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Aether and Lumine loved their family; how could they not? Tommy, so small yet bursting with energy, all smiles and mock anger, Wilbur, calmer yet somehow just as chaotic, with his love for music and Tommy equally knowing no bounds (it had to, when Philza took Techno and left, returns sparse and fading out as time went on until a visit once a year was lucky), and Technoblade, quieter and more introverted, but competitive and passionate, caring for his siblings despite his Chat.
(Philza was… Best left unmentioned. When he was there, he was kind, but infinitely favored Technoblade over his other children. At first, they tried to pass it off as Techno just being a better adventuring partner, the only one who wanted to or could go, but when the twins started showing just as much wanderlust, Philza continued to brush them aside. They pretended it hurt far less than it did, for Wilbur and Tommy’s sakes.)
No matter how much Aether and his sister traveled, they always made sure to come back on holidays, calling daily if they could and ensuring they made time for Tommy and Wilbur whenever they called or needed help. (They didn’t want to be like Philza, who ignored their desperate messages when the twins’ wings had grown in when they were younger, only coming back after Techno had seen the buzzing communicator and checked the messages while Phil was busy. Aether didn’t want to think about the fact that both twins could have died from infection because of Phil’s neglect, and neither him nor Techno would’ve been aware for the foreseeable future. It was only because of what Wilbur had seen when the twins’ wings grew that the three of them were able to help Tommy. Techno hadn’t seen the messages that time, and apologised the next time he was able.)
Even on the Teyvat server, after the run-in with the Admin, the Unnamed Goddess, Aether kept in touch the entire time he was searching for Lumine.
(Aether: Sorry guys, the admin’s here, brb
Wilbur: Why’s the admin there? It’s not a whitelisted server, is it?
Lumine: I don’t think so?
Aether: I think somethings wr
TommyInnit: Guys?
TommyInnit: Guys??
The last thing Aether remembered before his sister was ripped away from him, before the eternal darkness where he was unable to sleep, unable to fully wake, only drift in a mind-numbing emptiness, was the flash of guilt that hit him at the realisation he wouldn’t be able to reply to Tommy. )
___
The first thing he had done upon escaping the void, was grab his communicator. Or, tried to, at least. The panic he felt when he couldn’t find it was terrifying, and it only worsened when he remembered what happened to Lumine.
The time he spent drifting, not knowing the language spoken, surviving off what he could find, were some of the worst moments of his life - if it wasn’t for the bits of knowledge he had scrounged from books and late nights spent with his siblings, having Techno tell them stories about his adventures, Aether isn’t sure he’d have made it. Fishing Paimon out of the water was one of the best things to happen to him on the entire server.
( “Hey, Aether?” Paimon asked one night, not long after they had met, when they were still hiking towards Mondstadt. “You said you flew to this server on wings; why don’t you just fly around and look for your sister? Paimon doesn’t understand.”
Aether winced, shuffling his feet closer under him at the memory of his wings being torn off by this server’s admin. “I… Can’t. Not anymore.” He admitted, after a silence that lasted just a beat too long. “The- the goddess, she took them.” Aether lifted his scarf just slightly, showing the uneven, jagged lumps that remained of his once neatly preened limbs.
Paimon gasped, hands flying to cover their mouth. “Oh no… Paimon’s sorry for asking!”
“It’s okay,” he smiled weakly. “You were just curious. Um- do you know where I could get a communicator, by any chance?” )
___
The first thing he had done upon getting another communicator was call Wilbur. Quietly, he murmured a prayer to whatever god was listening - he hoped it was Ms Kristin, or The Grind - that time had simply been distorted within the void, that the years he had counted out by the second hadn’t truly passed in his home server.
“Hello?” His brother's voice was wary, unsure of why a stranger was calling, and slightly deeper than last he’d heard, but- but that was undeniably him. “Who is this? No, Tommy, I’m on the phone- oh screw off, none of that.”
“Wilbur?” Aether managed, biting back tears. “Is that you?”
“Aether?!” He sounded much more alert now, Tommy barely audible in the background, shouting his surprise for the world to hear. “You’re alive?! I thought for sure you and Lumine had… Well, you know. What happened?”
“The admin, she didn’t appreciate us flying in unannounced. She seperated Lumine and I-” Wilbur gasped, knowing how much the two hated being seperated from personal experience. He’d spent many nights comforting one or both of the twins from nightmares about the other leaving or dying, or anything along those lines. “-And took our wings-” Another gasp, this one distinctly more horrified.
“She what?!” Tommy had gotten louder, demanding to know what was happening.
“She trapped me in this- this void, for so long- Wilbur, how long has it been? It felt like centuries, I counted the seconds and it was .” Aether asked desperately, grateful Paimon was off in whatever pocket dimension they went to when they weren’t speaking or eating. This conversation was personal, and as much as he trusted them, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to spill everything just yet.
“It’s been about two and a half years,” Wilbur told him, audibly concerned. “Aether, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m- I’m fine,” he let out a shaky breath, fiddling with the end of his braid for a moment. “Can I talk to Tommy? Sounds like he might start biting ankles if he doesn’t get to talk to me,” Aether joked, making WIlbur snort.
“He’s shot up like a weed, he’s tall enough to bite elbows now, Aether, elbows . Do you know what chaos he gets up to now that he can reach the top shelf?” Aether laughed in return, some of the worry and guilt that’s been plaguing him since the void lifting. “Anyways, here’s Tommy now.”
“Big A? That really you?” Tommy sounds so hopeful when he asks, and Aether tries to picture what he must look like now, all tall, gangly limbs, if he grew anything like Wilbur, undoubtedly covered in scrapes and bandages, eyes shining with the same sense of adventure he’s always had.
“It’s me,” he confirms, smiling even as tears start to well up, not for the first time in this conversation. “How’s it going? Wilbur’s telling me you're a bit of a lanky lad now, hm?”
“Hell yeah I am!” Tommy exclaims, making Aether laugh again. “I’m the biggest man around - don’t you fucking dare laugh at me, bitch - ‘course I’m tall!” When Tommy speaks again, it’s quieter, more hesitant. “Why- why haven’t you called in so long?”
