Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy had never been anyone's first choice or even their first priority for anything, it had been seen again and again since he joined the Dream Smp.

With Dream that was to be expected, George, Sapnap, and Bad took the top 3 there. Wilbur put L'manburg and Fundy before Tommy. With Techno, well Chaos, Phil, and Will were all before Tommy. Even now after the war and all, no one thought about how much Tommy might need someone to put him first for a change.

No one noticed how Tommy started to quiet down, how he didn't yell quite as loud or often as he used to, no one realized how much he actually gave to both the creation of L'manburg and the fight to reclaim it. No one realized that maybe the way Tommy was acting was a cry for help. For Tommy knew, his flame was dying out, he also knew what that meant.

When one sacrifices too much of their self to a cause or person, a small number of things happen. Their eyes lose their original color and become mundane gray, they become quieter and eventually lose their voice, they run away from the place/people who took too much, and their flame burns out. This rarely happens as most people are too selfish to give enough to get to this state, and most people think Tommy is that sort of person, but Tommy just never corrected them on that as a big man doesn't admit weakness, even now he wasn't gonna admit how much of himself he has sacrificed since joining this server.

Tommy woke up, his throat feeling sore, something that had been going on since the 17th. He looked at his communicator, The date is the 30th of November, 2 weeks after the big war. He gets up and goes about getting dressed and ready for the day, he went to brush his hair and teeth and froze upon seeing his eyes in the mirror, eyes once vibrant firey blue now looked blue-gray, heading towards mundane gray. Every child is warned at a young age to never give too much of themselves to something or someone, or you will lose yourself, and your flame. Tommy knew that lesson and had done so anyway.

Tommy remembered that time he talked about running away with Tubbo, and decided that while he still had some flame left, to leave and make himself a small farm off in a distant part of the server, not like anyone would miss him anyways.

........................................................................................6 Months Later.................................................................................................

Eret was the first to notice how quiet the server seemed lately. They brushed it off after a bit but couldn't quite shake the feeling something was very wrong.

Tubbo hadn't realized that he hadn't seen Tommy in 6 months as he had been caught up in presidential duties and the L'manburg reconstruction efforts.

Phil has been so caught up in the whole Ghostbur/Orphaned Fundy situation that he hadn't noticed that Tommy hadn't stopped by to chat.

Techno was the first to notice signs of someone having left the main area of the SMP.

It was Niki who finally noticed exactly who was missing.

Niki ran into Eret while searching L'manburg and Dream's part of the SMP looking for Tommy. "Oh, Hi Eret, have you seen Tommy recently by chance?" "No, why? Has he done something?" "No, I haven't seen him in a while actually and he would normally have caused some sort of chaos by now." "I'll help you look then, who have you asked so far?" "Sapnap and George, neither of them have heard a thing from him." "Have you checked his house?" "Good idea, I haven't done that yet." They walked over to Tommy's house and knocked on the door, receiving no answer they opened the door, only to find darkness and cobwebs, as well as a few mobs that had taken shelter in the dark empty house from the sun. "This place looks deserted." "Do you think something has happened to him, Eret?" "Considering the dust layering the furniture and floor, he hasn't been here in a while. I think we should call everyone together and see if anyone knows anything." Eret sends out a message using his communicator saying: Everyone, meeting at community center now, very important!

When they arrive at the community center everyone, Including Techno is there, except Tommy.

Eret clears their throat

"Okay, so the reason behind this meeting is that Tommy is Missing. Niki and I just came from Tommy's house where everything is dark, mob filled, and covered in dust, the place looks like it hasn't been used in a while. So when was the last time anyone saw Tommy?"

No one had any clear idea of how long it had been since Tommy had been seen. Then Fundy came to the horrific thought "What if Tommy's flame went out?", then realized he said that aloud when Everyone else looked horrified at the thought.

"Why would it go out though?" asked Techno, "Tommy is pretty selfish."

"Actually he isn't." said Niki somewhat hesitantly, "He selflessly fought the duel for L'manburg's freedom and gave up both of his original prized discs when he lost the duel in exchange for that freedom, then he put so much effort into trying to get back L'manburg from Schlatt not to mention the effort put into the election, and then even with his dream of being president one day, stepped aside so that Tubbo, who everyone clearly wanted as president more, could be elected."

Then it dawned on Phil "When was the last time anyone put Tommy first for anything at all?"

When no one could answer that, Dream pulled up his admin screens to see if he could find Tommy's cords, to his surprise they were within the server's boundaries but very far out.

"He's still within the server's borders, but really far out."

"How far out?" Asked Phil.

"A full 2 days travel from here."

"Alright, so we need to decide who is going and who is staying."

After much deliberation and nearly sunset later, the search party was decided to be made up of Phil, Tubbo, Techno, Eret, Niki, and Dream.

"Alright," said Phil, " We leave the day after tomorrow and we need to prepare supplies tomorrow."

With that everyone besides Niki and Eret headed off to their homes/wherever they lived.

"Do you think Tommy is Alright?" Asked Niki.

"I don't honestly know, Niki, no one exactly paid attention to Tommy when he needed us so he very well could be very not fine at all."

"I hope he is okay, Eret, I feel so guilty about not figuring this out sooner."

"I know that feeling. Well, we'd best get some sleep, see you tomorrow."

"Night, Eret."

