Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The boy opened his eyes, gasping for air. Mud and dirt wrapped around his hands as he curled up, coughing. Rain soaked his clothes, the wind tugging on his collar. Where was he? It was bad enough that his head was pounding, but he couldn’t remember a damn thing. His vision slightly blurred as he forced himself to look up. There were trees surrounding him, trapping him.

The boy grit his teeth, trying to get off the ground. Something white slipped from his pocket, being engulfed in the brown liquid beneath him.

He bent down to pick it up. He recognized it as paper. Good, at least he remembered something. Wiping off the dirt, he squinted his eyes, trying to figure out what was written.

The entire page was soaked, and the ink was slowly fading down the page.

One word was left, and the boy read the name “Tommy.”

That has to be his name. Right? Groaning, he shut his eyes, letting the paper fall.

His head hurt like hell, and he was cold. The rain was getting heavier by the second.

Something wet slid down his cheek, but he couldn’t tell if it was a raindrop or a tear.

“Wake up sweetheart.”

Tommy’s eyes fluttered open, revealing a woman standing there. Her face was blurred, per usual. Tommy rose up, meeting the woman at the edge of the bed.

“You again.” Tommy muttered coldly, annoyed from seeing this dream a thousand times over.

The woman did not react to his tone, instead she smiled warmly.

“I’ve missed you, …….” The woman’s words slurred together, as they always did when she would say his name.

She brought her hand to Tommy’s cheek, cupping it softly.

“It’s time for you to go now.” Tommy nuzzled her hand with his face, feeling sadness shake in his bones.

“I don’t want to.”

“I know.” She smiled sadly.

Tommy could only watch as she faded away, her hand taking the warmth away from his face.

His vision faded to blackness, as he opened his eyes once more.

Instead of an infinitely white room with a sweet woman comforting him, he found himself in a dark alleyway.

Sighing, Tommy got up from the cold stone. That was the fourth time he’s had that dream this week. He wanted so bad to curl up into a ball and never get up.

Tommy knew that it would be pointless, so nonetheless, he walked out of the alley. The sun was just starting to rise, and few people were roaming the streets.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a few coins and his necklace. The cold metal embraced his skin, ice frosting around it. He pulled the necklace to his chest, feeling the jewel against his shirt. This necklace was the only indication of his past life, left in his pocket as he was left in the forest.

The cold did not get better, and Tommy found himself wishing he had a better jacket. He hoped Fundy would be there this morning, as he couldn’t bear to deal with any more annoying employees.

Turning a corner, he spotted Fundy and a splash of relief was thrown on him. Walking up to the stand, he placed his last coins on the counter.

“Your usual?” Fundy asked, and Tommy nodded, pulling his sleeves up to cover his freezing fingertips.

Fundy smiled sympathetically and grabbed a sandwich from the cabinet below.

“Here. I warmed it for you.” The warmth from the sandwich instantly burned Tommy’s hands, which felt good in a way. A small was pulled into Tommy’s lips as he brought the sandwich up to his pink cheeks.

“Thanks Fundy.” Tommy turned around, and was about to walk away.

“Hey, Tommy.” The boy glanced back at Fundy, not saying anything. The man hesitated a second, words disappearing before they got out.

“Hang in there kid.” He finally said, a saddened smile slipping from his mouth. Tommy resisted the urge to tell him to stop calling him a child.

“Always do, big man.” Tommy gave a fake smile back, walking away again. The boy prowled the streets once more, taking small bites of his sandwich, savoring every second.

As the sky got bluer and brighter, more people filled the streets. It was unusual for people to be up this early, but there was a festival today. The Emperor and his sons would be attending too, so everyone wanted the streets as clean as possible.

He didn’t mind the Emperor. He wasn’t cruel like Essempi’s Emperor, Dream. He really hated that guy. But Emperor Phil was kind. He tended and cared for his people, but it doesn’t mean he didn’t have a dark side.

The Emperor could be very frightening when he wanted to. After all, he was an immortal. Close to nothing could hurt him, makes sense people would be afraid of him.

What really scared people was his sons, Prince Technoblade especially. Tommy had heard stories about the prince. They say he hears voices in his head, voices that order him to murder endlessly. They sometimes call him “The Blood God,” which sounds pretty fucking epic in Tommy’s opinion.

The Emperor’s other son, Technoblade’s twin, was Prince Wilbur. He was less feared, but not many appreciated him. He was an arrogant greedy child, always taking the chance to annoy people.

But stories, the stories. They say Prince Wilbur wasn’t always like this. Not until his brother disappeared.

The lost Prince, Theseus. There are many stories about the boy. Though one truth remained about the young prince. He was not immortal like the rest of his family. That only made them love him harder.

One day, he vanished. Some say he was murdered, for being the weakest out of all of them. Others say he ran away, unable to handle the burden of having to die without his family.

Tommy feels like he understands Theseus, understands what it's like to be an outcast. He has done many things, but fitting in was never one of them.

Tommy hopes that wherever Prince Theseus is, he’s happy.

“Hey kid!” A voice screeched, pulling him from his thoughts. He slowed, shoving the sandwich wrapper in his pocket.

Turning, he spotted a man he hadn’t seen before. This was a big town, so it wasn't all that rare. Still, not many people actually talked to him.

“Yes?” Tommy replied, walking towards the man carefully.

“You fancy helping me clean? I’ll pay ya.” Tommy nodded, needing the coins after spending the last ones on food. He hoped his facial expression didn’t give away how desperate he was.

“Great! Follow me.” He followed the man, still on high alert in case this was a trap. It did not turn out to be a trap, instead a huge mess.

There was dirt all around the corners of his stand, grime building up slowly. Cobwebs filled the path, slightly damaged from people stepping on them. Icicles bit the edge of the cotton wrapping around his booth.

The man rubbed his neck nervously.

“I know it's a lot… I meant to clean up before the festival but time caught up to me.” He glanced over at Tommy, whose stance was still.

“It’ll be alright if you don’t feel like helping.” Tommy shook his head, closing the distance between him and the man. His fingers twitched a little, still ready if an attack was coming.

“It’s fine. Let's get started?” The man let out a sigh of relief and smiled. He left the town square and went into another building. Tommy tensed up a little. He breathed out what he hoped was a quiet sigh, reminding himself that not everyone wants to attack him. He glanced around at his surroundings, looking at all the people cleaning up their own stands.

Not many people kept their stuff clean in this part of town. The man’s booth looked the cleanest out of all of them. Tommy was almost glad that he was the one to come up to him, and not someone with a far worse stand.

He came back with a broom and a sharp knife, handing them both to Tommy. He took the broom, and hesitated with the knife—wondering what it was for. The man must’ve noticed because he smiled.

“It’s for scraping the dirt off the edges.” Tommy smiled nervously and took the knife.

It had a surprisingly warm handle. The man must have heating in his house. Tommy wished he would get the chance to feel it.

“Alright, I was thinkin’ that I’ll be cleaning the cobwebs, and you the dirt off the stand?” He nodded, making his way over to the stand. Tommy crouched down, carefully sliding the knife along the edge. Barely any came off, and Tommy sighed.

This was going to be a long morning.

Tommy wiped his brow, finally standing up. His limbs ached in every way from sitting down for so long. It seemed like the man was about done, as he stood up shortly after.

“Here you are, as promised.”

He turned around, smiling and pulled a bag out of his pocket. The man dropped it in his hand, and Tommy curled around it like it was going to be taken away at any second. A horn sounded, signifying that the royal family was arriving soon.

The man jumped at the sound, scurrying to his stand. He arranged items neatly across the wooden counter. They looked like little stone figurines, one of them appearing to be a dog. There was a price tag that read 45 GOLD. Good thing Tommy liked cats better.

“Thanks again, kid! Enjoy the festival.” Tommy almost scowled, he still hated being called a child. All he could muster was a small smile. Turning around, he stored the pouch of coins in his pants, safely patting the pocket.

Tommy walked away, strolling the streets again. People were gathering down the road, waiting until their turn to see the family. Children were on their fathers back, and Tommy couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy in his stomach. He dug his nails into his skin, itching to get rid of that feeling.

It passed when he spotted a stand with big pink letters. “Sally’s Delights.” The deserts were nicely lined up, most of them laced with frosting. His stomach growled, feeling the hunger shake his bones. He hadn’t eaten since the sandwich Fundy gave him this morning.

Tommy walked over to the stand, met with a sweet looking woman with maroon hair. Her eyes were teal green, and she had a cheeky smile glued to her face.

“Hello sweetie, what would you like?” She asked in a condescending tone, meant for children. Tommy bit back the urge to scoff. How many times were people going to talk to him like he was a child today?

“Whatever you think’s the best.” Tommy replied in a raised voice.

She somehow grinned even brighter, as she swiped a napkin and picked up some kind of brown desert from the counter. Unfortunately, Tommy didn’t get to see how much it was worth.

“Here, this one’s delicious.” She extended it out to Tommy and he hesitantly took it.

Tommy took a bite, the rich flavor stinging his mouth. His eyes widened in disbelief a little. It tasted earthy and fruity in a way. He had never had the delicacy of tasting desert like this, or any to be exact. The only thing that compared to this was Fundy’s dry hamburgers, then again, those weren’t the best.

“Uh…What–” Tommy paused, stuffing another bite into his mouth.

“–is this?” His voice was muffled slightly.

He quickly gulped it down, swallowing hard.

The woman giggled softly.

“A brownie. You’ve never had one?” Tommy shook his head.

“Is it good?”

“It’s okay.” He said as casually as possible.

She smiled again before shaking her head, going back to tending to her desserts. Tommy took it as his cue to leave, and away he went.

Tommy surveyed the other booths, nothing really caught his attention. Soft wind brushed past him, swirling his blonde curls. He shivered a little, wishing it wouldn’t get as cold tonight. He thought about where he would sleep. Part of him wanted to sleep now, to see that woman again, to feel her warmth again.

Though he couldn’t. It would have to wait until tonight. Tommy shuddered into his jacket, wrapping the drooping sleeves around himself as another gust of wind tore through the streets. Music filled his ears as he peered forward and got a glimpse of the royal family. Cheers were carried through the road and Tommy stopped for a second. The Emperor was shouting something, but it was ineligible to Tommy, who was farther away.

The Emperor stopped, and everyone cleared the street, running and dancing. Tommy brushed past a dozen shoulders, watching as the Emperor went up to a stand. He hazily ignored him, slipping into a nearby alleyway to get away from the crowd.

Tommy turned a corner, instantly being struck with the back of someone. He stumbled back, blinking profusely.

“Sorry I didn–” The boy turned around, and Tommy was met with the face of the most annoying boy in town. He cursed under his breath, slowly stepping back.

“How dare you bump into me?” The boy started, glancing at his friends and laughing.

“I said sorry, asshat.” Tommy felt his heart shrink as he realized that wasn’t the smartest thing to say. The boy's face turned to anger before he wore a smug smile.

“Looks like we got a tough one here, huh boys?” Tommy kept a laugh gurgling in his throat, cringing at the boy's words.

“How about I show you tough?” In an instant, he sprang forward, grabbing the hem of Tommy’s shirt. Raising his fist, Tommy prepared for a hit.

It never came. The rest of the boys group started running past them, fear soaked in their eyes. Confusion hit Tommy

“Your Majesty! I–” The boy dropped Tommy, and the dirt stained his pants. One question remained; Why did he say your majesty?

Tommy tilted his head, and saw Prince Technoblade. He frowned, not expecting to see him of all people there.

Technoblades gaze hardened, sending a chill down Tommy’s spine.

Why was the Prince of all people here? Prince Technoblade wasn’t the most social person, so Tommy assumed that he was probably in an alleyway to get away from the noise. After all, he had enough noise in his head.

Yet it was Prince Technoblade standing in front of them.

Something about his stance, the way he stared into the boy's eyes was frightening to say the least—but also intriguing. Tommy observed the Prince, noticing the sword placed at his side. His cape swayed in the gentle wind, and his long pink hair was tucked into a braid. Tommy did not know how to braid, nor did he ever care to learn. It’s not like he had any friends whose hair he could braid.

“You were going to hit him.“ Technoblade tilted his head to Tommy, whose heart burst out of his lungs at the gesture. He looked back at the boy, who was slurring his words together. Tommy would’ve laughed, but the goosebumps on his arms and the hair sticking up warned him not to. So he stayed quiet.

“I’m sorry it was…”

“Why?” The prince repeated, his gaze not tearing away from the boy.

“I’m sorry! I..” Technoblade cut him off once again.

“I did not ask for an apology, did I?” The boy did not respond, clearly sensing the rhetorical tone.

“So I will ask again. Why?” Tommy swallowed hard, his mouth drying at the action. He hadn’t really seen the Prince engaged in a conversation like this, nor was he used to someone standing up for him. He didn’t really know if that was what was happening either.

“I… He bumped into me, Your Majesty.” The boy did not dare to make eye contact with him.

Tommy picked himself up, gritting his teeth. He swatted away the grime that remained stuck and looked back at the two.

“I said sorry, dickface.” He repeated his sentence from earlier again, earning a stammer from the boy.

Technoblade shifted his cape a little, and the boy flounced back. They lingered there for a second, all three of them staring at each other. Tommy didn’t know what to say, and he was unsure if he should leave.

Prince Technoblade huffed, inching closer to the boy. His hands shook as the prince got closer.

“Next time you are going to fight someone, I hope you find a better excuse.” Technoblade prowled towards Tommy, and he watched as the boy ran off swiftly. Coward.

Tommy however, was not given the chance to bolt.

Technoblade looked down at him, his eyebrows raising a little.

“What is your name, child?” Tommy slowly looked into the man’s eyes.

“I’m not a child.” Tommy replied, immediately regretting his decision. Technoblade, the cold prince, who had voices in his head screaming to murder people, who had never lost a fight, was probably going to chop off his hand for that.

But the prince did not get mad, or show any emotion whatsoever. Tommy would’ve laughed at that if he wasn’t scared shitless.

“How old are you then?” Technoblade probed.

“Fifteen.” Tommy answered, maintaining eye contact with Technoblade.

The prince let out a hum in reply.

“Where are your parents?”

Tommy’s face fell a little, and Technoblade seemed to notice. He didn’t even know if his parents were alive. In fact, he didn’t even know if he had parents. He could’ve been born from a plant for all he knows.

“I don’t know, Your Majesty.”

“Who’s been taking care of you then?”

“I’m old enough to take care of myself.” Tommy probably should’ve added a “Your Majesty” at the end, but too late now.

His mind drifted back to last night, when a cat curled up against him, providing him the warmth he desired. Maybe that was why the woman’s touch was comforting in his recent dream.

“Which is why you look like you haven’t eaten in weeks.” The sentence itself was supposed to show concern, but Technoblade’s tone hinted none. He noted the sarcasm, but still was offended.

“Actually, Your Majesty, I eat so much. I’m a huge man.” Tommy strutted with pride, but nothing could hide his nervous shaking.

“Follow me.” Technoblade walked in the other direction, not bothering to wait for the boy.

Tommy stood there, shocked. Why did the prince just ask him to follow? Tommy shook his head, wondering if he should follow or not. Then again, he wasn't that excited to find out what would happen if he didn't.

The boy lurched after the prince, regaining his position next to him. If Technoblade saw him, he chose not to acknowledge him. The prince just kept walking and staring straight ahead.

Dust gathered around them, as people watched them walk together. Some with confusion laced in their eyes, some with jealousy, and even more with fear. They continued down the street, grabbing glances from people.

Tommy spots Fundy, whose face is full of confusion and worry. Tommy gave a small wave, smiling nervously.

They reached the castle gates after what seemed like an eternity of walking and being gawked at, the prince led him inside. The screeching of the opening gates was deafening, and Tommy grimaced.

The palace was unlike anything Tommy had ever seen, the floors shining as if polished with the sun itself. The ceiling was unusually high, and gold stars bit into Tommy’s vision as he stared in awe at the chandelier above him.

He glanced over at the ginormous paintings displayed on the walls, the windows overlooking the town, the small settees positioned against the wall.

The prince however, did not stop to wait for him to finish touring, and Tommy had to run to catch up with him.

To Tommy’s surprise and relief, they did not step towards the stairs.

The prince navigated to a room tucked into the corner. Technoblade pushed open two huge wooden doors, carved with symbols Tommy did not recognize.

“Sir Manifold.” The prince started, earning the attention of who Tommy assumed to be “Manifold.”

“Your Majesty.” The man bowed, dipping his head in respect.

“You have someone new joining you this evening.” All eyes fell on Tommy, who smiled nervously.

“Of course your Majesty.” Prince Technoblade turned around, about to leave.

“Forgive me, but doesn’t Prince Wilbur usually handle—” Technoblade whipped his head around at the mention of his brother, staring daggers into the eyes of the man. The man flinches at the sudden movement, and bows again.

“Nevermind, Your Majesty.”

The doors close with a thud as Prince Technoblade exits, leaving Tommy standing there awkwardly.

“What is your name, boy?” Tommy swallowed hard, biting his lip.

“Tommy.”

“Tommy, you will address me as ‘Sir’ from now on–” He paused, letting out a breath.

“–Got it?” Tommy nodded in response, twitching his fingers a little.

“Yes sir.” Tommy chuffed out as politely as he could. He had a feeling this guy would be a dick eventually. Especially after he made that comment to the prince. He would probably take it out on Tommy, which most people did.

“Go stand next to Tubbo.” He pointed to a boy with brown hair, who waved ecstatically in response.

Tommy ambled next to Tubbo.

“Alright people. Until dinner, we’ll be—” The sound of Sir Manifold’s voice was cut off by an excited voice next to him.

“Hello! I’m Tubbo!” The boy extended his hand, which he took carefully. He was a bit too exciting for Tommy’s taste, but beggars can’t be choosers.

“Tommy.” He answered back, and Tubbo aggressively shook his hand. The sweat in his palm transferred to Tubbo, but the boy did not seem to notice, nor mind.

Tubbo released his hand after a few seconds, smiling brightly.

“Wanna be friends?”

A small smile tugged at Tommy’s lips.

“Sure.” He answered as nonchalantly as he was able to, but he was actually bubbling with happiness that someone wanted to be his friend. He doesn’t think he’s ever had a friend before. Not that he could remember anyways.

Eventually Sir Manifold stopped talking and the rest of the crowd walked away. Tommy wanted to ask what he was doing here, since he never had the courage to ask Prince Technoblade.

Another boy walked up to them, one with black hair and sunglasses on. Tommy thought that was weird, but he didn’t question it.

“Tubbo! Were you actually listening today?” The boy asked, and Tubbo laughed.

“Hah! No, Ranboob. I was talking with my new best friend! Tommy.” Tubbo pointed to Tommy, who let out a small wave.

‘Ranboob’ smiled in response. Tubbo turned his attention towards Tommy, stepping in front of them.

“Hey so now that we’re friends—why was Prince Technoblade with you?” Tommy frowned a little, not expecting that.

Ranboo smacked the boy in the shoulder, earning a pained yelp from Tubbo.

“Tubbo! Stop being nosy.” He rolled his eyes in response, looking back at the boy.

“Oh come on! You totally wanted to know that too.” Ranboob sighed.

“Well obviously! But I was nice enough not to ask.” Tommy chuckled nervously.

“It's okay, uh—Ranboob?” Tubbo burst out laughing, while the other boy had an unamused look. Giving the boy a kick in the shin, he turned back to Tommy.

“It’s Ranboo.” He smiled a little.

“Sorry.” Tommy looked away, cheeks red from embarrassment. Tubbo’s laughter died down, but he still held a huge grin.

The boy opened his mouth to speak again, but Ranboo stopped him.

“We actually have to go do our jobs now.” Ranboo walked away before Tubbo could argue.
Tubbo let out a groan before grabbing Tommy’s hand and leading him after Ranboo.

Work? He pondered about what work they would be doing. From what he got before, they were servants. Why had the prince made him a servant? Out of pity? How the hell did he get here? Tommy shook his head to prevent further thoughts from forming.

Tubbo led him up a staircase, which felt like he was climbing Mount Everest.

They eventually stopped in an unoccupied hallway, coughing, Tommy leaned on his knees and took a few deep breaths.

“Worn out already?” He looked up and saw Ranboo standing there, with a water bottle in his head. Even the plastic shimmered in the dim hallway lights. He smiled, grabbing the water bottle. Gulping it down, he watched as Ranboo grabbed a broom from the cart and started pushing the dirt along the floor into a pile.

Tommy set his water bottle down on a small table, and reached out to help him. Tubbo grabbed his hand, dragging him aside. He pushed him onto a window ledge.

“What’re—” Tommy stopped himself when he peered out the window and his eyes landed on Prince Technoblade.

“Huh.” Tommy’s eyebrows raised in confusion, and Tubbo just sighed dreamily.

Technoblade was swiftly dodging attacks made by trainees, and the two boys watched in awe.

The Prince knocked one to the ground, and kicked another one in the shin. He fell back and Tommy winced, knowing what that felt like.

“He’s so cool.” Tubbo said, resting his chin on his hand. Tommy watched, wishing he could someday be trained in combat.

“You want to be trained by him too?” Tubbo asked, seemingly reading his mind. Tommy nodded, but didn’t tear his gaze away from the prince. He wondered where Prince Technoblade got his training. How old was Technoblade anyways?

“Are you guys going to help me?” Ranboo breathed out, huffing.

“Do you hear something?” Tubbo asked, smiling innocently.

“I don’t believe I do.” Tommy smiled back.

“Huh. Weird. I guess it was the wind.” They both laughed softly and continued watching the show.

The prince seemed to be giving them a lecture, presumably telling them where they went wrong. Tommy remembers his first fight. Well, aside from the one hour ago. He had made countless mistakes, and he winced in embarrassment, recalling the memory.

Abruptly, Technoblade glanced at the window, and his eyes locked in Tommy’s. Instead of being afraid, he found himself excited, like it was the best thing in the world to be stared at by Prince Technoblade himself.

Before their staring contest could continue, Tubbo quickly pulled Tommy and himself out of the window’s view, crouching on the ground.

The boys looked at each other and laughed.

“You think he saw us?”

“Nah, I think we’re good. I’m too fast.” Tommy said proudly while closing his eyes.

“You’re too fast? I was the one who pulled us away!” Tubbo argued.

“Says who?” Tommy tilted his head, a smug smile on his face.

“Says me!” Tubbo claimed.

“Well I don’t trust you.” Tubbo scoffed, a look of disbelief on his face.

“Then I don’t trust y–” Someone cleared their throat loudly, interrupting the boy, and they both looked to the side.

“If you two are done being idiots, I would like to be done before dinner.” Ranboo said, holding out two brooms for the boys.

They both simultaneously groaned and stood up, shoving one another as they grabbed the handles.

Supper rolled around, and the three boys made their way to the servant’s quarters.

“So do I gotta—like pay for food?” Tommy asked, earning two very confused looks.

“No…?”

“So it’s free?”

“No, dumbass. You clean all day for food and shelter here.” Tommy made an ‘o’ sound with his mouth and the other two started laughing.

The dining hall was crowded and loud, and there were a lot of other people there. Earlier in the night there weren’t that many servants in the room with him. They probably all had different supervisors. Not as annoying as “Sir Manifold” though.

The boys sat down at a table and poured themselves water, which they all chugged down quickly. Ranboo and Tubbo chatted for a bit, sometimes trying to include Tommy, but he made it clear he was tired and wasn’t that interested in talking. It was warm in the hall, and Tommy found his eyes getting heavier.

“Tubbo! Ranboo!” A woman cheered, pulling Tommy from his light sleep. The two other boys exchanged greetings and the woman's attention set on Tommy.

“And who are you, darling?” The woman asked in an unusual tone, she wasn’t degrading him as a child like everyone else did. Tommy liked her instantly, and made an effort to show at least a half-hearted smile.

“Tommy.” He said groggily, blinking profusely. She sat down the plates next to Tubbo and Ranboo, and he frowned a little when he noticed there wasn’t one for him. He cleaned right? I mean, not the whole day, but still—

“I’m Puffy. Sorry, I wasn’t aware these two had a new friend, so I don’t have your plate made yet.” She smiled emphatically.

“It’ll be right out!” She yelled while rushing back to the kitchen. Tubbo started prodding his food before Ranboo punched him softly in the shoulder.

“Hey! What was that for?” Tubbo punched him back.

“Tommy doesn’t have his food yet, it's polite to wait to eat together.” Ranboo said, winking at Tommy.

“Yeah Tubbo, I think Ranboo’s my new best friend now.” Tubbo gasped and threw his hand to his forehead dramatically.

On cue, Puffy came out with his food.

“Here you are, Tommy!” She set down the plate in front of him and all the smells hit him at once. He took a deep breath, practicing envisioning the food in his mouth.

“See you guys tomorrow morning!” With that, Puffy pranced away. Tommy couldn't stop himself from gouging his mouth with food. Tubbo did the same, and Ranboo just laughed at the both of them.

The rest of the night left quickly, as the three boys washed the dishes, engulfed in quiet banter. They made their way to the servant’s chambers, which were five big rooms with multiple bunk beds stacked against the wall. Tommy fortunately got to share a room with Tubbo and Ranboo, but he did not bunk with them. He had the bottom bunk of a bed shared with a guy named Harry. Harry was weird, but cool. Tommy said his goodnights to Tubbo and Ranboo and made his way to his own bed.

His eyes closed before he hit the soft mattress, and he didn’t hesitate to drift to sleep.

Chapter Text

Tommy’s eyes flickered open, but it was not the usual humming white room that surrounded him. Instead, the walls were wooden. Sunlight was peeking through the blinds, shrouding light on Tommy’s face. To the human eye, it looked like a beautifully put together room, but there were bits of wood sticking out from the walls. Cracks in the floor that were hidden by the pattern. It looked as if the room was seconds away from closing in on them.

Tommy’s nose was flooded with an enchanting smell, his attention being ripped towards the small kitchen. There sat the woman, sitting at a table. She was picking her fork politely at a white food dish, laced with a yellow cylinder in the middle. There were bits of black and white crumbs on the food, and Tommy didn’t know what they were.

“Hell—Hello?” His voice cracked, and his throat burned as the words escaped. The women looked up, startled by the sudden sound. She smiled after a second, standing up. The chair creaked on the floor, forming small cracks when she pushed it back.

Tommy sat up as the woman walked over, sitting down gently on the bed. He could feel her warmth radiating around the room, even before she touched him. 

“You’re awake.” She placed her palm on Tommy's knees. Her touch was hot as always, but this time she reacted to how cold Tommy’s skin was. She quickly regained her composure, and Tommy could see she was hoping he didn’t notice. He did, but he didn’t say anything.

“Not really. I’m dreaming, aren’t I?” The woman laughed softly, which made Tommy smile.

“I suppose you are.” Tommy inched closer to the woman without even realizing it, probably savoring all the short time he had with her. They were quiet for a while, before she started to hum a tune that Tommy recognized, but couldn’t quite place. The woman gently laid Tommy back down, and he made no move to stop her, the soft music trapping him there.