“Oh, Toms, I’m so sorry I couldn’t,” Aether tells him, and he really, really is, and what he wouldn’t give to be able to hug his little brother right now, to even just see his face- “I ran into a little trouble with an admin, Lumine and I were separated, and my communicator was taken.” He decides not to mention his wings; for an avian like Tommy and Aether, losing their wings is like living a waking nightmare. Unfortunately for Aether, that kind of describes his life at the moment. “I’ve just managed to get a new one. Paimon, my travelling companion, taught me this server’s language - I teamed up with a few people to find Lumine before I head back. I hope you don’t mind having to wait?”
“It’s fine, I can wait.” Tommy murmurs, uncharacteristically mellow. “Just- promise you’re actually coming back? Not like Phil and Tech?”
“Of course , if I had to choose between you and the world, it’d be you every time, Tommy. I’ll fist fight this server’s admin if I have to, trust me.” Aether reassures him, making a mock fighting stance despite the fact that Tommy can’t see him.
“Good on you, Big A!” Tommy’s back to his usual volume, and Aether can practically hear his grin. “Make that Goddess lady bow before you!”
Aether stifles a laugh. “I’ll make her wish she never tried to hurt Lumine,” he promises. “Can you pass Wil the phone? I have something I need to tell him.”
“Sure thing!”
“What’s up?” WIlbur greets. Aether enjoys how easily his family readjusted to his return, ignoring the bit of him that whispered about how Philza and Technoblade probably didn’t notice he and Lumine had ever been gone.
“Have Phil and Techno- no, has Techno visited? Or even messaged you guys?” Aether corrected his first sentence, as much as it pained him to do so.
“Techno… Messages, on the holidays, and sometimes in between, to see how we’re doing. Most of the time it’s just him asking if we’re still alive. More than we get from Phil though,” Wilbur adds bitterly. “There’s a new server, Dream SMP, we’ve recently heard about. Tommy and I are thinking of going, so that we don’t have to be alone here after leaving Business Bay. What do you think?”
Aether hummed, deliberating for a moment. “I think… I think Tommy needs some friends, so either join that server or let him join one on his own if he can.”
“Well, I’m not letting him off on his own, he’d break laws like they’re a to-do list-” Aether snorted. Sounded pretty accurate. “-So I guess we’ll head to the SMP. Call you again later?”
“Absolutely. Love you both, tell Tommy I said so. Bye!”
Paimon tapped his shoulder, making him jump. “Who was that?” They ask, head tilted curiously. “You sound close, but Paimon only caught the end of the conversation.”
“Those were two of my brothers,” Aether told them, smiling warmly and ignoring Paimon’s shocked exclamation about him having more siblings. “Other than them, I only have one more older brother; he’s never really around though, always off with Philza.”
“Paimon thinks you have a really big family,” they inform him, before checking the time and letting out a yelp. “Ah! Aether! We’re supposed to check in with Kathryn!”
___
Aether trots along behind Amber, towards the bulletin board near the bar. She’s telling him a story about an adventure she’d gone on, a rather eventful one with heaps of bad luck. Her partner, Bennet, had kept blaming himself, but Amber had steadfastly refused to let him. She’s just gotten into a detailed description of a fight when his communicator rings.
“Just a moment, Amber, I’ve got to take this.”
She blinks in confusion. He’d never interrupted one of her stories before, was something wrong? Oh! Maybe it was news on his sister! She edged closer, within hearing range, reasoning to herself that it’d be better to hear this info from the source rather than the paraphrased version Aether would give if whatever he was told was useful.
“-Was just putting up missing persons posters with Amber, the Outrider I told you about from the Knights Of Favonius? You remember her? She was telling me a story, I’ll have to apologise once this call is over… Yes, Tommy, I’ll tell you the story too, don’t worry. Wilbur, you’re better at storytelling; should I send you a quick summary? You can-”
He’s cut off as a loud, high pitched, childish voice cuts in. “No way! Wilbur’s stories are nowhere near as good as yours!”
Amber covers her mouth with one hand to muffle her snickers. How loud was that kid, that she could hear him even without Aether on speaker?
The person who speaks next has a deeper voice, probably this ‘Wilbur’ person. “Oi! I resent that! My stories are top notch, thank you very much!” This is one very loud call, Amber muses. Are they the Traveler’s friends? They seem rather close, to be bickering like this, with no real heat behind it.
“It’s okay, Wil, I’ll just tell the story tomorrow, I don’t mind.” Aether wanders quite a bit while on call, apparently, and he’s just moved out of earshot. Amber curses her luck as she watches him cut through the area near the fountain, the lack of hiding places would make trailing him nowhere near worth the effort.
A little while later, Aether rushes back, tripping over his feet to apologise. “Sorry sorry - I can’t miss any calls from my brothers, I’d feel guilty for weeks-”
“You have brothers?” Amber asks, too startled to notice how she’d cut him off.
“Have I… Not mentioned them? They’re getting ready for a server shift. Well, two of them are - my third brother is who knows where with Philza.” Aether scratches the back of his head. “Sorry again for interrupting your story.”
“Speaking of!” Amber exclaims, eager to get back into her tale, forgetting all about what she’d heard. “We had just finished off that mitachurl, when out of nowhere-”
___
Aether checked his communicator relatively often, but never this much all at once, Venti notes, confused. Why the change? After watching him pull out, check, and then disappointedly put away his communicator for what must be the thirtieth time, he voices his query.
“Waiting for something?”
Aether huffed, shoulders slumping slightly. “My brothers moved into a new server a little while back, and, well, I’m really worried about them - there was a huge mess, they held an election to make sure their rule over the nation they had just founded was fair and no one could argue against it, but they lost, and I don’t think either of them took it well. A lot of things went wrong, and they ended up getting kicked out, it sounded really rough.”
“What went wrong?” Venti was slightly surprised at the knowledge of the Traveler’s other siblings, but he’d already known Aether had a sister; it wasn’t much of a stretch to imagine he had more.
“Pretty much everything. The man in charge now - Schlatt, I think his name was? - is absolutely awful and corrupt. After getting power, his first order was to revoke Wilbur and Tommy’s citizenship of a nation they made and fought for. I’m just waiting now for Tommy to call me back. I’m… Really worried about them. Tommy gave up both his discs for L’manburg, two of the things he cares about most, only to be kicked to the curb? Apparently they’ve started a rebellion with Technoblade, Pogtopia, they’re calling it, but WIlbur hasn’t really been himself lately, you know?”
Venti blinked, startled at the amount of info Aether had dumped. Usually, the Traveler was much more mysterious about his past and his family, which Venti could respect. He’s pretty sure he’s starting to see why - the way Aether spoke, his family seemed a bit… Not broken, but also not perfect. Odd didn’t quite fit, but it was the best word he could think of. “Is something wrong with Wilbur?”