Chapter Text

After Tommy decided to head to a far off area of the smp, he began to pack what little bit of stuff, clothing mostly, he had that managed to survive 2 wars, exile, and the various other things that had happened since he first joined. He grabbed a saddle and lead and a couple stacks of cobble, 2 stacks of sand (as he didn't want to hunt for sand to make glass when he arrived at his new area), along with his tools, bit of armor, a stack each of both raw and baked potatoes and ender chest. Once that was gathered, he then made the choice to leave the discs behind, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that he was leaving.

Then he walked down the train line leading out towards the pogtopia area, as it was the closest area of wilderness that would allow him cover to leave, as he didn't want to tell anyone he was moving off to a faraway area of land somewhere in the wilds of the SMP, that would make people slightly worry about him and they clearly had more important things and people to care about.

He found a horse about 2 hours into his trek away from the main area, taming it and riding onwards. As night fell he grabbed the cobble and made a quick box with a bed inside that he could rest in for the night, the next morning he quickly packed up the box and continued on, about 4 hours before sunset he stumbled upon a nice little area nestled at the bottom of an extreme hills biome, there is a little stream, a nice open plains area for farming and a forest on the other side of the stream. Deciding this was it, he sets up a quick pin for the horse and started gathering wood for making a start to his new home, along with setting up a couple furnaces to smelt that sand he brought with him.

About 3 hours later with an hour before sunset, he steps back, taking a look at the small farmhouse he managed to put together in just 3 hours, with a nice little stable attached for the horse. He decides to start preparing the area for farming tomorrow and heads inside. The small insides had enough room for a kitchen, small living space, a storage room, an upstairs area with a bathroom and his new bedroom, along with 3 rooms without purpose yet, 1 upstairs and 2 on the ground floor.

Having had enough for the day, he went upstairs to his new room and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The next morning he wakes up, his throat even sorer than a few days ago, and starts off by cleaning up from his travels and he tries to avoid looking in the mirror, but he catches sight of his eyes again, far more gray than just 2 days ago, he finishes with getting ready and dressed, and goes out to start collecting resources for a barn, coop, and pigsty.

He has the materials collected by midday and the buildings built by about an hour before sunset, just needing to put fencing in place and collect the animals in the area. He passes out upon getting in bed again.

He looks at his communicator upon waking up a week later out of habit, it is the 10th of December. It would snow soon and he didn't have time to get crops in the ground to provide for himself and the animals, until he remembered that crops grow well underground and started digging a huge underground area for farming, killing 2 birds with 1 stone, crops don't freeze while underground, and they grow year-round so there would be no crop shortages.

After the crop farms are built and the animals situated comfortably, Tommy's life starts to take on a predictable pattern, he wakes up, prepares for the day, goes and does the morning farm chores, then the afternoon ones, and works until evening, collapsing into bed each night.

It would be at 4 months after he left the main area that his throat stops hurting, and with the pain goes his voice, his eyes already mundane gray, his lost voice simply following suit. He knew what happens when a flame burns out, the person feels empty, hopeless, and just waiting for life to finish them off. The only way to reverse the effects of a burned-out flame is for the one whose flame is burned-out/burning out to find someone who puts them first and rekindling the flame. Tommy knew that wasn't likely to happen for him, life taught him that lesson really well, he could rely on no one.

It would be 3 days before Niki notices that it is Tommy that is missing from the main SMP area that Tommy's flame burns out.

Chapter Text

Family isn't only those who raised you and those you grew up in the same house as. Family is also those with who you forge bonds as you travel and experience new things. Flames have a small secondary purpose, those who forge bonds of a family outside of those who one is raised by or with, leave a small spark of their flame with each other. When one who has been blessed with sparks from others is in trouble, those who's sparks are with them, feel that something is wrong and start looking. Sparks are earned by true friendship, never given freely.

Tommy's roots as a Player started pretty simply, a young boy looking to rise up and get noticed. This was before he met Phil, Techno, and Wilbur. A kid wanting to show he had what it took to make it to the top. He tried Hypixel Skywars, then Bedwars, finally landing in Hypixel Skyblock. This is where he first meets Pigicial, Tommy was still rather new and shy to the whole making a name for oneself. That was what started to draw Pigicial to become friends with Tommy. He could see that behind that loud and annoying exterior was a gentle selfless soul. Pigicial helping with the talent show Tommy decided to throw helped a lot in boosting Tommy into the spotlight. This was when Pigicial and Tommy exchanged sparks

It was thru Pigicial that Tommy met Bitzel, as the Talent show needed another judge, so Pigicial offered to find another judge so Tommy could focus on preparing for the show. Bitzel and Tommy started to hang out a little bit at a time until they too became good friends. It was after Bitzel introduced Tommy and TimeDeo to each other that Bitzel and Tommy exchanged sparks.

TimeDeo was a little hesitant to befriend Tommy. It took a little longer than with Pigicial and Bitzel to see what they saw in the boy. It was Deo though that convinced Wilbur to consider 11-year-old Tommy for SMP Earth, where Tommy, Deo, and Bitzel would find friendship with LukeorSomething in their faction of Business Bay. When Luke refuses an offer to join a new faction preferring to stay with the boys is when all 3 exchanged sparks with Luke.

It would be around the first Christmas time on SMP Earth that Phil, Techno, and Wilbur find out that while Tommy has his friends, he is practically an orphan. Phil, Techno, and Will would offer Tommy to come to hang with them in the Antarctic Empire for the holiday as Tommy's friends had families of their own to go see off SMP. It would be here that Phil starts to take on the role of Tommy's new dad, and Techno and Will, his new siblings.

