Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"We gotta get dogs! Let's go look for dogs!" Techno said, setting off into the snowy wilderness.

"Dogs, yes… wait, what are we doing?" Tommy asked, following after him.

"We're forming a hound army, it's number four on my list of things to do."

"Why? Why? Wait, can I read your list. Please?"

"Yeah, you can read it," Techno said and threw a notebook at him.

"Some weapons, check. Minor terrorism. Get back my weapons. Save Philza Minecraft. Destroy – destroy L'Manberg?" Tommy asked in a high-pitched voice. "What do you mean, destroy L'Manberg?"

"What?" Technoblade turned around quickly and winced slightly. "Ahahaha, that's just… a joke. Yes. I was making a joke about destroying L'Manberg, because I hate government."

"You already destroyed L'Manberg!" Tommy threw the notebook at Techno's feet.

"And they rebuilt it, so clearly I didn't destroy enough of it!" Techno dropped any pretense of humor and walked toward Tommy. "They rebuilt it, and they put a new government in place that didn't even pretend it wasn't a dictatorship, and they came after me! They came after me to execute me, Tommy!"

Tommy instinctively took a step back. "Yeah, okay, that wasn't a very nice thing to do, but you did blow up L'Manberg," he pointed out. He still saw it in his nightmares: Technoblade in full netherite armor aiming a crossbow at him across an abyss and shouting at him that he should die, and then sending two withers after him while laughing in excitement…

"Because you used me!" Techno roared. "You- no, you know what, I'm not doing this." Techno abruptly turned back around and walked toward the hills.

"Techno… Techno, wait!" Tommy hurried after him. "You can't just – you can't just say you'll destroy L'Manberg and-"

"And what, Tommy?" Techno asked without looking back. "Ooh, suddenly you're so surprised, you never heard me say that I want to destroy L'Manberg before, this is totally unexpected, it's not like I literally told you-"

"We agreed on minor terrorism, not destroying L'Manberg! We agreed we wouldn't destroy L'Manberg! We just said we'd get my discs back!"

"I don't remember agreeing to that. They executed me, Tommy!"

"Yeah, but that was because you blew up L'Manberg! And, and you killed Tubbo!"

Technoblade stopped. "Do you think they were justified, Tommy?" He turned around, almost visibly itching for a weapon. "Do you think they were justified in executing me? Do you think I should have died there?"

"That's, that's, that's not what I was saying!" Tommy protested.

"But do you?" Techno shouted.

"I don't think you should have died there," Tommy said. He still hated Techno for what he'd done. But Techno had also let him stay here – very begrudgingly, but he had, even though Tommy hadn't been very nice to him. Tommy didn't have any illusions that Techno couldn't have killed him even without his weapons, but he'd let him stay instead when Tommy had nowhere else to go, and he'd even agreed to help him get back his discs.

"So you agree that they wronged me? When the government executed me without even a trial?" Techno demanded.

"I mean… I'm sure they think they had to! Tubbo wouldn't… and you still have all your lives anyway, you would have been fine!"

Techno laughed. "I would have been fine, Tommy? That's what makes it all okay? The government can execute anyone they want, as long as it's not their last life? Is that what you think about government?"

"No no no! No, that's not…"

"Do you think they would have been sorry, when I didn't come back? Do you think they would have apologized? Oh no, we only meant to execute him a little, it's truly unfortunate… Let's be honest here, Tommy, they would have executed me three times, they would have celebrated, they would have celebrated for days…"

"Wait, you're on your last life?" Tommy interrupted in disbelief. "You? But, but Technoblade never dies!"

Techno looked like he regretted revealing that information. "Where I come from people don't have multiple lives. Anyway-"

"So they would have killed you off for good?" That was… Tommy realized that he'd completely believed it: Technoblade never dies. The thought of Techno actually dying, dying for good, was…

"I died, Tommy! I died! I just happened to come back immediately, but it sucked, okay? It was terrible! I was retired, I was minding my own business, I decided that I didn't care anymore what the government in L'Manberg did, but they still came after me! Should I just wait until they come after me again? That doesn't sound like a good idea to me, Tommy!" Techno was breathing hard, his breath steaming in the cold winter air.

"Yeah, no, yeah, that, that sounds… You died? You really died? Seriously?" Tommy asked. Techno had said he'd been executed, had even shown him the execution platform, but Tommy hadn't taken him seriously. He'd thought that Techno was kidding, clearly he'd escaped, it had even said so on the signs on the platform: "On the 16th of December Techno escaped." (There was a second sign saying "He cannot let it happen again," which Tommy thought was probably put there by Quackity, it seemed like the kind of thing Big Q would fixate on.) That was what Techno did, wasn't it? The Blade was undefeatable. Technoblade didn't get captured and Technoblade didn't get executed and Technoblade never died.

Except apparently he had.

"Go away, Tommy," Techno snapped.

"No, wait, seriously, you died? How did you come back? Did you have one of those Totems? I thought they were a myth! Where did you-"

"Tommy!" Techno shouted. "Leave me alone! Get out of my house! Go back to L'Manberg for all I care, it sounds like you fit in perfectly there! Just go away." Techno turned and walked away.

"Fuck you, Techno!" Tommy shouted after him. "Fuck you! Just… go fuck yourself!" He stomped on the ground in anger, and then stopped because it made him feel like a child throwing a tantrum. And he wasn't. He was a big man, and he knew what he was doing, and Techno had no right to just send him away. Tommy angrily walked in the opposite direction Techno had gone in, snow swirling up around his shoes. He'd go and find so many dogs and not tell Techno about any of them.

Okay, he didn't know what he was doing all the time. Like right now. He'd just managed to piss off the one person who'd promised to help him, and the one person who could have protected him from Dream. He'd pissed Techno off before, of course, he was very good at that, but he wasn't entirely sure if Techno would be so willing to ignore or forget it this time. Never mind forgive and forget - he didn't think that Techno forgave anything, ever.

Which was the problem, of course. Techno wanted revenge on L'Manberg for his execution. Techno also wanted to make sure that L'Manberg could never come after him again, which, to be fair, was somewhat understandable. And Techno thought the only way he could get both of those things was by destroying L'Manberg – and he'd mentioned that L'Manberg had simply been rebuilt the last time it was destroyed, so this time he must be planning something much worse. He had a fucking vault full of wither skulls! If he set all of them loose, they would blow up L'Manberg down to bedrock.

As angry as Tommy was at L'Manberg, and at Tubbo for exiling him and never even visiting and just leaving him there, he never wanted L'Manberg gone.

…which meant that now, when he was the only one who knew what Techno was planning, he had to figure out a way to save it.

It would be fine, he told himself, ducking under another snowy branch. He got this. He'd figure out a way. He had to. It didn't matter right now that Technoblade had betrayed them and blown up L'Manberg in the past, it didn't matter that the bastard had killed Tubbo: all that mattered now was stopping him from destroying L'Manberg again.

What did Tommy have? He knew where Techno's vault with the wither skulls was. He could simply steal all the wither skulls, and the other supplies. But realistically, that would only be a stopgap measure: Technoblade could get more wither skulls, or come up with something else.

Tommy also knew Techno's plans: minor terrorism, getting his weapons back, creating a hound army, and saving Philza. Tommy hadn't asked what exactly Techno meant by minor terrorism, which he regretted now. It could be anything from kidnapping to using withers.

Speaking of the hound army, Tommy could see a big grey dog standing right next to some trees. "You're lucky Technoblade wasn't the one who found you," he told it. "He'd have made you a part of his hound army and sent you into battle and then you'd be killed. Probably by Sapnap."

The dog looked at him skeptically. Tommy threw snowballs at it until it ran away.

So. What were the options for convincing Techno not to destroy L'Manberg? "You're using words, but the only universal language is violence," Techno had told him in Pogtopia after beating him bloody. That would mean that if he wanted to stop Technoblade… But he couldn't defeat The Blade. Not even if he had better armor and weapons and potions. The only person who would even stand a chance in a duel was Dream, and he obviously wasn't an option. Even with more people – the Butcher Army had tried that, and from what Techno had said they'd only managed to capture him because they took Techno's horse hostage, and that wasn't the kind of violence Technoblade respected, so that was out.

Maybe if they'd come with even more people they'd have managed to beat Technoblade, but to actually stop him they'd have to kill him permanently. And apparently they'd tried but Techno had made it back anyway, presumably using a legendary Totem of Undying, and who was to say he didn't have even more of these? That seemed like a Technoblade thing to do.

Other solutions, other solutions… was there anything Tommy could blackmail Techno with? He clearly cared about his pets, and his weapons, and Philza. Threatening his pet had worked once before, but Techno had also gotten it back right afterwards, clearly that wasn't a long-term solution. The same went for his weapons: Techno was literally in the process of making plans to get them back right at this moment. He was also making plans to free Philza, he clearly cared about him a lot, he might even be willing to come to an agreement for the sake of Phil's safety. But Tommy wasn't a monster like Dream, he wasn't willing to threaten to actually harm Phil just to blackmail Techno. At least not seriously enough that Techno wouldn't see through him immediately and then he'd just be pissed off. Tommy liked to think that for this it didn't matter who it was, but Phil seemed to be a pretty cool guy. Also, going from Wilbur's tales, Phil was a pretty good fighter himself, so threatening him might be risky anyway.

Tommy climbed on top of another hill and looked around. He'd almost reached the end of the snowy area. For a moment he thought about just walking on, then he wouldn't have to deal with the crazy bastard who wanted to blow up L'Manberg again. He wasn't even a citizen anymore, he'd been exiled, so it wasn't even really his problem. He wasn't the one who'd pissed off Technoblade so much that he wanted to wipe out L'Manberg completely. If they hadn't exiled him, he'd have told them that killing Technoblade was a terrible idea. Of course Techno would want revenge! It really wasn't Tommy's fault or responsibility to fix this.

But then Technoblade would blow up L'Manberg, and that would make Tubbo sad. "You owe me for this, Tubbo," Tommy muttered. "You owe me so much. Everyone in L'Manberg. You better make me a statue for fixing your fuck-ups and saving you all from Technoblade." He walked back toward the house.