“That’s the thing, it’s really hard to tell - Tommy’s the only one who calls, and he insists it’s fine, but I’ve spoken to Techno too, over text, and he- he called me once, while he was bandaging Tommy’s wrist, it got sprained, and I… I think Wil did it. Tommy denied it when I asked, and Techno avoided answering, so I can’t be sure, but I just- I hate that I can’t be there for them, you know?”
Venti nodded. He knew how painful it was to be unable to help a loved one in their time of need. “I’m sorry you have to deal with that,” the bard told him, redoing one of his braids absentmindedly. “Why not try calling Tommy?”
“I don’t want to interrupt if anything important is happening,” Aether groaned, putting his head in his hands. “If he’s on some sort of stealth mission, he could lose a canon life because of me.”
“...Canon life?” Venti had never heard that term before, in all his time as an archon.
“The admin of the sever, Dream, he’s implemented a rule; you can die three times total, any more than that and you’re through. Unimportant deaths don’t count, apparently, though ones he finds funny can be counted as final.” Aether grimaces at the last sentence. “I regret letting them go. I should’ve stopped them, somehow.”
“It’s not your fault,” Venti can say that for sure, no matter how little he knows of the situation. “I haven’t known you for long, Traveler, but whenever you care for someone, it’s unconditional. If you had known there was anything wrong with that server, you wouldn’t have let them go. There’s nothing you could’ve done.”
As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Venti knows he’s said the wrong thing. Aether hunches his shoulders, checking his communicator again.
“...That’s the issue. I couldn’t do anything, still can’t, trapped here without my sister, without my wings, without a way home, without a way to help my family- I was stuck, trapped, for an eternity, without my communicator. I hate being helpless. It took me forever to even learn this place’s language.”
Venti opens his mouth, about to try and comfort the Traveler again, when the communicator Aether’s just set down buzzes.
Immediately, the blond is on his feet, bidding Venti farewell and sprinting out the door. Through the window, Venti can see him scrabble onto the wall surrounding Mondstadt before he takes the call.
Venti notes the names and places Aether mentioned - he’ll see what he can find on the matter later.
___
A part of Aether physically aches as he hears about what his brothers have gone through, crouched on the roof of the hotel in Liyue, having just met up with Xiao. He’d been worried, ever since Tommy told him of Wilbur’s plan to destroy L’manburg, renamed Manburg, and had given him his full support to try and stop it.
When he’s informed of Techno’s actions, from executing Tommy’s best friend to beating his little brother in the pit, he immediately calls his older brother, telling him off for a good five minutes when he picks up. When Aether finishes, he receives a grumbled and clearly reluctant apology, which tells Techno should be given to Tommy and Tubbo instead. Technoblade tells him he’s not apologising to them, and Aether promptly hangs up.
A sickeningly short while later (yet also a painfully long time of short, rushed calls, most check-ins ending up being with Tommy via text), he’s told of Schlatt’s death, the events leading up to it, Tommy being named president only to give it up and having it end with Tubbo as president and Tommy as his vice president (Aether almost congratulated him, but refrained when he heard how scratchy Tommy’ voice was, thick with tears and rough from smoke inhalation.). When he’s told of Techno’s actions yet again, he decides then and there the first thing he’ll do after hugging Tommy is to punch Techno. You don’t do that to children, much less family. Yet that’s somehow not the worst part - Wilbur’s gone. Gone gone. And the one who ended him was Philza, and he asked for it.
With tears in his eyes and flowing down his face, Aether congratulates Tommy on regrouping his citizens, and does his best to muffle his sobs at the news he’s been told. (He knows Tommy can hear him. His little brother is neither deaf nor stupid, no matter how he’s perceived. He’s just glad Tommy doesn’t call him out on it.) He says his “I love you” and goodbyes, but before hanging up, asks Tommy to give Tubbo a hug and check in on him. He’s never met the other kid, but he’s barely older than Tommy, and Aether’s worried about him.
Hours later, Aether’s still curled up in the same spot. He knows he should move, get working on his daily commissions, ask around if anyone’s seen Lumine - but he’s so tired , tired of this futile search, tired of letting Tommy down again and again every day he calls and has to tell him he hasn’t found a lead, tired of people saying “No, I haven’t seen anyone that looks like you, but while you're here, do you think you could help me out with something?”, tired of pretty much everything.
He… Never got to see Wilbur. The realisation hits him like a brick to the face, and it makes him cry all the more. His older brother, the one who took care of him and Lumine and Tommy when Philza took Technoblade and left- he’s gone . He’ll never sing them another song, tell them another story (Technoblade seems to be telling stories now. Maybe Aether should reference Greek mythology when he punches him, then his point might get through.), never going to welcome Aether and Lumine back with hugs and tears, won’t be there for Aether to cling to and never let go of along with Tommy because he misses his brothers, he misses them so much-
Aether takes a deep breath, gets unsteadily to his feet, and heads back to the hotel. He makes almond tofu with shaky hands, the familiarity of the dish helping to calm him down. He knows he must look like a mess, face covered in tears, eyes red and puffy, hair mussed up from being outside all night. He sets the dish down, leaves a little note for Xiao, and heads to his room. Paimon is laying there, dead to the world, and he sighs fondly. He’ll make some fisherman’s toast in the morning. He’ll deal with his emotions when he has the time.
(Later, when he received a call from Wilbur, only to find a ghost of his brother, he burst into tears again, only sobbing harder when Ghostbur fretted and tried to offer him blue, like a cheap imitation of how WIlbur used to care for his siblings.)
___
Tommy’s call is panicked, and Aether excuses himself from the conversation he was having with Chongyun and Xingqiu, hurrying to somewhere private.
“Big A, I- I fucked up, man, I fucked up big time,” his brother breathes heavily, running his hands through his hair, camera on for once. “There- there’s this new guy on the server, Ranboo, yeah? I figured- ‘let’s get to know him, we can go prank George, grief his house and blame it on Niki’, right? And- and we did that, but Dream got so mad, and he started making walls, and there was a trial, and Niki had an alibi- but, but I couldn’t let Ranboo get in trouble, he had barely joined - so I said I did it alone, and they- I was on probation for a while, and we decided to go against Dream, no one would side with him, and we’ve got the Blade, we’d win!”