Tommy moved to the Philza family server after SMP Earth which is when he turned 13. While looking to see where to go next when he gets invited to join Dream SMP. The first war happens around the time Tommy turns 14. Right after the election and now 15-year-old Tommy is exiled with Wilbur is when Pigicial, Bitzel, Luke, and Deo lose contact with Tommy. They immediately attempt to reestablish contact with Tommy, as they can feel in the sparks of flame that something is terribly wrong. Each failing to contact Tommy, arrange a meeting with each other to meet on Deo's skyblock island.

12 pm, The 25th of September, TimeDeo's skyblock island

Pigicial, Deo, Bitzel, and Luke all arrived at the meeting space set up by Deo right on time having cleared all schedules hurriedly to make sure they would be here, Deo having closed his island to visitors temporarily so that they could hold the meeting undisturbed.

"So Who last had contact with Tommy?" asked Deo

"That would be me." Pigicial replyed

"What were the details of your last conversation?" Asked Luke

"Something about an election in the country they just finished fighting a war about."

"You don't think a bad party did something to Tommy, do you?" Asked Bitzel

"That is exactly what I am starting to think," replied Deo, "as it has been 3 days since any of us had any contact with Tommy."

"Has anyone tried to get in contact with Tubbo or Will? I remember Tommy saying that they were also on the server," said Bitzel.

"No," Said Deo

"Nope" replied Luke

"Don't have their contacts" answered Pigicial

"Alright then, let's call Tubbo rn."

Time Deo pulls out his universal communicator and presses the Call button under Tubbo's contact.

3 rings later...

"Hello?" Tubbo says as he answers the call.

"Where's Tommy and why isn't he answering our messages and calls?" Asked Bitzel

"He was exiled with Wilbur by the new president, look I don't have much time to talk as I have to do the work given to me before he gets back or I am in trouble."

"Who is the new president?"

"Schlatt"

"Thanks for the info"

Tubbo, Are you talking to someone!

"Oops, gotta go!" Said Tubbo, "No, sir" can be heard as the call ends.

"Well, looks like we have got a server to hack into the whitelist of to get to Tommy, as I know Dream won't just let us on." said Pigicial

They then made plans to start hacking into Dream SMP server's whitelist, this action would take them until the day of the community center meeting about now 16-year-old Tommy being missing to complete.

The morning after the community center meeting.....

TimeDeo has joined the game.
Bitzel has joined the game.
Pigicial has joined the game.
LukeOrSomething has joined the game.

Chapter Text

Everyone had woken up early to start prepping the supplies for the trip to find Tommy, and when they got started compiling a list of supplies at the community center, their communicators beeped

TimeDeo has joined the game.
Bitzel has joined the game.
Pigicial has joined the game.
LukeOrSomething has joined the game.

Tubbo looked shocked. "Those are Tommy's Hypixel and SMP Earth Business Bay friends!"

"How did they get thru the whitelist?" asked Dream.

"I don't know." replied Tubbo.

The entire server went to spawn and spotted the 4 looking for a way out of spawn.

"What do you 4 want and why are you on my server?." Dream asked.

Deo, Pigicial, Bitzel, and Luke looked between each other and then Deo said, "We're here because we felt thru the sparks that something is wrong with Tommy."

"Yeah, we haven't heard from Tommy despite constantly trying to reestablish contact since that cursed election you lot held." Stated Pigicial.

"Wait, you 4 have shared sparks with Tommy of all people. I find that hard to believe." Techno stated disbelievingly.

Deo, Bitzel, and Luke looked between each other and Luke then said, "Why do you think I refused to change factions back on SMP Earth? Tommy, Deo, and Bitzel are pretty much family to me."

Pigicial then added, "I took Tommy in and treated him like a little brother when he was a less confident 8-year-old boy who ended up playing Hypixel Skyblock."

Then Bitzel decided to say, "We aren't leaving until we see Tommy. We have been worried about him since we lost contact."

At that point Dream was starting to get that impression anyway, "Fine, you can come with our group in heading out to the cords I looked up for Tommy, as he hasn't been seen in the main part of the smp in a while."

Pigicial, Deo, Bitzel, and Luke then looked at each other with terror in their eyes, "you don't think" "that would explain it" "We need to hurry to find him then" "Of course, he would do the same for any of us"

The group looked confused. "What are you 4 talking about," Techno asked.

"4 days ago we all felt a feeling of dread spread thru the sparks, now that we have heard about Tommy being missing, we have strong reason to believe that his flame has burned-out," Deo stated grimly.

Upon hearing this, Dream then says, "let's get the supplies gathered then, we need to move out sooner than expected."

And with that, they all started gathering supplies for the journey, with 4 additional people to supply for, including armor, tools, and weapons. They finished gathering the supplies with 4 hours left till sunset, and they decided to try to cover as much ground as possible before dark. With the cords in hand, the search party started out making it just to the other side of the forest that used to house pogtopia by sundown. They settled down and slept until about 3 hours before dawn when they all packed up and started traveling again, as they wanted to get there as quickly as possible.

It would be around 6 hours before sunset the following day that they spotted the area, or rather the house, barn, coop, and pigsty as well as the field of crops, and in the field working, a tall but skinny teenage boy.