As she continued her singing, Tommy relaxed. It was beautiful to say the least, and despite just waking up, he felt himself slowly blink his eyes shut. 

A loud shout evolved from the once comforting melody, and his eyes shot open. 

“Wake up, people!” A voice boomed through the halls, and Tommy recognized it as Sir Manifold. 

“Five minutes! Whoever’s late gets everyone's chores for the day.” This sentence quickly rallied  people, as his bunk mate, Harry, jumped out of bed.

“Come on dude!” Harry tried dragging Tommy out of bed, who groaned in response. He swiftly sat up to avoid falling on the floor, and rubbed his eyes.

“Okay okay. I’m up.” Tommy yawned, stretching his arms up, almost hitting them on the top bed.

“If you fall back asleep, that’s your problem.” Harry grabbed his bag which rested on the top bed and walked towards the bathroom, where all the other people were gathering. 

Tommy rolled his eyes, his gaze adverting to Ranboo and Tubbo’s beds. They were not there, so Tommy guessed they were already up. He finally got up, seeing as none of his friends were available to complain to. He crouched onto the cold wooden floor and reached under his bed, grabbing his own bag. It didn’t have very many clothes in it, but he would just ask Tubbo where to get more.

He grabbed his necklace once again, the gem stabbing his palm as he gripped it tightly. He dropped it back into his bag and slung it around his arm

Tommy glanced around, his eyes looking for Harry. The boy was already gone, so he just figured he’d have to figure out where to go himself. Tommy got off the floor and nervously walked with the crowd, peeking ahead to where the bathrooms were. It was a little crowded in the halls, and he did his best to avoid pushing people by accident. It failed however, when he knocked in a girl with brown hair. It reminded him of the woman he met yesterday, who gave him a free ‘brownie.’ 

“Sorry!” Tommy quickly yelped, and the woman smiled in response.

“No worries—Hey, I haven’t seen you before.” She questioned, tilting her head slightly. Tommy just shook his head in response.

“I’m uhh—new. My name’s Tommy.” He hesitantly held out his hand, unsure if that was considered polite. She took his head, still smiling.

“I’m Hannah.” Hannah was pulled away by another woman and gave a small wave as goodbye as she was dragged away. Tommy sighed, making his way to what he thought was the men’s bathroom. It was exceptionally crowded there, and even more loud. Tommy grimaced as shouts filled his ear and he made his way over to an unoccupied stall, shutting and locking the door behind him. 

Tommy got changed as fast as he could, remembering the punishment for being late. He buttoned his pants and lumbered out the door, tripping on his shoelace a little. He scanned the room, noticing Tubbo and Ranboo chattering on the other side. He waddled over there, catching the attention of the two boys.

“Aww man, you’re here. I wanted you to take my chores for the day.” Tubbo joked, earning a smack from both Tommy and Ranboo.

“Real comedian, aren't you Tubbo?” Tommy replied, taking his place next to him. The loud conversations quieted down as Sir Manifold stepped into view, clearing his throat.

“Alright folks. As most of you know, a gala is being hosted at the end of the week.” Sir Manifold paused, glancing around the room. A gala? Tommy was not prepared for this. He wasn’t even prepared to be a servant yet either, but oh well.

“So it's our job to make sure this place is spotless.” He warned, and Tommy shivered a little, wondering what would happen if it wasn’t.

“Priorotize the main hallways, where guests will be walking.” The man stopped talking, waiting for everyone to intake the information.

“Thats it. You know the rest.” The crowd gathered in small groups, debating where to go first.

“Oh and don’t forget about the regency ball taking place at the end of the month—which will be handled after the gala.” Tommy made a face of confusion. Regency Ball? What kind of—

“The regency ball is an event hosted by the royal family in which they talk with other kingdoms, preferably their allies, about positions of power.” Ranboo said, noticing his confused expression.

“Oh.” Was all Tommy said, before yawning again. Ranboo patted his shoulder, slipping past him.

“Better stay awake. We have a long week ahead of us.” He called from the down hall. He turned to Tubbo, who threw his hands up in response.

"Ah, the fine art of being a servant." Tubbo said, chuckling and running after Ranboo.

“Wonderful.” Tommy muttered to himself, parading after the two boys.

Technoblade sat awake in his bed, the sun peeking out from the valley. The voices were unusually quiet this morning, when they would usually be yelling at him to go kill something. He took a breath, quietly standing up and shulking over to his desk, as if he were trying not to awaken something.

Technoblade sat down and stared at a necklace lying on the table, gem glimmering slightly. He grasped the necklace, the stone biting in his palm, forming grey marks. He thought about his mother. This was her necklace, after all. His mother was a kind woman, doing anything to please her people. Doing anything to please him. It wasn’t easy to please Technoblade, especially with them inside his head, wanting nothing less than blood. His mother had been the first to find out, after she had caught him banging his head against the floor, trying to rid of the voices.

She comforted him from a distance, close enough where he could feel her touch, but far enough away so that he didn’t hurt her. So that he didn’t hurt her. He had hurt Wilbur as a child, when the voice demands got too loud. The boy had sobbed privately after that, yelling at them to stop. The voices, however, never listened to him. After that event, Technoblade had closed himself off, afraid he would get too close and hurt someone by accident.

Wilbur had been angry at first, his twin brother never understood why. He did now, now that he knew about the monsters inside his head. Wilbur would never say it, but Technoblade suspected that he secretly thought of him as a monster. He was fine with that, it wasn’t unusual that people feared him. Except that boy. The one who was about to get beaten up in an alleyway. He had looked Technoblade in the eyes, even dared to make the slightest rude comments. He was still scared though, Technoblade could see it. The boy reminded him of Theseus, his younger brother. Who, as a baby, was never scared of him. Theseus had cried whenever anyone else comforted his crying fits, except Technoblade. He acted annoyed, always threatening the child, but he secretly loved it. 

A knock on the door interrupted Technoblade from his thoughts.

“Come in.” He said gruffly, and the door opened, revealing his brother standing there. It was strange for him to be up this early.

“Father wishes to speak with you.” Wilbur said politely, and Technoblade knew that there was a servant there, or else Wilbur wouldn’t have spoken so formally. 

“Very well. Thank you, Prince Wilbur.” His brother dipped his head in respect, shutting the door behind him. Technoblade huffed, pushing the chair out. He dropped the necklace he was tightly holding back onto the desk, and examined his hands. 

There were noticeable red marks, and Technoblade swore he saw the tiniest drop of blood. The voices, however, were not amused. They remarked on how lightly he went, and that he should just plunge the necklace into his chest. Technoblade chuckled to himself, mocking the voices entirely.

He exited his chambers, and made his way to his father’s office. There were little servants in the halls at this time of morning, as they usually got up later. The few people dipped their heads in fear—Which Technoblade paid no attention to. He reached his father’s door, knocking softly. He entered once he heard his voice.

“Ah, Technoblade.” His father started, a warm smile planted on his face.

“Good morning.” His father continued, and Technoblade did not return the smile.

“Good morning.” The words came out coldly, which he did not intend for them to. His father ignored the tone and sat down. He gestured for his son to sit down as well, but he just shook his head. He wanted to make this conversation as short as possible. His father frowned at that, but moved on.

“We have a few things to discuss.” He shifted through papers, and Technoblade stood there, eyeing him. 

“How is the training going?” He asked, his tone laced with worry. Technoblade frowned. This wasn’t a good sign.

“Father?” The Emperor stayed silent, his gaze fixated on the table.

“Dream…isn’t being the most negotiable this week.” He placed his head in his hands. His voices sprouted awake at this, praying for a war. He grit his teeth to silence them, but he was intrigued. Was his father preparing for war?

“So you’re starting a war with him?” The words jumped out of him before he could stop them.

“I didn't say that.” His father snapped, looking back at the prince. He took this as his warning to stop talking, as an angered father would do nothing to help the situation. They both were quiet, but Technoblade’s mind was certainly not.

We need a war! No you don’t.

Blood for the blood god! They chanted aimlessly, and he dug his nails into his skin to stop him from jumping out the nearest window.

“How is the training going?” His father repeated, in a sterner tone.

“Fine.” He answered back, taking his fingers away.

“Fine doesn’t cut it.” His father was angrier now, and Technoblade was afraid of what that meant for the kingdom.

“I’m sorry, Father. I’ll try harder.” He replied, trying to sooth him. To his dismay, it worked. His father’s shoulders dropped from the tense position he previously had it in.

“See to it that you do.” Was all his father said, before he went back to looking through papers. Technoblade took this as his cue to leave, and leave he did. His head was spinning from all the noise about war now, and he needed to quiet it.

Technoblade did not retreat back to his room. Instead, he ascended down the many stairs in the palace and exited out the back alley gate. He put his hood over his head and tried not to draw attention to himself. 

Walking into the stables, he was greeted by a man with brown hair.

“Techno! Hey!” He said quietly, as to not mention the prince’s name fully. 

“Hey Eret.”  The prince said in the same monotone voice he always used. Eret was the only one who used that nickname, besides from his brother. He was also the only one who didn’t call him ‘Your Majesty.’ As Technoblade forbid it. Eret was really his only friend. 

“Taking Carl out again today?” Eret grabbed Carl’s reins, placing a saddle on top of him.

“Yeah. I need to—clear…my mind.” The prince sucked in a breath, the voices burning with passion. Eret just smiled, patting Carl to signify he was ready. Technoblade walked over to them, and mounted the horse.

“Thanks. See you later.” He did not return his smile, but Eret nodded. Technoblade moved the reins and Carl flew forward, heading out into the forest. 

Technoblade rode for a while, trying to scout for any animals to hunt. His eyes paused and landed on a deer, grazing on the icy grass. They chanted for him to decapitate the deer, but the prince had no intention to give them what they wanted. 

He slithered off Carl, huffing as he pulled a quiver of arrows from Carl’s saddle storage. His fingers lingered over the cold metal tip, pulling it down to the side as he also grabbed his bow. The voices growled at him to hurry up, and he slowed his movements just to annoy them. He smirked at the way they threw various threats at him.

Technoblade clutched the bow in his hands and sat down, pulling an arrow back. His breath stuttered as he aimed the arrow at the deer’s back, between the belly and slightly behind the front leg. He looked for the quickest way to end it. The voices, however, were not satisfied with not letting it suffer. 

Technoblade ignored them, as always, and let the arrow fly. It glided across the air and landed deep in the deer’s skull, causing the body to fall back. They cheered as blood soaked the snow forming across the forest.

Technoblade let out a breath, hot air exiting his mouth and heating the atmosphere around him. He grabbed the quiver and slung it over his back, grabbing Carl’s reins. He led him towards the deer, and Carl let out a huff seeing the deer. 

Technoblade grasped the arrow engulfed in the deer, pulling it towards him. Blood dripped down the arrow, and Technoblade wiped it off with the hem of his cape. He grabbed a hunting knife and quickly got to work to save the meat. 

Tommy finished breakfast rather quickly, and washed his dishes alongside Tubbo and Ranboo. They were shortly interrupted by Sir Manifold.

“Tubbo! Ranboo! Come here. I need your help.” Tommy shared confused looks with the boys before turning back to him.

“But we’re washing dishes, Sir.” Tubbo replied with a bowl still in his hand.

“He can do that by himself.” Sir Manifold gestured towards Tommy, and he resisted the urge to flip him off

“If you two don’t want doubles chores for the next week then you better follow me.” He walked off with that, and the two boys quickly set down their dishes and followed him, mouthing a ‘sorry.’ 

Tommy understood, after all he didn’t want them to get double chores. Sir Manifold was indeed a dick. He continued the dishes quietly, before a door, and Puffy stepped inside.

“Oh, Tommy! Good! I need your help.” Puffy said, motioning for the boy to follow her.

“But Sir Manifold will get mad—” Puffy just shook her head.

“I’ll tell him I forced you. Now please come!” Tommy sighed, wiping the soap off his hands and following her out the door. 

He was in the kitchen, where she and someone else were cooking, but it looked more like panicking. Puffy handed him a plate of food, and he looked at her with confusion.

“Chancellor’s Quackity, Karl, and Sapnap are having breakfast with the Emperor and his sons.” Puffy started, putting four utensils on the plate.

“And I am in charge of preparing it. But I am short-staffed today, so I need you to deliver this to Chancellor Karl.” Tommy went wide-eyed, before Puffy pushed him out the door. 

“First door straight. Can’t miss it.” She closed the doors behind him, and he just sighed. He opened the door Puffy told him too, and there they were. The Emperor was at the head of the table, his sons on the right and left of him. Another man was adjacent to him. He gulped, walking inside.

Who was Karl? He glanced at the men, searching for a sign. Tommy saw a purple ‘K’ engraved on the collar of one man’s shirt, and he decided that he was Karl. He hoped he was right, and he was as the man nodded and smiled.

Tommy turned around, about to leave. But Tommy froze at the voice of the Emperor.

“Where’s Puffy?” Tommy whipped around, seeing everyone staring at him now.

“Uhh…She—I” Tommy grimaced at his own stuttering, then continued.

“She’s short-staffed today, so I offered to help, Your Majesty.” It was actually Puffy who begged her, but he didn’t need to know that. He smiled at him, tilting his head slightly. 

“That was kind of you.”  Tommy smiled awkwardly.

“Thanks—Thank you.” He wanted to groan as loud as he could.

“I should—uh—get the rest of your breakfast.” He bowed politely, practically running out the door.

Before he could even step into the kitchen, Puffy opened the doors, placing a plate into his hands again.

“Give this to Prince Wilbur.” 

“Prince Wilbur?” Puffy looked at him with concern.

“You do know who that is…right?” Tommy shot her a look of annoyance.

“Yes Puffy. I know who that is, I’m not stupid.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“What—” She cut him off, closing the door in his face. Great. Tommy thought, biting his lip. He made his way back, opening the doors again. 

He hesitantly walked over to Prince Wilbur, who was fiddling with a fork. Tommy set his plate down next to him, and he showed no sign of appreciation. Tommy was both glad and offended that he didn’t.

He walked out of the room without saying anything, and he was glad he didn’t have to. He walked into the kitchen, and to his surprise Puffy was not there waiting with another plate.

“You can go now, thanks again Tommy.” Puffy gave Tommy a small pat on the back and he smiled.

“Anytime.” Tommy walked over to doors leading out, and he waved before he exited.

He let out a loud sigh before looking at the dishes left, but glad there were only a few.

Chapter Text

Phil wasn’t having a good day—or week, in fact. 

Dream was demanding a lot of things. War felt inevitable. All Phil could do was prepare for the worst. Hopefully, they would come to an agreement at the Regency Ball. If not, there was nothing Phil could do but declare war.

Phil tried to push it out his mind at least for today. He had the Manburg Empire on his side after all. Him and Emperor Schlatt were allies, Phil even considered him a friend. 

He had chosen to tell little of Dream to his sons, not wanting to involve them. Don’t get him wrong, they could definitely handle knowing, but his sons were finally happy since his wife’s death and son’s…disappearance. 

Or at least, that's what Phil thought.

Tommy slowly blinked, opening his eyes. To his surprise, everyone was still sleeping, and midnight blue covered the windows.

It was still nighttime, and Tommy guessed it was around one in the morning. His throat felt like shit, and he didn’t have water, or anything as a matter of fact. Servants weren’t allowed outside their quarters after their bedtime, which Tommy thought was stupid. He doesn’t need a bedtime! He’s a big man!

Still, his throat hurt. He needed water. So quickly and quietly, he got up from the bed and lurked towards the door. They opened with a creak and Tommy did his best to silence the noise. He slowly shut the doors and headed in the direction of the kitchen.

He slowed a little when he heard quiet murmurs. But he stopped when he heard the word ‘war,’ which intrigued him. Tommy leaned into the doorframe a little, yearning to catch a glimpse of what they were saying. He could only hear a few words.

“No, I’m not killing—” The Emperor’s voice rang, not loud enough for Tommy to make out the rest of the sentence though. 

“He wants the orb.” What orb? Tommy raised in confusion. Who were they talking about?

“I don’t have it—” The voices paused when Tommy accidentally stepped on the loudest creak imaginable. Shit! He tried to run, but he was frozen in place. Tommy heard footsteps getting closer and he shut his eyes, preparing to die.

To his relief, they didn’t walk outside the room. They just shut the door. There was no sound anymore, besides Tommy’s panicked breaths. After a minute, he turned his arm and hit something. No, not something—someone. 

“Holy s—” He caught himself when he saw Prince Wilbur standing in front of him, gazing hard.

“S…pectacular Prince Wilbur!” He shook his head and quickly bowed. 

“What are you doing out here?” The prince asked, not looking the slightest bit amused.

“I was thirsty so I was'going to th’ kitchen—” His words slurred as he tried to force the words out quickly.

“The kitchen is that way.”  The prince said, tilting his head in the way Tommy was supposed to be going.

“Right! Yes! I saw a…cat! Your Majesty!” Tommy pointed to a dark corner, but Prince Wilbur did not seem convinced. 

“You know the rules. You are not allowed to be out here.” Prince Wilbur wore a small smirk, and Tommy dreaded the reason why.

“As punishment, you will clean my room tomorrow. All of it.”

“What? Thats—” Prince Wilbur stared into his eyes, silently warning him.

“Perfectly reasonable. Now get back to your room.” Prince Wilbur walked away, and Tommy grit his teeth to stop him from saying anything he would regret.

He huffed and went in the direction towards his room. He couldn’t risk going to the kitchen again and getting a worse punishment.

Tommy awoke with a gasp, thankfully drowned out by the loud conversations happening around him. Instead of the nice, comforting dream he always had, he had a nightmare this time. He was being ripped away from his family in the nightmare, and he kept drifting back to that forest. The forest where his life began again.

Tommy quickly shot the feeling off, writing it up as nerves for having to clean the Prince’s room today. He grabbed his bag and headed to change, not needing to be late to add on top of it.

He slugged over to Tubbo and Ranboo, before Sir Manifold called his name, pointing to the door. Tommy suspected he must’ve been informed by the prince that he would be cleaning his room today. Tubbo’s eyes raised in suspicion.

“Prince Wilbur wants me to clean his room.” Tommy explained, sighing. Tubbo just laughed, earning a chuckle from Ranboo.

“Nice knowing you.” Ranboo deadpanned, worrying Tommy. 

“Okay…” Tommy replied back, stretching out the ‘o’ and the ‘y.’ 

“I’ll see you at lunch.” Tommy walked backwards, waving to the boys.

“If you’re still alive, that is.” Tubbo added casually, waving innocently to Tommy. Tommy just rolled his eyes, and exited the room. Tommy’s heart increased as he got closer to Prince Wilbur’s door, palm full of sweat. He shut his eyes aggressively. 

You can do this. You’re a big man. He said over and over, drilling it into his head. Tommy finally mustered up the courage to knock on the door.

“Come in.” He heard a muffled Prince Wilbur say. The Prince caught one glance at him and smiled. It wasn’t your friendly average smile. It was a sadistic, smug, smile. Tommy bit his lip instinctively, hiding his hands behind him.

“You’re late.” The Prince stated, tilting his head. Tommy almost whipped out his middle finger.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” Prince Wilbur sighed, shaking his head. He brushed past Tommy, opening his door.

“I’ll be back. When I am, this place better be spotless.” He closed the door behind him, and Tommy let out a groan.

“Spotless? Seriously?” Tommy glanced around the room, surveying the damage. 

“Fuckin’ dick.” He muttered to himself, as if the prince could hear him from down the hall. Tommy got to work quickly, although he was exhausted from the lack of sleep he got last night. Plus the nightmare really didn’t add a lot of fun to his morning.

About thirty minutes passed, and he was barely a quarter done. He was also exhausted, and sat down on the prince’s bed. Tommy really had no idea when Prince Wilbur was coming back. He could be trying to emit fear into Tommy by saying he’ll be back, but really he’ll be back in the night.

He could also be back any minute. It was better to play it safe. Resisting the urge to jump out the window, he sighed, and got up to continue. 

About two hours passed and Tommy was getting even more tired every second. Sure, he had cleaned before, but not for a prince whose room looks like it went to war.

His stomach was empty, but he was used to the feeling by now. Tommy couldn’t even think of eating without getting sick, because of how much food he ate at dinner.

At least it couldn't get any worse, right?

Tommy heard quiet shuffling down the hall and assumed it to be Prince Wilbur. He sighed before bracing himself with whatever was going to happen next.

The door creaked open, and it was, in fact, Prince Wilbur. 

The prince hummed dismissively, surveying what Tommy had already done.

“Pity you aren’t even halfway done yet.” Prince Wilbur looked at the boy, who wanted to scowl. How was he supposed to get his room done in three hours? 

“Guess you’ll have to clean my bathroom as well.” Tommy could no longer sustain his poker face as he breaked into rage. The prince just smiled smugly at his failure to keep himself in check.

He scowled softly, turning away and moving towards the bathroom.

“Where are you going?” 

“You just asked me to clean the bathroom.” Tommy spat out, his breath ragged. 

“I meant after, child.” Prince Wilbur said while sitting down on his bed. Tommy aggressively grabbed his broom. 

“I’m not a child.” The Prince seemed to lose his temper after this.

“You forget who you’re talking to.” Tommy grit his teeth, continuing sweeping the floor while shutting his eyes.

“My apologies, Your Majesty.” He added a hint of mockery to the royal title that came out of his mouth, and if the prince noticed, he ignored it. 

“You are a mere child, so I can forgive you.” Tommy knew he added ‘child’ on purpose to annoy him, and it took every last fiber in Tommy not to say something he would regret. 

They were silent for a while, before a knock at the door disturbed them. He heard the prince mumble a quiet ‘come in,’ and the door opened. There stood Prince Technoblade, who was started at Tommy.

“Tommy. Get out.” The Prince spat, and he was taken by surprise that the Prince actually did know his name, but decided to call him ‘child.’

That made him frown, before he realized he should probably leave. Tommy quickly scurried out, keeping his gaze away from the other Prince.

The door closed behind the boy, leaving the two brothers standing alone.

“You here for something specific, or just wanna annoy me?” Wilbur asked, patting a spot beside him and tearing Technoblades attention from the closed wooden door.

“I have a question.” Technoblade huffed out, not making a move to sit down.

“So do I.” The Prince lost his tone, and it turned into something more serious.

“For one—why did you recruit a new servant without consulting me?” 

Technoblade frowns, not expecting Wilbur to ask that. He paused for a second, rethinking his answers. 

End his life! 

The Blood God doesn’t need to ask for permission!

Technoblade refrained from scowling, not wanting to start an argument with Wilbur.

“I wasn’t aware you were so attached to the servants.” Wilbur just laughs in annoyance.

“Me? Attached? Says the who one literally stole a kid off the street just cause he got a ‘feeling.’” 

“I did not get attached. I was simply just being kind. Do not mistake it for weakness.” 

His twin throws his hands up.

“Wow! Who would’ve known the Prince Technoblade—“

He gestured towards the Prince.

“—would ever show kindness towards anyone?” 

Technoblade sighed, turning his eyes towards the window. 

“Wilbur.” His brothers just laughs, but it sounds more like a sob.

“No! I mean, who would’ve guessed that Technoblade showed real emotions!”

“Wilbur.” Technoblade hissed, but his brother did not let up.

“It’s just life changing—”

“Wilbur!” The Prince repeated in a much higher volume then he normally would, earning a pause from Wilbur.

“Would you please be serious for one second?” It comes off as a question, but really Technoblade’s telling him. Wilbur sighs and places his hands onto his lap, ready to listen.

“I think—Father’s at risk of starting a war with Dream.” Wilbur’s eyes widen in surprise, as he stutters over his words.

“What? Why—Why?” Technoblade just shakes his head, and Wilbur is filled with confusion.

“I don’t know. He asked me how the training was going.” Technoblade can sense Wilbur starting to panic, starting to question why. He can also hear the voices yelling, but he blocks them out.

The prince hastily sits down next to his brother, hopeful that him being near will him calm him down a little. It does, as he takes a few deep breaths.

“Okay… Did you ask him about it?” 

“Yeah. He just dismissed it immediately.” His brother hums in reply, looking out the window. Technoblade follows his gaze. Glancing at the town below, he realizes what they have to lose. People. A lot of them, if they go to war that is.

“Okay, we… we’ll figure this out. I'll talk to dad.” Technoblade nods, getting up from the bed. He turns to leave, before pausing. 

“Don’t…” Wilbur looks at him, waiting for him to continue.

“Don’t overwork the kid just because you want to get angry at someone.” Wilbur smiles, throwing his head back.

“Aww, Technoblade’s going soft!” Technoblade scowls, rolling his eyes even though his brother cannot seem them. 

“Sure, Wilbur. You get attached to everything you look at for more than five seconds.” His brother makes a sound with his teeth.

“No, I do not!” Wilbur crosses his arms, making Technoblade chuckle lightly because of how childish he looks.

“Uh huh.” Technoblade turns back to the door and opens it, revealing the boy standing on the opposite wall. He’s staring at the floor, and seems to be lost in thought. 

“Hey—kid.” The boy snaps up, and regains his composure, bowing.

“Your Majesty.” Technoblade grimaces at the sudden compliance from the boy, wishing he would bring that rebellious nature back.

“You may go back in.” The boy nods, walking past Technoblade. For a split second, Technoblade looks at the boy and sees his brother. He shakes the feeling off, Theseus’s birthday was coming up, so that's probably why he kept thinking of him all of a sudden.

Right?

Chapter Text

Tommy got released from cleaning the prince’s room a little after dinner started, which was surprising considering he thought Prince Wilbur would’ve kept him till next week.

He was nonetheless grateful, even if Prince Wilbur told him to come back after he was done. Tommy spotted Tubbo and Ranboo sitting with a woman who looked familiar. Once he got closer he realized it was Hannah. 

“Tommy! We thought you died!” Tubbo yelled, waving over at Tommy and drawing the attention of many people.

He chuckled nervously, trying to get the stares off his back. 

“Nope.” He popped the ‘p.’ and Tubbo turned to Hannah. 

“This is–”

“Hannah. Hi.” Tommy interrupted, pulling out a chair and sitting down next to her. She smiled warmly and he did his best to return one.

“Oh, you know each other?” Tubbo asks with confusion plastered on his face.

“Mhm. We met earlier this morning.” Hannah replies, taking a bite of her chicken. Tommy nods in agreement, staring at his food. He was hungry, having not eaten all day, but he almost felt sick looking at the food.

“So, what happened with Prince Wilbur?” Tubbo snaps Tommy from the staring contest he was having with his food.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Tommy sighs with an eye roll, making Hannah giggle.

“He’s even more of an ass in person.” He pauses, while Tubbo tackles his food.

“I don’t get why all the women love him, they should love me instead.” Ranboo snorts and Tubbo gives a look of disapproval. 

“Tommy, no woman likes you.” He scoffs, betrayal shrouding his face. Hannah seems to be playing along, practically staring at him.

"I don’t know Tubbo… He’s just so dreamy.” Hannah tries to stifle a laugh, but fails miserably. 