Aether nodded, taking in Tommy’s disheveled appearance. Was he alright? He hadn’t seen his brother this distressed since… He wasn’t as panicked as after the whole ordeal with Wilbur, but it was a close thing.
“But then- Tubbo, he changed his mind, started thinking for the good of L’Manburg. As much as I want to, I can’t- fuck, I can’t hate him, he’s my best friend, but that doesn’t- it doesn’t make it hurt any less.” Tommy sighed, running his hands through his hair again.
“What did Tubbo do?” Aether asked hesitantly. Surely nothing too bad, he’d heard the way Tommy spoke of Tubbo, the times late at night when Tommy admitted that, as much as he called Tubbo his sidekick, he knew it was the other way around, how Tubbo was like another brother for Tommy.
“He- Dream’d been making demands for me to be exiled for a while. Tubbo agreed, said we couldn’t have a conflict now.” What. “I was escorted out and- Ghostbur came with, but when we got here, Dream destroyed my items, and reset my spawn, and Ghostbur’s got this whole Logstedshire thing going on-”
“Logsted for short!” Ghostbur interrupts cheerfully in the background.
“But now I have to stay with this green bitch watching me, and I don’t know if I can .”
“Tommy…” Aether murmured, blinking back his tears. He’s been spending too much time crying, not enough time working lately. “Is- Is there anything you want me to do?”
“Can you just… Be there? I don’t want to be alone. Please .” Tommy practically begged.
“Of course, always and forever.” Aether would die before leaving his brother again.
Tommy took a deep breath. “Okay, can you tell me some stories? Like old times? No sappy shit though. Nothing like that.”
“Alright,” Aether hummed, thinking. “Have I told you the story about how I met Paimon?”
“Only a million times,” Tommy grumbled, before, quieter: “I don’t mind if you tell it again. Could you talk more about the dragon, too?”
“Anything you want,” Aether smiled, ignoring the sting of tears in his eyes. “It all started when I went fishing…”
___
Aether frowned, glancing at the time and then back down at his communicator. Shouldn’t Tommy have called by now? He’d sounded worse than usual last time he called, but spoke excitedly about a beach party that was supposed to happen; Tommy told him he’d call afterwards to talk about it, but so far he’s heard nothing.
His worry only grew as time went on, and eventually, he called Ghostbur.
“Hey Aether! What’s up? You don’t usually call.”
“Hey Ghostbur. I was just wondering - have you heard from Tommy recently? He was supposed to have a beach party earlier this week and he seemed really excited about it, but he hasn’t tried to check in or anything. He told me not to call in case Dream was there, since he might take his communicator.” If something had happened, would Ghostbur even remember it? He only remembered good things, and Aether wasn’t sure if this would fall under that category.
“Oh yeah! I was supposed to deliver these invitations, and I remember going to do that, and… Huh, what happened after that?” Ghostbur sounded confused.
“It’s fine Ghostbur,” Aether told him, though honestly it was anything but. What happened to these invitations? He’s willing to bet anything Dream played a part in this. Screw punching Technoblade when they meet up, first thing he’s doing is drop-kicking Dream into the void. “Do you think you could check on Tommy, and remind him to call?”
“Sure!” Ghostbur chirped happily. “Bye-bye Aether!”
“Bye, Ghostbur.”
___
Tommy had an uncanny penchant for interrupting his conversations, Aether mused, running from where he was chatting with Albedo and Sucrose, hurriedly shouting an excuse over his shoulder.
“Heya Toms, what’s up?” Aether asked, slightly out of breath from his sprint.
“Aether, Big A, what do I do?” Tommy sounded distressed, his voice raspy like he’d been using it too much.
“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Aether prompted, ignoring the ice cold panic flooding his system.
“I- I had this stash, of stuff, so Dream couldn’t- couldn’t blow it up like he’s been doing, and um. He found it. Got real fucking angry and everything, blew up all of Logstedshire. I don’t- he said he was my friend, I don’t understand-” Aether’s grip on his communicator tightened. This whole situation was far worse than Tommy had let on.
“Okay Toms, can you breath for a moment?” Archons, was Tommy’s voice hoarse from screaming or smoke? Both? “Yeah, just like that, in and out. Okay, can you tell me where on the map Logsted is? And who’s nearby?”
“Well, obviously I can’t go back to fucking L’manburg,” Tommy growled, sounding more upset than really angry. “Techno’s up in the arctic, he’s close I guess- probably wants nothing to do with me though.”
“Hey Tommy, would you say you’re good at going undetected?”
“Course I am, I’m a big man, best man, good at it all.” Tommy paused, realising what Aether was implying. “Wait, are you encouraging me to break into Techno’s house?”
“Of course not, I’m a responsible brother, there’s no way I’d tell you to go to Techno’s house because he undoubtedly has an abundance of medical supplies, gapples, and blankets. There’s no way I’m telling you that if he kicks you out after finding you I’ll make sure he regrets until the end of time!” Tommy snorts, and Aether grins. “Okay, call me if you run into any trouble. Actually, scratch that, call me if you ever feel like you want to, trouble or no. But make sure you do call if you’re in trouble.”
“Sure thing, Big A.” Tommy just sounds tired now, and Aether hears cloth rustling. “I’ve- I’ve got Wil’s coat, but the… Tear in the back might compromise it.”
“I can ask Ghostbur to bring you something warm? I’m sure he’ll listen, I can tell him it’s a game to avoid Dream if you’re worried about that too.” Aether offered, hoping Tommy would agree.
“Nah, it’s fine, I’ll be fine.” Damnit. He’ll ask Ghostbur to keep an eye on Tommy regardless.
“Alright,” Aether nodded after a moment, ignoring the fact that Tommy couldn’t see him. “Be safe, Toms. Love you.”
“Love you too, clingy bitch.”
___
Calls with Technoblade were rare. Technoblade initiating calls was even rarer.
When Aether received one, he jumped to his feet, for once not busy with anything else, and accepted it immediately, already headed to a private location.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, knowing he’d never receive a casual call from his older brother.
“I just got back from my failed execution-” his what . “-only to find a certain blond raccoon, camped in my basement. I have the feeling this is your fault, Aether.”
“Maybe it is,” Aether admitted, “what are you going to do about it?”
“We’ve negotiated an alliance. He’s adamant on not destroying L’manburg, and keeps stealing my gapples, so I think I’m definitely not on the better side of this deal. Regardless, I couldn’t just leave him, he was covered in ash and blood and frostbite.”