Chapter Text

Tommy was working in the seasonal field on the 2nd of June. He was working in the fields on autopilot, as he had developed a routine of working on the farm before his flame burned-out, and so was just following the routine when he heard the sound of people. That genuinely startled him as he was sure no one was coming to look for him until he looked at the hill that overlooked the little farm of his from the direction of the main SMP area. He could make out a grand total of 10 people on the hill, and 4 of them surprised him greatly as he hadn't had contact with them since the day before the election day.

Once the group was sure that Tommy had spotted them, they started their way down the hill, Deo, Pigicial, Luke, and Bitzel was practically sprinting down the hill before barreling into Tommy, engulfing him in a huge hug. Tommy stood as stiff as a board while the hug was happening. When Deo, Pigicial, Luke, and Bitzel pulled back and looked at Tommy, they could see Tommy's now gray eyes. All 4 of them made silent promises to do whatever it takes to rekindle Tommy's flame, as he would do the same for them.

Knowing that Tommy couldn't talk to them, Pigicial pulls out a book and quill and hands it to Tommy, before the 4 starts asking Tommy questions and telling him things; "who's responsible for this?" "who do we need to murder?" "Are you alright?" "We missed you, we had to hack into the whitelist to get here."

Tommy listens and starts writing in the book and quill before showing them, "No one person on this server is responsible for this. I don't really have someone who needs murdering. I don't know. And you seriously hacked into the server just to see me?"

The four looked at each other after reading that question, "Yeah" "Of course" "Naturally" "We were really worried about you, we'd face God again if needed to ensure you are safe and happy."

Tommy looked surprised by that, that someone would actually put him first. Phil took this time to ask where the group would be able to spend the night and Tommy motioned to follow him, showing them to the stables first, which Tommy had expanded so that his horse and another horse he had found right after his voice had been lost so that they could put the horses that they had brought with them there, then into the house, which had been expanded as a just in case he needed the space for something or another, there was enough room for each of the 10 person search party could have a room, he even thought ahead with putting beds on the off chance that someone came looking. That had been months ago before his voice was lost, but after the crop farms and buildings were completed.

He tapped on each door and pointed to the person who would take that room for their stay, the spare rooms were spilt 5 upstairs and 5 on the ground floor, Phil, Tubbo, Techno, Eret, and Dream were placed downstairs, while Deo, Pigicial, Niki, Bitzel, and Luke were showed to the upstairs rooms. After they all placed the stuff they brought with them in the rooms, and met back downstairs, they sat as comfortable as they could in the still somewhat small living/dining/kitchen space Tommy has been using.

"Now that we have settled," said Techno, "Why did you just up and leave, Tommy? Surely you didn't think we wouldn't miss you?"
Tommy took out that book and quill and starting writing again, "Really because it sure took you long enough to notice I was gone."
"How long have you been gone?" asked Tubbo hesitantly, unsure if he really wanted to know
Tommy wrote "I left the morning of the 30th of November."

That shocked Tubbo, Phil, Techno, Eret, Niki, and Dream greatly as they hadn't figured out just how long he had been gone, Tommy having left no clues behind, now putting things into perspective, they all felt like idiots.

Tommy then wrote "I am gonna get started on making dinner, since I am not just cooking for myself, Deo and Niki will help me. Phil and Techno, the plates, napkins, and silverware are in those cabinets and drawers, you can set the table. The rest of you can clean up afterward." After dinner and the group assigned to clean up after dinner was done, Tommy deflected anymore conversation by writing "Work starts early, so I will be heading to bed, stay up as long as you like, just don't leave a mess"

The rest of the group sat down in the living room and part of the dining room and.........

Chapter Text

The table full of people just kinda sat there for a few min, trying to figure out where to start. Deo decided to start the conversation.

"So we found Tommy, what's next?"

"We take him back with us," Dream states.

"I don't think he is gonna want to go back there," Bitzel says, "However, he shouldn't be left out here, I think it would be a good idea for him to take a trip off-server for a little while."

"Where to?" Phil asks.

Pigicial, Bitzel, Luke, and Deo glance at each other and realize they are thinking the same thing.

"We think that a trip back to each of the places our sparks were shared would be a good start," Pigicial says.

"Why, though, wouldn't it be better to keep him here on Dream SMP while he gets better?" Asks Eret.

The look Pigicial, Bitzel, Luke, and Deo share makes the rest of the group shutter, then Luke says, "If all you can think of is keeping him in the very server that caused him to end up like this, then you shouldn't be trying to help."

Techno immediately shut his mouth that had opened to reply when Niki spoke up, "I think it would actually be a good thing for Tommy to go with you 4, to be honest, most of us wouldn't have much time to really focus on helping him. And some of us shouldn't even be considered for even trying to do so." Niki said as she looked straight at Dream and Techno.

"Okay," Phil says, "So what I am hearing is that you 4 are saying that you will convince Tommy to leave the SMP and go with you on a trip to hopefully rekindle his flame, is that correct."

"Yes Phil, that is correct." Deo agrees.