“See, Tubso? I am loved!” Tubbo hums in response, but noise is muffled by food being stuffed into his mouth. Ranboo nudges his elbow at Tommy, making him flinch a little. Thankfully, Ranboo doesn’t notice.

“You gonna eat?” Tommy looks at Ranboo, then back at the food. He shakes his head hesitantly. 

“Come on, I know you haven’t eaten all day.” He pushes the plate towards Tommy, who sighs in response and starts eating. He’s secretly grateful for Ranboo doing this, as he probably needs to take advantage of all this food before he gets fired or something. 

The rest of dinner was quiet, besides the occasional banter between the two boys. Hannah was silently picking at her food, eyeballs drooping. Tommy felt his own eyes fall heavy, but he forced himself to stay awake. He still had to go back to the prince’s room and keep cleaning for probably the whole night.

Tommy sighed, earning the attention back to him, but he ignored it. He picked up his plate, preparing to head to the kitchen to clean it.

“Wait, where are you going?” Tubbo asks, making Tommy stop.

“Cleaning my plate, bossman.” He can practically feel Tubbo roll his eyes.

“Duh. But I mean why are you doing that right now?”

“Prince Wilbur wants me back to clean. Better have a headstart if I’m gonna be there all night.” He turns around to see three faces staring at him sympathetically, and he tries not to cringe back.

“That’s not fair.” Tubbo pouts, and Tommy chuckles lightly, although nothing is funny.

“Tell me about it.” A yawn forces itself out of Tommy’s throat, and he gives a small wave before heading back to the kitchen. He scrubs his dish down rather quickly, and heads back to the prince’s room. 

Tommy braces himself before knocking on the door, and then entering. The Prince is sitting on his bed, reading what looks like a book about music. He tilts his head in confusion, not expecting him to be into something like that.

The Prince seems to notice and quickly closes the book, setting it beside him. Tommy bows quickly, muttering an apology. They are both silent for a second, before he begins to clean again.

Tommy ignores the Prince’s presence and starts continuing his work. 

He doesn’t know how much time has passed as he starts piling up all the clothes on the floor into a basket. His limbs start to ache and every second makes him want to collapse and sleep, but he pushes through it. 

Tommy sits down on the floor and continues to grab clothes. His movements become more and more slow as he struggles to keep his eyes open. 

“Hey.” The prince’s voice prevents him from falling asleep, but he still feels his eyes close. Tommy grogglily hums in response. He probably should have said ‘Your Majesty,’ but he’s too tired.

“Go back to your room and sleep.” Tommy raises his eyebrows at the Prince, confused as to why he would say this.

“But ‘m not done yet.” His words slur a bit, and he wants to cry in embarrassment.

“You can finish tomorrow. You look like you’re about to fall asleep.” Tommy just shakes his head, the whole action making him even more tired.

“I don’ sleep… I’m a big man, Your Majest’.” Prince Wilbur snorts in response, trying to stifle it at the end. 

“Sir Manifold!” The Prince calls, and right on cue the man walks in as if he was waiting there. He takes a look at Tommy and frowns, then bows politely. 

“Yes, Your Majesty?” 

“Take your servant back to their quarters.” Sir Manifold nods and turns towards the boy, extending out his hand. Tommy takes it and gets pulled over the man’s shoulder. 

“Sleep well, Your Majesty.” The prince hums in response and the door closes behind them.

Sir Manifold releases his shoulder a bit, but still propping up the boy. 

“Are you trying to embarrass yourself?” He shakes his head, muttering an apology.

“I’ll let it slide because it's your first time. This better not happen again.” He shakes his thumb up in response, as they walk together towards the bedrooms.

The rest of the week passes very quickly, and the gala is tonight. Tommy has gotten used to his routine. Prince Wilbur has him come in every morning to wake him up and then spend hours cleaning his room. He is extremely annoyed by this, as the prince likes messing with him all the time. Fortunately, he does let Tommy eat meals with all the other servants.

Tommy gets up at the sound of Sir Manifold’s voice, having learnt staying for longer just makes it harder. He has not dreamt of the woman since that night he left his bed, and he dearly misses her. Tommy thinks it's funny, because he doesn’t truly know the women at all.

He grabs his necklace from his bag. Staring at it, he puts it around his neck for good luck tonight. The jewel shimmers in the sun peeping out from the hillside. Tommy is not assisting the prince today, he is to help the others prepare the palace for the guests. 

He wastes no time in getting ready, and rushes out the doors to stand next to Tubbo and Ranboo.

“Ready for today?” Ranboo asks, looking entirely not ready.

“Not at all. You?” He laughs in response, shaking his head. 

Tommy notices Hannah is not here, which means she's probably with her other friends. He feels slight jealousy in his chest before shoving it back down, he’s only known Hannah for a week, he doesn’t get to have an opinion. 

Sir Manifold claps his hand and explains to the crowd what they’ll be doing today. Tommy listens as best he can, but his mind drifts back to Theseus, whose birthday is in a week in a half. The Emperor always prepares a marvelous ball for the prince, which Tommy has never been to.

Sir Manifold stops speaking at one point, and Tubbo smacks Tommy lightly to get his attention.

“Let's go, Tommy!” Tubbo stretched out the ‘y’ and tried dragging Tommy towards the hall. He lets out a groan before letting himself be pulled. He had a long day ahead of him, not to mention serving everyone at the gala. It was better to get a head start. 

Technoblade did not want to attend the gala. He never really liked public events, most people thought it was because everyone was scared of him, but really he was just socially awkward.

Only his father and brother knew that, though. Regardless, he had to show up at the gala. At least Eret would be there and he could talk to Niki. Niki was the head guard of the palace, and Technoblade had trained her himself. 

He trusted her a lot, and they’d grown close over the years. She was like a sister to him. Though sometimes, she felt like a mother the way she would constantly check on him. 

“Techno!” Niki yelled, earning the attention of the bruised prince. She stormed over to Technoblade, grasping his cheek in concern. He cringed back, squinting his eyes.

“What happened? Are you okay?” She probed over and over, despite Technoblade’s struggle to escape.

“I’m fine, Niki. Carl threw me because a squirrel scared him.” She laughed softly, but it was still laced with worry. Niki took her hand off him and frowned. 

“Are you sure? I can escort you to the doctor?” Technoblade shook his head in annoyance. 

“It’s alright. I swear I’m okay.” Niki stopped asking, but Technoblade could see she wasn’t convinced. 

“Okay, Techno… But if you feel any pain let me know.” Technoblade just huffed in agreement, though they both knew he wouldn’t tell her. He turned around, starting to sludge away before she could ask anything else.

“See you later!” Niki yelled after him, a smile replacing her frown. Technoblade nodded in agreement, and walked down the hall, disappearing around a corner.

Technoblade remained in his room for the rest of the day, not wanting to pass swarms of servants cleaning the halls. Wilbur hadn’t come into his room yet to ridicule him about hiding in his room, which he insisted he wasn’t (but in reality he was,) so that probably meant he was with his chancellor friends before the gala began. 

He didn’t dislike Chancellor Quackity or his finances, but he didn’t exactly love them. They were exceptionally nosey, which his brother didn’t seem to mind, but Technoblade hated people in his business. They were nice people though, and they were allies, so Technoblade refrained from being rude.

A knock disturbed Technoblade, and he muttered a monotone ‘come in,’ before getting up to greet whoever was at the door. There unexpectedly stood his father, who warmly smiled as usual. 

“Father.” Technoblade said in the same cold voice he always used. 

Not always.

Technoblade grit his teeth to stop himself from telling them to shut up.

“Good morning, Techno.” He grimaced at the nickname, one his father hadn’t used since he was young.

“Techno! I’m gonna get ya!” His dad tackled him, tickling him in the stomach. Technoblade screamed-laughed for him to stop, but his dad just laughed, his wings fluttering.

“Nope! A fearless warrior has to come save you!” Technoblade began screaming for help, and his prayers seemed to be answered when he spotted his mother and brothers.

“Mommy, guys, help me!” He yelled out, reaching out his hands.

“Don’ worry! We–Savin’ Yu!” Theseus babbled, coming to his rescue. His mother swatted at his dad's wings, and he dramatically fell back onto the grass. His dad yelled as Wilbur and Theseus jumped on him, laughing manically. 

His mother picked him up, cradling him in his arms. She snuggled him close, watching his brothers attack his captor. His dad laid still after a second and stuck out his tongue, seemingly dead. 

“We did it!” Wilbur stated proudly, holding his hands up in victory. Theseus yelled out a ‘yay’ in response as his mother let him down. He ran to his brothers, parading in his dad’s defeat.

That day was the first day where the voices were quiet.

“Good morning.” Technoblade reciprocated back, ignoring the bile taste in the back of his throat. 

“I assume you are prepared for tonight?” Technoblade paused, clicking his teeth together.

“Not quite. I will be shortly.” His father nodded slowly, in slight disappointment. 

He’s disappointed in you! Kill him! 

“I was hoping you would join me at the table tonight.” Technoblade frowned before he could stop himself, but quickly retained his blank stare. He was surprised his father had asked this, as he usually sat alone in events like these.

“Of course, Father.” He mustered up the nicest voice he could, and his father smiled brighter in response. 

“Alright, mate. I’ll see you later.” Technoblade slightly dipped his head in agreement, and closed the door behind his father. He sighed behind the closed doors, not caring if his father heard it or not. He glanced back at the window, and walked over to it.

Technoblade surveyed his people below him, crowds gathered in certain parts of the town. He sighed once more, deciding to take a shower to look at the very least presentable. 

Night snuck in, and before Tommy knew it guests were pouring into the palace. Him, Ranboo, and some others were on ‘coat duty,’ as Tubbo called it, and their job was to collect everyone’s coats when they came in.

Snow was beginning to fall, which made everything harder. Snowflakes landed on Tommy’s nose as rich and snotty men rudely threw their coats onto him. Goosebumps formed as strong wind blasted into his face, and he shivered in response.

Ranboo wasn’t having much fun either, due to endermen hybrids being extremely sensitive to water, and the snow melted painfully on Ranboo’s skin. The boy was obviously having a hard time, and Tommy felt himself frown. He couldn’t let his only friend–well besides Tubbo–suffer like this.

“Hey, Ranboo!” Tommy said over the loud chatter of conversations. The boy looked back at him with four coats hung over his shoulder.

“Yeah?” He replied back, voice muffled by the noise. Tommy walked over to him, despite being strictly told to distance yourself from other servants.

“Give me your coats and then help Tubbo inside.” Ranboo raised his eyebrows in confusion, then shook his head.

“I’m fine, really. Plus we’re not allowe–” He was interrupted when a snowflake stung him. Ranboo awkwardly chuckled, and Tommy just shot a look of annoyance and grabbed his coats. He walked away before Ranboo could argue, regaining his place by the stairs.

When he looked back, Ranboo was gone, and Tommy guessed he listened and went inside. He shifted his position so that he could fit more coats that were being piled onto him. After a minute, someone else came and grabbed the coats he had. 

Eventually he rotated with other servants, and the warmth ate him up as he began to serve drinks to guests. He hadn’t spotted Ranboo yet, but he just hoped he wasn’t outside again.

“Tommy!” A familiar voice yelled, as he turned around to be met with Prince Wilbur

The one person he was hoping to get a break from. He resisted the urge to sigh loudly and walked over to the prince. There revealed the chancellors he had met earlier in the week, and another man he hadn’t seen before.

“Please gentlemen, meet my personal servant.” Prince Wilbur added emphasis to personal, which made Tommy clench his fists. He was far from being his personal servant, he was just being punished for staying out too late.

Or was that what Prince Wilbur wanted him to think? Tricking him to get his own servant? Now that was a low move. Tommy grabbed his necklace, stabbing the gem into his fingertips to prevent him from saying anything.

“Ah, I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?” A black-haired man spoke up, and Tommy couldn’t quite place which chancellor he was. Tommy was just about to open his mouth to confirm, but the prince cut him off.

“Yes, Quackity.” Prince Wilbur let out a shaky breath, clearly facing the effects of too much alcohol.

“Pretty sure he’s got a mouth to speak for himself.” A man with brownish-grey hair said, whom Tommy did not recognize.

“Really, Purpled? Hadn’t noticed till you said that.” Prince Wilbur retorted, earning a snort from someone else.

“Guess you’re getting blind already, huh, Wilbur?” A man who he recognized as Chancellor Karl replied, earning a more-than offended look from the prince. Tommy shrunk back in response, who talks to an immortal being like that? Much less the prince. 

“Shut up, Karl.” He turned back to Tommy, and smiled brightly, making him uneasy from the sudden warmth towards him.

“Fetch us some more wine, will you?” Tommy frowned. Prince Wilbur was clearly drunk, and he definitely didn’t need any more alcohol.

“I don’t think you–”

“Now. Or you’ll be scrubbing my bathroom with a toothbrush.” He hissed back, earning a concerned look from one of the men. Tommy didn’t want to fight anymore, certainly not when he had no chance of winning the argument.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” He turned around, slowly walking away.

“Aren’t you being a little harsh?” He heard Chancellor Quackity ask, and then the prince laughed in reply.

“Growing soft, are we Quackity?” Tommy slowed his pace a little, eager to hear the conversation happening behind him.

“I’m not! All I’m saying is he’s a child.” He didn’t like being called a child, but he appreciated Chancellor Quackity defending him.

“Child or not, last time I checked he wasn’t your servant.” The voices faded as other conversations blasted into his mind, and he quickly scurried to the kitchen. There he spotted Puffy, who was sweating. She noticed him and ran over, breath heavy.

“Hey!” He smiled at her, and she returned it.

“Hi–Uh… Could I have six wine glasses?” Puffy sighed, clearly knowing what they were for.

“Prince Wilbur?” He nodded, feeling embarrassed. 

“Yeah…I know I’m not supposed to give him more wine, but he’s not very friendly when drunk.”

She smiled sympathically, before gathering six wine glasses and filling them with red wine. She placed them onto a tray and handed it to Tommy. He breathed out a thank you before leaving the kitchen to deliver the drinks.

Prince Wilbur was laughing loudly with the men, and he quietly set down the glasses next to him and left as fast as he could. Tommy was extremely warm, and a headache was creeping in. He exited out the doors onto an empty balcony, stretching himself over the ledge. Tommy sighed in relief at the silence he finally felt. 

Someone cleared their throat, making Tommy jump back in response. Prince Technoblade was standing there, staring at him. He didn’t see him when he first walked out, but then again he wasn’t paying attention.

“Sorry, Your Majesty. I can leave.” He started for the door, before he was stopped.

“It’s alright. You may stay out here.” Tommy bit his lip nervously, then walked back over, not wanting to disrespect the prince. He shivered in the cold wind, as an awkward silence fell over him.

“Are you cold?” The prince asked, earning a sniffle from Tommy.

“No, I’m fine.” He was obviously lying, the goosebumps on his arms calling him out.

“No you aren’t. Do you own a coat?” Tommy shook his head, not wanting to waste his warm breath to let cold air fall on him. The prince let out a soft hum, looking back down at the town.

“Come to my chambers after the gala. I’ll provide you with one.” Tommy glanced back at the prince, confusion raining on him. Why was he offering him a coat? He’ll probably get it dirty or something.

“No! Really, it's okay.” He tried to argue back, but Prince Technoblade wouldn’t have it. 

“It wasn’t a question.” Tommy twitched his fingers, almost pinching himself for saying no to the prince. He nodded, keeping his gaze away from him.

“Now go back inside before you catch a cold.” Tommy wrapped his arms around himself, and with no protest, entered back inside the palace.

Tommy had gone all night without seeing Tubbo or Ranboo, or anyone for that fact, except for the drunken Prince Wilbur and his friends. He had grown exceptionally annoyed by the lot of them, but something else bubbled inside him. Perhaps worry? No, that wasn’t right, he didn’t care about the prince. If anything, he wanted the prince dead. 

Tommy ignored his own questions and finished the last of his chores, before heading to his chambers. He stopped in his tracks, as he remembered Prince Technoblade’s request. 

Come to my chambers after the gala. I’ll provide you with one.

He sniffled again before making for the stairs. Bracing himself for a long walk up, he sighed. It took no longer than five minutes to navigate to Prince Technoblade’s room, and Tommy grew more anxious every second. 

He eventually stopped at the Prince’s door, fist resting, waiting to be hit against the wood. He shut his eyes and breathed, then brought his hand to the door, knocking softly as to not disturb the prince if he was asleep. He hoped the prince was awake. Wait, no—He hoped he was asleep, to avoid the coat situation entirely. 

Unfortunately, he heard the prince’s voice and hesitantly opened the door. Prince Technoblade rested upon his desk, pen in hand as Tommy tried to make out what was on the paper. The prince stopped him by slamming his book shut, making Tommy flinch. The prince walked into another room, and Tommy stood there awkwardly, unsure if he should follow or not. 

Just as he was about to move, the prince came out with a red coat, with white fur attached to the sides. The coat appealed to Tommy, as those were his two favorite colors. He hoped the prince didn’t see the desire in his eyes as he desperately tried to cover it up. 

He extended the coat out to him, which Tommy grasped into his fingers. It was strangely warm, as if someone had just washed it. The prince wouldn’t do that just for him though, right? It was probably just an extremely old and crusted coat buried deep inside his closet. Then why did it look as if it was brand new?

“When would you like it back, Your Majesty?” He asked, earning a slight change of expression from Technoblade, before he shifted back into his usual stare.“I don’t. Keep it.” Tommy refused the urge to bluntly yell ‘what?’ but his confused expression stood.

“But I’ll get it dirty?” Tommy questioned again, although he certainly was going to do everything in his power not to, especially since it was from the prince.

“Get it as dirty as you’d like. It’s yours now.” He simply stated back, and Tommy regained his posture, wanting to be as polite as possible. Not wanting to repeat a similar argument from the balcony, he nodded graciously. 

“Thank you.” Prince Technoblade nodded, and then turned around to return to his desk. Tommy took this as his cue to leave, and he quickly lumbered out the door. His mind was budding with questions he couldn’t answer as he headed down the many steps.

Fortunately for Tommy, Sir Manifold did not notice Tommy’s slight lateness, and he was grateful for that. He quickly stuffed his new coat under his bed and touched his necklace. Tommy smiled at the familiar touch and decided to keep it on tonight. 

He crawled into his bed, pulling the covers over him. He was interrupted by Harry swinging his head down, peering at Tommy.

“Yo.” Harry said in a monotone voice that Prince Technoblade always used.

“Ayup’?” Tommy replied back, raising his brow at him.

“How much wine did the prince have tonight again?” Harry asked causally, which made Tommy groan.

“Fuck off, Harry.” He turned over, facing the marble wall.

“It was a genuine question!” Harry cried out, clearly not giving up. Tommy just whipped out his middle finger and pointed it behind him, hoping he was hitting Harry.

“Ughhh, you are a boring man.” Tommy just muttered a ‘mhm’ as pulled the blanket over his head. The sound of his voice was slightly muffled 

“If I had to guess, I would say he had–” 

“Goodnight, Harry.” Tommy spat out, hoping he would get the memo. He did, as he huffed out a quiet goodnight, obviously not satisfied with Tommy’s answer. He didn’t care though, he was exhausted as it was.

So it didn’t take long for him to drift into unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Fundy’s eyes fluttered open as sun rays peeked into his iris, blinding him. He sighed and got up, limbs aching. He was Niki’s plus one for the gala yesterday, so he got invited. 

Fundy spent the entire time looking for any sign of Tommy, but he found none. When he saw Tommy with the prince last week he feared the worst. Tommy was a sweet kid whose mouth sometimes took over and said things he’d come to regret. 

He didn’t deserve to die for it, though. Fundy considered asking Niki about him, but decided against it in case she was the one to kill him. Niki wouldn’t do that, right? 

Unfortunately, she was a castle guard and she did as she was told. Fundy just hoped that she didn’t. He hated the royal family for punishing Tommy for whatever he did, and he just wanted Tommy to be safe. 

Fundy hoped he would get the chance to see Tommy, if he was still alive, at Theseus’s ball. 

Tommy did not wake up in a nightmare tonight, but he wouldn’t say it was a dream.

It was just an endless empty white void, filled with nothing but himself. It kinda scared him, I mean he’s been alone his whole life—(or the life that he remembers)—but this is different. 

It’s like he’s really alone. Alone in a world with nothing but white. The white makes him sick, a horrid feeling washing over him. Pain stabs into his side and he thinks this is worse than an actual nightmare. 

Thankfully it’s over when he gasps for breath opening his eyes back into the servants room. His nose is extremely blocked off, and the other nose is running. He sniffs over and over, desperate to breathe.

Harry seems to notice this time and peels his head down like he did last night.

“You good dude?” Harry asks, worry lining his eyebrows. 

“I’m fine. Thanks.” Harry nods and goes back up, but Tommy can tell he doesn’t seem convinced. He ignores it though, untying the necklace from his neck. 

He takes one look at the gem encased in it, and smiles. Something about it feels nostalgic, and makes him feel warm inside, like someone is hugging him.

He’s never gotten a hug before, so he’s not sure how that feels. Tommy stuffs the necklace back into his bag and pulls the blankets off him, feeling the cold across his skin.

He shivers as he crouches down onto the floor and shifts through his bag again. He grabs a shirt and pants as he glances at the coat the prince gave him.

Tommy’s goosebumps get larger as they notice the coat, and he pulls it out. Pulling it over his shoulders, the warm fur kills his goosebumps. He’s not sure how it’s still warm when it was in this cold room all night, but he’s grateful it is.

Tommy wastes no time in heading to the changing rooms, ignoring the stares angled at his coat. He just hopes and wishes no one tries to snatch it.

He quickly changes in one of the empty stalls, eyes heavy despite the loud chatter ringing in his ears. Tommy shakes off the feeling and pulls his pants up his legs. He finishes and exits his room, glancing around looking for Tubbo.

He finds him, and walks over, Tubbo gaps at the coat he has on. Ranboo just looks confused.

“Woah, did you steal that?” Tubbo asks, feeling the fur.

“No! Why would I—“ Tommy pauses, thinking for a second. He’s stolen before, and if given the chance, he wouldn’t waste a second trying to get a coat. But he didn’t steal this one.

“No. The prince gave it to me.” Tubbo looks even more surprised.

“What? Where can I ask for one?” 

“I don’t think he’s just giving one out to anyone, Tubbo.” Ranboo replies, earning a pouting fit from Tubbo. Tommy just chuckles, and Tubbo shoots him a look.

“I can lend it to you whenever you want.” Tubbo’s sadness is replaced by huge eyes. 

“Really?” Ranboo smacks him in the shoulder and he yelps, glancing around awkwardly. 

“I mean—no. It’s okay, it’s yours.” Tubbo smiles, making Tommy frown.

“It’s really no probl—“ He’s cut off by the sound of Sir Manifold’s booming voice. They all listen quietly as he informs them of the messes rich bastard’s left yesterday.

Tommy sniffs multiple times during this, earning worried glances from both Ranboo and Tubbo. He eventually finishes talking, and Tommy waves goodbye to his friends. He heads to Prince Wilbur’s room, his coughs echoing throughout the hall. 

He reaches the prince's room and knocks softly. He does not hear any noise, so he enters the room. Prince Wilbur is asleep, which is normal. He’s about to start cleaning when he recalls how much he drank last night. Tommy decides against it, not wanting to disturb the prince and leaves the room.

He knows better than to wake a hangover man up early. Tommy heads to the kitchen, looking for Puffy so he can help.  He spots her washing dishes as she looks at him with a confused look on her face, which turns to realization.

“He’s sleeping ain’t he?” Puffy asks, earning an awkward nod from Tommy.

“Yeah. I didn’t want to wake him up, he’ll probably get mad.” She nods, scrubbing the dishes.

“Uhh—I came here so I could be useful.” Puffy smiles again, splashing water on the plate now.

“So what can I do?” Tommy asks as Puffy dries the dish and her hands. 

“Can you cook?” Tommy laughs awkwardly, twitching his fingers nervously.

“No…” He replied, making Puffy laugh. 

“Thought so. Here, come wash dishes then.” She scoots over, making space for him. Puffy walks back to the kitchen after, leaving Tommy alone with the sink.

He sighs before starting on them. 

Dream sits at his desk, staring at the wooden texture. He stares until his eyes go numb. He stares until he does not recognize wood anymore. Philza has not agreed to his demands. He knows he never will, but he needs the orb. 

Dream is prepared to take everything from him. He already killed his youngest son, now he just has to take his kingdom and other children from him. The only good things in his life will fall, as will he. 

He’d never admit it but Philza scared him. The man fought countless wars in his hundred years of living and had not lost a single one. This was different. He had one weakness now; his sons. The only people he decided get to live as long as him. 

Dream had an excellent plan. His plans never failed. He knew Technoblade was strong and could never win against him, but Wilbur was different. His arrogance was a flaw and he was not good at fighting as his brother was. He would use Wilbur as a pawn, to get Philza to do what he wants. 

In the end, he would try to kill Wilbur. He knew not to underestimate any one of them, but he would weaken Wilbur as much as possible.

A knock snaps him from his thoughts as he murmurs a quiet ‘come in.’ George, his bestest friend and general, appears at the door. 

“Dream. How are you?” George asks casually, making Dream suspicious. He never just came into the man’s room whenever he wanted, even if they were close to friends. 

“What do you need George?” The man clicks his tongue together, gathering the words.

“It’s ready.” Dream smiles, making George’s expression soften. He closes his book and stands up, pushing the chair out.

“Good.”

Tommy checked the time, and it was heading towards the afternoon. He decided now would be a reasonable time to wake the prince up. 

Opening the door, the sleeping prince laid still as he did this morning. Tommy headed over to the curtains, aggressively opening them.

He heard Prince Wilbur groan and he turned around.

“Good afternoon, Your Majesty.” Tommy said, smiling warmly, trying to annoy the Prince for some reason. Prince Wilbur’s eyes fluttered open then closed again.

“After—“ Prince Wilbur stopped himself by grabbing his head and sighing. Tommy did his best to silence his sniffles for oxygen.

“What…Time is it?” He asked, breathing heavily in between words.

“It’s one in the afternoon, Your Majesty.” The Prince immediately picked his head up, anger and confusion printed on his face. 

“What? Why didn’t you wake me up?” Tommy frowned in response, sniffing again.

“I didn’t think it would be wise to disturb you.” Prince Wilbur huffed and laid back down, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Get out. I need to change.” Tommy nodded and started for the door before the Prince started talking again.

“Get me something to throw up in too. And lose the attitude or I’ll throw up on you instead.”

Tommy kept his insults to himself this time and exited the room before sighing. He ran down to the kitchen as fast as he could to get a pot. He was out of breath by the time he got to Prince Wilbur’s door.

Knocking softly with no answer, he opened the door. Prince Wilbur was still on the bed in the same clothes, which Tommy suspected would happen. 

