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“Tommy! The shuttle’s here!”
Phil waited for the shout back down the stairs, for the sound of running feet in the corridor.
Silence.
“Tommy? Toms?”
Phil sighed as his call went unanswered again, before turning to the boy beside him with a sheepish grin.
“Would you mind-”
Wilbur rolled his eyes, “Sure old man, I’ll collect the gremlin. OI TOMS! GET YOUR ARSE DOWN HERE IN THIRTY SECONDS OR I’M COMING UP!”
There was a squeak from the top of the staircase, and a quiet scuffle, which quickly faded.
A sharp grin crossed Wilbur’s face, “READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!”
Phil sighed as the teen burst into a sprint up the stairs, flapping his wing once in a burst of wind for momentum, before skidding down the corridor after the youngest in their little family.
“L.”
Phil raised an eyebrow at the hulking figure stood across the hall from him. “It’s not my fault Tommy’s such a handful.”
“Skill issue.”
“What does that even mean?”
Techno only snorted, flipping his axe over and over in his hand. “Wouldn’t you like to know, old man.”
“I knew it was you who told Tommy to say-”
“I HAVE RETRIEVED THE CHILD!”
Phil winced as the call came from down the hall, complete with the loud and indignant screeches that usually accompanied Tommy whenever he was forced to do something he didn’t want to do. Like having baths, or eating vegetables, or not biting people.
Wilbur emerged from the gloom, pattering down the staircase with ease, despite the writhing bundle of six-year-old he was currently manhandling over his shoulder.
“Thanks Wil,” replied Phil tiredly, running a hand over his face. He loved his youngest child to pieces, but Prime could the kid be hard work.
“Tommy, calm down please,” asked Phil, as Wilbur hoisted the kid off his shoulder and dangled him by his ankles.
“MAKE WIL PUT ME DOWN!”
“Wilbur, could you put Tommy down please?”
“But he’ll run off, dad!” protested the boy, his wings flapping slightly in protestation.
“Nah he won’t.”
There was a moment of dead silence as Tommy registered the new voice, and turned himself just enough to catch glimpse of the pink hair flowing down the man’s back.
“TECH!” he screamed in a voice somehow even louder than before, “YOU’RE BACK!”
At Phil’s signal, Wilbur carefully lowered the wriggling child back onto his feet, just in time for the blonde to slam into the man’s kneecaps like a ton of bricks. Very loud bricks.
“Hullo child.” said Techno, fondness creeping onto his face despite his practically monotonic voice, “Bit anyone lately?”
“I bit Quackity last week!”
“Pog.”
“Don’t encourage him,” said Phil, “Now come on, or else we really will miss the shuttle.”
Strangely, the expected refusal didn’t come, Tommy remaining dead quiet for a moment, still clinging to Techno’s neck like he might disappear, the warrior holding him carefully but tightly.
“Do I have to go?” came the whisper-quiet reply, so unlike his usual bellow.
Phil sighed, moving behind his oldest friend to look his son in the eyes.
Tommy lifted his head, blue eyes wide and sad.
“You know why you have to go, Toms. I’m not allowed to have you on the ship without Academy training after you’re six. It’s against the rules - we’d get in lots of trouble with the Council. And it won’t be forever - you’ll go and do your training, and come back when you’re ready, just like Wil! And we’ll come and visit you whenever we’re in the area.”
Tommy sniffed, and Phil felt himself begin to chirp at his chick’s distress.
The older Avian carefully reached out across Techno to take the boy, letting Tommy cling to his own neck, while Phil’s wings came up around the both of them, cradling.his son to his chest.
“I’m gonna miss you.” came the quietest words Phill had ever heard from the bundle of pure energy that was Tommy, whispered like a sinner at a confessional.
“I’m gonna miss you too,” replied Phil, as quiet as the blonde had been, “Every day, chick.”
“Promise you won’t forget about me?”
“Never."
“Promise you’ll come back?”
Phil pulled back from the hug, just enough to stare into his son’s eyes.
“Always.”
-0-0-0-0-0-
“BYE DAD! BYE AUNT PUFFY!”
Tubbo waved desperately through the shuttle door as it swung closed, practically jumping up and down as Puffy waved back, smiling brightly, and elbowing her brother, who looked up from his phone long enough to wave at his only son, before bringing it back up to his ear with a look of disinterest.
Tubbo was ecstatic.
His dad had noticed him! He’d said goodbye! Admittedly Aunt Puffy had had to remind him, but he’d done it!
The Caprian was still smiling broadly as his cousin (and his favourite person in the universe aside from his dad and Aunt Puffy) took his hand to lead him to his seat.
“Did you see it, Dream?! He waved goodbye!”
Dream smiled as Tubbo continued to ramble about how great his dad was, and how important his work was, and how much Tubbo was gonna miss him even though he was almost never there and how-
“Tubs?” interrupted Dream gently as they reached a set of seats at the very back of the shuttle.
“Yeah?” asked Tubbo, smiling up at the older teen.
“Do you remember what I said about seating in the shuttle?”
It took a moment for Tubbo to remember the conversation they’d had, but when he did, his face crumpled. “Oh yeah,” he said, looking down, “We have to sit with our year groups.”
“Oh Tubbo.”
Tubbo fought back a sniff as Dream knelt down to wrap him in a tight hug. The boy’s white hair, the same colour as his mother’s, but sleeker where hers fell in tangly curls, fell over Tubbo’s face, and he buried his nose in it, breathing in the familiar scent of engine oil and the chalk Dream would dust his hands with when he was doing one of his manhunts.
“You’ll be at the front, right? And I can come get you if I need anything?”
“My year are sitting in rows three and four this year, you can come get me any time, alright?”