So blackmail was out. What else was there, imprisoning him? Where? Tommy had little confidence that there was a prison on the server that would be able to hold The Blade for long.

Did the guy have any weaknesses? Apart from "peer pressure," like he claimed when he shot Tubbo, which was obviously complete horseshit because he didn't give a shit about peer pressure when he decided to blow up L'Manberg and everyone wanted him to stop.

Well, not quite everyone. Dream, the asshole, had only been too happy to help.

Maybe Dream had been planning it all along. Tommy was pretty sure Techno hadn't been working with Dream before the revolution, but Dream was very good at manipulating situations to his advantage. Dream had surrendered very quickly, and then he'd stood there while Tommy was on the podium and said he'd never bow to him even though nobody had even asked him to, and when Techno had started attacking Dream had joined him immediately.

It made sense. Dream wanted power, so of course he'd support an anarchist who'd take out his enemies for him.

Techno's house – their house now, Tommy reminded himself, he was living there too now, Techno couldn't just throw him out so easily – came into view, and Tommy saw Techno return to it from the other direction. One dog followed him, and as Tommy came closer he watched Techno give it a few scratches and then open the fence and gesture for the dog to go inside.

"Techno, are you working with Dream?" Tommy asked as soon as he was close enough.

"Heh?" Techno looked up.

"It's a simple question! Are you working with Dream? 'cause I know I said he was a friend but he wasn't a very good one, I don't think. I don't think we're friends anymore. I don't want to be his friend anymore. And, and I don't really want to see him again. So if you're friends with him, I'd just like to know, so-"

"I'm not friends with Dream," Techno interrupted, sounding almost offended. "And we're not working together. I just owe him a favor."

"Oh. Well that's good, then." Tommy leaned over the fence and the dog came over to him, tail wagging. Probably hoping for treats Tommy didn't have. "Wait, what kind of favor?"

Techno sighed. "He saved me from being executed."

Tommy straightened up quickly. "Dream saved you from being executed? Why?"

"How should I know. He said me dying wasn't in his best interest. Honestly? I think he enjoyed pissing off L'Manberg. And he probably already has something in mind for that favor."

"I bet he's going to ask you to destroy L'Manberg," Tommy predicted.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure he knows I'd do that for free." Techno gave one last scratch to the dog and then walked inside the house.

Tommy followed. "True, true. You did it before, after all. Hey, quick question, when you blew up L'Manberg the first time, did Dream convince you to do that?"

"No? I told you, you started a new government right in front of me!"

"Yeah, but, but you could have talked to us first instead of just attacking! I know you have your whole "violence is the only language" bullshit, but notice how I'm not currently attacking you?"

"You're not attacking me because I'd kill you, Tommy," Techno said flatly, but Tommy ignored him.

"Look, all I want to know is, did Dream talk you into attacking immediately?"

"He did talk to me," Techno admitted. "Asked me to join "Team Chaos" and said he'd have my back."

"I knew it!" Tommy said, jumping up. "That asshole!"

"It didn't matter, Tommy. Dream already knew Wilbur would set off the TNT. And I'd have fought the new government anyway." Techno was walking back and forth checking his chests, doing a bad job pretending to be distracted.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a very violent person, everyone knows that, the only way you know to solve problems is with violence, it's just violence violence violence all day long…"

"Heh?" Techno sounded insulted.

"Oh don't pretend. You killed Tubbo." Tommy would see the fireworks exploding into Tubbo's face in his nightmares for as long as he lived.

"Stop bringing that up!" Techno complained and finally faced Tommy again. "That was months ago! I was peer pressured!"

"Horseshit," Tommy scoffed. "You didn't care about "peer pressure" when you blew up L'Manberg."

"Well, Tommy, some things are more important than social anxiety, like destroying the government!"

"So destroying the government was more important than your anxiety, but not killing Tubbo wasn't, I see how it is."

"There were twenty guys there that would have shot me!"

"Alright, so you were just scared, is that it. You were just being a big pussy. Just admit it, Techno, you didn't want to risk your life for Tubbo. Say you were a pussy," Tommy demanded.

"Tommy, if I admit I didn't want to die for Tubbo, will you leave it alone?" Techno groaned.

"Okay, fine. Say it. Say it."

Techno sighed. "Fine. I didn't want to die for Tubbo. Now in hindsight, if I'd known how much damage the rockets could do there might have been another way, but I can't see the future, and probably Tubbo would have died anyway and I would have died for nothing, which frankly I thought was not exactly a favorable outcome. Are you satisfied now?"

Tommy frowned. Techno wasn't the easiest person to read, especially when he was wearing armor, but Tommy thought he looked annoyed but sincere, and even a little uncomfortable. Maybe even regretful, though that might be wishful thinking on Tommy's part. He didn't look like The Blade right now: just Technoblade, a very powerful warrior but also someone who wasn't perfect. Someone who didn't want to die, which was, Tommy had to admit, a very normal thing to want, even though he'd never thought that The Blade was afraid of anything. That's what you got from thinking too highly of people, eventually it turns out they're just people, too. Tommy would die for Tubbo, no question, but Techno hadn't even known Tubbo back then.

"Okay," Tommy declared. "You were a big pussy, Technoblade. I don't forgive you, but I'll try to stop holding it against you."

"That's very generous of you," Techno said, rolling his eyes.

"I know," Tommy said with a nod.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Well, glad we've cleared that up," Techno finally said.

"You're really just a normal person, aren't you, Technoblade," Tommy said, because keeping his thoughts to himself was hard sometimes.

"Heh?"

"Yeah. Your "oooh, I'm The Blade, I'm unbeatable, I'm the greatest warrior alive" schtick-"

"I never said that! You said that!" Techno interrupted. "That's really not my fault!"

"You're probably right about that," Tommy admitted.

"Probably?"

"Look, I'm sorry I thought you were this super strong warrior guy, but-"

"Hey, hey, let's not get insulting here," Techno complained.

"I'm just saying. You're very strong, Technoblade-"

"Thank you."

"-but, but I have to remember that you're a normal person."

"Well, I don't know about normal," Techno said with a short laugh, "but yeah."

There was another short silence.

"Anyway," Tommy gestured downstairs, "I'll go do some more mining, I guess."

"Have fun, I guess," Techno said.

"I just remembered, you literally told me you're bad at conversation, but really it should have been obvious," Tommy called while climbing the ladder down. He couldn't hear Techno's response.

Tommy nodded to himself while going deeper into the mine. Techno was just a normal person – okay, maybe not exactly normal. He was one of, if not the strongest warrior, after all. But he was a person, a fairly violent person but a person, with normal problems and fears.

He was probably scared when he was being executed, which only made sense when Tommy thought about it. Tommy remembered dying, and it sucked, and that was when he knew he wasn't on his last life. It had been strange and uncomfortable getting used to the idea that his next death would be final and permanent. Techno had lived his entire life like that.

So of course Techno wanted to make sure there wouldn't be another Butcher Army sent after him. Destroying L'Manberg was a complete overreaction, but Tommy could sort of see where he was coming from. That, and revenge, of course. Tommy wanted revenge on the person who'd killed him too. Only, unlike Technoblade, he didn't have access to a vault full of explosives and an entire town he could blame.

Still, Tommy was a lot more confident now that he'd be able to convince Technoblade with words. They might not be Techno's first language, so to speak, but Tommy would cope. He was good at talking people into things, and if that failed, Techno had just proven that he was willing to make concessions just to stop people annoying him. Tommy grinned as he started mining a new tunnel. He was very good at annoying people.

Fortunately, Techno wasn't the kind of person to go back on his word. It was hard to believe after his betrayal after the revolution, but when Tommy had thought back on what Techno had said, he'd remembered that Technoblade had always avoided the question of what would happen afterwards. He'd done the same thing this time, Tommy realized: when Tommy had said he'd join Techno to get his help to get the discs back but that they wouldn't destroy L'Manberg, Techno had just said that they'd discuss the details later, and Tommy hadn't asked further questions because he'd wanted to think that Techno had agreed. Techno had said he'd help Tommy get his discs back "by any means necessary," and Tommy really should have questioned that more.

This time, Tommy would have to get a clear and definite promise out of Technoblade. He just had to focus. Maybe it would be best to write it down, even? Or would that be insulting.

His communicator flashed and showed a new message.

Technoblade: Tommy where are you

Tommy frowned and tried to call Techno, and to his surprise the call even connected even though he was deep underground. "I'm in the mine, why?" he asked.

"Stay down there. Dream is coming," Techno said, sounding stressed.

Tommy froze. "Dream is coming?"

"He said he'll be here in five minutes. Stay down there, Tommy."

Tommy had already started quickly walking back through the tunnel. "Maybe I should come back up," he argued. "Just to, just so I can listen. I can hide in your rooms, right? Didn't you say you have a box?"

"Tommy you're already in a secret room! Just stay down there, it's the safest place you can be! What reason could you possibly have to come up and increase the risk of Dream finding you!"

"I just… I don't like the idea of Dream being right here and I don't know what he's doing," he confessed. He reached his room and sat down on his bed.

Techno sighed. "I'll leave the call open so you can listen in, okay? Just stay down there, Tommy."

"Fine! Fine," Tommy gave in. "I'll stay down here."

"And I'm muting you. I know you, Tommy, and you're not exactly known for being quiet."

Tommy laughed at that. "Yeah, that's fair, that's fair." He laid down on his bed, then sat up, then laid down again, drumming his fingers on his legs while waiting for Dream to show up.

Was Dream looking for Tommy, or did he want something from Techno? Techno said Dream owed him a favor. Was Dream here to collect? Already? Well, Dream wasn't really a patient guy, so maybe…

"He's currently getting owned by zombies right now," Techno said conversationally, and Tommy snorted. He listened as Dream entered and then explored the house.

"There's a bit of a problem," Dream said eventually. "Tommy left."

"Fuck yeah I left, you bitch," Tommy said toward the ceiling. "How does that feel, huh? Thought you had me trapped, didn't you?"

"I've not seen him," Techno said in the meantime.

Tommy hadn't really doubted that Techno would protect him, but he still relaxed a little at Techno's words. If it came down to it, unlike the entirety of L'Manberg, Tommy was certain Techno could and would actually stand up to Dream. It was… nice. Yeah. It felt nice knowing that Techno would protect him, even though Techno also wanted to blow up L'Manberg. One thing at a time.