“Haven’t you already done worse to him?” Aether was being rude, he knew this, but sue him. He was angry at everything Tommy’s had to go through.
Techno was silent for a moment.
“...That was unnecessary, sorry.” Aether apologised, once the silence got awkward. “Just- take care of him. I’m worried about him, after everything Dream’s done.”
“Alright. I do owe Dream a favor. If he calls it in and asks me to give him Tommy, you know I won’t be able to refuse.” Yes, you will be able, Aether thinks bitterly. You’re just a fool, assuming Dream helped you for anything less than to hurt Tommy later on along the line.
“Good bye, Technoblade. Tell Tommy to call.”
___
“-And Tommy and Ranboo, I think they’re getting along really well! Techno’s been telling me about this hound army he and Tommy are making, when they do those visits to L’manburg!”
Aether smiles. “That sounds really good, Ghostbur. I’m glad things are going well.”
“Oi! Ghostbur! Lemme talk!”
“Huh? Oh, sure! Here you go Tommy!”
“Something the matter, Tommy?” Aether asked, once Tommy took the phone.
“...Techno keeps asking me to destroy L’manburg with him. I told him I didn’t want to, that I was just doing this for my discs, but I- I’m worried he might not want to help if I don’t.” Tommy was whispering, the harsh sound making Aether wince.
“Techno’s a man of his word, which usually is more detrimental to those around him, but I think it works in your favor here. You have a deal, he’ll follow through on it.” Aether reasoned, praying to whatever was listening that he was right.
“I- yeah. I think you’re right. Um- Big A, can I ask you- have you gotten any leads on Lumine?”
Aether hesitates, just a split second, before deciding to be truthful. “...Of sorts. Nothing huge, but it looks promising.”
Tommy perks up at that. “That sounds good, eh?”
Aether nodded.
“Oh, look at this!” Tommy rummaged around in his pockets for a moment, before pulling out a compass, it’s pristine surface clashing with how horribly destroyed everything is around him. “It’s moving more, I think Tubbo’s doing something!”
A twig snapped in the forest behind him, and Tommy jumped. “Ah, fuck, gotta go big A, mobs are spawning, I have to get moving before they get here.”
“Bye Tommy, good luck. Please stay safe.”
___
“I’m a citizen of L’manburg again!” Tommy grinned, making Aether smile in response. “I kinda- I know how much I messed up, got too hung up on those discs. I hurt- I hurt Tubbo, I hurt a lot of people, and I’m gonna try and fix that! I don’t think too many people are gonna forgive me that easily, though…”
“It’s good that you’re trying,” Aether reminded him, “and even if they don’t forgive you, they’ll have to acknowledge that you did try, and that can do a lot of good in the end.” He paused, unsure of how his next question would go over. “How are things with Techno?”
Tommy visibly wilted. “Not so good, Big Man. I sided with Tubbo, and he respected that, but- but he told me to give back the axe, and I just- I tried to fight him, with the stuff he gave me .”
“I think he knew from the start you were more likely to side with Tubbo in the end than with him. Regardless, he can’t blame you for siding with someone who’s hurt you far less than he has. I can talk to Techno if you’d like, see what he thinks on the matter?” Aether’s offer was tentative, knowing the likelihood of Techno listening to him or even picking up the call was pretty low.
“Would you really, Big A? That’d take a load off my mind if you could!”
“I’ll do my best. If he doesn’t listen or pick up, I’ll spam text him until he does. That sound good?” Aether would follow through. Technoblade would be a dead man walking, brother or no, if he thought he could get away with ignoring Aether.
“Yeah, that’s good!” Tommy cheered.
“Okay. Bye Toms.”
“Bye!”
___
Aether: Technoblade
Aether: Techno
Aether: Tech
Aether: Brother
Aether: Mr Blade
Aether: He who never dies
Aether: He who can’t see over his crown when he wins MCC
Technoblade : What do you want
Aether : Tommy’s worried you’ll never forgive him/hate him forever for siding with Tubbo even though Tubbo’s been way nicer to him than you ever have. Forgive him, and tell him you’ve done so, or you will regret it.
Technoblade: Noted.
___
“I’m going to apologise,” Tommy said, out of the blue, while they were on call. “I went to try and find Mars - Sapnap’s fish - and- and I’m gonna give ‘im back.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Aether agreed. “Do you have Mars on hand?”
“Yeah, I swam around for ages! S’why I’m all sopping wet!” Tommy exclaimed.
“Uh, Toms? You don’t have your camera on,” Aether laughed, making Tommy let out an unintelligible shout. “I’m headed to check out that lead I mentioned a while back, call me back after you confront Sapnap?”
“Mhm,” Tommy hummed, leaving his camera off. “It’s gonna go well. It has to.”
___
Please, just let this one thing work out, Aether gripped his sword handle, sending his prayers to… Well, not the archons, he knows them pretty personally at this point, it’d be awkward. He’ll send his prayers to Mumza. On the off-chance this lead is solid and we get Lumine back, please give us a chance to visit Tommy. We can’t get into the SMP without our wings, it’s whitelisted only.
It might be his imagination, but Aether swore he heard a soft, apologetic voice murmur, “You’ve been through far too much, of course I’ll help.”
He smiled up at the starry night, a whispered thanks going unnoticed by his travelling companions.
___
“Big A. Big Man. Brother of mine. Holy fucking shit. ”
“I take that to mean a lot has happened?” Aether grinned, clipping his comm onto his scarf to keep taking down hilichurls as they ventured further towards the lead. It had taken so long to get here, having never visited and consequently being unable to use a teleport waypoint, but if Lumine was here, then stars above was it worth it.
“So much, I- I don’t even know where to start.” Tommy huffed. “Dream’s in prison, and I-”
A particularly loud mitachurl roared at him, before charging, his shield burnt by a well-placed shot from Amber moments later.
“Thanks for the save!” Aether called, taking down the now defenseless monster.
“Wait- are- are you fighting? And you still picked up?” Tommy sounded astonished, like he hadn’t been told multiple times that Aether would quite willingly fist-fight god for him, let alone multitask.
“Well yeah, I want to know how you’re doing, Toms.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Tommy cried hysterically, just as Aether took down both a bubbler hydro abyss mage and a set of cryo archer hilichurls in one fell swoop.
“...Nah, I think I’ll be fine. What were you saying about Dream being in jail?”