“Here you are, Your Majesty.” He said, putting down the pot on the floor next to his head. Prince Wilbur groaned again, flopping his head down next to the pot and gripping the handles tightly with his fingers. 

“Would you like some water?” Tommy asked, getting a hum in response. He went back to the kitchen again, head splitting. He was starting to think he was beginning to get sick too. Tommy hoped and wished he wasn’t. 

Back in the prince's room, vomit was visible in the pot. Setting down the water on the bedside table, he wrinkled his nose, glad his sense of smell was gone.

Tommy wasted no time in starting to clean, and he decided to miss lunch as well. Prince Wilbur was throwing up a lot, and he had to refill the pot every ten minutes. Tommy grabbed a snack from Puffy before heading back up to the princes room again.

He turned a corner and was met with a familiar man. Tommy was just about to pass the man before he stopped him.

“Hey, uh—Tommy, right?” Tommy nodded, brow raising in confusion. 

“I have a… question.” Tommy was even more weirded out by this, but nodded again. 

“Have you… ever heard of a guard named Punz?” Tommy thought hard about it. He's heard much gossip about countless guards before, but never one about this ‘Punz.’

“I have not. I’m sorry. Is he from this kingdom?” He asked, earning a head shake from the man.

“No… From Essempi, or any kingdom I guess.” Now this was the cherry on top for Tommy. Why was he wanting to know about this Punz so much? Who would look this hard for one man? Especially if he could’ve been anywhere?

“Right. If I hear about him, I’ll let you know, uh.. sir…?” The man smiled in response, making Tommy sniff again. 

“Purpled.” Tommy nodded and then bowed, excusing himself. That was weird. He thought about who he could be, then stopped himself. It wasn’t his business, even if Purpled had asked him.

Just like he had done 10 times over, he placed the pot down next to Prince Wilbur and sat down in another chair. Tommy unwrapped the granola bar Puffy had given him and started munching on it.

Darkness engulfed the sky and his blinks started to grow slow. His headache however, was not giving up. Prince Wilbur had not gotten any better. He was not vocal about him staying here either, so Tommy thought it was best to help him. 

The Prince hadn’t talked to him all day, and was mostly silent besides the groaning. 

He rested his head on his hand, feeling his consciousness drift away. It was swiftly awoken when a knock on the door came. Prince Wilbur did not respond, despite being awake, and Tommy wasn’t sure what to do. 

The door opened and the Emperor stepped in, which he was not expecting. He quickly got up, bowing while sniffing, which thoroughly embarrassed him. The Emperor looked at the least confused, but then walked over.

“Why are you here so late?” He asked, which made Tommy nervously stumble over his words.

“I—Uh, Prince Wilbur has been feeling—“ Hungover. He wanted to say, but he wasn’t sure if the Prince would appreciate that. 

“Sick, Your Majesty.” Tommy said after what felt like hours. 

“You’ve been here all day?” 

“For the most part, yes.”

“That was kind of you.” Tommy nodded and smiled awkwardly.

“Thank you, I’ve got it from here, go to your quarters.” The Emperor replied, smiling warmly. Tommy nodded and slipped out the door. 

Wilbur looked at his dad, expression puzzled. 

“You made that child stay here all day?” He asked, setting down next to Wilbur’s legs.

“No. He chose to.” His dad hummed, sadness on his face. 

“Why didn’t you ask me to take care of you?” Wilbur frowned at this. He didn’t need help. He didn’t even ask Tommy for help. 

“You’re busy, it's not like you’d drop everything to help me.” His dad frowned hard at this comment, eyes dropping. 

“You’re my son. I would’ve dropped anything to help.” Wilbur snorted, instantly feeling his stomach drop as he slung over the bed. 

“Doesn’t seem like it.” He stayed away from his gaze, afraid of what would appear on his face. 

“Wilbur… I—“ His father reached his hand out to put it on his son's shoulder, but Wilbur flinched away.

“Don’t.” He pulled his hand back into his lap. They were silent for a while, besides Wilbur coughing. 

“I’m sorry.” His father said after a lifetime, still not looking at Wilbur. 

“Don’t apologize if you’re going to keep doing this shit.” His father doesn’t say anything, presumably thinking about what to do, and it’s deafening.

“I’m sorry.” He repeats again.

“I’m sorry and I mean it this time.” Wilbur huffs in response, clearly not buying it. 

“Ever since your mother died and Theseus…” He doesn’t finish the sentence, but they both know what he means.

“I thought you two could grow up on your own..” Wilbur almost laughs. Right, how could a thirteen year old survive on his own? 

“I was wrong. You needed a father, and I wasn’t there.” Wilbur does laugh now.

“No shit.” The silence took over again, and they didn’t dare to look at each other. His father was about to talk, before Wilbur interrupted.

“It’s not just you. It’s Technoblade, too.” He glanced at his father from the corner of his eyes, and confusion was planted on his face. 

“How so?” His father asks, inching closer to him.

“He hates me.” Wilbur deadpans, moving away from his dad.

“He does not—“

“Yes he does. He avoids me like the plague, as he does to you.” Wilbur interrupts, coughing at the end.

“It’s because he—"

“Because he loves me? That’s bullshit and you know it.” Wilbur interrupts again, staring right at his father this time.

“Wil. He distances himself because he loves you.” He stares into his fathers eyes, lip trembling slightly. The nickname he used brought back some memories, as he shuts them back into his brain.

“Because he loves me? Right.” Wilbur’s voice cracks a little, and his father sighs.

“Because he’s afraid he’ll hurt you again.” 

“Technoooo!” Wilbur says, poking his brother repeatedly in the arm.

“Leave me alone, Wilbur.” Technoblade spits out, pushing his brother's fingers away with the hand that’s not holding his book. 

Wilbur, not satisfied, runs in front of him, blocking his path.

“But I’m bored!” Wilbur argues, putting his hands on his hips. Technoblade rubs his head with the book aggressively, eyes bloodshot. 

“Not my problem. Go play with Theseus.” His brother brushes past him and Wilbur groans, not willing to give up.

Wilbur walks next to Technoblade, whispering in his ear.

“Technobl—“ All of a sudden his brother slams the book and hurls it at Wilbur’s head. He drops to the ground with a cry. His head is splitting with pain as he rubs it. Pulling his hand away, he sees crimson liquid engraved on his fingers. 

Technoblade looks at him with rage in his eyes, before he blinks repeatedly and the rage is replaced with realization. Wilbur’s lips tremble in fear as he feels his throat closing up. He’s never seen his brother that mad, and he’s never hit him before. 

“Wilbur! I’m so—“ Technoblade tries to crouch down and touch his wound before Wilbur flinches away, warm tears spilling out of his eyes. 

Wilbur backs into a corner, protecting his head with his hands. Small whimpers escape his throat and he peers at his brother from the cracks in his fingers. His brother looks petrified, and about two seconds away from crying. 

Wilbur’s never seen Technoblade cry before. He didn’t think he was able to. He didn’t think he was ever going to hit him either. He hears familiar voices come closer as one of them cries out his name. 

He feels his mothers embrace and melts into it, sobbing loudly. He doesn’t want to know what his brother looks like right now, he just wants to cry into his mothers arm forever. 

Wilbur swallows, tears threatening his eyes. None of them say anything, and he rubs at his eyes to prevent anything from slipping. 

“If he hates anyone, it’s me.” He doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t know what to say. 

“Which would be valid.” His father adds, making Wilbur laugh. Wilbur’s stomach churns again as he hurls over the pot and throws up. 

He feels his fathers hands rubbing against his back, and it’s comforting. He doesn’t remove his hands, not that he could if he tried. He coughs and wipes his mouth, picking his head back up. They stare at each other for a second, before Wilbur turns his head away.

“This doesn’t mean I forgive you.” He says while picking up his water that he hadn’t touched all day. 

“I know.” Wilbur can feel the sadness in his voice. 

“But…it’s a start.” He looks back at his dad, and he smiles warmly. His father returns the smile, getting up. Wilbur thought he was going to leave, but he picks up the pot. Wilbur raises his eyes.

“What are you doing?” He asks, slowly picking up his body. 

“Cleaning your pot and getting you medicine.” His father replies, walking over to the door.

“I thought you were leaving?” He opens the door and glances back at Wilbur. 

“I’m not leaving my sick son to fend for himself.” Wilbur rolls his eyes and watches his father walk out of the room. He feels warmth building up in his body as he involuntarily smiles, falling back down onto the bed.

Chapter Text

Tommy wakes up with a gasp, as he clutches his chest for air. He squints his eyes shut and he struggles to breathe. He’s almost certain he's sick now, it's been five days since he was standing in the cold for hours at the gala. 

He eventually regains oxygen, and his heavy breathing slows. His head is throbbing like always, but he does his best to ignore it. Tommy glances around the room at the servants, seeing nobody stare at him, he relaxes. The bed above him isn’t squeaking so that means Harry is either still sleeping, or already gone.

Tommy shudders as the blankets fall off him. Being sick is not the best when it's winter-time. He grits his teeth to avoid the urge of piling all the blankets on him and plants his feet on the ground. It’s somehow even colder, and Tommy scoots off the bed onto the floor. He reaches under his bed, grabbing his bag with his coat and clothes. 

He just washed his clothes yesterday–so he has a variety to sort through. He decides on a reddish shirt, and brown pants to match. They don’t actually match; but Tommy doesn’t exactly have much of a choice. 

Tommy glances at the coat before grabbing it, not wanting it to get stolen. He looks up at his bunkmate’s bed and thankfully doesn’t see him. He heads to change like usual, then goes to talk to Tubbo and Ranboo.

“Hey.” Ranboo says warmly, placing a hand on Tommy’s shoulder.

“Mornin’.” Tommy replies, looking over at Tubbo who is awfully quiet.

“Tubs? You okay bossman?” He asks, and the boy seems snapped from his thoughts. He blinks a few times before nodding.

“Yeah. Um… Fine–” He’s interrupted when Tommy sneezes loudly, groaning after. He earns a chuckle from Ranboo and a surrender from Tubbo.

“Woah! Watch out man, I ain’t tryna get sick.” Tommy shoots him a look while rolling his eyes.

“Got it. Next time I’ll purposely sneeze on you.” Tubbo’s jaw shoots open, before running behind Ranboo, who’s not amused by either’s theatrics. Sir Manifold interrupts their bickering with his usual loud voice, though Tommy doesn’t pay much attention to it. He’ll be helping the prince all day anyways. 

He thinks back to the gala, where Prince Wilbur called him his personal servant. Now that he thinks about it, he kinda is. It makes his blood boil at the same time that it makes his heart flutter that the prince chose him to be a personal servant. 

Tommy says his goodbyes to his friend and heads out the door. His head aches in a way that he can’t push it back into his mind, and he just huffs through the pain while stalking over to Prince Wilbur’s room. 

Entering the room, he pulls down the blinds, hearing a moan from the Prince.

“Rise and shine, Your Majesty.” Prince Wilbur hums while Tommy gets straight to cleaning. He crouches down onto the floor as Prince Wilbur shifts into the bathroom. His throat is burning and he feels lightheaded. Tommy guesses the walk up the stairs really shifted his brain.

“Shit.” He mutters as quietly as he can. This is the most fatigued he’s felt in his life. His vision blurs slightly as he pushes through the pain. Tommy hears ringing in his ears as he clenches a fist full of clothes. Unexpectedly, a hand falls onto his shoulder and he flinches back, whipping his head around to see a distorted Prince Wilbur.

Tommy blinks a few times and can clearly see the prince now.

“Are you like—having a psychotic break?” Prince Wilbur asks, dumbfounded. Tommy would’ve laughed at the weak-minded question if pain hadn’t been seeping through him.

“I–” His throat clogs up again and he chokes on his own breath. Prince Wilbur’s fake-annoyance is replaced by a worrisome frown, as he walks closer to Tommy.

“I’m sorry, uh... I can go.” Tommy stands up immediately, which does not do any good for him, as his vision goes white again. He winces, starting for the door.

“Tommy, come back here.” The splitting headache reminds him to stay put, and he turns back to the prince. Prince Wilbur motions for him to sit down on the couch, and he does so. The prince takes a hand to his head and instantly winces. Tommy’s cheeks go red, and he’s not sure if it's from being sick, or being embarrassed. 

“You have a fever. How do you feel?” Prince Wilbur questions, which Tommy was hoping he wouldn’t do.

“Fine, I just—” The prince shoots him a look of irratation, as he can tell he’s lying. 

“You are anything but fine right now.” The prince argues, obviously not letting up anytime soon, so Tommy settles on giving in.

“I…have a headache. And a sore throat.” Prince Wilbur hums, and Tommy tries to avoid his gaze.

“How long have you felt like this?”

“Dunno. About a week.” Prince Wilbur’s eyes shoot open, and he sighs, shaking his head.

“A week, Tommy? Why didn’t you tell anyone? Why didn’t you tell me?” Tommy frowns, not expecting Wilbur to care that he’s been in pain. 

“I didn’t want to bother you, Prince Wilbur.” The prince then walks into the bathroom, and he can hear water running. He comes out with a washcloth, and Tommy guesses he splashed cold water on it. Wilbur is just about to pick his hand up to his forehead when Tommy shakes his head and puts his hand up.

“It’s not a big deal, I’m okay.” Prince Wilbur just scowls and pushes his hand away. 

“Stop being so stubborn and let me help you.” The prince touches the cloth to his forehead, and Tommy feels a twinge of relief. The cool fuzz relaxes him, and takes some of the pain away. Tommy tries to suppress a sneeze coming, but fails. Wilbur snorts, dabbing the cloth over his forehead.

“Just when I thought you couldn’t get anymore annoying, you have exceeded my expectations.” Tommy sighs dramatically and frowns. 

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Your Majesty!” He replies sarcastically, earning a smack from the cloth.

“Ow—Hey!” Prince Wilbur chuckles again, bringing the cloth down. The prince walks over to his nightstand, sorting through the cabinet. Pain seeps through again, and he feels like he’s on fire. He squints his eyes shut, hoping to get some relief. He got none, so he stood back up again, preparing to get back to work.

“Get your ass back on that couch.” Wilbur orders, making Tommy confusedly fall back down. 

“But I still need to clea–”

“You’re not cleaning. You’re sick.” He interjects, holding a bottle of something. He pours the bottle into a small shot glass and extends it out to Tommy. He takes the glass reluctantly, eyebrows hovering even more.

“Drink this and don’t argue with me.” Wilbur warns, stance threatening.

“Is this poison, Prince Wilbur?" Tommy buzzes, tilting his head to the side. Wilbur doesn’t even blink.

“Yeah. I’m poisoning my own servant.” He retorts, nudging the glass towards Tommy’s mouth. He hastily brings it to his mouth, and pours the liquid down his throat. He gags as he swallows the rest of it, and somehow his throat burns even more.

“What the fuck is this?” Tommy blurts, not even caring how disrespectful his tone was. He coughs, bringing a hand over his throat. The feeling goes away after a few seconds, but he decides to drag it out to annoy Wilbur.

“Prime, Tommy. It’s a healing potion.” Tommy groans again before throwing his head back. He mutters curses under his breath as the pain endeavors. They are both silent for a while, as Tommy gathers up words on his tongue. 

“Why…”  His voice cracks a little, and is extremely hoarse. He clears his throat to get rid of the phlegm.  

“Why are you helping me?” Tommy presses, his throat still hoarse. He transfers his knees onto the couch, resting his head on them.

“I…I owe you.” He lets out a shaky laugh, head throbbing at the difficult action.

“You–owe…me? For—For what?”

“For you taking care of me the day I was hungover.” Tommy nods, but wasn’t he supposed to help him? That was his job as a servant. Tranquility washes over them as they shun each other's glares. Wilbur seems as if he's ruling out what to say, because he keeps his jaw open.

“And…for being an ass while drunk.” Tommy’s eyes dilate at this—he wasn’t expecting him to apologize for being rude, or for anything. 

“Yeah. You were being pretty fuckin’ rude.” Tommy adds, then snaps his mouth shut. Maybe he shouldn’t have been that out of line, as he was still the prince. A grin flashes over Wilbur's face, and to Tommy's relief it's not an evil one.

“Don’t forget I can execute you whenever I desire.” Prince Wilbur warns, but it’s an empty threat. 

“My apologies, Prince Wilbur.” Tommy mocks, receiving another smack on the leg. He lets out a hiss when his head starts to drum again. 

“This fucking sucks.” Tommy complains, banging his head softly on the couch, not enough to hurt though. 

“You whining about being sick is making me sick.” Wilbur argues back, making Tommy frown. 

“That…literally makes no sense.” Wilbur laughs in return.

“It’s not my fault you’re stupid.” Tommy pouts at his insult, crossing his arms.

“I am not— “ 

“Shh. You need to sleep.” 

“But— “

“Sleep.” He exhales and lays his head down. Prince Wilbur layers a blanket on top of him. Tommy’s headache starts to fade, and his vision is darkening. He falls asleep to the quiet shuffling of the prince.

Phil walks past Wilbur’s room, hearing quiet groaning emitting from it. He sulks and then pauses, listening to the noise. He walks over to the door and knocks but gets nothing in return. He creaks open the door, spotting a familiar child laying on his son’s couch. 

The boy is moaning in his sleep, presumably having a nightmare. Phil feels the urge to comfort him, and he grits his teeth before walking over to the child. He’s unsure of what his name is, so he just starts softly shaking him.

“Hey, mate.” The boy mutters something too quiet for him to hear, still not waking up. Phil shakes him again, and he jolts up, terror in his eyes. Looking back at him, he tries to jostle Phil away. The emperor keeps a tight hand on his wrist, but not enough to hurt him.

“Hey, it's okay. You’re okay.” The boy squints his eyes shut, taking in his surroundings. After a minute he finally notices him there, and gets up. He bows while spewing apologies and slightly shaking his head.

“What's your name?” Phil asks, advancing closer to the boy. 

“Tom–Tommy.” He trembles, biting his lip. Phil senses something's wrong with Tommy, whilst he forces his hand up to his forehead and it's burning. 

“Prime, you’re sick.” Tommy just shakes his head.

“I’m fine, really, Your Majesty.” Phil just laughs, standing up.

“You aren’t.” Tommy huffs, crossing his eyes over to the window.

“Has Wilbur been taking care of you?” He asks, eyeing the empty healing potion set on the nightstand.

“Yes, I’m sorry.” Phil chuckles again, why does this child keep apologizing? 

“How’d you get sick?”

“I-Uh…At the gala, I think.” Phil raises an eyebrow, stumped. Tommy seems to get the memo and further explains.

“I was standing out in the snow.”

“You don’t own a coat?” The boy starts to shake his head, before nodding.

“I uh–do. Kinda. Prince Technoblade gave one to me.”

“Where is it?” The boy opened his mouth to speak, before snapping it shut. He started frantically glancing around the room, panic shaking throughout his body. Phil follows his gaze as Tommy looks back down at the floor.

“I’m…not sure.” Phil nods, bringing his attention to the door. He’ll get someone to find the jacket after he deals with this sick child.

“Can you walk?” Tommy wavers, then nods. Phil isn’t convinced, and it seems as if Tommy isn’t either. He tries to get up, before crashing right back down on the couch. Phil laughs again, and the boy tries to join in awkwardly.  

“You could’ve just said no, mate.” He doesn’t say anything as Phil picks him up, heading towards the door. He’s surprisingly light for a teenager, and he begins to wonder how much Tommy eats. The boy squirms a little before relaxing. Phil can hear his heartbeat steadily increase, and he hums to calm it. It seems to work, as his ears soon echo with nothing but the boy’s sniffles. 

They reach a room, and Phil strolls into it, placing the boy down on the bed. He looks up at Phil, eyes curiously scanning his.

“You’ll stay here for the time being.” Phil says, gathering blankets from the closet. 

“What about my job? I still need to do it.” Tommy asks, biting his lip again. Phil notes that as a thing, as he notices the bruised spots on the boy’s mouth. 

“You’re sick, you need rest. I’ll inform Sir Manifold of this and your coat.” Tommy nods, looking even more nervous. It’s obvious Jack scares him, which saddens him even more. The man was nice, but tended to be strict.  

Phil layers the blankets on him, just as he would a nest. A warmth grows inside of him, but he does his best to push it down. He hasn’t done this for anyone in a long time.

“Dadddyy!” Theseus whines, shivering, despite the room being completely warm. 

“I know you’re cold, Thes. Give me a second and it’ll be perfect.” Phil responds, making final adjustments to the pillows. He turns back to his sick son and points at the nest.

“All done.” Theseus grabs his father’s hand and jumps into the nest, pulling the blankets over both of them.

“It’s so warm!” He cries out in happiness, making the man smile. 

“I know. I told you it would be.” Someone walks into the room, and the pink hair gives it away as Technoblade.

“Awww, dad! You’re rubbing your weird bird instincts off on him!” His son says, clapping his hands together dramatically. Thankfully, he doesn’t see Theseus grabbing his foot from under him and pulling him towards the two.

“Hey!” He yelps out, getting trapped in his brother and father’s embrace.

“Ha-ha! I got you now Tech-no-blade!” Theseus yelled, snuggling his head into his brother’s chest. Theseus could never fully pronounce Technoblade, so he divided it up into three words.

Technoblade groaned in despair as his father ruffled his hair, laughing.

Technoblade roamed the courtyard, quietly tending to some of the winter plants. This was the first peaceful morning he’s had in a while, the voices weren’t too loud today. He didn’t even need to go hunting. 

Unfortunately, his peace was cut short when he heard a shout of his name behind him. To add to his agony, Skeppy was the person yelling it. He bit back a groan and walked over to the man.

“Technoblade!” He says enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear. 

“Skeppy.” The prince says, not hinting any emotion except annoyance. Skeppy doesn’t seem to notice though.

“You know we don’t have training today, right?” Technoblade asks, as the man forgets almost everything. Surprisingly, he nods, still smiling. 

“Yes! I just wanted to talk to you about something.” Technoblade doesn’t say anything, waiting for Skeppy to start.

“Okay, hear me out.” He begins, and Technoblade internally sighs. It’s never a good sign when he says that.

“At the next lesson, we get Bad to give us a weapon… that shoots knives!” Technoblade falters a little, staring at the man who is still not letting go of that smile.

“It’s a fantastic idea, right?” Skeppy queries, clearly not understanding Technoblade’s gaze.

“Yeah.” Skeppy smiles even brighter at the prince's confirmation.

“If we were trying to kill all of you.” His smile drops, as he wrinkles his nose. He thinks for a second, before opening his mouth again.

“Okay, then how about we make Niki and Bad dual for entertainment?” Skeppy suggested, tilting his head horizontally 

“You don’t need entertainment. You need to stay focused.” He argued back. Skeppy puts up his hands in surrender.

“Alright, alright. How about we get Eret to teach us how to shoot an arrow while riding a horse?” 

“Skeppy, just stick to the training I’m already teaching.” Technoblade scolds, and the man gives up. But the ideas haven't left his mind, and the prince knows that won’t be the last he’s hearing of them.

“You’re right, Technoblade. I’ll just have to come up with more ideas about close combat!” Skeppy states proudly, putting his hands on his hips. Technoblade puts his hand onto his temple.

“This has been a great talk, I love talking with my friends.” He says, clearly trying to get under the prince’s skin by calling him his friend.

“We’re not—” Skeppy cuts him off by prancing towards the doors inside, and gives a small wave. Technoblade sighs and goes back to watering the leaves, hoping for peace. 

He’s not that lucky. 

“Technoblade!” Wilbur says from behind him, and he groans this time. Confusion settles onto his face as he sees his panicked brother, gasping for oxygen like he’s been running for miles. 

“I…lost…him.” Wilbur spits out between breaths. 

“Lost who?” Technoblade inquires, curious to know who Wilbur was freaking out about.

“Tommy! He’s not in my room!” He flashes back to the week before, when the small and starved teenager told him his name. When the boy was nervously serving his brother breakfast. When the boy was shivering out on the cold balcony.

“You sure he didn’t go to lunch with the others?” Wilbur shakes his head frantically, resting his hands on his knees.

“He’s sick with a cold or some shit, I—”

“Wait. He’s sick?” Technoblade remembers the conversation he had with Tommy in the freezing cold.

Now go inside before you catch a cold.

He warned him, but obviously he had already begun to get sick at that time. Technoblade unusually curses under his breath, and was thankful Wilbur didn’t hear it. 

“Yes. Please, help me find him.” Technoblade nods, setting down his watering can and following Wilbur inside. 

They scour the halls for a while, asking around if anyone has seen the boy. 

His voices call him ‘Softnoblade’ and tell him he needs to kill again. He promptly ignores them but was quite unamused by the 'softnoblade' comment. A voice interrupts their search party, and their father appears around a corner. 

“Why are you two running around?” He asks, as they have been frantically speeding around the palace for the past hour. Wilbur jumps up at the conversation and runs over to his dad. 

“Tommy is missing! We need to–” Wilbur is cut off by his father's laughing, and he glances at his brother confusingly. Technoblade just shrugs in response.

Did he kill Tommy? Wow, Phil is the new Blood God! We should recruit Phil instead of Softnoblade!

He huffs, silencing the voices. His father’s laughter dies down to a chuckle, as he turns around.

“Follow me.” He says, walking off before his sons can get a word in. Why the hell is he acting so weird? Technoblade takes one last look at Wilbur and gives up. He yanks Wilbur’s hand, dragging him across the hall as he yelps. 

They reach what he thought was an unoccupied room after a case of stairs. Technoblade is extremely puzzled on what this is about, but he doesn’t question him. Not yet at least. Wilbur is out of breath, huffing dramatically. Technoblade rolls his eyes and follows his father into the room. 

He’s baffled when he surveys the room and spots Tommy sleeping peacefully in what looks in a nest. Wilbur is just as surprised, as he gawks at the sight, jaw wide open. His father is silent, but he can sense the smile on his face.

Kill the child! Phil made him into a bird!? Softnoblade—Softnoblade!

“You–made him a nest? Wilbur chokes out, still not believing this. His father frowns, turning back to the brunette.

“No. It’s…” He tries to defend himself, but he can’t find the words. He looks down at the floor in defeat.

“Why—Why is he even in here?” Wilbur interrogates, and Technoblade can see a flash of anger on his face. He doesn’t understand why, but he carefully regards the expression.

“He was having a nightmare. I helped, and eventually brought him here.” Wilbur doesn’t look satisfied, as he watches the boy closely.

“He can’t stay in your room forever. He should stay here while he’s recovering.” They are all silent, just listening to the boy's heavy breaths for a while.

“Did you lend him a coat?” Phil asks, and Technoblade slowly nods, wondering where he got this information. The old man probably pried open Tommy’s business, like he did to everyone. 

“I think he’s lost it.” He explains, motioning at the boy. 

“Or someone stole it. It’s not uncommon.” Wilbur defends, sitting down next to the boy. Technoblade observes the gentle way his twin looks at Tommy. A way he’s only reserved for his younger brother.

