic attack while Techno attempts to convince Dream that Tommy isn’t here and to leave.

Exile Part I

Takes place towards the beginning of exile, right after Tommy is exiled and Dream & Tommy make it to the beach for the first time. Would show the blowing up of Tommy’s items, Dream’s belittlement of Tommy, and Tommy stuck with Ghostbur.

Pogtopia Part II

This would be the speech Wilbur gives to Tommy about how- “That wasn’t a challenge, that’s true. You’re never going to be president Tommy.” Including some extra bits and bobs to make it more angsty.

Exile Part II

Just following Tommy throughout his slow descent into depression during exile. Would showcase his suicidal tendencies, his attempts to communicate with others, Dream’s manipulation, and his hallucinations of Tubbo visiting him via the nether portal. Likely would include the Beach Party as well.

Exile Part III, Leading into Technoblade’s house. 

This would be the end of Exile, when Dream blows everything up and Tommy is so lonely and depressed that eventually he starts building the tower. There’s the realization that Dream was manipulative before Tommy jumps off into the water and escapes to Techno’s house. 

L’manhole Part I

Following the events of Technoblade, Philza, and Dream blowing up L’manburg (S!Philza is a little terrified and disappointed by himself), including the singing of the L’manburg anthem and follows Tommy, Tubbo, and Ghostbur, too.

InBetween

The time-traveling trio makes it to the InBetween, and watch as Karl struggles with self-identity (though Karl attempts to hide his struggles, because he’s never had to deal with other people accompanying him in the InBetween). They also learn a little bit more about his Time-Traveling adventures.

L’manhole Part II

This isn’t time-travel anymore, as the time-traveling trio ends up at present-day L’manhole at which the Passerines, Tommyinnit’s Clinic, Spite, Tommy and n!Tommy are all chilling, then flabbergasted by the appearance of the trio. The Spites are pretty excited to see S!Philza yet he goes to hug Tommy instead. This would happen after n!Tommy has just informed the other universes about Karl’s time-traveling. 

☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆

Following Dream’s breakout from prison, a large-scale war was going to break out. The war was mainly Dream & his allies v. Tommy & the alternate universes, and it ends up getting really messy. During the fight, Dream takes a deathly bow shot at S!Wilbur. S!Wilbur doesn’t notice, however, S!Tommy does. 

~S!Tommy~

S!Tommy saw Dream notch the arrow. “S!WILBUR!” S!Tommy called out desperately, but to no avail; he didn’t hear S!Tommy. 

Time slowed. S!Tommy watched in slow motion as Dream shot, and the arrow flew towards S!Wilbur, oblivious to the fact he was about to die. S!Tommy could not let that happen. S!Tommy ran as fast as he could, using his powers to boost him as much as possible.

Everything was a blur, he was moving too fast.

Suddenly a blinding pain pierced his chest. All he saw was white.

“S!TOMMY!”

———

~Dream~

With a sick smile plastered on his face, he watched as S!Tommy hit the ground. Several people stopped fighting to turn and see S!Tommy lying on the ground, slowly bleeding out to death. Dream chuckled.

Yet suddenly, everything stopped. 

All the fighting, shouting, crying, movement, time, everything. 

Dream looked around, nobody moved but him. What the hell-

“Cut! Cut! Oh my god—"

Notes regarding the rest of this scene: 

Someone (S!Tommy; while protecting S!Wilbur) dies; The Knowing: “Shit! XD Go fix that.” 

XD: “bruhhh okay, Dream revive them.” 

Dream: “finneeeee” (when this happens, dream is unpaused when nobody else is. (Aka he gets an ego boost because he thinks he practically a god (he isnt)))

-when S!Tommy dies, TK freezes the world and walks in it saying “cut, cut!”

-of course S!Tommy is traumatized further from literally fucking dying but oh well

-Dream does eventually lose the fight though (though he just flees far FAR away, he won’t be around for a while)