Dream was apparently paranoid enough that he wanted to search Techno's house, but of course he didn't find anything. Maybe staying downstairs had been a good idea, Tommy secretly admitted to himself. Hiding in that box would have been nerve-racking.

"You don't have to worry, Dream. I am a person that believes in absolute reciprocity," Techno promised Dream.

"That sounds kinda ominous, doesn't it?" Tommy wondered. Absolute reciprocity – Dream had saved Techno's life, so Techno would save Dream's life? A favor of the same value would be a huge favor. But it also almost sounded like a warning, that if Dream fucked him over Techno would pay him back in kind.

Upstairs Techno complained about Dream letting a creeper blow up his lawn on his way out and ruining his property value.

Finally. Tommy climbed upstairs. "That went well," he said. Dream was still looking for him, but he didn't know where he was. He had no idea. "And he didn't see the tower." For the moment, Tommy was safe from Dream.

Techno looked out of the window and sighed. "It's so obvious you're here, it's so obvious," he complained.

"Thank you for not telling him that I'm here," Tommy said.

"Yes, yes," Techno said dismissively. "I need to repair my lawn."

Tommy watched Technoblade fill up the hole in his lawn with dirt while wearing full netherite armor and thought about what he should do next. He wanted to go back to L'Manberg. But before that he should clear up the important things.

It would be fine. Techno was just a person, a person who'd agreed to help him before, and definitely a person who could be convinced with words. Tommy knew words. Tommy could definitely convince Techno that there were other solutions to the threat of the Butcher Army and other ways of getting his revenge than destroying L'Manberg.

Techno came back into the house. Tommy took a deep breath.

Showtime.

"Hey, so, Techno, I've been thinking," Tommy said, pressing his hands flat against his legs so they wouldn't betray how nervous he was.

"Oh no," Techno said.

"Yeah, so, I've been thinking… what would it take for you to not destroy L'Manberg?"

Techno straightened at that and looked at Tommy. "I'm going to destroy L'Manberg, Tommy."

"Yeah yeah yeah, you've said that. Look, I've thought about it and I've decided that you made some good points – okay maybe not good points, but at least I can understand where you're coming from – I mean, kinda-"

"Tommy," Techno warned.

"Yeah, yeah, I just, is there any way, is there anything that could happen so you wouldn't destroy L'Manberg. Please. Just think about it, please. If there's anything."

Techno stared at him.

Tommy fidgeted. "Look. I know they exiled me. And, and they left me alone with Dream, and never even came to visit. That hurt, it hurt a lot, it still hurts. But I still don't… I don't want L'Manberg destroyed. It's L'Manberg. And I know I can't stop you, obviously not. But if there's anything I – anything they could do, anything that would satisfy you that's not the destruction of L'Manberg, please. Just think about it. I'm sure – I'm sure I can make Tubbo understand."

"I have to admit, that's not what I expected, Tommy," Techno said slowly.

"But you'll do it? Look, I'll, I'll let you think about it. Just tell me when you've thought about something."

"They executed me, Tommy!"

"Yeah, and that's not great, but that was only a few people! That wasn't the fault of all of L'Manberg!"

"It was the government's fault!"

"Yeah, but, but, you said it yourself, it's not even an elected government, right? One could say that you can't blame the people for the actions of a government they didn't even elect."

Technoblade tilted his head. "That's a remarkably good point, Tommy. So you agree that it's an illegitimate government that needs to be removed?"

It was a test, it was so clearly a test. Tommy hated tests. He knew what the 'right' answer was, but he hated it. "Yeah. Yeah, okay? There should have been an election." He wanted to add that Tubbo would have been voted president anyway, but that really wouldn't support his argument that the people of L'Manberg weren't responsible for Tubbo's actions as their president. (Besides, if the last election had taught him anything, it was that you could never be sure about their outcomes.)

"So you'll join me in removing the government." Techno looked pleased.

"Alright. Alright, I will. If it stops you from destroying all of L'Manberg, I'll help you remove the government. I promise." It would basically just be an early new election, right? Tubbo would understand. He'd already declared that there would be regular elections going forward anyway. "But!" Tommy added quickly, "there'll be a new government. There are many people in L'Manberg, okay? It needs a government."

"Yooo, anarchy, let's go," Techno cheered.

"There's – there's too many people in L'Manberg for anarchy! It would be chaos! You need rules, you need to make decisions…"

"You don't need government to make decisions," Techno said dismissively.

"What, you want everyone to vote on everything?"

"Why not?"

"Because…" Tommy floundered for a few seconds. "Maybe people don't want to vote on everything! Maybe normal people don't want to be involved in politics all the time! What if, what if the people vote on if they want a government? And if they want a government, then that's fine? Can we agree on that?"

"Fine," Techno said. "If the people decide they want a government, then it's their own fault. But the current government has to go."

"Agreed, agreed," Tommy said quickly.

"And none of the members of the current government can be in the new government."

"Fine, fine…"

"Especially not Quackity."

"Why Big Q?"

"Have you met the guy?" Techno asked. "That guy should not be allowed within a hundred miles of government! He has a hit list, Tommy. That's a dangerous thing for a government official to have."

"Look, I get it, you're mad he almost killed you, I understand…"

"I'm not – okay I am mad he almost killed me but Tommy, if there was an entry in the dictionary for "people who have been corrupted by being in government" his picture would be there. Right next to Wilbur. And Tubbo. I can't believe you still want a new government, it's so obvious that this always happens…"

"And Dream."

"Heh?"

"Dream's picture would be there. He's not in a government but he controls government, and that's worse, isn't it? He can tell L'Manberg to do whatever he wants and they do it, and he decides who's king, so he's basically, he's basically the over-government. He's the worst government of all. And you can't tell me he hasn't been corrupted by power." It was possible that Dream had always been that way, but from what Tommy had heard from others, he'd been different once. Less angry and vindictive. Tommy wouldn't know, he'd managed to piss Dream off almost immediately after he'd joined the server.

"Sounds about right," Techno agreed. "See? Even more proof that power corrupts."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. So the current government has to go. Anything else? I just want to make sure we're on the same page here, so there aren't any misunderstandings later."

"I want my weapons back," Techno said. "And Phil to be released."

"Absolutely, yes, yes. Is that all? So we're agreed? Your demands will be met and you won't destroy L'Manberg?" Tommy asked hopefully.

Techno frowned. He looked out of the window, opened the door and looked outside, and then came back inside and stared at his chests.

Tommy watched him, intending to give him time to come to a decision, but soon his patience ran out. "We're agreed, yes? No destruction? You get what you want and leave L'Manberg alone? I'll let Tubbo know, and then we can get everything sorted as soon as possible." Tubbo and Fundy and Quackity would not be happy, especially Quackity, but they'd understand that it was for the good of L'Manberg. After all, that's why they'd formed the government in the first place. And Tubbo couldn't say that he had to agree to Dream's demands and exile Tommy to avoid a war and then not agree to Techno's demands, which honestly weren't even that unreasonable, to avoid another war. Big Q would say that this was exactly why he didn't want to give in to Dream's demands in the first place, but it was too late for that now. Surely they'd all see sense.

Techno grimaced. "The voices want blood, Tommy."

"Whoa, wait, what voices?"

"The voices in my head. They want blood."

"Seriously?" Tommy asked. Everyone else, he'd have assumed they were fucking with him or just making something up as an excuse, but Techno didn't look like he was kidding, and he'd mentioned hearing voices before. Maybe he really had voices in his head that demanded blood all the time. Actually, considering this was Technoblade, it wasn't even that surprising. If anyone had bloodthirsty voices in their head of course it would be him.

It was still an obvious excuse though, and Tommy wouldn't be fooled so easily. "But you're stronger than the voices, right? Just, just tell them to fuck off. You said you were in retirement! Wait, is that why you – Go collect another vault full of wither skulls, that should shut them up."

Techno laughed. "You know what, Tommy? Fine. We're agreed. If the government is destroyed, and Philza's free, and I get my weapons back, and if they leave me alone and never bother me again, then I won't destroy L'Manberg."

Chapter Text

Tommy exhaled in relief. "That's… That's good. Yeah. Thank you, Technoblade. Seriously. Thank you. I still don't like you, and I haven't forgiven you, but – thanks."

He'd done it. L'Manberg was going to survive. L'Manberg was going to survive because of TommyInnit.

"You just had to ruin the moment," Techno complained.

Tommy shrugged. "We're not pals, remember?" He wasn't entirely sure how serious he was. Working together with Techno was… fun, almost. On the other hand, it was still Technoblade, who'd only decided against blowing up L'Manberg for the second time a minute ago. But he had decided against it. Techno was a person, and people could change. He already retired once, didn't he? Maybe he could retire again, and take care of his horses and turtles and bees and dogs. And once Tommy was allowed into L'Manberg again, which surely would be any day now as soon as the others learned what he'd done, maybe he could come visit every once in a while. That might be nice. He could get more bamboo in L'Manberg and finish building his tower. Technoblade would be so annoyed, it would be great.

"Definitely not pals," Techno laughed. "So, Tommy, that was a very nice thought exercise, I appreciated that, that was a nice, it was fun-"

"What?" Tommy exclaimed. "Nonono, I was serious! I was absolutely serious! We're agreed! You can't just go back on your word!"

"I'm not going back on my word. I won't have to," Techno said confidently. "Do you really think L'Manberg is going to agree to all those things you just promised they would do? You're not even a citizen anymore! You have no power!"

"It doesn't matter! I'll talk to Tubbo, Tubbo will understand, and he'll listen to me because he's my best friend, and then-"

"Tubbo exiled you, Tommy, we've been over this."

"He'll still listen to me! I'll just explain to him that it's the only option!"

"It's not the only option. He could refuse, and then I'll destroy L'Manberg," Techno said. "It might be a little trickier if they have more advance warning, but if they're not completely stupid they're expecting this anyway. It would be completely stupid to think that I'd just run away after getting executed and not come back to get my revenge."

"Big Q can be pretty stupid though," Tommy said, before remembering that that wasn't the point.