“Plus, he seems like the type to cling to it to make sure it doesn’t get stolen.” His dad chuckles, walking closer to the bed. Technoblade’s stance does not move, but he keeps his gaze locked on the three.

Wilbur sucks in a breath before getting up.

“Well, Quackity’s been waiting for me. I’ll visit Tommy later.” His father nods, and Wilbur throws a quick glance at Technoblade before exiting the room. He stares at the man across from him, emotions absent.

“Care to explain now?” Technoblade urged at the man, who clicked his teeth together. He found his father’s mouth slightly opened, searching for the right words.

“I…Dream wants the orb.” Technoblades expression shifts, and anger rises. Why hadn’t his father told him about this before? This was an extremely important demand. The orb was especially useful to power-hungry Gods like Dream.

HE wants the orb?! Kill Dream now! We must go to war!

“What? You–We don’t even have all the pieces.” His father nods in acknowledgement, keeping his gaze away from his son. Technoblade isn’t sure if it's from embarrassment or regret. 

“He doesn’t know that.” His father admits to his son’s back. Technoblade gets even angrier as he resists the urge to slam his fists against the wooden wall. 

“So why don’t you tell him?” He spits out, still not turning around.

“Because then he’ll hurt one of you—he’ll scour the earth to find the rest.” Technoblade scowls at the weak attempt of his father defending himself.

“I can look after myself. As can Wilbur.” He declared, annoyance seeping through him. Did his father really think that lowly of him? He made him a general, yet he doesn't trust him?

“It’s not just you. The kingdom…He has something that’ll destroy us, and I can’t figure out what it is.” They don’t say anything for a second. It doesn’t feel like a second. It feels like an eternity where they’re staring at each other in anger, both not finding the words to argue. 

“I could’ve helped you. But you decided that I wasn’t strong enough to know.” He snarled. The voices liked his aggression, and they became louder.

“I didn’t—”

“We’ll talk later. I need time to think about what you’ve been withholding from me.” With that, Technoblade storms out of the room. Forgetting about the sleeping boy inside, he slams the door loudly behind him.

Chapter Text

Tommy recovered from the cold rather quickly, thanks to the help of the royal family. He would’ve never have thought that anyone would ever help him, especially royals. But here he is, all healed due to the fact that they cared enough.

It was a strange feeling, being worried about, for once. He didn’t understand it, as he was under the assumption Prince Wilbur hated him. Prince Technoblade probably only made him a servant out of pity.

Even so, he was able to stay in that room after he got better. He felt guilty, especially since Tubbo and Ranboo still have to sleep in that horrid servants room. He thought about asking the prince if they could share the room with him, but he didn't want to get anyone in trouble if he didn’t like the idea. 

So he sat awake on the soft bed, just looking out the window at the stars. He remembers someone told him that you need to burn to be a star, and that stuck with him ever since. Of course he doesn’t remember who told him, but that’s not the point. 

Tommy groans, feeling boredom reek into his head. His blinks are not heavy, despite it being late. He makes the decision to get up and take a stroll, having nothing else to do.

It’s not the best idea, since the reason he’s a personal servant is because he was out late, but he doesn’t really care.

 He walks down the empty hall, footsteps quietly echoing behind him. Soft music fills his ears, and he feels compelled to follow the sound. It’s a beautiful melody, one that could put him to sleep in an instant.

He follows it to another room, and he creaks open the door. Tommy’s eyes widen at the sight of Technoblade, and he shifts his ear into the frame a little more so he can hear the music better. He wouldn’t ever expect the prince to play violin, much less any instrument. He just sort of thought that he went around fighting people. 

He was wrong, because there was Technoblade. Playing violin. Majestically. Tommy gets lost in the music, swaying back and forth between the rhythm. His headache begins to soothe, serenity falling over Tommy. He continues watching for a while, the moonlight illuminating the spot where Technoblade is standing.

“What are we doing?” A voice whispers into his ear, making him scream and jump forwards. He falls into the room, landing on his face with a thud. His headache immediately comes back, and he wants to curse at the man for that.

“Looks like you have an admirer.” The same man says, recognizing it to be Prince Wilbur once he turns around to look at him. The prince stands there with a smug smile. 

“No! I wasn’t—I’m not!” Wilbur just laughs, smiling at the other prince. Tommy turns around to see Technoblade, who looks slightly amused. An awkward smile tugs at his lips, and he scrambles up. 

“So obviously you didn’t learn from last time?”

“Last time?” Technoblade asks, brow furrowed. 

“I—You—“ Prince Wilbur laughs at his stuttering again, making his brother chuckle too.

“You get no women, you know that right?” Tommy yells out before he can think. He winces fearfully, as he doesn’t know how the prince will take that. 

“And that has to do with this how?” Wilbur inquires as if the insult didn’t even register to him. Tommy is confused for a second, wary of why the prince didn’t yell at him, or hit him, or—

“In every way!” Tommy explains. “You wouldn’t get it.” 

“Okay, well for your information I get all the women.” Wilbur boasts, putting his hands on his hips.

“Ehhh—I think Tommy’s right on this one.” Technoblade agrees, making Tommy beam in victory. Wilbur just scoffs at his brother, cringing at him. 

“What’s going on here?” Another voice says, the door opening wider. The Emperor steps in, and a smile is plastered on his face upon seeing them.

“Oh, hey dad,” Wilbur exclaims excitedly. “We were just—”

“Leaving.” Technoblade finishes, brushing past his brother and Tommy. He doesn’t even give a single glance towards his father, and shuts the door behind him. The Emperor sighs, looking down at the floor. Tommy looks towards Wilbur for an answer, but he seems just as stumped.

“Did I do something?” Tommy mutters, picking at his nails. He really doesn’t want to be the cause of any arguing. 

“No, no,” The Emperor replies back. “It’s…my fault I guess.”

“You should go to bed now, Tommy.” Prince Wilbur puts a hand on his shoulder, smiling. He gives an awkward smile back and leaves his touch.

“Good—uh, night.” The Emperor smiles at him, mumbling a soft goodnight before Tommy closes the door. He looks around for any sign of Technoblade, but finds none.

The walk back is quiet, his mind filled with a million questions. It was weird how casually he talked to the royal family. He would never admit it, but he was starting to warm up to Prince Wilbur. 

They even argued like—

No. They weren’t brothers. They would never be. He almost laughs at himself for even thinking that. Prince Wilbur just pities him because of the sickness he previously had. He’s probably going to go back to being the same old prince again. 

Tommy tries to push down the ache in his heart.

He fails.

Tubbo stirs at the sound of a bell ringing, groaning into his pillow. Even though he’s been doing this almost every day for three years, he never gets used to it.

He knocks on the bed above him, hearing no sound back. Ranboo must be up already, as he would’ve knocked back. 

Every morning they do that, signifying to each other it's time to get up. Sometimes Ranboo forgets—which he does a lot, actually. Tubbo is starting to think he has short-term memory. 

He wastes no more time, getting up and embracing the cold that wraps around his chest. He huffs, rubbing his eyes while getting up. More people are starting to rise, and he knows he has to hurry if he wants a stall in time. 

He always hates changing in front of the other servants. Especially the mean ones, like Cormac. The guy had been bothering Tubbo since he got here, and has been recently being mean to Ranboo. He could handle being bullied, but Ranboo? Cormac was a dead man when Tubbo got his hands on him. 

Tommy, too, has been pestered by the guy once. Tubbo told him off immediately though. He’s starting to miss Tommy a lot, despite having known each other for a few weeks. He feels him and Tommy clicked instantly, and joked around like they’d been friends for years. 

Tommy has been occupied with being the prince’s personal servant, which makes Tubbo angry. He was probably getting overworked by the prince, who always found an excuse to be mean to literally anyone. 

The few times he saw Tommy a week, he had been complaining about the prince. He felt bad for him—but at least he got a room near Prince Wilbur’s to make up for it. Tubbo had seen the room first hand, and it had been beautiful. Or maybe—normal? He wasn’t really sure, as he had never had his own room.

From being kicked out to his time as a servant, he usually slept in shared spaces.

An arm around his shoulder pulled him from his thoughts, and he scowled as he saw Cormac. Remembering Ranboo, he shoved his arm off and continued walking towards the bathroom with his stuff.

“Tubbo!” Cormac yelled. “What gives, man?”

Tubbo opened his mouth to speak, but closed it immediately after. He knew not to take the bait. Cormac noticed this, and snorted. A few more people surrounded them, which Tubbo recognized as Cormac’s friends. 

He huffed again, trying to trail off from the herd. Cormac didn’t let him though, which drew dread in his stomach. They either just wanted to piss him off, or wanted to beat him up. They didn’t usually hurt him this early though. Still, that didn’t relieve the fear pumping in his lungs.

“Could you let me go?” Tubbo spat out, not really meaning it as a question.

“But Tubbo,” One of his friends chuckled. “We’re friends, y’know?”

“We are not friends.” He let out a dry laugh. Cormac made a sympathic sound with his mouth, pouting.

“That hurts—”

“Tubbo!” A familar voice yelled, earning attention of all four of them. Tommy stood, frowning at the site before them. Cormac grinned upon seeing another victim. Tommy was no vicitim.

“Boys,” Tommy greeted. “Is there a reason you’re suffocating Tubbo?”

The question distrcted Cormac, giving Tubbo enough time to wedge out of his grasp. He stood next to Tommy, who’s gaze was wavering at the three boys before from.

“We were just—”

“I actually don’t care, fuckers.” Tommy spat out, making Tubbo’s mouth part. He wasn’t expecting him to be that upfront. Cormac and his friends had the same expresion worn.

“Okay, bye,” Tommy sighed. “I hope you won’t bother him anymore.”

Tommy pulled Tubbo into the bathroom, disappearing into the crowd. They found a stall, and he pulled Tommy into a hug. He hummed into the boy’s chest, feeling a warmth he hadn’t felt for a minute. 

“Tommy! Where’ve you been, man?” Tubbo asks, smiling brightly. His friend returns the action, tilting his head slightly.

“Ah, y’know—prince’s rooms.” They both laughed, before Tommy gestured to the stall. Tubbo nodded, walking inside. He quickly got changed, not wanting to prolong the time he had with his friend.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖

They walk into the main room, skimming for Ranboo. Tubbo saw him leaning on the wall, looking overly exhausted. He frowned at that, the both of them walking over to the drooping boy. He noticed them, smiling slowly. 

“Hey, bitch boy.” Tommy slaps his hands down on his friend's shoulder. Ranboo leans into Tommy, looking as if that was the ledge he needed to lean on. He wasn’t sure why Ranboo was acting so weird these past couple of days, but he was certainly worried.

“Hi, Tommy.” Ranboo replied, voice sounding even more exhausted. The two of them engulfed in a quiet conversation, and Tubbo made no move to involve himself. He watched his best friend closely, noting the wince he made after every slight movement. The boy looked to be in pain, confusing Tubbo even further.

Sir Manifold’s voice filled the room as usual, grabbing the attention of most. Idiots like Cormac ignored him. 

“As you all know,” He started. “My section–being you folks, have the weekend off.”

Cheers filled the room, but were settled down with the threat of him revoking the privellege. It wasn’t really a privellege though, as overworking was a real thing. It was good Sir Manifold thought so too, as most of the handlers were corrupt and overworked all their servants.

Tubbo had plans to visit the village with Ranboo, and was hoping Tommy could attend. 

They all needed a break, his two friends the most. 

The exhuastion in both their eyes was hard to miss.

Chapter Text

“Tubbo, come on!” Tommy whined, trying to pull the boy in another direction. 

“I’m going to the bakery.” Tubbo replied, making Tommy groan at how annoying Tubbo was being. 

“We have to stay together, though.” He stretched out the ‘though,’ still tugging on Tubbo's shirt collar.

“Exactly, so come with me.”

“No!” He turned to Ranboo, asking for help with his expression. The boy shrugged, crossing his arms. He thought about just giving up, but he really wanted to see Fundy. 

“How about we go to stables?” Ranboo suggested, making both the boys turn towards him. 

“Why would we go there?” Tubbo questioned, still struggling against Tommy’s grasp. Tommy flicked him in the arm, nodding in agreement to the question. 

“To ride horses, idiot.” Ranboo replied, chuckling. 

“Horses? Count me in!” Tommy ran in the direction of Ranboo, pulling him along.

“We’re going the wrong way.” He laughed awkwardly, pulling him back towards Tubbo and grabbing his hand as well. 

“I know, I was just waiting till you figured it out.” Tommy’s cheeks flushed red in embarrassment from not knowing. He couldn’t really blame himself though, because despite being in this town for a long time, he’d never gone to the stables. 

“Sure, Tommy.” 

As soon as they stepped in, they were met by a man with brunette hair and sunglasses on—much like Ranboo had on. The man smiled at them, walking over.

“Hello, my name is Eret.” The man stated while Tubbo explained the rest of their names. 

“Wait, you’re Tommy?” Eret asked, pointing at him. He tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing. 

“Uh…yeah?”

“Technoblade has talked about you.” Tommy’s eyes widen, and he picks his head up higher.

“Really? What’d he say?” Eret laughs, gesturing for the three to follow him. Tommy’s still in shock as Tubbo pulls him along this time. For one, Prince Technoblade talked about him—hopefully in a good way.

Secondly, Eret didn’t use a title, so they must be friends. His heart pumped in excitement, though he didn’t know why. Technoblade didn’t like him, right?

Eret led them to the horses, and Tommy spotted a beautiful brown horse, who somehow looked…angry? The horse was staring down Eret, almost as if it was ready to pounce. 

He shook his head subtly, noticing all the other horses in the stable. 

“You three can take any out, except this one.” He pointed to the angry horse, patting him on the back. The horse seemed even angrier at this, and huffed. 

“Oh—we, uh don’t have the money for that,” Tubbo’s cheeks turned pink. “We just wanted to see them.”

“Nonsense, any friend of Technoblade gets to ride for free.” Tommy’s ears stopped at the word friend. Was he really a friend? He couldn’t be, he was just a servant. 

“Are you sure? I mean—“

“Positive. I can get someone to help you ride.” The three of them glanced at each other, nodding. 

“Thank you—really.” Ranboo replied, smiling back. Eret nodded.

“Right—like I said, choose any one, and I’ll be back.” Eret brushed past them, glancing at Tommy as he passed. Tommy didn’t notice, as he was too focused on this one horse. She was beautifully gray, and looked sort of like a moth. 

“…Clementine.” Clementine huffed in approval. 

“What?” Tubbo raised his eyebrow, looking at Ranboo. He shrugged again, going back to looking for his own. 

“Her name is Clementine—and she is the chosen one.” Tommy stated proudly, hugging Clementine. 

“O—kay…” Tubbo replied back, laughing quietly. Tommy ignored him, leaning on the stall for Eret to come back. He came back with a green-haired man next to him, who looked just as weird. 

“This is Sam.” Eret stated, pointing at Sam. 

“Ayup, Sam.” Tommy greeted, waving. Tubbo and Ranboo turned to look as well. 

“Hey.” He replied back, waving himself. 

“He’ll be your riding instructor.” They all nodded, as Eret gave one last look to Sam before leaving the room. 

He clapped his hands together, smiling brightly.

“You guys choose your horses yet?”

“Yup.” Tubbo replied, seeing as they were all standing next to one. Sam nodded, walking over to Tommy. He started dressing Clementine up, then moved on to Tubbo. 

Ranboo was last, and he looked uncomfortable. Tommy wasn’t sure why, but he’d keep an eye on this Sam guy.

Niki rested on the side bench, watching Technoblade engage in combat with the trainees. Well, mostly Skeppy, anyways. 

Despite being older than the other trainees, Skeppy mostly acted like a child. She could tell Technoblade liked him, though. 

It’s been a tough week, the threat with Dream on the horizon. Technoblade’s been training extra hard lately, under the direct orders of his father. 

The two of them didn’t seem…fond of each other. Technoblade never talked about it, so Niki never brought it up. It didn’t mean she wasn’t at the very least curious. Still, she respected him as did he respect her. 

Stars were becoming visible, and Technoblade was not stopping. Niki could see the exhaustion in the trainee’s eyes, so she sighed and got up from the bench. 

“Techno,” Niki spoke with a voice loud enough for the prince to hear. The man turned around, sweat shimmering on his forehead. 

“I think you should call it a night.” Technoblade looked at the trainee’s, then back at NIki and nodded.

“Go home, everyone.” She yelled, still maintaining her nice voice. They all scurried away, gathering up their bags. Skeppy threw a wave her way, but she did not mimic it.

Technoblade brushed past her, passing the seat as well. Instead, he took a place on the fountain ledge. Niki frowned slightly, following Techno to the fountain. They sat there for a while, watching as the courtyard emptied to only the two of them.

“You wanna talk about it?” Niki muttered quietly, laying down her head onto the cold concrete. Snow was starting to fall, but neither of them made any move to go inside.

“No.” Technoblade replied, following her down. A snowflake landed on Niki’s cheek, and she licked it away. She didn’t say anything else for a while, and neither did he. They both looked up at the stars, silently admiring them.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Niki asked, shifting her head towards Technoblade. The man hummed in response, staying frozen in place.

“It’s too bad they burn.” Technoblade chuckled at that, which made Niki furrow her brow. 

“To be a star, you must burn.” He mumbled, receiving a laugh from Niki. 

“Wow—didn’t know you were so poetic.” Technoblade turned towards her, eyebrows raised. 

“I’m a man of many qualities, Niki.” She laughed even harder, smacking him on the leg and receiving an offended noise in response. Her laughter died down, and they continued to stare at the sky. 

And just for a second, 

Niki forgot about her worries.
She forgot about war.
She forgot about Dream. 

She only remembered the stars, and the beauty they bring. 

“Tommy!” Tubbo whined, still trying to gain control of his horse. Next to him, Ranboo chuckled, his horse as quiet as he was. 

Tommy rode ahead with Sam, Clementine happily obliging. Sam and him are silent fo a while, Tubbo’s yelps being background noise. 

“Hey, uh, Tommy?” Sam mumbles, making Tommy snap his head towards him.

“Yeah?” He answers, shifting Clementine a little. 

“Have you—heard anything about Essempi starting a war?” Sam asks quietly, as to not draw attention from the servants behind them. 

“What—No,” Tommy furrows his brow. “They’re starting a war?” 

“I mean, I don’t think so,” Sam’s tone is not hopeful. “But Essempi is sort of limiting this kingdom’s citizens from entering theirs.” 

“That’s…worrisome.” Tommy replies with a frown. 

“Yeah.” 

For the next ten minutes, the ride is silent. Tommy’s mind is filled with thoughts—a war? That’s not what he needs right now. Or what anyone needs. Why was Essempi even starting a war?

“So, you know Prince Technoblade?” Sam asks, pulling him from his thoughts and smiling awkwardly at Tommy. He could tell he wanted to be done with the previous conversation about war, so Tommy respected that as best he could. 

“I guess you could say that.” Tommy replied, feeling a twinge of sadness in his heart. He’s unsure of why. He didn’t even really know the guy.

“Cool. He tell you all his secrets and stuff?” 

“Nah, we uh—yeah we’re not that close.” Sam nods, turning his head back to his horse’s mane. 

“He’s never told you about his childhood, then?” Tommy perks up, and Clementine huffs in response. 

“…No?” Sam chuckles dryly, sending an uneasy feeling though Tommy.

“Yeah, his relationship with his father isn’t the best now because…” Sam trailed off, making Tommy raise his eyebrows.

“Well, something bad happened between them when he was a child.” Sam added after a minute of silence. Tommy slowed his pace a little, looking down at Clementine’s mane. 

He knows he shouldn’t ask what happened. It’s not his place to know. 

“…What happened?” Tommy asks before he can get control of his mouth. 

“They—they fought,” Sam mutters. “An actual fight—because of the Empress’s death and the prince’s disappearance…”

Tommy looks away, ashamed he even asked in the first place. 

“I don’t know all the details, Eret didn’t tell me that far.” Sam admits, shifting his position on the horse. Tommy looks back at Sam, even more confused. 

“…Eret told you this?” He questions, gripping Clementine’s mane. He feels angry for the two of them sharing someone’s business like this. Especially Techno—Prince Technoblade.

“Yeah, Prince Technoblade told him.” 

“Don’t you think, oh—I don’t know, that’s kind of a personal thing?” Tommy spits out angrily, earning a confused look from Sam. The man opens his mouth to speak, but then snaps it shut and looks away. 

“I would suggest you keep that to yourself from now on,” Tommy advises. “I don’t think Prince Technoblade would enjoy hearing about people sharing his business around.” 

“I wasn’t going to—“

“We should go—it’s getting dark.” Tommy interrupts, heading farther up the trail towards the stable. Once he’s far enough away, he rubs his eyes a little. 

Tommy wasn’t really sure why he had an outburst like that—why’d he even care if the prince’s business was getting shared around? He continues up the trail, seeing the light emit from the cabin. Tommy turns around, seeing the three of them in the distance behind him. 

He doesn’t wait, as he trots in the stable with Clementine. Eret is standing there, smiling at the boy. He doesn’t smile back. Tommy unmounts the horse, brushing past Eret without even saying hello. 

“Tell Tubbo I’ll meet him at the castle, please.” Tommy tells him, freezing in place for an answer. 

“Uh, okay—you alright?” Eret asks, and Tommy can hear the unbuckling of a saddle.

“Fine.” With that, he practically runs out of the stable, speed walking to the servants entrance. 

He doesn’t wait for Tubbo or Ranboo.

He doesn’t sleep. 

All that fills his mind is war—and Prince Technoblade. 

Chapter Text

It had been a week since Tommy went into the village.

A week since he had that god-awful conversation with Sam.

And one week since he understood a little better why the Emperor and Prince Technoblade were so cold to each other. 

Now it was two weeks before Theseus’s birthday ball. And a week before his own birthday. It was pretty inconvenient that he shared a birthday with the lost prince, but it wasn’t the first time he wouldn’t celebrate his birthday. He also hadn’t seen the women from his dreams in quite a while, and was starting to get worried. Now he had nightmares about things that vanished from his memory as soon as he opened his eyes.

To top it all off—he was taking care of the drunken Prince Wilbur for the third time this week. He’d gotten pretty rousey with his friends last night, as it was the Chancellor’s last night here. They had duties to attend to in L’Manburg, after all. Purpled, however, was staying. Tommy didn’t know if he was a Chancellor or not, but he liked him. 

He placed a pot in advance next to the sleeping prince for when he woke up, then quietly got to work on the room. It was still a little messy from last night, so he began picking up clothes from the floor and stuffing them into the laundry bin. He was basically done after that. Prince Wilbur wouldn’t have to be up for at least another hour, so he had time to find Tubbo and Ranboo.  He gave one last glance to the prince before disappearing out into the hall. It was still pretty empty in this part of the castle, as few servants actually cleaned up here. 

The halls were filled with the clicking of shoes, and he turned to his left to see Prince Technoblade walking towards him. 

“You’re here early.” He muttered quietly.

Tommy bowed. “I always come at this time, your majesty.” 

“You don’t have to bow, y’know.” Technoblade shifted his cape a little.

“But it's the policy for how you greet royals.” Tommy replied, sniffling. Technoblade did not look amused. 

“Fine—I order you not to bow ever again.” 

“As you wish, your majesty.” Tommy saluted instead, receiving a snort from the prince. 

They stood there for a minute, both pondering what to say next. 

“Would you…like to train with me?” Technoblade asked, inching closer to the boy. 

“Train—With you?” Tommy repeated, mouth parting slightly. He remembered the conversation he had with Tubbo on the first day—who wouldn’t want to train with Technoblade?

“Of cou—I mean, uh, if you would have me, your majesty.” Tommy coughed, earning an amused breath from the prince. 

He nodded, walking past Tommy. Tommy hesitated before following the man down the hallway. 

Technoblade watched as the boy fell onto the ground for the tenth time in the last five minutes.

The voices liked that, as they chanted for more bloodshed. 

“You fell—again.” Technoblade scolds, hearing a quiet scowl from the boy.

“Yeah, well, life’s not that simple when you’re not immortal.” Tommy spat out, getting a quiet chuckle from Technoblade. He must’ve not heard it, because he did not react.

Tommy’s body shook, like it was scared of what the prince would do next.

“You are mortal, yet you stand before me, refusing to give up,” he speaks softly. “You know what that tells me?”

Tommy looks up from the ground, gaze daring the prince to finish his sentence.

“You’re stubborn—foolish, even.”

“But it also means you have something many humans will never have—“ He cuts himself off, extending a hand out to the boy. 

“Bravery.” Tommy laughs softly, taking the hand. Technoblade pulls up the light boy, staring him in the eyes.

“That’s the last thing I have.” He replies, dusting the dirt off his pants. It’s useless, because of all the times he’s fallen already.

“You’re the only person who has dared to look me straight in the eyes,” He flicks Tommy in the shoulder. “The only one to talk back, too.

Kill him for it.

“Please accept my humble apologies.” Tommy bowed dramatically, making Technoblade sigh disapprovingly. 

“Technoblade!” He hears a familiar voice say—and oh no, it’s Skeppy. Tommy gets up from his bowing, furrowing his brow at the guy running towards them.

“Skeppy.” He replies, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly. 

“Who are you?” Skeppy asks, pointing at Tommy.

“Who are you?” Tommy repeats, crossing his arms

Skeppy scoffs. “I asked first.” 

“I asked second.” Tommy argues, making Technoblade place his hands on both their shoulders.

“Skeppy, Tommy,” he looks at Skeppy then Tommy. “Tommy, Skeppy.” The prince repeats the same action, looking at Tommy first this time. 

“Skeppy is a bitch name.” Tommy grins, earning an offended sound from the man.

“Hey—rude, where’s Bad? I’ll order him to yell at this child.” Skeppy looks to Technoblade for an answer, but he just shrugs—he’s not getting pulled into this argument.

“I’m not a child!” Tommy yells, making Skeppy chuckle.

“Sure you aren’t.” 

“I’m gonna tell Prince Wilbur to execute you.” He threatens, but Skeppy just laughs. 

“Pftt—he’s not gonna listen to you.”

“Yes he will, I’m his favorite!” Tommy boasts, putting his hands on his hips. 

“Well I’m Technoblades favorite.” He puts his arm on Technoblade’s shoulder, and he just blinks at Skeppy.

“Yeah, no, I’m definitely his favorite.” 

“No you’re not.” Skeppy contradicts. 

“Yes I am.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes—“

“Okay, both of you stop,” he intervenes. “You can both be my favorite.”

“There can only be one favorite.” Tommy raises an eyebrow, leaning slightly right. 

“Yeah, shouldn’t you know this? I thought you were smart?” Technoblade just scoffs, pushing Skeppy’s hand off his shoulder. 

“I’ll execute you both.” Skeppy and Tommy gasp simultaneously, backing away from him. 

The voices liked that remark as well, ordering him to make their deaths as slow as possible. 

“Technoblade!” Another voice yells, making Technoblade groan and turn around. To his relief, Niki is standing there. 

“Oh—Niki.” 

“Hey, what’s going on?” She asks, eyeing the two boys behind him. 