With that, the group heads to the rooms Tommy gave them to use while they were staying and went to sleep. The next morning the group awakes and walks out of their rooms and/or down the stairs to smell breakfast from the kitchen. They all walk in and see Tommy setting the last of 11 plates down on the table. Tommy looks up and waves to them then grabs the book and quill from yesterday and flips to a new page, Morning, breakfast is ready. Everyone sat down in the seats they sat in last night and Deo says "Tommy, Bitzel, Luke, Pigicial, and I would like to talk with you after breakfast if that is alright." Of course, it is alright

After breakfast, Tommy writes, I will talk with you 4 in a min, but first, I would like to know how long you lot intend to stick around? Dream then answers "I was only thinking about finding you and bringing you back right away, but we will probably stick around for a day or two anyway." Good, then you lot won't mind helping with the farm chores, right? "Sure, can't be too bad, right?" You and Techno are on Stable duty then. Niki and Phil can feed the chickens and pigs, and Tubbo and Eret can milk the cows and feed both the cows and sheep.

Dream opened his mouth to say something, but Tubbo gives him a look and says "Okay Tommy, we can do that."

After the group assigned to farm chores went to go complete them, Tommy, Pigicial, Deo, Luke, and Bitzel sat at the table.

"So Tommy, if I asked you to come with us on a trip away from the SMP, what would you think of that?" asks Deo.

I would actually like that

"Well, we want to take you on a trip away from the SMP, to places where we share the most memories and even the places where we each exchanged sparks," stated Bitzel.

When do you want to leave?

"As soon as we get back to the spawn area as that is the easiest place to leave a server from," Pigicial replys.

It is a 2 day ride from here back to the main SMP area, and to make the most of the day we will need to leave in the morning, and I will need both a day to pack what I will need to take, I can do most of that today, and a day to release the animals into the area I prepared incase I left for a while, as if I come back to the SMP I will move back into this place, it is both peaceful and far enough away that people won't just come messing with me all the time.

It was 2 hours later that the 6 sent to do farm chores made it back inside. Dream at this point had started to wonder just how badly he messed up to make Tommy assign him Stable duty, he was worn out from just that. Deo informed the group that Tommy agreed to go with the 4 away from the server for a bit and that the whole group should be ready to head back to the main SMP area the day after tomorrow. Dream then said, "Wait, does that mean I am on Stable duty tomorrow as well?" Tommy who had just finished packing most of what he needed to take with him, showed him the book and quill as he walked by. Yes, you big baby. I could hear you complain from my bedroom window, and I do that plus all the other stuff and weed the fields every day, so you're just being a big baby.

The rest of the day was Tommy setting things up so that when the current underground crops were ready they would auto harvest and the above-ground ones as well, being sent to the storage so they wouldn't be wasted. The next day was fun for Tommy, listening to Dream be a big crybaby about having to do some actual work and moving the animals to the long trip area.

That night before he went to bed there was a knock at his door. He opened it to find Phil, who he let in as it seemed like he wanted to talk. "Tommy, I am so so sorry for the things that happened and for not being a good father to you and for not being there when you needed me the most, I know these are just words, but I still wanted to say them anywa-Oof!" Tommy slammed into him with a hug, no words needed. Aso Phil turned to leave though, Tommy stopped him and grabbed his hand pulling Phil over to Tommy's bed, and grabbed the book writing Please stay "Of course" and Phil laid down with Tommy curling into his side and covering Tommy in his wings as they both fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Tommy woke up surrounded by feathers and confused about that, then remembered the events of last night, and so carefully extracted himself from his father's wings and limbs. He then proceeded to go get ready and then went to the bell cheekily set up on the first floor in the broom closet behind the stairs.

{5 min intense bell ringing later}

Everyone was coming out of the bedrooms confused, Tommy walked out of the broom closet and proceeded to walk by each person with the message, you lot need to get ready to go, breakfast will be waiting when you get out here written boldly on the book. Everyone had the case of the morning grumpiness, Dream immediately started to complain upon leaving the guest room he had spent the last 2 days using

"Did you really have to wake us up this early?"

My god, shut up and eat your breakfast, and yes, unless you don't want to get as close to the main SMP today as possible, also we leave right after breakfast

"No, no, that's fine I guess, I am still sore from the last 2 days though."

Get over it, you big baby, I have been doing that chore since I moved out here, 2 days of it isn't gonna kill you

The rest of the group gathered around the table grabbing breakfast and eating it quickly, cleaning the few dishes to avoid leaving something for mice to find to eat, and getting their horses loaded up for the ride back. By the end of the day, they made it to the spot that Tommy used as a camping spot on his trip out there, quickly setting up a fenced-off area and a cobble box to sleep in, they went to sleep and set off again the next morning, making it back to the main SMP by roughly 6 hours before sunset. However, the majority of the group is too tired to do more than go sleep until the next day, so Eret invites the group to sleep in the castle tonight. They decide to see Tommy, Pigicial, Deo, Bitzel, and Luke off in the morning. Dream, despite wearing his usual outfit and mask, gave off the air of someone who got knocked around all day despite the fact that the only thing he did while away was helping Techno with Stable Duty back at Tommy's place.

The next morning was a quiet affair, with Dream setting up a leaving portal for the 5 boys, a few quiet byes/see you laters, and the boys calmly stepping thru the portal.

{intense portal noises later}

Tommy, Deo, Bitzel, Pigicial, and Luke open their eyes to see Deo's visitor free skyblock island sprawled out before them, Deo had left his island closed to visitors while he was gone, only his co-op members had access to the island during that time.

Pigicial then asks, "So, where do we start?"

"How about in order of sparks gained," Deo says.

"That would be me then." Pigicial states, "and we need to go to Tommy's Housing for that as we exchanged sparks during the setup time for the talent show"

"How many of us should go?" asked Bitzel.