“A whole lot happened while you were offline, I’ve got my discs, a hotel, a shady as fuck underling - it’s Jack - and I almost died-”
“ What. ” Aether cut in, pausing in the middle of a battlefield, before spinning around and knocking a random hilichurl’s club out of its hands before it could make the hit it was going for. “How did you almost die this time?”
“I was walking with Niki, talking about shit, and we almost walked into where Tubbo was testing his nukes, it was wild. I coughed up blood from radiation poison, pog!”
“ Tommy that’s not pog- ”
“And, Sam Nook, some robot Sam built, helped me make the hotel! And- and-” Tommy got more hesitant, more nervous, towards the end of his last sentence. “I’m- I’m visiting Dream in prison for the last time today. Call me once you’re done investigating this lead and not in the middle of a fight?”
“No, stay on call for a bit, Toms! I haven’t heard from you in ages - my fault, I know, don’t even start, I’m the one who managed to take the only path with a spotty connection - why not tell me a bit more about what you’ve been up to? It’ll be therapeutic to talk about it, and I can take out my anger at how horrible the adults on the SMP are on these poor monsters!” Aether may or may not already be doing that, but that’s his own business.
A snort from the other side of his comms. “Sure, I’ll fill you in, Big Man.”
___
“I’m actually going to scream what the hell is going on in that server? A sentient egg? A green blob with a god complex and a habit of traumatizing and manipulating minors?”
“I’ve got no fucking clue either. Shit’s wild over here.” A faint voice filtered through his communicator, saying something to Tommy. “Oh- thank fuck we’re done going through this security. I’ve gotta go talk to a green bitch, later, A.”
“Bye Tommy, be safe.”
Aether took a deep breath in, waiting until Tommy had hung up to click off the call and turn towards the rest of his party, who were just finishing up their respective fights.
Was he ready for the possibility of this lead being fake? Was he ready for Lumine to potentially not want to come back?
( Philza, leaving with Technoblade for the last time, not even bothering with his usual promises to be back soon. Tommy, crying about Business Bay, mourning what he had once had, and lost, far too fast. Wilbur, gone too soon, taken from a world that didn’t want him and barely mourned him by the one person who should have protected him. Technoblade, haunted by bloodthirsty voices, leaving with Philza, unapologetically hurting his family, yet genuinely caring for Tommy after exile. Aether himself, trapped in that endless darkness, unable to see or hear or feel for an eternity, before being trapped in a land he didn’t know, surrounded by strangers speaking a foreign language and monsters and mobs he didn’t recognise despite all his time travelling with Lumine. )
Aether knew he wasn’t. If Lumine wasn’t there, if she wouldn’t come back, he knew he’d be devastated. Regardless, he nodded to his companions, and they marched onwards.
___
One, simple message, was all it took to ruin the elation Aether felt from finding Lumine.
Tommy had told him about the security breach, and they had been messaging pretty regularly after Dream would fall asleep, though Tommy told him he wasn’t sure Dream was ever really sleeping. When Aether first heard, he was fully ready to leave then and there to get Tommy out, but Tommy reassured him he’d be fine, since he only needed to survive the seven days, and told Aether to rescue Lumine. Reluctantly, he’d agreed.
The lead had, miraculously, worked out, and Lumine was being taken back to Mondstadt to get her a communicator so she could continue hopping worlds. Without one, she wouldn’t register as a player, and a death would be permanent regardless of whether or not they were on a hardcore server. They had just gotten within city limits, the surreal feeling that came with a victory that felt impossible still washing over him, when his communicator buzzed.
He pulled it out, waving off Lumine’s concern.
“I can take care of whatever it is, you should head with Paimon to get a new communicator.”
“Alright,” she had agreed, still looking worried as she let the little creature pull her towards Good Hunter, demanding food before anything else.
When he read the message, it was like everything came crashing down around him, and went mind numbingly blank at the same time. He was back in the void, he was watching Lumine die in a server for the first time, he was watching the Unnamed Goddess tear them apart, he was-
Technoblade: Tommy died.
“Lumine!” Aether called, snapping himself out of whatever trance he’d fallen into. “I’ve- I’ve got to go, Techno messaged me. When you get your communicator, go to the Dream SMP as soon as possible, got it?”
Lumine nodded. “I’ve got it. I’ll message you when I’m on my way over.”
He gave a weak smile, glancing down at his communicator again to confirm he wasn’t just hallucinating.
It’s time, the voice whispered. Go.
Wings, ghostly, flickering images of the limbs he’d lost, spread out behind him, and he flew.
___
Two or three days of straight flying isn’t fun, Aether can tell you. Especially when your vision is blurry from mourning your little brother.
Crossing into the SMP was an odd experience, feeling the familiar, warm touch of a server with infinite respawns, only to have it immediately be overwhelmed by the cold, unforgiving pain of a coded in life limiter. What had Dream done, how had he abused his admin powers to the point where even the server was in as much pain as the citizens?
By the time he’d made it to a populated part of the server, his wings were fading in and out, and he crashed into the snow.
By some miracle (it wasn’t a miracle, he knew, and thanked Mumza accordingly), he wasn’t hurt, his fake wings having tanked most of the damage before disappearing. Sitting up, he brushed the snow off his clothes. He really wasn’t dressed for this weather.
Would his abilities from the archons still work?
He pulled out his sword, giving it an experimental jab, a swirl of earth and wind, his first two elements, shooting out.
He perked up at the sound of footsteps, trudging through the snow.
“...Aether?” Aw, hell no, of everyone that could’ve found him, why did it have to be-
“Technoblade,” he greeted in response.
“There was no join notification. How are you here?”
“Give it a moment, it’ll show up, and I’m here because of this,” he pulled up the message on his communicator. “And because Mumza lent me some power to get my wings back for a minute.”
“Are you here to visit Dream, then?”
“That’s part of it. Another is because I promised I’d do something when I first saw you again.” Aether stumbled to his feet, Techno stepping forward to help him, before Aether punched his brother’s shoulder, making him falter, before he wrapped him in a hug. “I really missed you, you know?”
Awkwardly, Techno patted his back. “I missed you too, but I think you dislocated my arm.”
“Ah, whoops, been a while since I hit anyone without a vision.” He thought fondly back to his fights with Childe, more of a friendly spar towards the end than anything else.
“...I won’t even ask what a vision is.” Technoblade deadpanned, pulling back from the hug. “You should come back to my house, I’ll give you a map, and you can head to the prison.”