“Nothing, just—“

“You!” Tommy yells, brushing past Technoblade. Niki looks at him, laughing softly as she recognizes him. Skeppy looks at Technoblade, and he just shrugs. 

“You know her?” He questions, eyes flickering between the two. 

“Well, yeah, we played poker last week.” Tommy explains, grinning at the prince. 

“You played poker with a child?” 

Niki shrugs. “Dude, he beat me.” 

Technoblade snorts, putting his hand on his head and shaking it. 

“Anyways, the council is here.” She gestures a hand towards the door leading inside. 

“The council?” Tommy repeats, obviously oblivious to what that is.

“Yeah—they come every month to go over who wants to kill us,” Niki states. “And, uh—right now, we’re not doing so good.”

The implication of war sent them into a spiral, words echoing throughout his mind endlessly. A second later, a concerned look seeps onto Tommy’s face. Technoblade can almost sense the fear pumping inside him.

“It’s nothing.” He reassures, but that doesn’t seem to ease his nerves.

“We should go, Techno.” Niki puts her hand on his shoulder, smiling softly. He nods, looking back at Tommy one last time. 

He smiles awkwardly, waving a small hand over at Technoblade. His fingers curl up to do the same back, but they never make it there. 

If Tommy thought he was nervous before, he was ten times more nervous now. 

With Sam talking about Essempi starting a war and Niki saying that things weren’t looking good, Tommy knew it was only a matter of time before it got worse. He thought about telling Tubbo and Ranboo. Then he decided against it. Those two didn’t need anything else on their plates. 

The hall was empty as usual, the only sound being Tommy’s loud breaths as he tried to settle them. It failed. He stepped into the Prince’s room, tugging the blinds open. Wilbur groaned as he always did when being woken up, and threw a pillow at Tommy’s head. 

“Rise and shine, your majesty.”

“No.” Wilbur replied, the sound slightly muffled by his pillow. 

“It’s near noon, your majesty.” 

Wilbur stiffened. “I don’t care.”

He only got another word out before he hurled over to the bucket, letting out the remnants of his stomach. 

Tommy walked over to Prince Wilbur, plopping down on the couch beside him. He sighed, as this was going to be a long day.

 One with a racing mind and an asshole prince. 

—

“Prince Technoblade,” One man greeted. “It’s good to see you again.” 

“Likewise.” He answered, taking his seat at the table. His father sat at the head, and his brother was nowhere to be seen. Probably still drunk from last night.

“Shall we get started?” Schlatt asked, clasping his hands together. The Emperor nodded, pulling out a few papers. 

Niki stiffened subtly, but Technoblade caught it. He threw her a glance, and she nodded in response.

“So, I’m hearing about Dream being a problem?” Schlatt questions, shuffling through papers.

“Yes—he’s threatened us numerous times in the past month.” The Emperor replies, earning a hum from Schlatt. 

“What does he want?” Schlatt raises an eyebrow, receiving a dry chuckle from the Emperor. 

“Oh, you know,” he starts. “The usual—power, money, land.” 

His father The Emperor failed to mention the orb. Technoblade wasn’t sure why he wanted to keep it a secret in the first place, but he stayed quiet. 

“What do you think, Technoblade?” 

Schlatt turns to him. “Do you think there’s a chance of war starting over this small dispute?”

“Absolutely,” he replies. “Dream’s not the type of man to give up—he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.” 

Schlatt nods, turning back to the Emperor. 

“Well, we have a couple of options.”

The Emperor furrows his brow in response. 

“We could declare war.” He suggests, tilting his head up. 

War! War! War!

The Emperor hesitates. “That…won’t be necessary. If he wants a war, he’ll have to bring it to us.” 

Schlatt nods again, obviously expecting that answer. 

“We could start limiting Essempi’s citizens from entering.” He offers, looking up at again. 

“I’m not looking to become a tyrant like him.” 

“That leaves the last option,” he pauses. “We gather our resources, train until it happens—prepare.” 

He shares a look with Phil. 

Not as father and son.

Not even as friends.

As an Emperor and his general, they nod to each other.

“Then it is decided.” 

Chapter Text

“Tommy,” Someone whispered. “Are you still there?”

He didn’t move—he couldn’t, no matter how many times he tried to. His limbs were frozen in place. 

“You have to save them, Tommy.” The voice ordered. 

“Tommy,” The voice was distorted this time, seeming as if it was a mix between two people.

“Wake up, Tommy.” 

“Tommy!” Wilbur yelled, making Tommy jump off the couch. He looked up from the floor, blinking his eyes profusely.

“Oh—uh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep I—“

“Woah, it’s all good—sorry, go back to sleep.” Wilbur interrupts, relaxing his position. 

“Wait, what did you want?” Tommy questions, getting back onto the couch. 

“Nothing, it’s fine.” Wilbur smiles, but he does not return the smile. 

“Uh, no, it’s not fine, your majesty.” Tommy replies, crossing his arms at the man.

“Are you seriously using my title against me?”

“Of course not, your majesty.” He repeats in the same obnoxious tone, earning a smack from Wilbur.

“You’re getting executed.” 

“No I’m not, Technoblade loves me.” Tommy boasts, crossing his legs as well.

“Ah, well, Technoblade answers to me regardless.” 

“Do I now?” Tommy and Wilbur snap their heads to see Technoblade leaning on the doorframe. They must’ve been too engulfed in their bickering that they didn’t hear him knock.

“Nice knowing you, bud.” He pats him on the shoulder, and Wilbur furrows his brow at him.

“Did you just call me ‘bud?”’ 

Tommy shakes his head. “No, you must be getting old already, your majesty.”

“What? I am not—”

“Nah, Tommy’s right.” Technoblade interjects, walking closer to them. 

“Okay, Technoblade, you need to shut up.”

“I’m good, thanks.” 

Wilbur looks as if he’s about to argue again, before Technoblade stops him.

“As much as I love making you angry, father wants us.” He gestures to the door, and Wilbur groans. 

He gets up from his bed, following his brother out the door. Prince Wilbur stops and looks at Tommy one more time.

“You, uh, can have the day off.”

“Thats—”

He’s interrupted when Wilbur slams the door behind him.

“Great.” He mumbles, slouching down on the couch. As much as he wants a day off, he also really wants to see Ranboo and Tubbo. So he gets off the couch, saying goodbye to the room for the day. 

“So, what does he want?” Wilbur asks, making Technoblade sigh. They get a few stares as they walk down the hallway, but it's nothing new.

“I’m…not sure.” He answers after a second.

Wilbur breathes out a chuckle. “That’s a first.”

“Not my fault,” Technoblade smacks Wilbur on the arm. “You’re an idiot.”

His brother frowns dramatically, making a pitiful sound. 

They reach the Emperor’s room, and Technoblade leans on the door, waiting for Wilbur to knock. He looks confused, but goes with his fist up anyways.

“Come in.” He hears him say, and they both enter quietly. The Emperor clicks his teeth together, gesturing to the seats across from him. Wilbur happily obliges, but Technoblade’s stance does not falter. 

He tries to avoid his father’s gaze as usual, but it seems extra threatening today. 

“Boys,” he starts. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Wilbur replies, and Technoblade just hums roughly. Phil clears his throat, glancing around the room nervously. 

“Alright, uh, the reason I wanted to talk to you is because you two are going on a trip.” He explains, and Technoblade stiffens. A trip? That doesn't sound like a good thing.

“To?” Wilbur asks, leaning back into his chair that creaks in response.

“L’Manburg—you’ll come back the day before…the ball.”

“Why are we going?” Technoblade questions in a harsh tone that makes the Emperor grimace. Wilbur twitches as well.

“I have a few meetings to attend up there, but I have something to…clear up here, so I’m sending you two.” 

His brother nods, getting up from the chair. 

“Is that all?”

Phil purses his lips. “Should be.”

“Al—right then, uh, see you later dad.” Phil nods in response, and Wilbur exits the room. Technoblade slowly follows his brother out.

“Techno?” He flinches at the name, turning his head around to face the man.

“Why don’t you…bring Tommy?” He suggests, tilting his head. 

It wasn’t a bad idea, actually. Tommy would probably make the trip more bearable. He wasn’t sure why the Emperor knew his name, but it didn’t really matter.

“Sure.” Technoblade spits out, closing the door behind him.

Tommy spots Tubbo down the hall, brushing dirt off a painting. Ranboo was sitting on the ground beside him. Tommy frowned, as that wasn’t a sight you’d see everyday. Usually it was Tubbo who’d be slacking off.

“Tubs!” He shouts down the hall, making Tubbo perk up at the noise. 

He smiles, dropping the brush in his hand. “Oh—Tommy!”

They run over to each other, tugging the boy into a tight embrace. 

“Shouldn’t you be, like, cleaning or something?” Tubbo asks, pulling out of the hug. 

“Yeah, but the prince gave me a ‘day off.’” 

Tubbo pouts with a frown. “Aww, lucky!”

“Fear not, Tubbo, I’ve come here to help you.” He replies, putting one hand on his hip and one into the air like a soldier would. He hears Ranboo laugh quietly in front of him and he grins even harder.

“Okay, here you go.” He forces the brush into Tommy’s hands and sits down next to Ranboo, smirking. Tommy raises his eyebrow.

“I said I’ll help, Tubbo, not do all the work.” He whines, pulling his hands down his face.

“Yes, I heard,” Tubbo replies. “I just don’t care.” 

“You are a bitch.” Tubbo doesn’t reply, only hums and puts his feet up into the air. 

“Anyways, how is my best friend, Ranboo?” Tommy asks, trying to get under Tubbo’s skin. It works, as his friend gasps in offence.

“I’m great, Tommy.” He replies, smiling smugly.

“Don’t lie, Ranboob.” Tommy teases, making Ranboo snort. 

“Okay but seriously, what gives,” he adds. “You never let yourself rest like this, which, frankly, was a bad idea.”

“I don’t know, just been feeling…bad, I guess.” Ranboo admits, making Tommy worry even more. 

“Do you need a doctor?” 

Ranboo immediately shakes his head. “Oh, no—no, I…have one.”

“Why don’t you tell him then?” 

“Or her.” Tubbo adds. 

“I don’t—uh, yeah, I will.”

“Well, you better,” he threatens. “Can’t have you dying on us.”

Ranboo laughs dryly, but Tommy can hear his voice shaking. He doesn’t ask anymore questions, as his friend clearly already is dealing with enough.  

The morning flies by quickly, and the next thing Tommy knows he’s piling into the dining room to get breakfast. They go to their usual spot, and Tommy sees Hannah sitting there already. Harry is also there—he hasn’t seen them in a while. 

“Tommy,” Puffy exclaims, surprising him with a hug. “You’re back!”

“I was here yesterday to get a pot.” He recalls the short conversation they had as he was rushing to get a bucket up to the drunk Prince Wilbur.

Puffy laughs. “Well, yeah—but I meant you’re back for breakfast.” 

“Oh—yeah, hi.” She laughs again, leading them to their table. Hannah seems pleasantly shocked to see him, and Harry is rolling his eyes at the sight. Tommy’s not sure if it's a joke or if the boy actually did miss him.

He’s not very good at reading people like Technoblade is. 

“Tommy! Nice to see you again.” She smiles at him, and he mirrors it while sitting down.

“You as well, Hannah.” Tommy replies sweetly, earning a dramatic groan from Harry.

“Don’t be jealous, Harry,” he taunts. “Not everyone can be liked by a greater being like me.”

He grins smugly. “I’m one of the lucky ones, then.” 

Tommy scoffs, kicking his foot under the table. Hannah snickers as the two kick each other for a few minutes, until Puffy comes out with food. He’s been better with eating lately, from Ranboo and Wilbur’s arguments about dinner, he’s been eating a lot more than he used to. 

His old life brings a shiver to his spine, throat clogging at the bare memories. Puffy places down a plate in front of him sharply—or it could’ve been normally, his senses feel heightened for some reason. 

Tommy shakes off the feeling, trying to rid the memories flooding into his mind. Ranboo seems to notice, as he taps Tommy on the shoulder.

“You good?” He asks, tone laced with concern. 

“‘Course, big man.” Ranboo nods, going back to his food. Tommy does the same, eyeing the bowl of cereal in front of him. It’s cheerio’s like usual, which bores Tommy. 

“So, what have you been up to, Tommy?” Hannah asks, gulping down a spoonful of milk. 

“Not really anything—y’know, normal cleaning stuff.”

Hannah nods. “And being a personal servant is okay?”

“Oh, yeah, Wilbur’s nice.”

“Wilbur? You’ve been complaining about the prince for weeks, and now you’re on a first name basis?” 

Tubbo nags, making Tommy freeze. Had he really just called the prince Wilbur?

“I uh—I meant Prince Wilbur,” he quickly corrects. “And I’m warming up to him…?”

“That supposed to be a question?” Harry grills, making Tommy sigh. 

None of them say anything further, and they sit there for a while.

“So, uh…anything exciting happen lately?” He asks, trying to break through the awkwardness. 

Tubbo snorts. “If you count Cormac being a little shit as exciting, then yeah.” 

“Dude, I’m telling you, no one would find out if we just threw him out a window.” Harry raises an eyebrow, trying to convince Tommy silently. He nods his head and laughs. 

“And I’m telling you, Harry, that is a terrible idea.” Tubbo replies, slurping up what’s left of his cereal. Hannah giggles as the boy slurps as loudly as he can.

A gong rings out in the room, signifying breakfast is over. Tubbo groans, pushing his seat out aggressively. 

Tommy pats his shoulder. “It’s okay, big man.”

“Yeah, it is okay,” he agrees. “Cause you’ll be doing all the work.” 

“That’s not what I—”

Tubbo runs off before he can finish, earning a hoarse chuckle from Ranboo. He noticed his friend didn’t eat at all, bringing another frown to his mouth. 

“Well,” Harry starts. “See you later—hopefully.” 

Harry walks away, and Hannah waves at Tommy before following him out. Tommy sighs, turning back to Ranboo. He gives a thumbs up, walking in the direction of Tubbo. 

Schlatt grimaces at the stack of papers on his desk.

He walks over to the window, looking out over the town. 

He knows Phil isn’t telling him something. 

Gritting his teeth, he sighs, sitting down on his chair. There’s not much he can do against Dream. The man honestly terrifies him. 

It’s not the first time he’s been powerless. Phil has helped him out of a lot of tight situations, and he’s grateful for that.

“Then I will have no choice but to declare war on you as well.” Phil stated, standing up from the chair. 

Schlatt’s mouth parted, his eyes widening at the man. 

The other man looked even more shocked.

“You…what?” He breathed out, getting up from his own seat.

“You heard me,” Phil replied. “You will not touch Schlatt’s empire.”

He really is grateful, which is why he has to defend him on this. Schlatt’s unsure of why his friend is so frightened by Dream. Phil doesn’t get frightened. He is frightening.

But right now? There’s nothing that could hide the shake of the man’s voice. The heavy eyebags on his face, or the way the soft smile he wore slowly disappeared.  

It’s not a good sign. Which is why he has to know what the man is hiding from him. He can’t ask him directly, maybe his sons know something? 

Schlatt’s never been the best judge of character, but he could see the way Technoblade’s stance tensed after Phil was done speaking.

He knew—He knew what he was hiding. 

Schlatt was determined to figure it out. 

“This place will be a lot different tomorrow." He muttered to himself.

Tommy walked back to the servant’s quarters quietly. 

He quite enjoyed having a warm bed every night, but he was beginning to feel homesick. Which felt weird, of course. 

Not waking up next to Harry every morning felt…sad. He was lonely, and maybe Prince Wilbur would understand?

He turned a corner, and saw Technoblade walking towards him. He froze, quickly trying to back up. It was late, and he wasn’t supposed to be out at this time of night. 

Technoblade blinked. “Tommy.”

“I’m sorry—I’m sorry, I know I’m not supposed to be out,” he cried out. “I just missed my friends and—“

“Hey, woah, no offense—but I don’t care why you’re out.” Technoblade interrupted, putting his hands up.

Tommy scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Okay rude, I’m super important, y’know.” 

“Course you are.” Technoblade replied in a tone that seemed more genuine than sarcastic. 

He glanced around the hall nervously, starting to back up again. 

Technoblade’s lips part. “Oh—I uh, wanted to ask you something.” 

“Sure—Uh, yeah, what is it?”

“Would you be interested in joining me and Wilbur in L’Manburg?” He asks, making Tommy’s breath hitch. 

“What?” Tommy steps towards the prince again. 

“Would you be interested in joining me—“

“No, no, I heard you,” he interjected. “But I’m a servant, I have work and—“

“I can authorize a ‘vacation,’” he replied. “It wouldn’t really be that, you would be helping me with things.” 

“It’s not fair I’m the only one that gets a vacation.” Tommy remarked, making Technoblade raise his eyebrows in what looked like…agreement?

“Okay, fine, I’ll give all the servants a break for a week.” The prince replies, making Tommy gasp even louder. He was expecting a scold for talking back, maybe even a hit for disrespect, but agreement?

“Woah—what?” Tommy exclaims. “But the ball—“

“Doesn’t need more than a week to prepare for,” Technoblade finishes. “Like you said, it’s not fair.” 

Tommy stands there, jaw still wide open. Tubbo would love a break and Ranboo really needs one. 

“So, kid, you coming or not?” Technoblade questions again.

“Obviously?!” He laughs out.

“It’s fucking L’Manburg,” Tommy throws his hands up. “Who wouldn’t want to go?”

Technoblade frowns. “Hey, the Antarctic Empire is just as cool.” 

“Ehhh—I guess.” Technoblade laughs, shaking his head. The way he laughed seemed genuine—like he actually found Tommy funny. 

Most people didn’t. Especially those annoying boys who’d beat up Tommy if he looked at them wrong. He was pretty used to that by now.

But this? This was weird, and frankly…nice? 

Someone puts their hand on his shoulder. “Tommy?”

“Sorry—I got, uh, lost in thought there,” he replies. “What’d you say?”

“You should go to bed now.” 

“Okay, yeah.” He turned around, preparing to walk away when someone softly tugged him back.

“Where are you going?” 

“To…bed?” Tommy replied, but it was really more of a question. Where did he think he was going?

Technoblade’s brow furrowed. “You said you missed your friends.”

“I do! I just thought you wanted me…” He trailed off, looking down at the floor. 

“I won’t tell Wilbur—he’ll probably be worried someone will steal your coat again.” Tommy nods, pursing his lips.

“Just remember what I told you about fighting, yeah?” 

“Mhm.” Technoblade smiled, ruffling his hair. 

“Goodnight, Toms.” He smiled back, slipping past the prince.

“Night, Blade.” 

Tommy continued down the hall, trying to—

Wait. 

…Toms?

Chapter Text

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Tommy laughs. “That’s not how it works.” 

“Yes it is!”

“No it’s not.”

“What are we even arguing about?”

“Tommy says—“

“Shh, it’s okay,” he presses a finger to Tubbo’s lips. “I know I’m right.” 

Tubbo opens his mouth, biting his finger. Tommy yelps, pulling his hand away. 

“Bitch! You’re gonna give me the black plague or some shit.”

“Good.”

“This is why Ranboo is my favorite.”

“Yeah, okay, well I’m his favorite so…”

“Like hell you are.”

“I am—“

“There’s plenty of me to go around, now are we going to spend our last cleaning day for a while just standing around?” Ranboo asks, gesturing to the hall. 

“For real, Tubbo. Making the sickly guy do all the work.”

“I wasn't!" He defends, throwing his hands up. 

“And I’m not sickly.” Ranboo adds. Tommy snickers, running down the hallway. He stops at the end, yawning at his two friends who are walking slowly. 

“Any day now!” He yells down the hall. Tubbo says something back, but he can’t quite hear what he’s saying. He hears a hum from the room next to him. Tommy looks back at them, and decides to look around while they’re getting down there. 

The room is dark when he walks into it, but there's a small light emitting from one of the boxes. He raises his eyebrows, walking over to the light. Tommy picks up the lid, the bright light blinding him. 

He reaches over to touch the light, and somehow…picks it up?

After a second of admiring the light, it disappears straight from his hand. 

“The fuck—” 

The room is pitch black again, and he can hear Tubbo shouting for him. He stumbles over the boxes, trying to get out of the room.

He opens the door, the sudden brightness blinding him once again. 

“Tubbo?”

“Oh, Tommy—where’d you go?”

He breathes out a shaky laugh. “I went into this room—you won’t fucking believe what just happened.”

“Uh…what room, exactly?” Ranboo asks, glancing at Tubbo concerningly.

“This one, idiot—”

He gestures to the wall, but when he turns to look at it—nothing but a wall is there.

“What?”

“That’s a wall.”

“No, it was right here—I swear!” 

“Tommy, are you feeling okay?”

“I’m not fucking crazy, Tubbo.” He hisses, rubbing his head with his hands. 

“What's on your arms?” Ranboo questions, making Tommy look down at his hands. He pulls up his sleeves, revealing a variety of golden lines.

“What the fuck?” Tommy whispers, running his fingers throughout his arm.

Tubbo walks closer to him. “Did you like, hit your head or something, and get those?”

“They’re yellow, Tubbo, how would that even work?” 

“Bruises turn yellow, y’know.” Ranboo adds.

Tommy puts his arms up. “Not for like—three days!”

Tubbo shrugs. “Maybe you have sensitive skin.”

He puts his head in his hands, pulling on his hair softly. Maybe that was just a really vivid dream?

Tubbo puts a hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to lay down?”

“No. I’m fine—let’s just…” he looks back at the wall. “Clean.” 

Technoblade feels a shiver go through his body, and sees something forming on his arms. 

Golden scars.

He pulls up his coat to fully look at them, the voices shouting various unhelpful comments.

He shouldn’t have these right now. They faded for good as soon as Theseus disappeared. If he they were back for him, that meant something.

The last time they appeared was two years ago, when his brother and him were fighting in a battle between the Antarctic Empire and another forgotten country. 

Perhaps it was because of the inevitable war upcoming? 

The door opened, and he turned to see Wilbur standing there, sleeves pulled up with the same scars. 

Technoblade sighed. “You too?”

“Uh, yeah.” Technoblade hummed, turning back to the window overlooking the town. 

“Why?” Wilbur asks, walking over and sitting on his bed.

Technoblade sighs. “I don’t know.” 

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know everything, Wilbur.” He hisses. 

“You think it's because we’re going to L’Manburg?”

“I doubt it.” Technoblade replies, reaching over for his necklace.

“Then wh—”

He clutches the necklace tightly. “I don’t know.”

“Okay, fine.” 

“Why don’t you ask father?” Technoblade suggests, turning to look at his brother.

“Why do you insist on calling him that?”

“Why do you insist on getting in other people’s business?”

“I’m not—”

Someone else opens the door, and his father is standing there.

“Speak of the devil.” He whispered quietly. They didn’t hear him, but they seemed to enjoy the mention of satan.

“Oh, hey, dad—did you—”

He nods. “Yes.”

“Any ideas why? Techno’s being useless again.” 

Technoblade laughs dryly. “Right, cause you provided such great ideas about why it happened.”

“It’s better than nothing.”

“Nothings better than hearing your stupid ideas.” Technoblade retorts, making his brother scoff. 

“Okay, rude—”

“Stop fighting,” The Emperor interrupts, sighing. “None of us know why this is happening.”

Wilbur gets up, sludging over to Technoblade. He glances at the necklace in his hand, and his mouth twitches into a slight smile.

“You kept that?”

“You didn’t?”

“I did—I just…hid it.”

Technoblade snorts. “Sounds about right.”

Wilbur smacks him playfully, but laughs along. He watches his brother turn to the Emperor, still smiling. His smile fades a little. 

He hasn’t really had time to acknowledge his apology. If Technoblade’s honest, he really doesn’t want to face that memory again. 

“Why don’t you care about Theseus anymore?” Technoblade asks, looking at his father’s back.

“Don’t say his name.” The Emperor spits out.

Technoblade laughs. “Why not? He’s your son!”

“Technoblade, he’s gone.”

“You don’t know that. You don't know that because you didn’t even try to search for him!” He argues, throwing his hands up.

“I did, it’s just—”

“Stop making excuses.” He interjects, making his dad look over his shoulder.

“Don’t talk to me like that.”

“Like what, dad? You refuse to accept the fact that you’re letting him die.”

“He’s dead because of you!” His father yells, seething in rage.

“...You think it’s my fault?” He spits out, the voices egging him on with ideas. Usually he would be strong enough to fight them, but right now he’s too angry to try to.

“It is. You were supposed to be watching him.”

Technoblade cannot stop himself from pulling out his sword. He pounces at his father, trapping him on the greenhouse wall with the blade. 

“What—”

“You’re his fucking father.”

“Technoblade—”

They throw the Emperor behind them, blade unwavering at his face.

The Emperor grabs his blade, blocking an attack with his own sword. In usual circumstances, his father would be pinning him to the ground to avoid anyone getting hurt. 

But right now? Both parties are filled with undeniable rage. Neither one tries to stop as they engage in combat, each landing their own hits. 

No matter how much Technoblade tries to gain control of himself, he can’t. They’re too strong. 

“Stop it!” Someone else yells, pulling Technoblade’s attention from the fight. Wilbur’s standing there in tears, watching his brother and father fight. 

While Technoblade is distracted, the Emperor manages to slice a hit through his stomach. He falls to the ground, dropping his sword. Blood drips down his face, and the cries of Wilbur fills his ears.

His brother’s arms are wrapped around him in an instant, calling out for help.

“What the fuck did you do?” He hears Wilbur ask through tears before unconsciousness takes him over.

Technoblade pushes the memory away, stomach aching like the wound is new.  

“I’ll see you later.” He mumbles, signifying he doesn’t want to talk anymore. Wilbur nods understandingly, leaving the room with his father. 

Only then does Technoblade lift his shirt, eyes narrowing at the scar. 

It's not like all his other scars—ones that he got from winning.

It’s a scar of weakness. 

It’s an acknowledgment that he wasn’t strong enough to contain them. 

And most importantly, it's a reminder that he will never be that weak again.

“—ommy? You okay?” 

“Hmm?” He turns to the women speaking, and notices its Puffy.

She smiles. “I asked if you were okay.”

“Oh—yeah, I’m good.”

“Are you sure? You seem…disctracted,” Puffy notes. “Plus, you’re doing the dishes by yourself.”

“I’m okay, I just said I would do them.” She nods, but doesn’t seem fully convinced. 

“Well, I’m done with cooking, if you want me to take over for you.” She suggests. He shakes his head in response.

“No, I don’t—”

“It’s fine, let me help.” She interrupts, pulling Tommy’s hand away.

“Uh, I guess, sure.” He pulls his sleeves up to clean his hands up, and that’s when Puffy notices the bandages wrapped around his arm.

“What happened to your arm?”

“Oh, uh—nothing, I just…got a cut?” He lies, not wanting to sound crazy about the golden lines again.

She laughs. “Don’t sound too sure.”

He chuckles nervously, standing there and watching her.