"Why don't we try just me and Tommy," Pigicial says.

With that Pigicial and Tommy went over to Tommy's Housing, and as they walked around and Pigicial chatted to Tommy, the stage that was used to host the talent show came into view. Tommy stopped walking and looked at it. Pigicial then decided to speak.

"Remember the moment we met, you were a bright-eyed kid who happened to bump into me at the Auction house while I was in the process of setting up my goods for sale that day. If that hadn't happened, I don't know where we would be today. I remember when you asked me how to get more noticed, I made a suggestion to you about holding an event and you decided on the talent show, then started being all scared about not being able to find a second judge after I offered to judge. So I went to Bitzel and got him to hesitantly join us for it."

Memories of that time in his life started as flashbacks in his eyes and then he found himself wandering up to the judge's chairs, and sitting on his chair is an item he had never seen before, it was a necklace that had a medallion that was shaped like a nether star was supposed to be inserted, but divided into 4 slots. He felt the need to put it on, and upon doing so, one part of it glowed a soft pink, and with it, Tommy started really being able to feel emotions again, at least to an extent anyway.

Pigicial and Tommy returned to Deo's skyblock island and the group decided for Bitzel and Tommy to do their little personal memory lane trip the next day.

After a night's rest and a surprisingly good breakfast made by Deo. Bitzel and Tommy headed off. Now Bitzel wasn't native to the skyblock lands of Hypixel, him being much more at home in the Skywars section of Hypixel, he had introduced Tommy to Deo in the Skywars hub, and they had exchanged sparks during a teamed game of Skywars, so Bitzel decided to team up with Tommy and play a round of duos. They fell into that easy sort of partnership where they worked together toward the goal of winning.

They won and afterward the second section of the medallion started to glow a rich royal blue, and with that Tommy started to cough as his throat became sore again, his emotions were fully restored and his mundane gray eyes started to pick up a bit of a shine.

Bitzel smiled and gave Tommy a hug as they headed back to Deo's place. That afternoon the group got together at the meeting table to discuss what would happen next, as Pigicial would not be able to follow them to the old lands of SMPEarth.

"So, what is your plan when you get to the SMPEarth lands?" Pigicial asked

"Well until we lost contact with Tommy, Luke was residing there in Business Bay with Wisp maintaining things and keeping an eye on the remains of the other factions. So our first stop would be to the Bay both to rest, and for me and Tommy to have our moment. Then we will head out to the site of the Raid of Bean York City, for Luke and Tommy to have their moment. Also, I kinda want to visit Pete in the Antarctic Empire as I have heard that he hasn't had any visitors in a while with Cal being gone and Wisp staying in the Bay. However, this list of stops may be subject to changes as things can and have happened suddenly before." States Deo

"Well then, we leave tomorrow," Bitzel says as he gets up to start preparing for their departure the next day.

Chapter Text

They all wake up the next morning and Pigicial walks the boys to the worlds portal set in Hypixels' main hub.

"You will be safe, right?" asks Pigicial as they approach the portal

"Of course," says Bitzel, "Our logout locations lay well within our faction's boarders, not to mention the fact that since a lot of the faction leaders left, we have either made deals to take the land off of the people left behind or made alliances for resources or safety. Meaning that pretty much any country still standing is either allied with us or about to be."

Pigicial laughed, "Okay, come back in one piece please"

"We will." Deo states as he directs the portal to take the 4 of them to SMPEarth.

With last hugs and sad smiles, Tommy, Deo, Bitzel, and Luke disappear into the worlds portal, being whisked away to SMPEarth.

When they log in, Wisp is there to greet them.

"Hi guys, what's u... Tommy, what happened!"

Deo answered before Tommy could pull out his book.

"DreamSMP happened, they caused Tommy to end up giving too much and his flame went out, we are currently on a mission to rekindle it. How have things been here?"

"Things have been okay, we lost contact with Pete about an hour ago, apparently his communicator has been malfunctioning, I was about to fuel up a plane to head to his last known location when you guys showed up."

All 4 boys looked upset by this and Deo said, "Let's get our snow gear together and all head there together, who knows what might have happened, best bring a medkit too, just in case."

........................................................................................1 hour Later.................................................................................................

They hop out of the planes they arrived in to find a seemingly empty area, not that 1 man can make too much activity by himself, but it was eerily quiet.

"Spread out, here take this bell Tommy, you can use it to signal if you find something," Deo said.

The 5 boys spread out and start searching. Tommy goes toward the storage buildings and as he gets closer hears pained harsh breathing, like someone was struggling to breathe. Racing over, he finds Pete collapsed just inside the wood storage building. Tommy remembered the symptoms of a heart attack as it was one of the things the Bay boys may have covered in their emergency plans after they became allies with the Empire. The other 4 boys hear a bell ring from the storage buildings and come running, upon seeing Pete, they start to work on and manage to get Pete stable enough to transport back to the Bay's hospital, which was built after Tommy left SMPEarth.

........................................................................................9 hours Later.................................................................................................

The group of boys sat around the dinner table discussing the day's events.

"Good thing we went out there, or Pete would be dead. Now with that in mind, Pete doesn't need to be running the Empire by himself anymore, as according to our doctors, he ended up overworking and stressing enough to nearly kill himself." stated Bitzel.

"We can't let the empire collapse so for the time being as you have the most knowledge of the land and its people Wisp, you should run the empire temporarily while Pete recovers, and we see if either Calvin, Techno, or Phil would be willing to return to help run it." Said Deo.