"True, true," Techno nodded.

"Look, just ask, okay? You'll see! And-"

"Fine," Techno said with a sigh.

"What, really?"

"Sure." Techno shrugged. "It won't take me long to prove you wrong, Tommy, and I do enjoy proving you wrong."

"I'm not wrong though! I'm not wrong, I'm right, and then you'll have to apologize, it's gonna be great. Wait, what are you doing?"

Techno put his communicator away again. "I sent a message to Tubbo."

"What?"

"That's what you wanted me to do," Techno said with a smirk.

"I was going to message Tubbo!" He'd been trying to think of a good opening line, something along the lines "Hi, so I ran away from Dream and met up with Technoblade and I had this great idea to solve your problems" – he was still working on it.

"Wouldn't that be cheating, Tommy? Of course Tubbo is going to reply to you, but that's because of you, that doesn't mean he's actually willing to negotiate. I have to test his sincerity!" Techno was still smirking.

"That's sabotage!" Tommy accused. "What did you say to him!"

"Would I do that, does that sound like the kind of thing I would do?"

"Yes!"

"Well I don't know what to tell you-" Techno interrupted himself to frown down at his communicator. "Huh, will you look at that. He already replied."

"Wait, he did?" Tommy took a step forward and barely managed to stop himself before trying to take Techno's communicator to see for himself.

"Don't sound so surprised, Tommy, didn't you promise that he'd reply?"

"Yeah, but I thought it'd take longer! I thought he'd have to, like, discuss it first and shit!" That hadn't even been five minutes, definitely no time to ask the others what they thought. "What did he say, what did he say?"

Techno was still frowning and already typing a new message. "He agreed to meet at a neutral location. Armor on, no weapons, one other person."

"I didn't think it would be that easy," Tommy confessed. "I mean I knew he'd agree eventually, but I thought I'd have to talk him into it."

"It might be a trap," Techno said.

"Maybe," Tommy admitted. "But he's letting you choose the location, right? It'd be a lot harder to set up a trap without time to prepare one."

Techno nodded. "We leave immediately," he said and started taking potions out of the chest closest to him.

"Now?" Tommy exclaimed. "What, like, right now?"

"I mean, unless you have other plans, anything else you want to do first, some more cobblestone building…"

"Nonono, let's do this, this is absolutely the most important thing," Tommy said. He quickly climbed down the ladder and rummaged through his own chests. Should he take extra food or potions? If everything went well he wouldn't need any of it – and it would go well, he reminded himself. It would. It had to.

But if it didn't… He hesitated and then took some more potions. Just in case.

"I thought your discs were the most important thing," Techno said when Tommy climbed up again.

"What? Oh." Tommy shrugged uncomfortably. "The discs are important, don't get me wrong, they're very important. But…" He swallowed. "I gave them up for L'Manberg once, and I'd do it again. L'Manberg is more important."

"If you say so," Techno said, sounding somewhat skeptical. "You seem a little confused about your priorities, to be honest with you."

"No, I know what my priorities are," Tommy insisted. "It's Tubbo, and L'Manberg, and the discs. And if L'Manberg isn't safe, then Tubbo isn't safe, and Tubbo has one of the discs. So we should go immediately. Where are we going?"

Techno still looked skeptical, but clearly decided to leave it be. "Pogtopia," he said.

"Pogtopia?"

"I know you know where that is."

"Of course I know where that is," Tommy said, walking outside past Techno. He just… hadn't been there in some time.

"Great, let's go. Edward, you look after the house."

The Enderman, predictably, didn't reply.

They made their way through the nether and toward Pogtopia. Tommy kept up a steady stream of chatter that he himself barely paid attention to, and Techno ignored him.

In a few minutes Tommy would see Tubbo again, for the first time since his exile. He wondered if Tubbo would be glad to see him, or if he'd be annoyed. After all, Tubbo had made it very clear that he didn't want any contact with Tommy anymore. Well, sucked to be him, he'd have to put up with Tommy now that Tommy had come up with a plan to save L'Manberg. With diplomacy, even. Diplomat TommyInnit, Tubbo would never believe it. To be fair, Tommy could barely believe it himself. But there wasn't anyone else.

"I wonder who Tubbo is going to bring," Tommy said as they got close to the meeting place. "Fundy, maybe?"

"Oh I have a strong suspicion," Techno said drily. He stopped and looked around. "You know what, Tommy, we're going to do a little experiment. Stay here."

"What? No no no, that's a terrible idea! You can't just-"

"It's an experiment, Tommy. You said Tubbo's your friend and he's going to listen to you, but an agreement with L'Manberg that's based on their president not wanting to disappoint his friend doesn't sound very dependable to me. Don't worry, if Tubbo's actually trustworthy like you said, then it's not going to be a problem, isn't it?"

"Tubbo is trustworthy," Tommy insisted. Tubbo hadn't lied to him. He'd exiled him, yes, and had never visited him, but he hadn't lied to him about it.

"Then there's nothing to worry about," Techno said, sounding almost cheerful. "Stay here behind this ridge. We'll be over there, you'll be able to hear us just fine, and I'll tell you when it's time for you to come out."

"But I won't be able to see!"

"And they won't be able to see you, yes, that's kind of the point."

"But I want to- look, I still have some invis pots, I'll just take off my armor and nobody will know I'm there!"

Techno narrowed his eyes, but then reluctantly nodded. "Fine. But you stay back, and stay quiet."

"I promise," Tommy said. "Are they already here? Should I go invisible now?"

"I told them we'd meet in half an hour, so they're probably going to arrive any moment now to make sure I'm not setting up an ambush," Techno said. He climbed up on the ridge and looked into the direction of L'Manberg.

"That makes sense. I mean, you have to admit it looks a little suspicious, you telling Tubbo that you just want to talk right after he tried to have you executed. It's not really something anyone would expect, you know?" If Tommy had still been at Tubbo's side, he'd probably have expected a trap as well. Tubbo had always been more trusting.

"Don't remind me of all the reasons why this is a bad idea," Techno warned.

"Shutting up now!" Tommy said quickly.

"Good. They're here," Techno said. He walked down the hill toward the glade. Tommy quickly threw an invisibility potion over himself, took off his armor, and then quietly followed.

Technoblade arrived at the clearing and demonstratively waited near its center. He didn't have a weapon in his hands, but Tommy knew as well as Tubbo would that he could draw one from his inventory in the blink of an eye if he wanted. Still, being exposed like that did mean a certain degree of vulnerability. If L'Manberg had brought more people, or invisible archers, Techno would be at a severe disadvantage. It was a sign of good faith that Tommy was very happy to see.

Barely a minute later, Tubbo entered the clearing.

He looked… bad. Tubbo had already looked worn and tired when Tommy had last seen him, but now he looked maybe even worse than he had back then, like he was holding himself together with sheer stubbornness. Tubbo looked like he was scared but wanted to appear brave and like he was unsure but wanted to appear confident, and Tommy wanted to take him away to a nice quiet place so he could rest until he was feeling better and at the same time he wanted to shout at him until he got the satisfaction of seeing Tubbo actually break down from regret.

Somehow, Tommy managed to keep quiet.

"Technoblade," Tubbo said and came to a stop in front of him.

"Tubbo," Techno said evenly.

"Techno," said Quackity, who Tommy had somehow missed standing right next to Tubbo. Quackity looked furious, like he wanted nothing more than to rip Techno's throat out and was only barely restraining himself. "What the hell are you doing here."

"I'm here to open negotiations," Techno said, emphasizing the last word.

"Negotiations," Quackity spat. "Negotiations for what."

"I'm here so you can give me a reason why I shouldn't raze L'Manberg to the ground after what you did to me."

Tubbo paled.

"As if you could," Quackity said, trying to laugh it off but not quite managing.

"Oh I could, Quackity, I absolutely could," Techno said, sounding so absolutely sure of it that Tommy would have believed him even without knowing that he had a vault full of wither skulls. "The only question is if I should. You said you wouldn't stop until you've killed me, so the way I see it, destroying L'Manberg is basically self-defense."

"That's not-" Tubbo began.

"I am going to kill you, Technoblade," Quackity threatened.

"See?" Techno demanded, looking at Tubbo. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you guys first. I mean not right now, parley and all that, but after this."

"Shut it, Big Q," Tubbo said without looking away from Techno, sounding surprisingly firm. "You promised you'd behave."

"I'm here to make sure he doesn't assassinate you," Quackity said.

"As if you could stop me," Techno said dismissively.

Quackity bristled, but Tubbo cut him off before he could say another word. "I'd prefer to find a solution where nobody has to die."

"Weren't you the one holding a whole speech about how I need to die?" Techno asked. "Did you have a convenient change of heart in the last few days?"

"Yes, actually.”

"Oh?"

"Your death is no longer a priority," Tubbo said.

"Did you discuss this with the rest of your cabinet, because I get the impression that at least one of them doesn't share your opinion," Techno said. He didn't look away from Tubbo, and Quackity clearly fumed at not being addressed directly.

"I'm the president. If Big Q doesn't agree with my decisions, then, then he can run against me in the next election, but until then, when it comes down to it, I decide."

"Hey!” Quackity protested.

"That´s pretty authoritarian of you," Techno remarked, "but I'll take it. But this is your absolutely last chance. If anyone from L'Manberg goes after me again I'll destroy this place so it can never be rebuilt."

"Nobody from L'Manberg is going to come after you again," Tubbo stated. He looked every inch the president. Tommy was so proud of him he wanted to cheer.

Quackity tilted his head and looked very clearly doubtful.

"What do you think would happen, Quackity?" Tubbo asked, finally turning to him. "Explain it to me. Explain to me what you think would happen if you tried to kill Technoblade and failed again. How would that be a good outcome."

"We wouldn't fail again," Quackity said, but he didn't sound very convinced.

"I totally believe that," Techno said, rolling his eyes.

Quackity glared at him. "Why the fuck are you even here, Technoblade. I don't believe for a moment that you've actually sworn off violence-"

"I didn't say I've sworn off violence," Techno corrected. "Not after you executed me.”

"-so how come you suddenly want a peaceful solution? I bet it's a trick. You're just trying to buy time to prepare for your attack," he accused.