“Go hang out with your friends,” she orders. “Maybe that’ll make you feel better from whatever’s bothering you.”

“Yeah,” he whispers. “Yeah.”

He walks down the hallway, staring at the floor. The golden designs look similar to his arm, and he frowns at that.

All of a sudden, he bumps into someone, falling backwards before an arm hand catches him. He looks up and sees Prince Technoblade standing there, eyebrows raised in what looks like concern.

“Tommy? You oka—”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you.” He spits out, bowing. Technoblade pushes his chin up with a single finger.

“I thought I said no bowing.”

“Oh–right! Uh, sorry.”

“Is something wrong with your arm?”

Tommy looks down, cursing under his breath when he notices he didn’t roll down his sleeves. He definitely couldn’t lie to Technoblade. 

“No.” He whispers as smoothly as he can. As expected, it didn’t fool the prince.

“Thats a lie.”

“Okay, I, uh, got cut.”

“Another lie.”

“It looks pog…?”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“Cause it's none of your business.” He hisses, immediately feeling regret. Technoblade hums, making Tommy go into a spiral of what he’s going to say. He just shrugs after a moment.

“Fair enough,” the prince replies. “Are you all packed?”

“Mhm,” Tommy nods. “Not much to pack.”

Technoblade smiles. “Remember to meet me in my room at half past noon.” 

“I will.” Tommy promises while nodding.

“See you later, then.”

“See you later, your majesty.” Tommy mimics back.

“Please just call me Technoblade,” he pleads. “That’s kind of getting annoying.”

He smirks. “Oh, of course your majesty.” 

Technoblade groans, making it known he regretted his decision. 

“Why did I even say anything?”

“I don’t know, your majesty.” Technoblade tilts his head down, raising his eyebrows. Tommy puts his hands up in surrender.

“Okay, okay, Technoblade.”

“That’s better.” Technoblade turns around, walking down the hall.

“Goodbye, your majesty!” Tommy shouts down the hallway, running away before he gets reprimanded. 

Tubbo scrubs over the corner, washing away the various spiderwebs lined against the wall. He hears Ranboo sigh from behind him.

“Ranboo? You good?” Tubbo asks, concern drifting through him.

“Yeah.”

“You…sure?”

“Yeah.” He repeats.

“Like…you’re positive?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to keep saying ‘yeah?’”

“Yeah.”

Tubbo smirks. “Is Tubbo the coolest person in the world?”

Ranboo goes to say the same thing, before closing his mouth and glaring at Tubbo. He just laughs, going back to cleaning the wall.

Someone comes around the corner, announcing themself. 

“It’s Tommy, bitches!” He shouts, flinching as it echoes throughout the hall.

Ranboo chuckles. “We can tell by the abnormally loud footsteps.”

He turns over to Tommy scoffing and crossing his arms.

“My footsteps aren’t loud at all.”

“Dude, even L’Manburg can hear them from here.”

“L’Manburg!” He repeats, beaming up at the ceiling. Ranboo turns to him, gaze saying ‘what have you done?’

“Please don’t go rambling about how excited you are again.” He begs, cleaning his hands together.

“But who wouldn’t be!”

“I’m not, I like it here.” Tubbo replies, making Tommy glare up and down at him.

“Well you suck then.” He’s about to argue back, before Tommy goes prancing to the window.

“Uh, hello?” Tubbo raises his eyebrows.

“Goodbye.” Tommy replies cheerfully.

Tubbo sighs. “Bro, we’re supposed to be cleaning.”

“That's weird, I think you mispoke.”

“What?”

“You said ‘we,’ instead of ‘I.”

“Because we’re supposed to be cleaning! Not me!” He yells, but Tommy just keeps staring out the window.

Ranboo is snickering on the floor, and Tubbo just glares at him.

Tommy says something, but he’s too far away to be heard.“

What’d you say?” He shouts.

“I said, wouldn’t it be nice if—”

“What’s going on?” A man says from around the corner, and Tommy runs over to Tubbo. Sir Manifold steps into view, making Tubbo groan internally. Ranboo scrambles up, looking at the man.

“Sir Manifold! We were just—”

“Fooling around?” He finishes, tiling his head upwards.

“No.” Tommy denies from next to him.

“I was…seeing if there were any other places to clean!”

“Uh huh,” he points to Ranboo. “And what was he doing on the floor?”

“He was resting.” Tubbo replies, watching as Ranboo twitches nervously.

“You know that's not allowed.”

Tommy speaks up. “Well, yes, but it was only for a second!”

“Doesn’t matter.” 

Sir Manifold sighs. “Look, I know we have a huge break from the courtesy of Prince Technoblade,” he explains. “But we cannot be slacking off already.”

“Yes sir.”

“So if this happens again, I won’t hesitate to discipline all of you.”

“Yes sir.” They all bow simultaneously, and Sir Manifold walks away. Tubbo waits thirty seconds before peeking around the corner, seeing the empty hall. 

“He’s gone.”

“Phew,” Tommy sighs. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Ranboo remarks.

“Well, it is—” Tommy raises an eyebrow. “—But I don’t blame you!”

Tommy sighs. 

He heads to Technoblade’s room after saying goodbye to Tubbo and Ranboo. He’ll miss them so much.  

The hall is pretty empty, as it’s only Tommy and a few other servants in the hall. 

He reaches the prince's door, and knocks softly. 

“Come in.” 

He opens the door, revealing Technoblade crouching on the ground. 

“Oh—Tommy,” Technoblade greets. “You don’t have to knock, y’know.” 

“Sorry.” 

He shakes his head. “No need to apologize.” 

Tommy stands there nervously with his bag, wishing he could clutch his necklace for comfort. 

“So…L’Manburg, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Why are you—we going there?”

“Uh, the Emp…my father, requested me to do a few things over there.”

Tommy’s mind goes back to the conversation with Sam. He had said they fought, right? Maybe that’s why they weren’t as close. 

“Why do you call him the ‘Emperor?’” Tommy asks, then covers his mouth immediately. Technoblade looks up, mouth parted slightly as if he’s about to respond. 

“Sorry, I don’t know why I asked—“

“We fought.” He interrupts.

Tommy raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“We fought,” Technoblade repeats. “When I was younger.”

“So it’s true?” He whispers, looking away. 

“What?”

He sucks in a breath through his teeth. “I’ve just…heard about that before.” 

“Huh,” he breathes out. “From who?”

“Some dude named Sam.” Tommy admits, stabbing the palm of his hand with his finger. Technoblade’s eye twitches a little, sending goosebumps to his arm.

Technoblade looks back down at the floor.

“I told him not to spread it around, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“You…did?” Technoblade looks up at him again, furrowing his brow. 

“Yeah,” he replies. “I wouldn’t like it if people were talking about my business either.”

“…Thanks.” Tommy nods.

They’re both silent for a second, before Technoblade sighs and gets off the ground

“Well, we better get going before Wilbur gets tired of waiting and leaves.” Tommy chuckles, rubbing his neck. 

“Yeah.” 

“Oh, finally! I was this close to leaving your asses.”  Wilbur whines, leaning against the cart.

Technoblade snorts. “Gerald wouldn’t have left without me.”

“Yes he would. I would order him to.”

“He knows not to listen to you.” 

Wilbur shrugs. “I would’ve executed him then.”

“I would’ve killed you if you did that.”

“O—kay, well I’m going to get in now—”

Tommy tries to open the carriage door, but Wilbur slams his hand down, making him flinch. 

“No. That one's yours.” He points to the carriage next to it.

“What? We’re not all riding together?” Tommy questions.

Technoblade chuckles. “Wilbur can’t sleep when he’s with people.”

“Really? Because all the times he was drunk off his ass he was sleeping right next to me.”

Wilbur points at him menacingly. “Okay, you say one more word and you’ll be cleaning my room with a catbrush.” 

Tommy puts his hands up in surrender. 

Wilbur smirks. “Goodbye. See you at L’Manburg.”

Tommy waves, watching as Wilbur gets in and closes the door. He stands there for a second, before Technoblade nudges him. 

“Are you getting in or what?” He nods, stepping onto the stairs and pushing himself inside. Technoblade follows, slamming the door and knocking on the wall. It must’ve been a signal knock, because the carriage started moving.

“L’Manburg, here we come.”

Chapter Text

Ranboo knocks on the door, waiting in the dark, empty, hall. 

Sam answers it, head tilting once he sees him. 

“Ranboo? We don’t have an appointment today.” Sam states, making Ranboo fidget with his fingers.

“I know I just—I feel like I’m getting worse.” 

He raises an eyebrow. “Have you been taking what I gave you?”

“Yes, but—“

“Then you’ll be fine.” Sam interrupts.

“I just don’t think—“

“Ranboo, unless you want me to take you off the medicine so you actually won’t get better, I suggest you leave.” Sam warns, leaning on the doorframe.

Ranboo swallows, nodding after a second. 

“See you in two days.” 

The door closes, and Ranboo is alone in the hallway. There’s a small light shining through the curtained window, revealing spores of air. 

He trusts Sam, but he really isn’t getting better. 

He walks down the lightless hallway, heart beating at the fear that has been stored inside for a while. 

He’ll think of what to do next later, but he has to get back before Tubbo notices he’s gone. 

Ranboo doesn’t really feel like making up an excuse. 

Tommy yawns, and Technoblade can see the boy stirring. He continues eating his sandwich, fidgeting with his golden ring. 

“Are we there yet?” He asks groggily, stretching out his limbs. 

Technoblade takes another bite. “Nope. About two days left.” 

“Two days?!” He groans. “That’s like forever!”

“Actually, it’s two days.” Tommy’s about to argue back, before the rumbling in his stomach interrupts him.

Technoblade chuckles. “Hungry?”

Tommy nods, sighing and letting his head fall back down. 

“Do you want a sandwich?” He perks up, eyebrows raised.

 “What kind?” Tommy asks.

“Turkey and cheese.”

He makes a gag sound. “Turkey? Ew, ham is way better.” 

“Ham is disgusting.” Technoblade retorts, making Tommy fully sit up now. 

“Turkey’s disgusting!” 

He pinches his nose. “Okay, fine—you want an apple then?” 

“Yeah.” He pulls an apple from his bag, tossing it at Tommy. 

The boy misses the catch, trying to not let it touch the ground. He succeeds, making Technoblade snort. Tommy glares at him, taking a bite of the apple. 

They’re silent for a few minutes, both avoiding each other's gaze. 

“So….where are you from?” Technoblade asks, trying to break the awkwardness. 

Tommy laughs. “That’s a dumb question.” 

“Ask me a question then.” Technoblade replies, leaning back into the seat. Tommy ponders for a second, then smiles. 

“Do you make tea with hot or cold water?”

Technoblade furrows his brow. “What? You’re supposed to make tea with hot water.” 

“Wait, are you serious?” Tommy’s eyes widen, making Technoblade tilt his head slightly. 

“Yes? Did you not know?”

“No! I can’t wait to tell Fundy about this.” He exclaims, falling back onto the seat. 

“Fundy?” Technoblade repeats. The name sounds familiar. 

“Yeah, he’s like the only person that was nice when I was living on the streets.” 

“I could take you to see him when we get back?” He suggests. 

Tommy picks up his head. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Technoblade nods, earning an excited smile from the boy. He lays back down, sighing. 

Silence overtakes them once more. 

“Seriously though, where are you from?” Technoblade asks, eyes narrowing at Tommy’s stammering. 

“I, uh…I don’t remember.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Tommy sucks in a breath. “I mean I don’t remember anything about my life before seven years old.” 

“Huh,” he mutters. “That’s strange.” 

“Yep.” Tommy replies, popping the p. 

“You’ve lived on the streets of my empire for eight years?” Technoblade questions. 

“Not all of them. I move towns sometimes because…” The boy’s words seem to slip off his tongue. Technoblade raised an eyebrow, encouraging him to continue. 

“Well, people don’t seem to like me that much.” Tommy admits, fidgeting with his finger.

“They were mad you stole?” 

“What? I didn’t—“

“I’m not judging,” he interrupts. “I know you do what you have to do to survive.” 

“…yeah.” 

“How did you even manage to travel?” Tommy smirks. 

“Oh, y’know—hopped on the back of carts,” he explained. “Sometimes I walked if people were really mad.” 

“It wasn’t too bad, though,” he adds. “I did—“

He’s interrupted when the carriage stops abruptly, sending them swaying. 

“The fuc—“ 

The door bursts open, and in an instant Tommy is being dragged out by the leg. 

“Ranboo, come on! I’m hungry!” Tubbo whines, trying to pull his friend in the direction of a delicious looking food stand. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He replies, and Tubbo succeeds in dragging him now. 

“I can walk by myself, you know.” 

“No you can’t.” He smirks, stopping in front of the stand. A man that looks to be a fox hybrid smiles at them.

“Hi, I’m Fundy! What would you like?” 

“Hmm,” he pulls Ranboo next to him. “What you want, boo boy?” 

“I don’t know? The hamburgers?” Ranboo answers, shrugging. 

Tubbo nods. “Okay, we’ll take two of those.” 

Fundy nods. picking up a few ones that looked fresh. He hands them to the boys, and Tubbo drops coins into his hand. 

“Thank you.” Ranboo mutters, walking away. Tubbo’s about to follow, when the fox puts an arm on him.

“Wait,” Tubbo turns to look at him. “Do you happen to know about a servant called ‘Tommy?’” 

Tubbo froze, brow furrowing. How’d this guy know Tommy? He looked pretty nice, but Tubbo was still suspicious.

He remembered how Tommy had told him there was probably a bunch of people who wanted to beat him up. 

“Uh—no… sorry, I don’t.” Tubbo lies, and Fundy frowns a little. 

“Oh, that’s no problem. You have a good day now.” Tubbo nods, practically sprinting away. Ranboo raises an eyebrow as Tubbo rushes them away.

“What’d he want?” Ranboo asks, swiping away his friend’s hands. 

Tubbo shakes his head. “Nothing. Let’s just go.” 

“O…Kay?” 

Phil sits at his desk, head in his hands. He glances out the window, sighing at how beautiful his kingdom is right now. 

It won’t stay that way for long. 

Not with Dream’s threats. They’ve been getting more pricey as the weeks go on. 

He opens his drawer, eyes catching a picture of his youngest son. 

Theseus.

Phil picks it up, running his thumb on his boy's cheek. Theseus is smiling brightly like he always is—was. 

There wasn’t a day when he wasn’t. 

Except that night. 

Phil hears a sound that every parent hates; cries of their child. His wings instantly take flight due to his bird instincts. 

He flies over to the edge of the forest, not spotting any of his sons. An anxious feeling sprouts in his gut, but it fades when he hears another yell. 

He finds Wilbur running around the forest, yelling for his brothers. 

“Wilbur!” He shouts, earning the attention of his middle son.

“Dad—he…I don’t know—they’re—“

“Wil, slow down. What happened?” 

“Technoblade wasn’t watching him, and Theseus disappeared, then Techno ran into the woods to find him!” Wilbur cries, and Phil rubs his shoulders.

“I tried to catch up to him, but he was too fast…I’m sorry.” 

“Hey, it’s not your fault.” He tilts his son’s head up. “Stay here, okay?” 

Wilbur nods, and Phil goes to the sky again to look for his other sons. 

Technoblade’s pink hair is unmistakable, and he instantly notices the color in the dark green trees. 

He lands roughly, calling out his name.

“Technoblade!” The pink-haired boy whipped around, sword in hand. 

His expression softened. “Dad?!”

“Techno—hey, are you hurt?” 

Technoblade shook his head. “No…he’s gone, dad.” 

“What?”

“Theseus just disappeared!”  He hisses, putting his head in his hands. 

“It’s okay, I’m going to fly you to your brother and then go find him.” 

He picks up Technoblade, soaring up and keeping a look out on the way to Wilbur. 

He lands once more, taking both his sons to the edge of the forest near the castle. 

Wilbur collapsed on the ground, while Technoblade just looked defeated. 

“Please find him.” Wilbur begs, rubbing his eyes.

“I will. I promise.” 

Technoblade has his blade in a second, jumping out of the cart. He topples the man who grabbed Tommy to the ground, and they both go rolling. 

He hears Tommy yell something, but before he can turn to look he’s tackled by the same man. The man lands a few hits before Technoblade gains control of his arm, twisting it back. 

The man yelps in pain, trying to scramble away from the prince. He’s unsuccessful when Technoblade’s sword slices in him the shin. 

He knocks the man unconscious with a punch, looking for Tommy after. The boy is being held underwater in a tiny pond. Technoblade immediately springs up, grabbing and throwing the man off Tommy. 

Wilbur appears behind him, pinning the man onto the ground. 

Technoblade waits no time in running to Tommy, feeling his pulse. There is a very faint one.

He pushes Tommy’s chest, breathing air into his mouth. An unfamiliar feeling spreads throughout his chest.

“Come on, come on,” he whispers. “Fuck.” 

Tommy gasps, spitting out a ton of water. He flinches at the prince’s touch, but Technoblade just pulls him into his arms.

“It’s Technoblade, hey, you’re safe, Toms—Tommy.” He reassured, making Tommy blink profusely.

“Did I just fucking die?” He wheezes, still coughing. 

Technoblade laughs shakily. “Yeah.” 

“Tommy! Shit—you hurt?” Wilbur asks, concern laced in his tone.

Tommy laughs. “I just fucking died and you’re asking me if I’m hurt?” 

“I’m allowed to ask questions.”  He shrugs, making Technoblade snort. 

“Prime, it’s fucking freeze.” Tommy mumbles, shivering. That’s when it hits Technoblade that they’re both covered in snow. 

“Is fucking the only word you know?”

“Yes it fucking is Wilbur.” 

Wilbur chuckles, rubbing his cheeks. Technoblade sighs, letting go of Tommy and pulling his coat off and placing it around Tommy. 

“Wait, what’re—“ 

He zips up the coat, patting Tommy mockingly on the shoulder. 

“Bitch.” He replies through chattering teeth. 

He turns back to his brother. “Is Gerald hurt?” 

“Not really, they just threw him off the horse.” Wilbur answers, huffing. 

“We should really get going. We don’t know how many more there are.” 

“Who were those guys?” Tommy asks while Technoblade is helping him up.

Wilbur sniffles. “Raiders, I think?” 

“It’s unusual they’re out here at the same time as us, though.” Technoblade added, sheathing his blade.

Wilbur tilts his head at him. “You think it was planned?”

“I think that we’re on a hitlist since Dream wants a war.”

“Wait, Emperor Dream did this? He wants a war?!” Tommy exclaims, worried planted in his voice. 

“Now you’ve got the kid spiraling.” Wilbur sighs, pinching his nose.

“I’m not a kid, dickface.” The boy snaps, rolling his eyes.

Gerald steps around the cart. “Did I hear a hitlist?” 

“Okay, it’s time to go, Gerald.” Wilbur pats him on the back, leading him back towards the horses.

“Yes sir.”

“Just call me Wilbur.”

“Yes Sir Wilbur.” Wilbur groans as he salutes, and then gets into his carriage.

Tommy crawls into the carriage silently, obviously still thinking about what the man had said earlier. Technoblade curses himself internally, much to their amusement. 

The cart starts moving again, but they are silent. 

“We’re going to be fine.” Technoblade reassures, still not looking at Tommy.

Tommy, however, turns to face him. “What?”

“When Dream decides to attack, we’ll be ready.”

He can see Tommy frown. “Why haven’t you told the empire yet?”

“We will, after Theseus’s ball.” Technoblade replies, finally looking at him.

Tommy pursues his lips. “Okay.”

Tommy looks as if he’s about to fall asleep, but he’s forcing his eyes open. 

Technoblade frowns. “You can sleep, y’know.”

Tommy looks up from the floor, brow furrowing.

“No one’s going to attack us—I’ll make sure of it.”

The boy nods, laying down and facing away from Technoblade. He keeps his hand near his sword. He’s not losing Tommy again. 

Chapter Text

Tubbo sighed, sitting on the fountain's edge, peering out into the courtyard.

Ranboo had been missing the entire morning, and he was extremely bored. 

“Tubbo?”

Tubbo turned around to see Niki standing there. 

“Oh—Hi, Niki.” He mumbled, turning back to the courtyard. 

“What’re you doing?” She asked, coming closer. 

“Ranboo’s not here.” 

“Oh,” she replied. “Can I sit down with you?”

“Sure.”

Niki sat down next to him, and Tubbo could see her looking at him from the corner of his eye. 

“You alright?”

“Well,” he paused. “You wouldn’t know anything about a war, would you?”

Niki immediately tensed, looking away. 

That was answer enough. 

“So, it’s true, then?”

She sucked in a breath. “Tubbo, if you’re worried about the kingdom, we’re going to be fine.” 

“From what I heard, The Emperor doesn’t exactly take no for an answer.” 

“You—“ she cut herself off. “We’ll be fine, I promise.” 

Niki put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Yeah, well, you better keep that promise.” 

She laughed, taking her hand off. They sat there for a few minutes, before Niki turned to him again. 

“Something else wrong?” 

“I don’t know,” he admits. “Ranboo’s been acting weird lately, I’m—I’m worried about him.” 

“Have you asked him about it?”

“Well, no but—“

“Then that’s the first step.” Niki interrupts, smiling at the boy. He rolls his eyes, laying down on the concrete. 

“Are we there now?”

“Almost.”

“How about now? Are we any closer?”

“Tommy, I will hit you.” Technoblade warns, still not looking up from his book. 

He sticks his tongue out. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” 

They don’t say anything for a second. 

“How about—”

Technoblade looks up from his book, glaring daggers at the boy. Tommy puts his hands up in defense. 

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop!” He promises, and watches as Technoblade narrows his eyes and goes back to the book. 

He sighs, looking out the window again.

“Finally—we’re here!” Tommy yells, tugging the door open.

“Tommy, wait until the—”

The boy didn’t stay to listen, and instead jumped out of the moving carriage. Technoblade sighed, pinching his nose. He knocked on the carriage wall, and it stopped moving. 

He got out after Tommy, who seemed to have fallen since he had a huge snow stain on his pants. He didn’t really seem to care, as he was beaming as the town.

“Tommy!” Someone yelled, and they both turned to see Quackity.

He bit back the urge to groan. 

“Oh–hey!” Tommy shouts back, and Quackity runs up to him. 

He puts his arm around the boy’s shoulder. “Tommy, what's up, man?”

“Nothing much, you?”

“Just getting ready to play poker,” he grins. “You ready?”

Tommy nods excitingly, and Quackity starts to walk away.

Technoblade grabs his arm. “Yeah, you’re not playing poker with him.”

“Aww, why not?”

Technoblade snorts. “Because he’s a cheater.”

Quackity scoffs. “I am no such thing, Technoblade.”

“Mhm,” he hums. “I’m not letting you take advantage of a child.”

“I’m not a child!” Tommy argues, pulling his arm away.

“See? My man said it himself, he’s cool with it.” Quackity shrugged, raising his eyebrows.

“No.” Technoblade replied sternly, looking coldly at the man.

“I’ll sneak out tonight.” Tommy whispers, making Technoblade sigh. The carriage door opens abruptly and Wilbur steps out, rubbing his eyes.

He blinks before walking over to the three.

“Wilbur!” Quackity exclaims, grinning.

“Oh, hey—when did we get here?”

Technoblade stiffens. “Two hours ago.”

“What? Why didn’t you wake—”

Tommy snickers, giving it away, and Wilbur pauses.

“You’re lying, aren’t you?” He asks, narrowing his eyes.

He shrugs, making Tommy laugh even more. 

“I hate you.”

“Likewise,” he replies. “Now, let's go—Tommy, we have work to do.”

“How come Wilbur gets to do nothing?” Tommy whines, mopping around the man.

“Because he’s clearly too indolent to do anything.” Wilbur scoffs, looking offended.

The boy furrows his brow. “Indo–what?”

“It means he’s a lazy bitch.” Quackity smiles smugly, earning a hit from Wilbur and a snort from Tommy.

“Come on, then.” Technoblade gestures to the town, and Tommy frowns but joins him.

“See you at dinner, Tommy!” Wilbur yells, running off into the crowd of people. 

“I’m having dinner with you guys?” Tommy questions, fidgeting with his fingers.

“Who else did you have in mind?”

“No one, I just thought…” he pauses, pondering. “Nevermind.”

Technoblade doesn’t push any further, and he continues dodging the mounds of people.

“So, big man, what are we doing first?” He asks, kicking dirt into the air. Some people give the boy weird looks.

“We’re going to secure our weapons trade in the armory.” He answers.

Tommy frowns. “That’s boring.”

“I told you we were doing work.”

“Yeah, but I thought that meant, like, fun work.” 

“It is fun,” he argues. “If you’re not a loser.”

“I’m not a loser!” Tommy rolls his eyes, kicking rocks along now. Technoblade chuckles quietly, shaking his head.

“Ah, Prince Technoblade!” A man greets, and Technoblade leaves his side. 

The two of them engulf in a conversation that sounds way too boring for Tommy to eavesdrop in. Instead, he walks over to the swords laying out on the table.

He runs his finger against one, feeling the cool metal. Tommy gazes at multiple swords, his eyes landing on a tent outside, with a sign that says ‘fortune teller.’ 

He looks back at Technoblade, who doesn’t seem like he’ll be done anytime soon. 

So Tommy sneaks out of the shop quietly, the cold snow sloshing onto his shoes.

He glances around, slipping into the tent across from it. 

The tent is dark but purple and yellow lights illuminate it from the inside. 

“Hello, stranger.” Someone says, and Tommy whips his head around to see a fully-cloaked woman. 

He tilts his head curiously, walking over to her.

“Hi.” He replies, wiping off any dirt left on his pants from when he fell. 

She smiles. “You are here for a fortune, yeah?”

“Uh…sure? Whatever that is!” Tommy exclaims, earning a look somewhere from amusement to confusement. She gestures to the cushion seat across from her, and Tommy gladly sits down.

She places her hands over his, shutting her eyes. After a minute, Tommy is about to say something, before she opens them again.

Then the woman pulls something out from her pockets, and he recognizes it as a deck of cards.

He raises his eyebrow. “Are we playing poker…?”

The woman laughs. “Oh, no—no! Just be patient and I will explain.”

“O…kay?” He replies, still extremely confused, but he brushes it off.

Tommy watches as she shuffles the cards for multiple minutes, doing tricks Tommy had never seen anyone do. 

This goes on until she sets all the cards down in four piles. 

“Pick a pile,” she tells. “Any pile.”

Confused but intrigued, Tommy picks the third one. She picks up the pile without a word, shuffling it for even longer. 

Tommy begins to grow bored as she finally stretches the card out.

“Pick a card.”

Tommy shifts through them, before choosing a random one. She plucks it out, gazing at it. Then she turns it around, and there's a picture on the card that shows a plant.

“This is your future.” She states, tilting her head up.

“How is—”

“Let me finish, boy.” She says sharply, turning the card back to her. Tommy shrinks back in surrender. 