Luke then said, " For now though, we should all get some rest, it has been a long day."

The rest of the group nodded and went to their rooms. Later that night, Tommy, who was having trouble sleeping, wandered out to the rooftop sitting area built while he was away. Deo, who was busy thinking about various things, had heard Tommy leave his room. So, he followed him out to the sitting area.

"I remember when we shared sparks," Deo said suddenly, somewhat spooking Tommy. "We sat on the unfinished roof of this main building that Luke and Wisp then finished building while we were gone. I remember we talked about me somehow convincing Wilbur to let you into SMPEarth from the start. We laughed so hard about that. Back then, things were simpler. I'm just glad we get to be here now."

Tommy's mind wandered back to that moment, and all the moments with Deo that followed. And as Tommy remembered, one of the 2 remaining empty spots on the medallion glowed a warm campfire red and with that, Tommy's throat stopped hurting again, and though they couldn't see it as the lights were too dim, his eyes were blue-gray again. "Deo, big man, you sound super fucking sappy right now."

Deo Grined at this. "You can Speak again, Thank Prime for that, We missed our loud energetic leader. Now, it is late and you and Luke are to head to the site of the Raid of Bean York City in the morning, as Sylvee has given permission for you 2 to stop in for about an hour tomorrow and the sooner your flame is rekindled the better."

With that, Tommy and Deo went to their rooms to sleep. When Tommy greeted the rest of the group at breakfast the next morning, Wisp, Luke, and Bitzel all smiled.

"So if I remember the conversation with Deo last night, you and I need to get loaded in a plane to fly out to the site of the Raid of Bean York City as soon as we get done eating, Luke."

"Alright, you'd best get some food and start eating as I am halfway done and can prep the plane while you eat."

Once Tommy finished eating, Luke and him loaded up and flew off.

........................................................................................30 Minutes Later.................................................................................................

They see the area designated for the plane to land and proceed to do so. After landing, Luke and Tommy walk out to the spot they exchanged sparks.

"Honestly, I really was unsure of you when we first met, but after a little bit, I don't really know, you kinda just grew on me. When I was offered to leave the Bay during the Raid, I rejected the offer because I cared too much for all of you to pick up and leave." Luke stated as they looked around at the place, and remembered the events that occurred. "I honestly wouldn't trade being a member of the Bay for anything."

Tommy felt really warm and fuzzy inside, and with that, the final slot of the medallion glowed a soft buttery yellow, and Tommy's bright blue eyes were once again pure blue, not a speck of the dreaded gray to be seen. Luke softly cheered about that and they loaded on back into the plane to head back to the bay, where the rest of the boys had planned and put together a small bit of a party while Tommy and Luke were out. Pete was even there, having been discharged by the doctors at the hospital, but was told he would need to stick around the Bay for a week to continue to be monitored for any more heart problems.

That night, Tommy took the completed medallion off and hung it up next to the items he had been given that stayed in his enderchest during the factions wars and stuff but was left in a shulker to be displayed in his room when people were leaving after the world's main purpose was over, which was finished being built and furnished after he left. It felt so natural, being back here, he decided that he kinda wanted to spend time both on the DreamSMP and here in the Bay as well. Tommy knew one thing for certain though, as a responsible person, he couldn't leave Pete to run the Empire by himself, not after what had happened, but who to contact about that. Hmmm... Well, that was a problem for Tomorrow Tommy, cause for tonight, Tommy was just happy to be back to his normal self.

Chapter Text

Dawn spread over Business Bay the morning after Tommy's rekindling party. Tommy, having just woken up, started to think over the Antarctic Empire problem. Pete really could not be left alone, not after the true scare, that was the position they found him in upon arriving back on SMPEarth. The list of players that were associated with the Empire was small and only 2 of them were ones that Tommy knew how to contact.

'That was going to be a conversation best had in person, though,' Thought Tommy as he readied to go down to either get or start preparing breakfast

........................................................................................30 Minutes Later.................................................................................................

The rest of the boys and Pete wandered down just as Tommy was placing breakfast on the table.

"Good Morning," Tommy said. "Good Morning," everyone else said back as they sat down to eat.
"So, I think I need to go have a serious talk with Phil and Techno about the Empire's future, and your health situation, Pete." Tommy stated as soon as everyone was nearly done eating.
"It's not right that you work yourself to death, especially if they and Calvin don't want to help or return one day."

"I can't fault you on making that decision, Tommy," Pete agreed. "I haven't spoken to any of them since they left, and if they don't want to pop in every so often to help. I am gonna have to consider trading away the Empire, as I must admit, I can no longer handle the workload on my own."

"I can't promise that I can convince them to come back, or even pop in to help, but I will do my best to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation," Tommy replied.

"Does that mean you're heading back to the Dream SMP, Tommy?" asked Deo.

"Yes, and unfortunately, the sooner the better, with a matter like this at hand, uncertainty is more dangerous for Pete's long-term health." Tommy stated.

"Then at least 1 of us is coming with you, Tommy." Luke said as the boys set about cleaning up after breakfast.

"I'd expect nothing less after these last 8 days." Tommy grinned."

"I think it is best if you stay here, Luke." Deo stated, "With Wisp over at the Empire rn, we need someone stationed here at the Bay to respond if he needs something and to make sure things here are running smoothly."