"You know, I can't blame you for your suspicion," Techno said. "Gotta be honest with you, I didn't think I'd be here either. I was already planning L'Manberg's destruction, and I had some good plans, I have to say. My revenge would have been beautiful. Who knows, you might still get to see it if this doesn't work out."

"What happened?" Tubbo asked.

Techno watched him for a few seconds and then called: "Tommy, you can come out now."

Finally. Tommy walked forward until he stood right next to Technoblade. "Hi guys."

"Tommy?" Tubbo and Quackity exclaimed, looking vaguely in his direction.

That's when Tommy remembered that he was still invisible. He'd forgotten to bring any milk, so he quickly put on his armor. "Hi. Hi Tubbo."

"You're alive," Tubbo said, sounding stunned.

"Yeah," Tommy said. He hadn't realized Tubbo had thought he'd died. What had Dream told Tubbo about what had happened in Logstedshire?

"Tommy! You're with Technoblade?" Quackity asked.

"Yeah, I am," Tommy said after hesitating briefly. "You exiled me, Tubbo."

"You're a traitor?" Quackity asked.

"I'm not!" Tommy protested, hurt. He hadn't thought that Big Q would think he was capable of that. Quackity had defended him against behind exile, and Tommy had thought he trusted him to want to do the right thing for L'Manberg.

"Yeah, he really isn't," Techno said. "He didn't stop talking about wanting to save L'Manberg. It got really annoying, to be honest with you. But here I am. It's really his fault."

"I thought you hated Techno," Tubbo said, confused.

"I do. I mean-"

"That's really hurtful, Tommy," Techno said, deadpan.

"I don't like him," Tommy corrected himself. "But he's not – look, no matter what I think of him, L'Manberg is more important. Techno was going to destroy L'Manberg, and I know he could do it. But we've come to an agreement."

"An agreement?" Quackity asked.

Tommy lifted his chin. "Yeah."

"You're not even a citizen of L'Manberg anymore."

Tommy couldn't help but flinch at the reminder. "I know. But I don't want to see L'Manberg destroyed, and this is the only way to do it. Trust me."

"Tommy…"

Quackity was watching him with what looked like pity. Tommy looked away from him and turned to Tubbo instead. "You trust me, Tubbo, right?" Please, Tommy thought. Tubbo had exiled him, there wasn't a clearer sign of distrust. He should really know better. It was a stupid question. And yet Tommy couldn't help but hope. They'd gone through so much together, all of that couldn't just have disappeared.

"I…" Tubbo looked at Tommy and seemed to be searching for something. With a start, Tommy realized that his invisibility still hadn't ended: Tubbo couldn't even look him in the eye. All Tommy had to convey his sincerity was his voice.

"Please, Tubbo."

Tubbo took a deep breath and turned to Technoblade. "We should discuss terms."

That wasn't an answer. Tommy swallowed. At least he wasn't a no, he told himself. At least Tubbo was willing to hear him out. There'd be better opportunities to talk later.

"Terms, yeah," Techno said, nodding.

"Techno wants his weapons back," Tommy interrupted quickly. Better to start with the easier demands and get them out of the way.

Tubbo looked suspiciously between him and Techno, but then nodded. "Sure, no problem, we can do that."

"And Phil to be released."

"Phil is working with Techno," Quackity said. "He knew where he was the entire time."

"He's an old friend," Techno said, eyes narrowed. "He didn't do anything to you, but you put him on house arrest just because you could."

"Phil wasn't even here yet when Techno spawned the withers," Tommy said.

"I think he was though. Didn't he arrive five minutes earlier?" Tubbo asked.

"I'm pretty sure he was busy killing Wilbur," Tommy said.

Tubbo winced. "Yeah, probably."

"So if Techno decided to attack L'Manberg, Phil wouldn't help him?"

"I don't need Phil's help for that," Techno said.

"That wasn't a no," Quackity pointed out.

"Phil wouldn't attack L'Manberg," Tubbo said with certainty. "Fine. He can leave if he wants."

Tommy wasn't as certain as Tubbo that Phil wouldn't attack L'Manberg if Techno asked him to, but he decided it would be unwise to point that out. He could see that Quackity had the same doubts and also decided against saying anything.

"Was that it?" Tubbo asked.

"Uh, no," Tommy admitted.

"Tommy decided to leave the most important thing for last," Techno said.

"I knew it," Quackity said.

"Obviously, a guarantee that nobody is going to come after him again," Tommy said.

"You're avoiding the most important thing, Tommy. You're not having second thoughts, are you, Tommy?" Techno's tone was light, but Tommy could hear the warning behind it.

"No! Nonono, I'm still totally on board with this," Tommy promised. "I told you I was, remember? I'm totally cool." He looked at Tubbo, who was watching them with a frown on his face, and winced. He'd told himself that Tubbo would understand, but he wouldn't be happy.

"Well?"

"So you know how Techno hates government?" Tommy started and then immediately wanted to kick himself because of course they knew, they'd been there when Techno destroyed L'Manberg. He quickly kept talking. "Well, this government sent an army after him to execute him – well, not an army, just a few guys, but you called yourself an army so that totally counts – so to be fair, he does have a pretty good reason to be pissed off at this particular government. And he wants it gone."

Chapter Text

"What does that mean?" Tubbo asked, surprisingly calm.

"What do you think it means, Tubbo?" Technoblade asked mockingly.

"I don't know! Are you going to kill everyone who works for the government?" Tubbo sounded more curious than worried.

"Of course not!" Tommy sputtered.

"Yeah, I would definitely never do that, m-m, couldn't be me," Techno said.

"You just have to dissolve the current government! Nobody needs to die, that's the whole point!"

"You want complete anarchy in L'Manberg," Quackity said, arms crossed.

"Nonono-"

"Yes," Techno said.

"Yeah, but, we talked about this! You just have to have vote to let people decide if they want a government or not. And if they agree they want a new government, then, then you can have a new government! Techno promised not to interfere! Except that anyone who tried to execute him can't be in it, but you have to admit that's a reasonable precaution." Otherwise, Quackity would definitely manage to manipulate the vote somehow so he'd end up as the new president.

"I don't like it," Quackity said flatly, unsurprisingly.

"What a surprise," Techno replied in the same tone.

"It's just the government! We only built the government for L'Manberg in the first place, there's no need for any government if L'Manberg is gone! If the best thing for L'Manberg is to have a new government, then that's what we need to do!" It was the obvious choice. L'Manberg stood for so much more than just its government. And it was never meant to be a ruled by authority alone, having a less centralized government could only be a benefit. Surely Tubbo and Big Q would see that.

"It's not about that, Tommy," Quackity said. He uncrossed his arms to gesture and started pacing from side to side. "It's about the fact that we can't continue letting people dictate what L'Manberg should do just because they threaten to destroy us. Our independence isn't worth anything if we keep giving in to blackmail! When Dream did it, you agreed that we shouldn't simply do as he said! And Tubbo exiled you anyway, and you know how that turned out. And now Technoblade does the same thing Dream did, he says if we don't do what he says he'll destroy L'Manberg. If we keep giving in to threats, what will that do to our country?"

"He has a point," Techno said.

"What?" Quackity asked, taken aback.

"I'm just saying, that doesn't sound very sustainable in the long term," Techno said with a shrug. "But that's not my problem. I told you what your choices are."

"We don't want another war," Tubbo said tensely.

"Some things are worth fighting for!" Quackity exclaimed.

"I didn't want another war either! I was retired from fighting, I didn't give a shit about L'Manberg's government anymore, I just wanted to be left alone!"

"Then why demand we change our government now?" Quackity demanded.

"Am I supposed to believe you wouldn't come after me again as soon as you could?"

"I don't need to be in government to do that," Quackity said.

Techno took a step forward. "Are you saying that if I ever want to live in peace again I have to kill you, Quackity? Is that what you're saying?"

Quackity looked like he had to force himself not to run away, but he kept staring at Techno.

"That's not what he meant," Tubbo said.

"Are you sure about that, because it's pretty much exactly what he said."

"It was strongly implied," Tommy agreed. "Look, Big Q, I know you hate Techno, and believe me I understand, but I'm trying to think of a solution where you can both survive here, alright?"

Quackity crossed his arms and didn't reply.

"So is this a "neither can live while the other survives" kind of situation?" Tubbo asked and laughed. "Guys, you need to find some way to learn how to trust each other."

"Yeah! You could do trust exercises or something," Tommy said and couldn't help but giggle at the idea.

"No," Techno and Quackity both said and then glared at each other.

"Well, gentlemen, we seem to have something of a stalemate here!" Tubbo said, clapping his hands.

"This is ridiculous," Tommy burst out. "Big Q, you were willing to team up with Techno before!"

"That was just to fight Dream," Quackity said quickly. "And things were different then."

"I assume that was before you decided to execute me," Techno said.

"Ah, yeah, that's a good point actually," Tommy admitted. He didn't know why Quackity had switched from agreeing to fight with Technoblade to deciding that he had to be executed so quickly, but it did significantly change things.

"Who do you trust?" Tubbo asked.

"What?" Tommy asked, but Tubbo wasn't looking at him.

"Technoblade. Quackity. Who do you trust?"

"Philza," Techno said, looking suspicious. "Why?"

"Big Q?"

"Why do you need to know?" Quackity demanded.

"It's simple. Clearly you both don't trust each other, and probably never will. So what we'll do is, you both get a minder."

"Heh?"

"What the hell?" Quackity demanded.

"This is a fantastic idea, we should definitely do that," Tommy said immediately. In addition to being potentially helpful, it also sounded like it would be absolutely hilarious.

"What do you mean, a minder?" Quackity asked.

"I already messaged Fundy to bring Phil here," Tubbo said, looking up from his communicator. "Techno is never going to trust that Quackity isn't up to something, but if Techno checks up him that will end in a bloodbath, I'm fairly sure. But Techno trusts Phil, and so if Phil keeps an eye on Quackity, Techno can trust that."

"That's ridiculous," Quackity said.

"Tubbo, do you really think that someone "keeping an eye on me" would stop me from doing anything I wanted?" Techno asked.