“Hear my words,” she starts. “When you see an herb by the name of ‘Elowen’, you must buy it.”

“Uh, why…?” He questions, raising his eyebrows suspiciously.

“There will be vast consequences if you do not.”

“Uh, okay…” He gets up, trying to get out of the uncomfortable situation. She grabs his arm.

“Wait,” Despite wanting to leave, he feels an overwhelming urge to stay. “When you pull out an arrow, you must break it in half.”

If he thought he was confused before, now he’s really confused.

“Okay, that's great—I, uh, have to go, bye!” He spits out, escaping the woman's grasp and toppling out of the tent.

The first thing he notices is that it's dark, and there are way less people on the streets than earlier. 

How is it already nighttime? Surely he wasn’t in there for more than twenty minutes.

“Tommy!” Someone grabs his shoulder and he screams. Wilbur’s next to him, eyes laced with concern.

“Shit, man—you scared me.” He laughs shakily, blinking profusely.

“Where in prime’s name have you been?” Wilbur demands, the anger finally seeping through his voice.

“I’ve been here.” He points to the tent, but when he turns around it's gone.

“What?! Not again!” He whines, rubbing his eyes repeatedly. Was he going crazy?

“Tommy, are you okay? What happened?”

Tommy shakes his head. “Can we just go? I don’t feel like explaining.”

“No, Tommy, you—”

“Please, can we just go?” He repeats, looking away from Wilbur. He hears the man sigh, and mumble something incoherent. 

Tommy sits at the table quietly, and Wilbur frowns on how the boy isn't ranting about something. Technoblade notices too, and they share a glance of worry.

“So, you wanna tell us what happened?”

He sniffles. “Nothing.”

“That’s not true.” Wilbur contraindicates, frowning.

“Nothing, okay?!” He yells. “You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

“Tommy, we’re not going to think you’re lying.”

Tommy laughs dryly. “Yeah, but you’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Technoblade is, like, super crazy, so I think it's okay if you are too.” His brother glares at him, then goes back to Tommy.

“Wilbur’s right—err, sort of.” 

“You promise you won’t say I’m crazy?”

“I promise.” His brother says, tilting his head at Wilbur.

He grins. “Technoblade promises.”

Tommy laughs, rubbing his forehead.

“Okay, well—uh, I went into this tent,” he starts. “And this lady told me my ‘fortune?’”

“Huh,” Technoblade mutters. “What’d she tell you?”

“She told me to buy this plant called ‘Elodon?’ I don’t know.”

Technoblade inches closer. “Do you mean Elowen?”

“Oh, yeah—yeah!”

His brother looks at him, and he shrugs concerningly. 

“What is it?”

“It’s a plant that’ll protect you from any magic,” Technoblade explains. “But it hasn’t been in use for a while because using magic on others is prohibited.” 

“Plus, not many people have magic now.” Wilbur adds, and he nods. 

“Why would she want me to buy that?”

Wilbur just shakes his head. “Most fortune tellers are just trying to get money, she probably just told you something random.”

“Then how do you explain the tent disappearing? Or me being in there for hours while it only felt like minutes?” Tommy questions, looking overly worried about this whole ordeal.

He shrugs.

“I want you to stay near me from now on.” Technoblade says, making the boy shrink back. He nods, looking away from both of them.

Technoblade glances out the window. “It’s getting late.” 

“Yeah,” he gets up from his chair. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow."

“Goodnight.” Tommy mumbles as Wilbur starts to walk away.

He looks over his shoulder. “Night’ Toms.”

The boy shudders at the name, and Wilbur goes into his room. 

—

Punz knocks on the Emperor’s door, bracing himself for whatever conversation they’re about to have.

“Come in.” 

He opens the door, revealing Dream standing on his balcony. The Emperor does not turn around to see who it is. Punz walks over, taking his place next to him.

“Punz.” He greets, still not looking at the man.

“Your majesty,” he replies, fixing his stance. “You wanted to talk?”

“Yes,” Dream turns towards him. “You have a brother, no?”

Punz freezes, pupils dilating. He stammers through his words.

“You—I do, yeah.”

“Hmm.” He pauses, turning back to the sky.

“Your majesty?”

“I had a brother as well,” The Emperor states. “A sister, too.”

He purses his lips. “I wasn’t aware you have siblings.”

“I don’t,” he replies, making Punz raise his eyebrow. “Well, not anymore—they were taken from me a long time ago.”

Dream moves closer to him. “You understand how that feels, don’t you Punz?”

“I…guess.”

The Emperor squeezes his shoulder, making him flinch back.

Both of them stay silent, as they gaze up into the sky. The stars burn with a passion. 

“That is what Philza will feel, too.” Dream says abruptly, earning a head tilt from Punz.

“I’m sorry?”

Dream has a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Philza—he will pay, yeah?”

“Oh—of course, your majesty.” He coughs out, rubbing his palm with his fingers

“I’m glad you agree.”

The Emperor breathes deeply, smiling at the man.

“You’re dismissed,” he affirms. “Goodnight.”

Punz nods, bowing.

“Sleep well, your majesty.” He replies as he heads to the door.

“You as well, Punz.”

He didn’t sleep that night.

---

Tommy awakes to loud chatter, and the screams of children. He yawns, pulling the covers over him. 

He lays there for about ten minutes, before he hears the door slam shut. Tommy blinks groggily, deciding to get up. The wooden floor is cold on his feet, and he shudders as a draft of wind comes in through the window.

Tommy opens his door, revealing Technoblade standing in the kitchen with a bag on the table. 

The man looks up. “Oh—Tommy. Did I wake you?”

“Nah,” he yawns, stretching out his arms. “Where’d you go?”

“Breakfast.” Technoblade replies, opening the bag and revealing three bagels. 

“Oh, wicked!” Tommy exclaims, trudging over to the table. He sits down on a chair, grinning at the prince. He grabs the bagels, and heads over to the counter.

“You want poppyseed, or everything?” He asks, shuffling through the cabinets. Tommy raises his eyebrows, as he’s only ever had a plain bagel.

“Uh…everything…?”

Technoblade turns around. “You don’t know what those are, do you?”

He laughs nervously, shaking his head in response. 

Technoblade chuckles. “Guess I’ll just give you plain, then.”

“Pog choice, Blade.”

“‘Blade?’” He repeats. 

Tommy hums. “Yeah, killer nickname, innit?”

“It’s something alright.” He replies, pulling out a knife from one of the drawers. It shines as the sunlight hits it. 

“So, where are we going today?” He asks, clicking his teeth together.

“We’re going on an adventure to sort out safe trade routes.”

Tommy snorts. “If by adventure, you mean lamest thing ever, then okay.”

“It’s not lame, it's necessary for the empire.” Tommy leans back in his chair, the wood creaking along with it.

“Still sounds lame.”

“Thank you for informing me.” Technoblade comments sarcastically, handing Tommy his bagel on a plate. 

It had cream cheese on it, which thankfully, Tommy knew. 

He took a bite, the rich flavor making him smile. Technoblade noticed this, taking a bite of his own food.

“Good?” He asks, amusement flickering through his voice.

Tommy takes another bite. “Good? It’s fucking delicous, Blade.”

“I’m glad, cause I paid for those.”

“Aren’t you the prince?” He yawns again. “Can’t you, like, just threaten them or some shit?”

“I could, but why would I do that?” The prince questions, raising his eyebrows as he takes a second bite of his bagel.

Tommy shrugs. “Dunno, man.”

Tommy gulps down the rest of the bagel rather quickly, while Technoblade eats slower. 

“Is Wilbur up yet?”

Technoblade shakes his head, wiping cream cheese off the edge of his lips. 

“That’s boring.”

He sighs. “Is everything boring to you?”

“Pretty much.” He gives a thumbs up towards the prince, who just chuckles softly. Almost on cue, Wilbur’s door opens. 

“Oh, hey, what’s up guys?” He yawns, patting Tommy on the back.

“I believe it's the sky.” Tommy snickers as Technoblade goes back to eating his bagel. 

Wilbur groans as he sees the bagel sitting on the table next to him. 

“Not poppyseed—I hate this one.” He whines, flicking it with his finger.

Technoblade huffs. “Be grateful I even got you anything.”

“You’re supposed to get me something,” he replies. “You wouldn’t want your brother to starve, now would you?”

“Actually, I quite do want you to starve.”

Wilbur makes a sad face. “You see this, Tommy? You see how mistreated I am?”

“Mhm,” he looks out of the window. “What are you doing today, Wil?”

He shrugs, taking a sip of water. “Eh—probably just hanging with Quackity.”

Tommy nods, finishing the crumbs of his bagel. 

“What are you doing?”

“Boring stuff,” Tommy groans. “Would you tell Technoblade that he’s boring?”

“Okay,” he turns to his brother. “You’re boring.”

“Thanks,” Technoblade coughs, getting up from the table and slinging his bag over his shoulder. “We better get going.”

Tommy groans, throwing his head back dramatically. Technoblade sighs, tugging him off the chair. He mouths a few words of pleas to Wilbur, who just smiles.

All of a sudden a warm jacket is placed on him, and he looks up at Technoblade.

“I don’t want a jacket.” He scoffs, trying to pull it off. Technoblade stops him.

“One; it's freezing, you need a jacket,” he starts. “And two; you would’ve already had a jacket if you didn’t lose it.”

“I didn’t lose it! It—” Tommy groans, cutting himself off and glaring up at Technoblade. He sniffs, and opens the door for him.

The cold breeze blows into Tommy’s face, making him shiver. He steps out onto the white snow, breathing deeply. 

Technoblade shuts the door after him, tilting his head up.

“Ready?” He asks, walking forward.

“Nope.” Tommy replies, making Technoblade chuff with amusement. 

The prince walks off.

This was going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

“Are we done walking yet?” Tommy groans, barely pulling himself through the streets. 

Technoblade snorts. “It’s only been an hour.” 

“An hour of pure misery and agony.” 

He furrows his brow. “I thought you were tougher than that.” 

“I am tough!” He scoffs. “It’s just, y’know, this is boring.” 

“I did warn you that we were going to be doing work.” 

He rolls his eyes. “But why can’t we just like not?”

“Because my father wants me to do things.” 

“Fuck your fath—“ he coughs dramatically to stop himself. “I, uh, mean, okay.” 

Technoblade chuckles before making a left turn. Tommy follows closely behind, scanning for any familiar tents. 

He’s still kind of hung up on the fact that it happened, and he desperately wants to know why. 

Luck isn’t on his side however, because he sees nothing even remotely close to the tent he was in. 

He turns back to complain to Technoblade again, but he doesn’t see his familiar back of the coat. 

“Oh come on!” He drags his hands down his face, rapidly turning for any sign of the prince. He finds none. 

What he does find is a particularly interesting stand. 

Tommy walks over to it, eyes tracing over the crossbows 

“You looking for anything specific?” Someone asks, and he looks up to see a man standing in front of him. 

“Oh—uh, no, I’m just looking.” 

He tilts his head towards a building. “Wanna test one out?” 

“No, it’s okay, I’m good—“

The next thing he knows, he’s being pushed into a room filled with multiple men with crossbows. 

“Uh…” 

“Try to hit one.” He says, grinning smugly. 

Tommy raises his eyebrows. “Those are people.” 

He chuckles. “Yeah, and?” 

“I’m not killing someone.” 

“Well,” his expression darkens. “It’s them, or it’s you.” 

In an instant, the men all load their crossbows, shouting various threats. Tommy flinches back, eyes widening. 

“The fuck—“ 

“So, kid, what’s it gonna be?” He interrupts, leaning on the wall. 

“You’re a fucking psychopath, why would I—“

An arrow lands an inch away from his head. 

He freezes, not daring to move again. Then when the man yawns, he turns around, aiming the bow.

He loads the crossbow. 

It’s me or them.

He pulls it back. 

It’s me or them.

He lets it fly.

It’s me or—

The arrow is collided with a familiar axe, and Technoblade steps into view. Many of the men gasp, stepping away from him. 

He looks furious, and Tommy can’t help but grimace back. 

“Prince Technoblade!” The man yells from behind him. “Always a pleasure to—“

His axe is picked up and thrown at the man, and it lands with a defending thud next to his neck. 

“Shut it down.” He orders, and Tommy sees his fist twitch. 

“I don’t think that’s nessecary—“

“Shut it down,” he repeats. “Or would you rather the guards deal with this?” 

The man sighs, doing a hand symbol Tommy doesn’t recognize. All of the men scatter out, and the man gives Tommy one last look. 

“See you soon.” He smiles, walking past Technoblade. 

The prince shoves him slightly. “No you won’t.” 

Then Technoblade turns to him, and his expression softens just a little. 

“Let’s go.” He orders, pushing Tommy gently out of the building. 

Tommy resists. “Wait—what was that? Who are those guys?”

“You don’t want to know.” Technoblade stiffens, and Tommy pushes his arm off. 

“Uh, yeah I do. That’s why I asked.” 

“You don’t need to know,” he argued. “What you need to do is stay right next to me from now on.” 

“But—“

“No. You could’ve gotten hurt or—“ he cuts himself off, sighing. 

“Listen, those men you saw? They’re trying to recruit people.”

Tommy raises his eyebrow. “For?”

Technoblade doesn’t answer, and instead turns away. 

“Technoblade—?” He exclaims, turning back to the building. 

“It doesn’t matter.” Technoblade interjects, turning his head back to the boy. 

“Yes it does! What—“

He nudges Tommy forward. “We have things to do, come on.” 

He groans, knowing he’s not going to win this battle. 

“Are we getting food now?”

Technoblade nods his head, fiddling with his fingers. If Tommy saw him doing that for the last hour, he didn’t comment on it. 

He makes a turn into a building, looking back to make sure Tommy’s still following. 

He is, so he walks into the restaurant. Smells of food flood his nostrils, and he scrunches up his face. 

“Prince Technoblade,” a woman exclaims. “So nice to see you again, shall I show you to Prince Wilbur?”

“That would be nice.” He replies in his usual monotone voice.

She smiles, and gestures for them to follow. Technoblade looks back at Tommy, and tilts his head. The boy sighs, following the woman to a table in the back. 

Technoblade follows them after a second, sitting down on the bench next to Tommy. 

“Oh—hey, guys, what’s up?” Wilbur asks, grinning largely. 

“What’s up, is that Dream’s goons are here recruiting again.” 

“So it’s Dream then?” Tommy asks, staring coldly at the prince. 

“Wait, what— you saw them, and called the guards?” Quackity pipes up, sitting up fully now. 

“No. I was more worried about Tommy.”

“I can take care of myself!” 

“Really? What about that morning we spared?” He comments. “I beat you about twelve times.” 

Tommy’s about to argue back, before Wilbur speaks up. 

“When was this?” He asks, tilting his head in curiosity. 

“When you were drunk off your ass.” Technoblade replies, flicking his head back. 

“Which is everyday.” Quackity adds, earning a snicker from Tommy. 

“Shut your mouth, Quackity,” Wilbur scowls. “But are you okay, Tommy?”

“I’m fine, man, I would’ve totally beat the shit outta them anyways.”

“That’s the point,” Technoblade responds. “They want to recruit you if you’re good with a bow.”

“They need more archers or whatever the fuck they’re called?” Technoblade nods, making the boy frown. “Then why don’t you just declare war on them while they’re low on soldiers?”

“Because,” Technoblade starts, leaning onto the table. “We’re low on soldiers too.” 

Tommy frowns even harder, looking away from the prince. Technoblade can tell he’s worried.

“We’ll be fine.” Wilbur quickly adds, as if he could see the concern etched onto the teens face as well. 

“Yeah, cause I’m here.” Quackity smirks, making Tommy laugh. 

The voices don’t seem to like happiness that much, because they start yelling in his head about death. 

He pushes those thoughts away best he can.

Technoblade opens the door for Tommy and Wilbur, and the boy rushes into the house. 

He’s still shivering from the cold, and the chattering of his teeth fill the room. 

Technoblade chuckles. “Cold?”

“Dude, it’s fuckin’ freezing!” He shudders violently. “I’m gonna—can I change before we go?”

“You don’t need to ask.” Technoblade replies, tugging his gloves off and putting them onto the table. 

Tommy nods, walking into the room and shutting the door. Wilbur sighs, facing his brother now. 

“Whatever you’re about to say, I know.” 

“That was dangerous, Techno.” 

He shuts his eyes. “I know.”

“I can’t—I can’t lose someone else.” He whispers, putting his head in his hands. 

“I know.” Technoblade repeats, leaning on the counter. 

“I’m going to—I’m going to sleep, we can uh,” he pauses. “Talk about this later.”

Technoblade doesn’t reply, and the door shuts with a soft thud. He sighs, looking over at Tommy’s room. 

He still hasn’t come out, so the prince moves to the door and knocks. 

“Tommy?”

No reply. 

He creaks open the door, eyes landing on Tommy bandaging up his arms. 

There’s golden scars on his arms, making Technoblade retract from his place at the door. 

His breath hitches as he skims over the scars, looking back to his own arm. 

Technoblade freezes, unsure of what he’s supposed to do. 

He shuts the door as softly as he can, tugging up his sleeve as he sits down at the table. 

The golden scars on his arm shimmer in the sun, and the prince traces his finger over them. 

If Tommy has it—

“Technoblade? I’m ready to go now.” Tommy exclaims, making him pull his sleeve down immediately. 

He doesn’t reply, but instead gets up and nods. Tommy doesn’t seem to notice his change of behavior, and he continues to the door. 

Tommy skips down the street, the cold air barely bothering him anymore due to the layers of coats he’s got on. 

Technoblade is not that far behind, but he looks kind of distracted. The boy just brushes it off as tiredness, and continues to walk down the path. 

He stops when he hears his name called, and he turns around to see Technoblade at a building. He furrows his brow, because the prince said that he would be going far into town. 

Nonetheless, he runs over to him, tilting his head. 

“I thought we were going farther into town?”

“I am. You’re staying here.” 

“What? That’s not fair,” he groans. “Why didn’t you just leave me at the house?”

The prince chuckles. “Because I don’t trust you to stay by yourself, and Wilbur went to bed.” 

“But I’m literally by myself right now.”

“No you aren’t, now go inside.”

Tommy sticks out his tongue, walking inside the building. Technoblade follows him inside, and they see a man sitting on a chair with his legs on the table. He’s reading a magazine. 

“Foolish.” Technoblade says, and Tommy furrows his brow. Is he calling the man foolish or—

“Oh, hey Technoblade,” he puts his magazine down. “Who’s this?”

“This is Tommy,” He looks at him. “Tommy, this is foolish.”

He gives an awkward wave. Foolish smiles. 

He yawns. “So, you need something?” 

“Can you watch him for a few hours?” Technoblade asks, gesturing to him.

Foolish chuckles. “He looks a little old to have a babysitter.”

“See? Even he gets it!”

“I’m sorry, are you disobeying direct orders from the prince?”

“Well, technically, this isn’t your kingdom—”

Tommy sees Technoblade’s gaze harden, and Foolish puts his hands up in surrender.

“Alright, alright, I’ll do it.” 

Technoblade nods, giving one last look to Tommy. 

“Don’t cause trouble.”

Tommy scoffs. “What? When have I ever caused trouble?”

The prince raises his eyebrows, then chuckles before giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder. He opens the door, letting out all the cold air onto his face, then lets it close shut.

Tommy looks over to Foolish, who goes back to reading his magazine. 

“So,” he starts walking around. “Got anything fun to do around here?”

“None that your brother would agree to.” He replies, licking his finger and turning the page.

Tommy furrows his brow. “He’s not my brother!”

“Sure seems like it, the way you two argue,” Foolish shrugs. “Wilbur and him argue the same way.”

“Okay well,” he pauses. “We’re not.”

The man shrugs again.“Since he’s not my brother, what kinda things you’ve got to do?”

“I don’t think—”

Tommy sits on the table. “Forget about him, he’s a fuckin’ dick who doesn’t know how to have fun,” Foolish raises a brow. “I, on the other hand, am loads of fun.”

The man laughs, finally setting down his paper.

“Alright, fine,” he grins. “Can you play poker?”

Tommy grins back. “Hell yeah I can.”

Technoblade ducks into an alley, walking past multiple people sitting on the ground. They give him terrified stares, but he ignores them, as usual. 

He looks for a familiar blue coat, until he spots it tucked in a corner. The prince walks over to him.

There’s two men by his side, whom he waves off as soon as he sees Technoblade.

“Prince Technoblade!” Connor exclaims. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Technoblade skips the greeting, immediately pulling down his sleeve to reveal the scars. Connor’s eyebrows twitch, and he leans over to look at them.

“This again? I told you—”

“I saw someone else with it.” Technoblade interjects abruptly.

Connor pauses. “Who?”

“A boy.”

“Hmm…”

“What does that mean?” He asks, twitching his fingers. 

“Well,” he sighs. “It could mean numerous things.”

“Is he related to me?”

“He could be, could not be.”

Technoblade laughs dryly. “Don’t beat around the bush, Connor—what do you think?”

“Magic has been around before you even existed, Technoblade,” Connor says. “It’s not uncommon for someone to have scars like that.”

“They appeared at the same time as me.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” he shrugs. “Believe what you want.”

Technoblade sighs, pinching his nose. “Alright then.” 

He turns around, beginning to walk away.

“Technoblade?”

The prince turns back to Connor.

Connor smiles. “I would keep that boy of yours secret.” 

Technoblade nods slightly, continuing down the alleyway.

“Bad!” Skeppy exclaims upon seeing the man sharpening blades in the courtyard.

“Hi, Skeppy.” The man looks up. 

He sits down next to him. “Whatcha doing?”

“Sharpening blades for the trainees.”

“That’s boring as fuck.” He replies,  flicking a piece of grass off the bench. 

“Language.” Bad hisses, glaring at Skeppy. 

He sighs. “Oh, right, I forgot you’re boring.”

“I’m not boring,” Bad responds. “I’m polite.”

“Same thing.” Skeppy yawns, throwing his head back.

“It’s really not.”

“I don’t care.”

They’re both silent for a while, until another voice gets their attention.

“Bad—Oh, hello Skeppy.” Niki smiles, walking over to the two.

Bad puts down the blade. “What’s up, Niki?”

“Sup’, dude.”

“Just wanted to tell you I’m directing training today, since Technoblade is away.”

“Oh, right—when does training start?” Bad asks, getting up from the bench.

She laughs. “Right now.”

On cue, a dozen people walk into the courtyard, getting into lines.

“Oh, shit!” Skeppy yells, jaw dropping.

“Langauge!”

“Sorry—sorry!” He instantly gets up, running to take his position in line.

He sees Niki and Bad talk for another minute, before she walks over.

“Alright guys, are we ready for today?”

“Yes Ma’am!” They all reply simultaneously.

“Uh—Yes Ma’am!” Skeppy responds after the bunch, making Niki laugh.

She unsheaths her sword. “Who’s first?”

A confident guy steps forward, being patted on the back by multiple of his friends.  

Niki grins, pointing her blade at him. The guy does the same, and they circle each other before he pounces first.

She easily dodges, kicking his legs. He goes down with a grunt, trying to scramble away. She puts her sword next to him, stopping him from moving. 

A barrel of ‘ooo’s’ is heard from the crowd, and then they start cheering. Skeppy sees Bad smile from the bench, as he seems to go back to sharpening swords.

Niki swipes her hair to her ear, looking back at the crowd.

“Who’s next?”

Tubbo sits down at the table that the waiter showed them to, and Ranboo takes a seat across from him. 

Ranboo picks up the menu, squinting at all the words. 

Tubbo laughs, making Ranboo put down the menu and glare at him.

“What? It’s not my fault I can’t read.”

Tubbo’s laugh dies down to a giggle. “I said I’ll teach you!”

“When? We have, like, no free time.”

“Uh—right now!” He picks up his own menu, pointing at the words.

“This says,” he pauses, looking at it. “Egg sandwich.”

“Wow, I can totally read everything now,” he exclaims sarcastically. “Thanks a lot, Tubbo.”

He closes his eyes proudly. “You are very welcome.”

Ranboo snorts, putting his head back. 

“So what are you feeling? Sweet or Savory?”

“They have pancakes?” Ranboo asks, yawning.

Tubbo grins. “Hell yeah.”

He smiles back, and the waiter comes up to them.

“Hello, I’m Sally, and I’ll be with you today.” She exclaims, smiling greatly.

“Hi, Sally.” Tubbo greets, smiling back.

Sally nods. “Would you guys like any drinks?”

“I’ll take a water, please.” He asks, gathering up his and Ranboo’s menus.

“Just milk for me.” Ranboo replies, twitching his eyebrows a little. Tubbo frowns internally, but he doesn’t comment on it.

“And you guys are ready to order?” She asks, putting her pen to the paper.

Tubbo nods. “Yes, just two chocolate chip pancakes please.”

“Alright, it’ll be out soon.” She stops writing in her notebook, and picks up the menu’s Tubbo hands to her.

Sally walks away, leaving the two alone.

Ranboo looks a little nervous, as he keeps glancing out the window. 

“You good, bitch boy?”

He smiles. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been acting weird lately,” he frowns. “You’re always tired and have a headache.”

“I’m okay, Tubbo.”

“Are you sure? I just don’t—”

“I said I’m fine.” Ranboo interrupts, looking away from Tubbo. He sighs, not saying another word. 

Now he’s even more worried.

“Where’d you get this kid?” One of the men asks as he wins again.

“Man,” he corrects. “I’m not a kid.”

“Prince Technoblade told me to watch him.”

On cue, the door opens and Technoblade steps in. Tommy almost groans.

“Speak of the devil.” Foolish comments, making the other men snickers.

“So we’re just not listening to a thing I’m saying now, are we Foolish?”

The man shrugs in surrender. “He’s really convincing…?”

Technoblade hums disapproving. “Let's go.”

Tommy rolls his eyes, going to collect the money. The prince pulls him back.

“You leave the money here.”

Tommy groans. “What? But I won it!”

“You don’t need it.”

“You are so not cool, Tech-no-blade.” He scoffs, pushing away from him. He hears foolish say goodbye, and then he’s out the door.

The walk back is silent, and it's even more silent once they get inside. Technoblade instantly goes to Wilbur’s room, and Tommy frowns curiously. 

He thinks for a moment before tip-toeing over to eavesdrop. 

“He has the scars, Wilbur.”

“So what? You think he’s our brother?” Wilbur murmurs.

“That’s not what I said,” Technoblade replies. “But come on, you have to look at the similarities.”

“I am, but I don’t think he is.”

Tommy grimaces back, furrowing his brow. They want to replace their brother for him?

He steps away from the door. 

Is that why Technoblade recruited him? Is that why Wilbur made him his personal servant? Is that why they’re being so nice to him?

So they can replace their dead brother?

Fuck that.

Tommy storms to his room, shutting the door. He practically jumps into his bed, curling up into a ball. 

The covers are over him, and only then does he let the tears fall. He’s stupid to think someone would actually like him for who he is.

They were just using him to get over a loss.

He wouldn’t stand for that any longer.