“Sounds good,” Aether picked up his sword from where he’d dropped it to punch his brother.
“Oh, and just a warning, we might run into Phil.”
Aether stopped. “...I’m gonna be real, Tech, if I run into him, I might-”
He’s cut off as both his and Technoblade’s communicators buzz.
“Oh, there’s my join notification.” He looks down at the chat to see people spamming questions. “Seems I’ve caused a bit of a ruckus. I’ll deal with that afterwards. I’m waiting here, you can go grab the map. I don’t want to risk running into Philza and doing something I might regret.” He probably wouldn’t regret it, all things considered, but he doesn’t want Techno to be mad at him, so.
Techno sighed. “Alright. I’ll be back.”
___
Technoblade rubbed a hand over his face, wincing as his other arm jostled. No doubt Phil had seen Aether’s name in chat and was freaking about by now. ( He ignored the part of him that whispered Philza deserved it, after all he’d done, ignoring his children. He ignored the way chat was unified for once, agreeing with that part of him. )
He should grab a healing pot. There’d definitely be more harm done than good if he just reset it and then kept using it like normal to plow his farm.
Technosoft TECHNOSOFT?? TECHNOBROTHER BROTHERBLADE chat cried eagerly.
“Shut up, chat.”
Chat paused. TECHNOMEAN :(((( OUCH RUDE TECHNOHURT JERK
He scooped the potion out of his chest, grimacing at the sickly sweet taste as it fixed his arm.
Techno knew he was going to have to head back to Aether with the map soon, and it wasn’t like he didn’t want to - he hadn’t seen his brother in years, of course he wanted to - but there was a tiny issue.
Aether’s name had been blared in chat, for everyone to see.
Dream must’ve seen it, probably wondering who got in despite not being whitelisted.
Philza must’ve seen it. ( Would he even care? )
Ghostbur must’ve seen it, might remember Aether from happy memories in the past.
Tommy must’ve seen it, and-
Techno stilled, nearly dropping the now empty glass bottle he held. Fuck.
Did he tell Aether Tommy had been revived?
Oh my gods Technodumb Technoforget Technobad chat chided, sounding disappointed.
Technoblade (whispers to Aether): Aether, did I mention what happened after Tommy’s death?
Aether (whispers to you): No? What happened?
Technoblade (whispers to Aether): Dream revived him
He waited. No reply.
Shrugging, Technoblade pocketed the map, moving on.
___
Aether paced the clearing Techno had left him. On one hand, Tommy was alive. That’s awesome! It’s the best thing he’s heard, in fact. On the other, Tommy was alive. How??
Technoblade said Dream had revived him, which could mean anything from a server roll back to some sort of magic. Maybe, it-
“Aether. Map.” The rolled up parchment hit him in the back of the head. He rubbed the back of his head, mourning the loss of Paimon to stop small projectiles like that.
“How exactly is Tommy… Back?”
“Well, I told you Dream revived him, yeah?” Aether nodded. That he had. “He had this thing, a revive book, apparently. I’m sure you can put two and two together.”
Aether could, in fact, put two and two together.
“We should probably head to spawn before people start flipping out,” Aether said, pulling out his communicator. He’d muted it after the buzzing got annoying, and messages had slowed down, but they were still frequent enough to be a nuisance. “...Actually, I think it’s a bit late for that.”
Technoblade sighed, like he was the one who just flew for three days straight after rescuing his long lost sister and finding out his brother was dead only to be told he had come back to life.
...That last bit did technically apply to Techno too, but Aether opted to ignore that for now.
“I’ll take you to spawn, come on.
___
Aether whistled. “Damn, this place is a mess.”
A rather short kid, with curly brown hair, small, curled horns, and pretty severe burn scars stepped forwards from where he stood beside an incredibly tall, half and half hybrid. Their height difference was comical, only accentuated by how the taller slumped yet still towered above pretty much everyone there. “Technoblade, who is this?”
“Oh! Are you Tubbo?” Aether grinned, ignoring the fact that this kid was talking to Techno. “Tommy’s told me so much about you!”
The kid blinked. “Tommy’s told you about me? Wait, you’ve spoken to Tommy?” So this was Tubbo, perfect!
“Yeah, Tommy fills me in pretty regularly on what he’s up to, of course I’ve heard about you!”
“We’ve gotten off topic, who are you?” Tubbo corrects himself.
“Right, I didn’t introduce myself-” he stuck out a hand to shake. “I’m-”
“Aether!” Ghostbur cried, floating up beside him. “It’s been so long!”
“Hey Ghostbur,” Aether greeted. “It has been a while.”
“You know him?” Tubbo asked, looking between the three brothers. “How?”
“Well duh, it’d be pretty hard for me to not know my own brother,” Ghostbur states, turning towards Aether, uncaring of the bombshell he’d just dropped. Aether snickered. “Huh? What’s funny, Aether?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Aether laughed, waving a hand. “Where’s Tommy?”
“Oh, Tommy, he’s…” Ghostbur looked confused. “Hm… I don’t know. Technoblade! You’re here too!”
“Tommy’s been staying with Ranboo and I in Snowchester, he gets along great with Michael,” Tubbo tells him, sounding somewhat dazed. “You- he has another brother?”
“And another sister,” Aether confirms, “but Lumine’s back in Teyvat until they finish making her communicator.” He turns towards Techno, who looks like he’s in physical pain at the amount of talking he has to do to Ghostbur. “Speaking of which, tell Philza to stay away from spawn for now, I’m still mad at him.” Facing Tubbo again, he nods towards the tall, multicolored kid. “That’s Ranboo, right?”
“I’m Ranboo, yes.”
“Okay, cool, who’s Michael? I don’t see that name on the list of players.”
“Oh! He’s our son!” Tubbo points to the ring on his horn. “Ranboo and I are platonically married, we adopted him.”
“I don't want to intrude if it’s your home, but can I see Tommy?” If Aether’s told no, he’ll respect that and lurk outside until he either gets permission to go in or Tommy comes out.
“I- I guess? We’d have to ask Tommy, though. Ranboo, do you reckon it’s okay?” Tubbo turns towards Ranboo, who taps his chin in thought.
“I think it’d be fine, yeah. If this is really Tommy’s brother, then it’s all good, if this is some weirdo pretending to be who somehow got Technoblade and Ghostbur to play along… Well, there’s always your nukes, right?”
Aether snorted. “I like the way you think, Ranboo.”