"It's not about stopping you! It's just so we know you're not secretly planning something."

"Ah, yes. Would be a shame if someone discovered me planning something in secret. Couldn't be me."

"You were literally planning to blow up L'Manberg," Tommy said. The invis pot had worn off, Tommy realized. He hesitated briefly and then took off his armor. He wouldn't need it because there wasn't going to be a fight.

Seeing that, Tubbo took off his helmet. He kept on the rest of his netherite armor, but Tommy still chose to see it as a good sign.

"That wasn't a secret," Techno protested. "I was very clear on wanting to blow up L'Manberg."

"That doesn't really make it better!"

"What did they think I was going to do after they failed to execute me, just run and hide? Does that sound like something I'd do? If they spent any time at all thinking about it, they must have been expecting me to retaliate."

Looking at Tubbo and Quackity, Tommy wasn't so sure that they'd expected Techno to take revenge, at least not on L'Manberg as a whole. Tubbo had looked too surprised when Techno had mentioned destroying L'Manberg, and if Quackity had expected it then he surely would have come up with plans for what to do. Quackity looked almost embarrassed at being caught out like that, and angry about it.

Techno didn't look like he was expecting a reply, at least. He started impatiently walking around in circles on his half of the clearing. "So are we just waiting for Philza now, or what? I told you, this "minder" thing is a terrible idea that definitely isn't going to work."

"Oh I definitely think you need a minder," Quackity said darkly. "Ideally someone who regularly checks on you in your prison cell."

Instead of letting himself be provoked, Techno just rolled his eyes. "Tubbo, I feel like we're not coming to this negotiation with the same amount of seriousness. I'm here because I'm willing to actually find a solution, but I don't think Quackity wants a solution that doesn't end with me being dead. You can understand why I'm not okay with that."

"Yeah, he's not being very cooperative," Tubbo said. "But don't worry about it. Like I said, I'm the president. I make the final decisions."

"That's nice, Tubbo, but that's not going to be very helpful if he decides to come assassinate me in the night!"

"That's why Phil will be keeping an eye on him!"

"Phil has better things to do with his time than chase after this guy," Techno said dismissively.

"That's fair," Tubbo admitted. "Hey, Big Q, can you come over here for a second?" He walked to a spot beneath a large tree.

Quackity eyed Techno and Tommy suspiciously, but then went to Tubbo, standing at an angle where he could still watch the clearing. Tubbo said something to him, and soon they were involved in a quiet but heated argument.

Tommy watched them and really wished he could listen in. "Do you think Tubbo will be able to convince Big Q?" he asked.

Techno briefly stopped to watch Tubbo and Quackity. "Don't know," he said and then continued his rounds.

"Don't you care?" Tommy demanded. The fate of L'Manberg was being decided here, after all. He felt jittery. He wanted to go over to Tubbo and Quackity so they could figure out the best thing to do for L'Manberg like they'd done so many times before, but things were different now.

"I actually care a surprising amount," Techno corrected him, without pausing. "I enjoyed being retired. It was good work. Have you seen my turtle farm?"

"I have," Tommy said. "You have so many turtles, man, I have no idea what you could need so many turtles for."

"But I'm not going to simply wait around until they try to execute me again. If there's a way to achieve that that doesn't involve me killing anyone, great. Except Quackity," Techno added. "I'd love to kill Quackity again."

"I'm pretty sure Big Q feels the same about you," Tommy said. Maybe he would have felt pressured if he thought it was a choice between them, but Quackity killing Techno seemed pretty unlikely. So in a way this plan was about saving Quackity's life. Tommy just had to remember never to put it like that where Quackity could hear, he'd be so mad.

"What's going on here?" a new voice asked. "Techno?"

"Phil!" Tommy had rarely heard Techno sound so glad.

Phil and Fundy came out of the forest close to Tubbo and Quackity, who paused their argument to greet them. Phil kept walking toward Techno, but Fundy held out an arm in front of him to stop him. Techno came to an abrupt stop and growled in warning.

"Hey, hey, there's no need for that," Tubbo said. "Fundy, I told you to let him go."

"You said to bring him here," Fundy said. He looked at Techno, eyes narrowed. "What is he doing here? Tommy," he added with a nod.

Tommy waved at him, feeling awkward. He didn't know what to say to Fundy, but fortunately this wasn't really the time or place to have a private conversation anyway.

"Phil, are you okay?" Techno said, and it was very clear there would be terrible consequences if the answer was no.

"I'm fine, mate," Phil said. True to his word, of everyone in the clearing he looked the most relaxed. "And I'll be even better once that anklet is taken care off."

Fundy looked at Tubbo. He scowled when Tubbo nodded, but knelt down and removed an iron anklet from Phil's foot.

"What's going on?" Fundy demanded. Like Tubbo and Quackity, he looked stressed and tired.

"We're negotiating a peace treaty," Tubbo said.

"With Technoblade," Fundy said skeptically.

"Congrats," Phil said lightly, "that was the smart choice. Would have been a shame for L'Manberg to burn down again."

"You knew what he was planning?" Tubbo asked.

"It was kinda obvious," Phil said. "You fucking executed him. Techno's not the kind of guy who wouldn't respond to that. I don't know what he was planning exactly, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have liked it."

Techno laughed darkly. "Oh I had plans, Phil. I was gonna start with some minor terrorism, and then-"

"He has a vault full of wither skulls," Tommy blurted out. He quickly checked if Technoblade was mad about Tommy revealing his secret, but Techno didn't look like he cared. To be fair, with a vault full of wither skulls it didn't matter very much if people knew about it. You couldn't really prepare for that many withers.

"What?" Tubbo asked.

"What the fuck," Quackity said flatly.

"A whole vault?" Phil asked, and he was grinning, like it was fucking funny.

Techno shrugged. "I was bored. Everyone needs a hobby."

"You're insane," Quackity said.

There was a brief awkward pause.

"Moving on from that," Tubbo said brightly.

"Is that why I'm here?" Phil asked. "Part of the negotiations?"

"They want you to be my "minder"," Techno said mockingly.

"Quackity's, actually," Tubbo corrected. "How do you feel about keeping an eye on him so Technoblade knows he's not planning another execution?"

Phil frowned. "Honestly, I wasn't planning to stay in L'Manberg."

"What?" Fundy asked, sounding hurt.

"You stole from me, put me on house arrest, and tried to execute my best friend! You tried to shoot me! Why the hell would I stay?" Phil asked Tubbo. He didn't even look at Fundy.

"Oh," Tubbo said, shoulders slumping. "Well, then that's not going to work."

"It was a stupid idea anyway," Quackity said. He took a few steps forward and straightened, like he was planning to give a speech. "Technoblade. You're an anarchist. Your entire worldview requires you to destroy our government. How are we ever supposed to trust that you aren't planning to attack our country?"

"I talked about this with him," Tommy started, but Technoblade talked over him.

"I was willing to ignore your government until you came after me!"

"Nobody did anything to you the first time you spawned withers!"

"You used me!" Techno was almost shouting.

Tommy hadn't thought much about that the first time Techno had mentioned it. They'd asked Techno to join their revolution, Techno had known that from the start, it wasn't their fault he'd misunderstood what they were doing and never bothered to ask. But Techno had brought it up multiple times now and Tommy was starting to suspect he felt a lot more hurt than he'd let on. Though, to be fair, he had destroyed L'Manberg in response. It would be such an extreme overreaction to hurt feelings that Tommy had almost automatically assumed that those were mostly an excuse for an anarchist to blow up a government, but maybe it had been more of a mix of both.

Quackity almost replied, but then clearly thought better of it and took a deep breath instead. In a calmer voice he continued: "So you're willing to ignore governments until they piss you off personally?"

"That's not - no," Techno said, sounding offended.

Phil was laughing. "You kind of are, mate."

"No!" Techno protested. "I'm going to fight every government that attempts to harm me or my friends."

"Great, can we have a list of your friends, then," Tubbo asked. Tommy threw him an incredulous look.

"That's it? That's what you call anarchy?" Fundy asked skeptically.

"And every tyrannical government that oppresses its people," Techno added.

"L'Manberg is not going to do any of that!" Tommy said.

"They already did," Phil pointed out. He finally crossed the clearing and stood at Techno's shoulder, clearly choosing his side in all this. "Hi Tommy," he said. "Good to see you."

"Hi Phil." Tommy suddenly realized that if it did come to a fight, Techno had just gotten a powerful ally. Wilbur had told him once that Philza used to be called "Angel of Death" because of how deadly he was, and somehow, despite how friendly Phil looked on the surface, Tommy believed it. He definitely wouldn't want to face Phil in a battle.

Well, it didn't matter, he told himself. There wouldn't be a fight. And besides, Techno would have broken Phil out soon anyway.

"L'Manberg doesn't oppress people," Tubbo objected.

"Bruh..."

"You exiled and executed people without trial," Phil said. "The president, who wasn't even elected, makes all the decisions himself. If that's not a tyrannical government, I don't know what is."

"Hey, remember when you were part of a rebellion to take down L'Manberg's lawfully elected tyrannical government not too long ago? Remember that?" Techno added.

"That's not... I don't..." Tubbo looked at his cabinet members, his eyes wide. Both Quackity and Fundy avoided meeting his eyes. "Tommy, you know that's not what we wanted!"

Tommy squirmed. Tubbo sounded lost, and Tommy both wanted to go to him and comfort him and tell him it would be alright and of course Techno was lying, and also shout at him that yes, he'd become a tyrant who'd exiled his best friend and he should feel terrible about it.

Techno was looking steadily at Tommy, like he had confidence in him. Tommy took a deep breath. "I know it's not what we wanted," he said. "But things didn't go exactly the way we planned them, didn't they."

"Our justice system needs an overhaul," Quackity admitted, to Tommy's surprise. "We should have trials, and clearer laws, and better procedures. That we didn't have them was a mistake, and we'll correct that."

"Good," Phil said.

"That sounds like more government to me," Techno complained.

"There needs to be some sort of justice system," Quackity said. "There need to be consequences for breaking the rules. If there aren't any consequences, then people will break the law whenever they feel like it, and the laws are there to protect the community and to protect those who aren't strong enough to protect themselves. Not even an anarchist could argue that we should have to put up with people doing whatever they want, including harming others," he challenged.