"I really want to accompany Tommy," Bitzel says. "I can't stand to be separated by servers so soon after we helped him get back to himself."
"I feel the same way, honestly." Deo agrees.

"Well then, that settles that." Tommy grins. "You both will accompany me back to the Dream SMP, though I do want to pop back in on Pigical on the way and reassure him I am alright."

"I will shoot a Message over to Pigical then before we leave to let him know we are stopping by." Stated Deo as he moved to head to his room to grab his communicator.
"I think we should leave in an hour," Tommy shouted after Deo to make sure he heard it before getting outta hearing range.
"Understood," Deo called back.

........................................................................................1 hour Later.................................................................................................

Pigical was waiting at the Hypixel worlds portal when they arrived, having already been briefed by Deo that they couldn't stay, but that Tommy had wanted to reassure him that he was all better.

"Tommy, I am happy you're doing so much better," Pigical said with a grin as he hugged Tommy.
"Glad to be doing better, Big P." Tommy replied as he returned the hug with just as much energy.
"Unfortunately, this is all the time we have to spare rn." Tommy stated as he finally ended the hug.
"I understand, go knock around Techno's head for me, he seems to have gotten too good to even come by Skyblock these days as well." Pigical said, half jokingly. Then, seriously, "Take care of yourself, you hear, I am fully prepared to march through that server just to help if needed."
"Thanks, Big P, I am sure we will be fine." Tommy said as the trio prepared to jump to the Dream SMP.

TimeDeo has joined the game.
Bitzel has joined the game.
TommyInnit has joined the game.

Tommy is nervous as they logged in, unsure of how Techno and Phil were gonna take the news about Pete and his health. "We got this," Deo said. Tommy nodded as he opened the private messaging tab of his communicator and created a chat with just Phil, Techno and himself.
TommyInnit: Hey, could we meet up? Deo, Bit, and I have something of serious importance to discuss with you.
Technoblade: Phil can bring you to my cabin. Meet him in New L'manburg. TommyInnit: Thanks Techno.

"Looks like we are meeting Phil in New L'manburg before following him to Techno's cabin, good thing you decided to pack our snow gear, Deo, Techno, true to form, settled in a snow biome here as well." Tommy stated as the trio headed towards New L'manburg.

........................................................................................30 min Later.................................................................................................

Tommy grinned as he spotted Phil waiting for them just outside of town. "Hey Phil, long time no see, eh?." Tommy said as he moved to hug Phil. Phil looked down with tears in his eyes and hugged his son tightly before letting go. "Let's head on out to Techno's base, the fastest way is through the Nether," Phil stated as he started leading the way.

........................................................................................30 min Later.................................................................................................

Techno was waiting in his front yard when the Cabin came into sight. Tommy waved with a grin at Techno as they entered Techno's yard. "Good to see you healthier, Runt," Techno stated. "Oi, I am not a Runt..." Tommy started before Deo nudged his arm and stated, "May we go sit down somewhere? This is a conversation you're gonna want to be sitting down for."
Techno and Phil exchanged worried glances as they led the trio inside and sat down using furniture from both Techno's kitchen and living room.
"Now, what is this all about?" Phil asked, slightly dreading the answer, was Tommy hurt in more ways than his flame, as many potential things floated in his thoughts. Deo stated, "3 days ago, we arrived as SMPEarth to Wisp heading toward the Bay plane hangers, he told us... That he had lost contact with Pete an hour before we arrived. So all 5 of us headed to Pete's last known location and found him having a serious cardiac medical episode. The doctors at our hospital stated that if we hadn't gotten there when we did, Pete would be dead." Deo finished and gave Phil and Techno a moment to process the news. Techno looked horrified, and Phil was on the edge of sobbing. Techno then asked, "What was the cause of the episode?" Deo then said, "The Doctors said that the episode was caused by him being overworked and stressed out from running the Empire all by himself, currently he is staying in the Bay as the doctors want him there for observation before releasing him to return to the Empire, Wisp is running things in his place but Pete isn't doing all that well mentally either."

Phil was softly sobbing at this point, and Techno was racking his brain to try to figure out a solution to this problem, chat was of no help. Tommy then chimed in laying the situation out plainly, "I can tell you are trying to think of a solution to this, when it should be simple, you either need to trade the empire to another faction, or start stopping by regularly to help out, and see if Calvin can join in on that, Pete isn't gonna be able to run the empire by himself too much longer before it straight up kills him." Techno looked at Tommy and said, "You're right, we can't just lay this all on Pete as if we didn't help create this problem in the first place."

For the first time in years, Tommy could say he truly saw the Brother he used to have, not the stranger that showed up to Pogtopia. He walked over to Techno and hugged him, "I am sure you will come to a good solution, though I do think you should talk to Pete yourselves before settling on a decision." "When did you get so insightful, Tommy? "Techno stated as he looked at Tommy after the hug. "I just looked back at how things have happened over the years, the experiences and problems, and eventually we either have to grow from or be consumed by them."

Tommy then looked at Deo and Bitzel, and said, "We should probably go find a place to stay for the night, it's a little late to head back to spawn to get outta here today." "Stay?" Techno asked. "Sure," Tommy smiled. Techno nodded and pulled Phil into the kitchen to start making dinner. After dinner, Techno took Tommy and Phil to his den in his room for the night and set the boys up downstairs by the fireplace. "Goodnight," whispered Tommy. "Goodnight," whispered Phil and Techno.