___
“Tommy!” Tubbo calls into the house, voice barely louder than when he was speaking normally. Probably as to not startle Tommy, Aether reasoned. “Someone’s here, named Aether, claims he’s your brother!”
Tommy’s head pops out of one of the doorways. “Aether?”
“Heya Toms!” Aether waves.
“Aether!” Tommy bolted towards them, wrapping his arms around Aether as tightly as possible. Aether patted his brother’s head, ruffling his hair and ignoring the way the streak of white made him feel nauseous.
“So, you were investigating a lead, right?” Tommy asked, grabbing Aether’s hand and dragging him into the house. It’s probably a funny sight, Aether’s admittedly short stature next to Tommy, who’s dragging him along like a child would to their parents. “How’d that turn out?”
“It actually worked out, Lumine’s just waiting until she can get a communicator to come see you.” Aether smiled softly at how happy Tommy got.
“Really? That’s so pog, Big A!” Tommy halted for a second to pull open a trapdoor, before yanking Aether up into the attic behind him. “This is Michael’s room- Tubbo, is it okay if he meets Michael?”
“If you think he’s safe, I guess,” Tubbo responds, climbing up behind them, Ranboo already in.
“C’mere Michael,” Ranboo coos, sitting down, and a little baby zombie pigman darts into his lap. “Meet Aether, he’s uncle Tommy’s brother.”
“Does that make you uncle Aether?” Tommy pondered.
“Nah, I don’t think I know Michael or Tubbo or Ranboo well enough for that.” Aether shook his head. “Nice to meet you, Mister Michael. I’ve heard you and Tommy get along famously?” He looks up to Ranboo for confirmation, who nods.
“The two of them enjoy running around stealing shiny things. And Michael likes preening Tommy’s wings, he’s gotten way happier now that the feathers have fully grown back from exile.”
“Yeah, cleaning wings by yourself is practically torture,” Aether shuddered, thinking back to when Lumine had gotten sick and after taking care of her wings, he’d tried and failed to do his own, and ended up teaching Tommy and WIlbur that night. He ignored the confusion evident on Tubbo and Ranboo’s faces from that statement, silently bemoaning the loss of his wings. He’d have to visit Hermitcraft, see if anyone wanted to go End busting for an elytra. Then again, his glider was almost as good, except he couldn’t use the fireworks, though his anemo more than made up for that.
“Anyways, Tubbo, Ranboo - tell me about yourselves! I’ve heard a bit from how much Tommy likes talking about you guys, but he’s too fond and tends to be overly nostalgic about everything, I wanna hear about you two firsthand.” Aether spoke over Tommy’s complaints with an ease that came from years of practice.
___
The four of them - five, including Michael - had started to settle down after a little while. Ranboo had gotten hot chocolate and blankets at some point, and Aether was telling Michael and Tommy stories about Teyvat.
“You want to see a cool trick I learned?” Aether asked, making Tommy nod eagerly. “I mentioned visions, right? Well, as someone who wasn’t from Teyvat, I could use all the different elements, without needing a vision. All I needed to do was interact with the statue of an archon. ‘Course, once I left, I didn’t need to, and at that point I’d learned to use two at once anyways, so- just, watch this.”
He held his hand out, a swirl of hydro appearing on it, forming a tiny water sculpture of Michael, a mirror image made with cryo on the other hand. He passed the ice statue to Michael, letting the hydro disappear with a flick of his wrist.
“That’s super cool! Tubbo, Ranboo, it’s awesome, innit?” Tommy grinned, turning towards the other two.
“That’s pretty sick,” Ranboo agreed, leaning back from where he’d shifted forwards for a closer look. “But it’s Michael’s bedtime.”
Tommy pouted. “Fine. Night, Big M, Big A, Big T, Ranboob.”
“That’s not my-”
___
Aether knocked lightly on Tubbo’s bedroom’s door.
“What is it?” Tubbo asked groggily, rubbing his eye sleepily.
“I was wondering if you could point me towards Dream. I have a few… Issues, so to speak, to discuss with him.”
“S’it about Tommy?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll give you the coordinates for Sam’s base, he’ll decide whether or not to let you in.”
“Thanks, Tubbo.”
___
“Oh? You’re new. You must be that Aether person, hm?”
“I am. You’re Dream, correct?” Aether felt the heat on his back as the lava came back down behind him.
“That I am, though I’m sure you already knew.” He sounded so smug, and Aether wanted nothing more than to punch his lights out. Unfortunately, Sam told him he wasn’t allowed to visit if he was going to be violent, so he had (reluctantly) scrapped that plan.
“Yes, Tommy’s told me quite a bit about what you’ve done.”
“You know Tommy?” His head tilted, along with that pristine yet old and withered yet brand new smiley mask.
“He’s my brother. We’ve been calling regularly ever since I got a new comms.”
“Some brother you are, letting him come to this server.”
Aether let out a breath. “Listen here. I know I wasn’t the best brother, should’ve found a way around the Unnamed Goddess, should’ve kept Lumine safe, shouldn’t have let those two come, all that. But you don’t get to talk about being a bad person. You’ve manipulated, hurt, blamed, and killed literal children. What the actual hell, Dream?” He paused. “Actually, no, don’t try and explain. I might actually murder you. Oh, and just a warning?” Aether grinned, enjoying the way Dream’s shoulders tensed. “If you ever get out, I don’t care who you side with, I will get my revenge. Mark. My. Words.”
___
Aether let out a breath, glad to leave that prison behind. It reminded him of the void, the darkness, the constant looming feeling of fear, the odd feeling of being trapped in a cramped space while also having just too much room to move to be comfortable.
He gave a short wave to Sam, who nodded, before he was off.
He had a hotel to reclaim for his brother.
___
“Jesus, Big A, what on earth did you do?” Tommy asked, shocked, watching Jack rush off.
“Nothing much, just asked for the hotel back.” Aether says, you know, like a liar. “Maybe he was just intimidated since I grew up with you, Techno, Lumine, and Wilbur as siblings, and as the middle child, but still made it out alive. Somehow.”
“Fair enough, you’re like- like the middle of a sibling sandwich. Me and Lumine, then you, then Tech and Wil.” They both giggled over that for a bit, Aether laughing even harder at the mental imagery of Techno, Wilbur, Tommy, and Lumine as slices of bread.
“Tommy, Toms, would we be a tasty sandwich. ” Tommy kept laughing. “No, Tommy, this- this is a serious question, are we a tasty sandwich? ”