"You're right," Techno said. "But there are better ways to deal with dangerous people than setting up a hierarchical system of government enforcing its laws."

"Yeah? What ways."

Were Techno and Quackity seriously about to have a discussion on political philosophy? They both looked fully focused. Tommy exchanged a baffled look with Tubbo. This wasn't what he'd expected to happen, but if Techno and Quackity were happy to debate their views on politics instead of trying to stab each other, even better.

Unfortunately, Phil interrupted. "Guys, I'm sure that's all very interesting, but how about you leave the details for later?"

"These aren't details. A good justice system is essential to a free nation," Quackity said.

"Yeah. You should be minister for justice," Tubbo told Quackity.

"Wait a second, what do you mean. I told you, none of you should be in the government again," Techno protested.

"And I told you, L'Manberg shouldn't let itself be blackmailed," Quackity said hotly. "You want us to have an early new election, fine, but you don't get to decide who people can vote for."

"You've already proven you can't be trusted with the responsibility!"

"We've made mistakes, but we learned from them, and we'll do better. You should know about that, Technoblade, you've done the same."

Tommy almost expected Technoblade to say that he's never made a mistake. It was the kind of thing he'd expected The Blade to say. But it wasn't the kind of thing he expected from Techno – or, at least he was hoping for a different response and thought it wasn't completely unthinkable.

"Fine," Techno said sharply. "You get one more chance. But this is the last one. If you fuck up again, Quackity, that's on you, that's on you, and I'll hunt you down personally. Tubbo, you too. Fundy, I gotta be honest, I've no idea what your role was in all this but same goes to you."

Tommy barely managed to stop himself from cheering in relief.

"Okay," Quackity said. He looked stunned that Techno had agreed, then relieved, and then like he was refusing to be grateful because he was mad about the fact that he had had to ask for Techno's permission in the first place.

"Sure!" Tubbo said. "Not going to be a problem."

"Yeah," Fundy said. He seemed pissed to get "permission", but also, smartly, unwilling to get into a fight with Techno.

"Why are we even talking about this?" Techno wondered. "You're not going to need a new government. As soon as you have the vote and people vote not to have a government anymore, it's all gonna be a moot point anyway."

"I don't think so. The people realize that they need a government, and once they vote for it, you can't tell us we shouldn't have one anymore." Quackity stared at Techno, a clear challenge in his eyes.

Tommy suddenly remembered that Quackity had lost a life to Techno just recently. Quackity was actually quite brave, standing up to Techno like that.

"Well, we'll see, won't we?" Tubbo said.

"Yeah, you never know what's going to come from an election. Unless people cheat," Tommy couldn't resist adding.

Fundy rolled his eyes.

"Techno, you do realize that if you want to convince people of anarchy you'll have to do a whole election campaign," Phil said, clearly amused.

Techno looked horrified. "Noooo…."

"There's a ton of bureaucratic nonsense that comes with an election," Fundy said.

Quackity was grinning, obviously enjoying the thought of Techno having to deal with bureaucracy, something that Quackity was much better at.

"I'll figure something out," Techno claimed. "Maybe write a couple of pamphlets."

"So, are we agreed?" Tommy asked, practically vibrating in place. "We're agreed, right?"

"I think so," Tubbo said, frowning. "Yeah. Am I forgetting something?"

"Not that I can think of," Phil agreed.

Techno and Quackity both reluctantly nodded.

"Yes!" Tommy said, and this time he couldn't stop himself from pumping his fist to celebrate. He'd done it, he'd actually done it. He didn't want to celebrate too early, things could still go wrong in a second, but it was looking very good.

"Should we write something down?" Tubbo asked and automatically looked at Quackity.

Quackity shrugged and took out a book. "Tubbo, come here and lean forward a bit,” he said, and when Tubbo did, Quackity placed the book on his back and started writing. Tubbo didn't even blink.

"I'll want to take a look at that," Techno said.

"Of course, you have to sign it," Quackity said without even looking up, clearly implying that it'd been a very stupid comment.

"Can I have my weapons back now?" Techno asked.

"I don't actually know where all of them are," Tubbo admitted. "Fundy, do you know?"

"They're definitely not all here," Fundy said.

"That's fine. I can take them with when I come back to L'Manberg to get the rest of my stuff," Phil said.

"You're actually moving out," Fundy asked.

"Yeah. I'm going back with Techno. I'll message someone when I'll be back for my things." Phil still wasn't looking at his grandson. Tommy was starting to feel bad for Fundy. He wondered what had happened between those two.

"Done," Quackity said. He signed the document with a flourish and then handed it to Tubbo and then Fundy, who did the same. Then he held it out to Techno.

Techno read it carefully. "That seems to be in order," he said. "Shut up, chat." He signed the treaty.

Chapter Text

"Great," Fundy said, tapping his foot, "now that we've cleared that up, we just have to kill Dream.”

"Wait, what?" Techno asked.

"What?" Tommy echoed. There was only one person Fundy could be talking about, but that wasn't… They couldn't…

"This has nothing to do with you, Techno," Quackity said. "Dream has interfered with our nation enough times, we have a right to figure out how to deal with him."

"And you chose execution. Again," Phil said flatly. "Are you going to put George on house arrest first?"

This time it was Fundy who awkwardly avoided Phil's eyes.

"Phil's right, that doesn't look good, I have to say," Techno said. "But Dream isn't exactly the most trustworthy guy, so I'm not saying you shouldn't prepare yourselves for what happens if you end up fighting him again."

‘Not exactly the most trustworthy guy' didn't even begin to cover it. Tommy snorted. Once Dream found out that L'Manberg was trying to kill him… He shivered.

"Exactly," Quackity nodded.

"Unfortunately, I do have some personal stakes in this," Techno continued. "You see, I owe him a favor."

Quackity stilled. "A favor? Why? What kind of favor?"

"It's your own fault, actually. He saved me from being executed."

"Ah, right." A brief embarrassed laugh. "That would explain it."

"What does that mean?" Tubbo asked. "Does that mean that you'll save his life if we try to kill him?"

"Yeah, probably. It's a pretty big favor. I do value my life quite a bit," Techno said.

"Would you attack L'Manberg if he asked you to?" Tubbo asked.

"Weeell," Techno said slowly, "we do have a treaty, right? That'd be rude. I wouldn't wanna be rude. So I'm not going to kill anyone in L'Manberg if he asks me. Now, large-scale property damage, on the other hand…"

"I don't think Dream needs your help to do large-scale property damage, mate," Phil said.

"You know what, that's fair. But I'm all about reciprocity, so I'll definitely save his life if he's in danger. Once," Techno added.

"Well this is unfortunate, because I still want to kill Dream," Quackity said casually.

He should speak up, he should say something, but Tommy found himself unable to move.

"Big Q, was that really necessary?" Tubbo complained.

"Oh it's necessary," Fundy muttered.

"Guys," Phil interrupted, "I'd just like to remind you that when you tried to execute Techno, it didn't work. What makes you think that trying to kill Dream will go any better?"

There was a brief pause.

"We can still try," Tubbo said. "He can't have infinite Totems."

"Are you sure though," Techno asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Well what do you expect us to do, not try to kill him?" Quackity demanded. "After everything he's done?"

"It does sound familiar, is all I'm saying. And you found a different solution with Techno, didn't you?" Phil said.

"What, do you want us to try diplomatic relations with Dream," Quackity said mockingly.

"Why not?"

"We've been trying that this entire time! He just keeps changing the rules!" Tubbo exclaimed.

"Have you genuinely tried," Phil asked doubtfully.

Through the sudden rush of anger, Tommy suddenly found that he could speak again. "Yes! You don't know Dream, Phil." He walked in front of Phil so he could look him in the eyes because this was important. "You absolutely cannot trust that guy. He's a wrong ‘un. He'll, he'll pretend to be nice and then be terrible. You can't trust him."

"What did he do, Tommy?" Quackity asked.

Tommy, throw your stuff in the hole, Tommy heard. He stared at the ground, but there was no hole there. "He… he…"

"That's not important right now," Techno interrupted. "Dream came looking for Tommy, said he escaped. I thought Tommy had only been exiled from L'Manberg, not imprisoned, so I'm not sure how that works. But I'm sure you guys were clear on what the terms were of that exile, checked in on Tommy, that kind of stuff, since you know that Dream can't be trusted and so you wouldn't just trust his word, am I right?"

"Ghostbur said…" Tubbo began. He sounded uncertain. Tommy didn't look at him.

"Oh, sure, you can absolutely trust everything Ghostbur says, what could possibly go wrong with that," Techno said sarcastically.

"Fine, you guys do know Dream better than I do," Phil admitted. "Tommy? You okay?"

Tommy nodded quickly and took a few steps back until he stood a little behind Techno. It felt safer there, and he refused to examine why.

"How about we postpone talking about Dream for now," Tubbo suggested. "We know where we stand now, and we can talk about the rest later."

"Good idea," Quackity agreed. "Technoblade, thanks for the warning, we'll take it from there."

"You're welcome," Techno said.

"So we're done here, right?" Fundy asked.

"Yeah, we're agreed. But I still don't like it, and I still hate you," Quackity told Techno.

"I don't care," Techno said bluntly. "Are you still going to try and kill me?"

Quackity crossed his arms, and then uncrossed them and pointed at Techno. "You have one more chance. If you attack L'Manberg again it'll be proof that you can't be trusted and that there can be no peaceful solution. Also, you're still banned from L'Manberg," he added.

"You do like exiling people without trials," Phil said.

"Well to be fair releasing the withers was a pretty clear hostile action. And we did discuss this with the whole cabinet," Tubbo said.

"You can bring an official complaint if you like," Fundy added, his tail twitching irritably.

"You know what, that's fair," Techno said. "Well, glad we're done here. See you around, I guess. Or not." He turned and started to walk away.

"I'll tell you when I'll be back for my stuff," Phil said and then followed Techno.

That left Tommy facing Tubbo, Quackity, and Fundy on his own. He hesitated.

"Tommy?" Tubbo asked. "Are you coming back with us?"

"Technically, he's still exiled," Quackity pointed out.

"But we can fix that, right?" Tubbo asked. "It's been long enough."

It's what he'd been waiting for for so long. Somehow, hearing it didn't feel as good as he'd thought it would.

"Tommy?" Techno asked. "Are you coming?"

Tommy looked over his shoulder and saw that Techno and Phil had stopped near the treeline and were watching him expectantly.

Behind them, the sun was starting to set. It felt strangely fitting in ways Tommy didn't want to examine in detail.

"My stuff is still at his house," Tommy said, pointing at Techno. He didn't look at Tubbo.

"But you're coming home afterwards, right?" Tubbo asked hopefully.

Home. He should want to go home to L'Manberg, go back to his old house, see all of his friends again, and let himself be celebrated as a hero for preventing another war. But now that the goal was so close... L'Manberg would always be important to him, of course it would. But L'Manberg had exiled him, his friends had exiled him, and he couldn't just forget that that had happened. He couldn't go back and pretend nothing had changed. And if it changed so much, would it even feel like home anymore? Not even his house was his own anymore, Connor had moved in there. What was worse, not going back or going back and not feeling welcome anymore? "I don't know, Tubbo," Tommy said. "Maybe... you know what, I'll come see you when my exile is lifted, and then we'll see."

Besides, returning before his exile was officially lifted would just give Dream another excuse. No need to take that risk.

"But..." Tubbo paused, and when he spoke again he sounded sad. "Okay, Tommy. I hope I'll see you soon."

"You could always come visit me," Tommy blurted out. "You never visited the entire time I was in exile, so maybe you don't want to, but you could come visit now. If you want to."

"Hey," Techno protested. "You can't just invite people to my house!"

"Our house," Tommy corrected automatically. "It's my house too, bitch, I live there."

"You live with Techno?" Quackity asked. "I thought you just met up or something!"

"Nah, I moved in with him," Tommy said.

"He didn't even ask! I just found him living under my house!" Techno complained. "And he just refused to leave!"

"You live under his house?" Tubbo asked, starting to grin.

"Look, I didn't have that many options," Tommy defended himself. "And it's our house."

"I'm sure it is." Quackity was grinning too.

"Fuck off, it's my place now, and I'm keeping it," Tommy said. "It's a great room, with a great tower, and you don't know what you're talking about. Later, assholes." He turned and walked to where Techno and Phil were waiting. "Let's go home."

"See ya," Techno said to the others.

"I hope not," Quackity said.

"Bye, grandpa," Fundy called.

Phil just scoffed.

Tommy followed Techno and Phil. He didn't turn around once to see if Tubbo was watching him leave, even though he really really wanted to.

They walked in silence until they were out of earshot of Tubbo, Quackity, and Fundy.

"So that went well," Tommy said brightly as soon as they walked down another hill.

"I can't believe it," Phil said, laughter in his voice. "I was so sure that you'd get your revenge, Techno! I didn't expect you to agree to a peace treaty! Were you really the one who suggested it? What happened?"

"It was all Tommy's fault!" Techno said defensively. "He wouldn't leave me alone."

"It was?" Phil walked backwards for a few steps to look at Tommy with raised eyebrows. "Respect, Tommy. I wouldn't have expected it of you either. You're usually not exactly a diplomat."

"Clearly I'm a fantastic diplomat," Tommy said, bristling.

"Clearly!" Phil laughed again and turned back around.

Tommy kept watching Phil's back. He didn't really know what to make of the man. Phil had come to Logstedshire once and given him a friendship emerald, but then he'd never come back for another visit, so he wasn't a very good friend. At least not to Tommy. He and Techno seemed very close. But Wilbur had always spoken fondly of his father too and Phil had killed him.

"Yeah, for once Tommy didn't fuck it up,” Techno said. "Gold star for Tommy.”

"Hey!” Tommy complained.

"Maybe now you can finally stop living under my house like a raccoon.”

"It's our house!” Tommy protested. "I like my room and I'll be staying here, thank you very much, we already talked about this-"

"Yeah, we talked about it and I said no,” Techno interrupted.

"I don't care.” Even if he moved back to L'Manberg, or elsewhere, it never hurt to have an additional place to stay.

Phil was laughing again. "Wait, so Tommy just moved into your basement and you didn't know?”

"Yes! He just showed up and started stealing my items!”

"Yeah, whatever, you didn't need them anyway.” Tommy definitely needed them more.

"You stole all of my gapples!”

"Not all of them.”

"And full diamond armor!”

"You didn't need that either, you're wearing full netherite. And you had a spare set.”

"That is not how crime works, Tommy, it's still theft even if your victim is rich.”

"Yeah, but then nobody cares.”

"So, Techno, since Tommy literally moved in with you and stole your shit and you not only didn't throw him out, but also let him talk you into actual diplomacy, does that mean he's your student now?” Phil interrupted with an audible grin.

"What!” Tommy asked, horrified.

"What? No!” Techno protested. "My student? Absolutely not. Chat, could you even imagine? TommyInnit as a student?”

"What's wrong with that?” Tommy asked, insulted. "I could be a student if I wanted to!”

"The whole idea of being a student is that you learn things and listen to your teachers, and, Tommy, I don't think you've listened to a teacher in your life.”

"Hey,” Tommy protested.

"Every teacher would fire you in a week because you'd just refuse to follow the rules.”

"Yeah, if their rules are shitty! And, and you'd be a terrible teacher, who would ever want to be your student anyway,” Tommy said.

"Oh I could teach you a few things,” Techno said, and there was definitely a threat in there.

"Boys,” Phil chided. "Play nice.”

"He started it,” Techno said, while Tommy still stared in disbelief at Technoblade being told to "play nice.”

"I don't care who started it, I'm going to end it,” Phil said.

Tommy was mostly sure he was joking, but decided there was no reason to test it.

"Whatever,” Techno grumbled. They'd reached the Nether Portal, and Techno stepped through without hesitation.

Tommy stopped in front of the portal. What if he just took one last look…

No. He'd come back later, he'd decided. He followed Techno and Phil through the portal.

They were already ahead of him on the bridge, and Tommy had to sprint to catch up to them. "Do you think the treaty will actually hold?” he heard Phil say.

"Not really,” Techno said.

"What?” Tommy protested. He wanted to confront Techno, but pushing past on the narrow bridge over the lava wasn't the greatest idea, so he was restrained to fuming at Techno's back.

"Then why did you even agree to it, mate?”

Techno shrugged. "It'll hold for a little while, at least. That's better than nothing. L'Manberg doesn't exactly seem stable, who knows what'll happen.”

"Yeah, I'm curious how the vote will go. Are you actually going to write pamphlets?”

"Maybe.”

Tommy was very sure how the vote would go. The only anarchist L'Manberg knew was the one who destroyed their city, that wasn't exactly a very appealing option. What was Techno even going to write on his pamphlets? "If there's no government you don't need to pay taxes?” …okay, some people might fall for that, but surely not the majority.

"But I wasn't even talking about the vote,” Techno continued. "Honestly, I figured, with their current government, it's just a matter of time until it implodes. And that's without Dream interfering.”

They'd reached the end of the bridge. Tommy shoved past Techno and Phil. "You're wrong. Bitch,” he added for emphasis. Regardless of their past fuck-ups, Tommy still had faith that L'Manberg would make it. Tubbo and Big Q and the others would figure things out, they were smart, and Tommy was going to help. After all, he'd just basically single-handedly removed one of L'Manberg's biggest threats. They should all call him Big Man TommyInnit, savior of L'Manberg, Tommy told them while making his way across the netherrack to the portal.

"Sure, Tommy,” Techno said in reply, and it sounded like he was rolling his eyes.

Whatever. Tommy would show him. Tubbo would lift his exile soon, and then Tommy could go wherever he wanted and Dream couldn't say anything about it. And if he tried to make trouble before that – well, for the time being, Tommy was still staying with Technoblade. Techno would protect him, surely. No, Dream wasn't a massive threat to him anymore.

They passed through the portal back into the overworld. It was getting dark, and the lights from Techno's house could be seen in the distance. Tommy wondered if Phil was going to stay with Techno or if he would build his own house. Even if he did, it wouldn't look as grand as Tommy's own tower. It might not be the fanciest build, but it made a statement. He wasn't going to stay here permanently, he'd move back to L'Manberg eventually, but it would be nice to have a permanent base here, one that was his alone.

"What is that,” Phil asked as they got closer, sounding horrified.

"That's Tommy's ugly tower,” Techno said.

"Hey! My tower is fantastic,” Tommy protested. "And it's going to look even better when it's finished.”

"I doubt that,” Phil said.

"It's so ugly. So ugly,” Techno complained. "And it's ruining the view from our house!”

"No it doesn't – wait, you said "our” house,” Tommy realized gleefully.

"No I didn't,” Techno denied.

"You did!”

"I meant me and Philza, okay? He'll be staying with me, and he's my friend. What's mine is his. That's all I meant.”

"Aww, mate.”

"You're a liar, Technoblade. But it's okay, I forgive you,” Tommy said magnanimously. "Deep down you know the truth. This is our house now, and you're not getting rid of me.” Even when his tower was finished, clearly he'd have to keep his room under the cellar. It was just so convenient, and after all, he'd already decorated it!

"What have I done to deserve this,” Techno lamented out loud, but the way he said it Tommy could tell that he didn't actually mean it. Tommy grinned. He knew Techno would warm up to him. Techno was an alright guy, really, once you got to know him. Still a dickhead, but alright.

"Don't worry, when I go back to L'Manberg I'll make sure to visit often. We can hang out together!”

Phil was laughing at them.

"That's really not necessary, Tommy,” Techno said.

"No, but I'll do it anyway. After all, we're allies now! Maybe one day, we can even be pals!”

Techno groaned at that, but Tommy ignored him. He was right, after all. A day ago he wouldn't have believed it himself, but now look at them, they'd negotiated a whole peace treaty! Clearly they were great at teamwork. Sure, Techno had destroyed L'Manberg, but that was an outlier. That was behind them, and they had to look to the future. Maybe one day Tommy wouldn't have nightmares of Techno sending withers after him anymore.

Maybe, instead, one day they'd be fighting together again, side by side.