“Alright,” replied Tubbo in a quiet voice, “And I’ll see you when we get there?”
“Launchies will get off first to have an introduction ceremony, but I’ll be there the second it’s over,” promised the boy, “We can do a proper tour, make a day of it before lessons start, okay?”
“Okay.”
Tubbo sniffed once more, and then pulled his head up, forcing a wobbly smile.
Dad said that real men didn’t cry, and Tubbo wanted to be a real man one day, just like his dad.
“Okay Dreamie. I’ll see you later.”
The Ovarian grinned at him, pushing his hair back past the horns already beginning to curl down past his ears.
“See you later, Tubs. Have a good trip and remember to try and make some friends on the way - you’ll end up rooming with at least a few of them, depending on how many we pick up on the way through. Bye kid.”
“Bye Dream.”
Tubbo watched as the blonde moved down the length of the shuttle, greeting the few people already on there as he went - their stop was one of the first on the way, so it was only them and a few from some of the further-reaching star systems.
Tubbo’s ears perked up as he noticed the dirty blonde head currently wedged deep into a seat in his section of the shuttle, almost drowning in a massive purple hoodie.
“Hi!” he said brightly, putting on his best ‘meeting people’ smile, “I’m Tubbo! What’s your name?”
The kid looked up sharply, and Tubbo faltered momentarily at the sharpness within the deep purple that matched his hoodie almost perfectly.
He was almost surprised when a reply came, short and sharp as it were. “Purpled.”
“Oh, like your eyes? Did you pick it yourself or did someone else pick it for you?”
Purpled looked distinctly annoyed to have been addressed a second time, but looked up regardless to answer. That was alright - most people were annoyed when Tubbo spoke to them. Well, other than Aunt Puffy and Dream - they even asked him to talk to them!
“I picked it.” came the reply, once again short, but more than one word this time.
“That’s a cool name to pick,” said Tubbo, plopping himself down on the seat next to the boy, not noticing how Purpled curled further into himself, “My dad picked my Standard name for me - Toby, but Dream, my cousin, has always called me Tubbo, and now everyone does! Where are you from originally, then? Do you have any family at the Academy? Why did you decide to -”
“Do you ever stop talking?”
Tubbo couldn’t help the way he flinched at the sharp cut-off from the boy next to him, purple eyes glaring out from under a hood.
He’d done it again, hadn’t he?
He’d been annoying, and had spoken too much, and now Purpled was going to hate him, and the first friend he might have made would never speak to him again, and-
“Oh Prime, please don’t cry,” Purpled leant forward with a mix of panic and exasperation, and Tubbo realised with some surprise that he was indeed crying, “Look, I’m… I’m sorry, alright? That was mean. It’s alright. You can talk if you want to.”
Tubbo sniffed, “Are- are you sure? I didn’t mean to be annoying.”
Purpled huffed, “You weren’t. I’m just… I was being mean. You can talk.”
“What- what should I talk about?” asked the boy, eyes wide. Did Purpled really want to hear him talk?
The boy shrugged, “I don’t know, uh, what’s your favourite animal?”
Tubbo gasped, slot eyes going wide, “You want to hear about bees?”
“Bees?” Purpled asked, brow furrowing, “Uh, sure I guess, what-”
“I LOVE BEES!”
-0-0-0-0-0-
“- though of course you have to remember that when I say ‘bees’, the translation actually covers thousands of different species found on almost every planet that's capable of supporting life, in some way or another. The translators are good, but they can’t do everything. And then there’s-”
“Uh hi?”
Ranboo winced as the boy stopped his sentence abruptly, the taller boy taking a step back, “Uh sorry, I didn’t mean to, uh, interrupt you I just- I just- I just,”
Ranboo pushed his lips closed as the words hooked over his tongue, tripping him over his words like a stuck record. He shut his eyes for a moment, and breathed in deeply like his mama had shown him, and then restarted his sentence. “I was wondering if this is the area for First Years?”
The brunet’s eyes lit up, drawing Ranboo’s attention to the strange slot-eyed pupils that sat in his otherwise blue eyes. A Caprian, if he wasn’t mistaken, which was backed up by the nubs of horn poking up through his hair, dark as the right side of Ranboo’s face.
The boy next to him was harder to identify.
Drowning in an oversized hoodie, so different from the form fitting space-suit most of the others were wearing, which was pulled up over his head, hiding any horns or other extra appendages he might’ve had.
The only thing that Ranboo could identify at all was those deep purple eyes, which were glaring out at him with a ferocity hard enough to make Ranboo flinch backwards.
“Yes! We’re First Years as well! I’m Tubbo, and this is Purpled. Don’t worry about him, he glares at everyone. What’s your name? You’re Enderian, right? Or half? I’ve never seen an Enderian like you before! Is your skin naturally heterochromatic? I learnt that word from one of Dad’s books, it means differently coloured. How tall are - ow! What was that for?”
The hoodie-boy - Purpled - snorted, “Let the kid sit down, Tubbo, he can answer all your questions in a minute.”
Much to Ranboo’s relief, the smaller boy did indeed allow him to settle in the seat across the aisle, awkwardly shifting until he found a way to fold his limbs in such a way that they didn’t poke out and block the aisle.
There was a reason Enderian’s had forgone chairs entirely during the early evolution of their species.
“So,” continued the brunet the moment Ranboo stopped shifting, “What’s your name?”
“Ranboo,” replied the Enderian, “Ranboo Beloved.”
“That’s an Enderian name!” chirped the boy excitedly, “Does that mean you are Enderian then?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“But why is half of you white?”
“Tubbo, you can't ask someone why they're white!"
Ranboo waved Purpled off, “It’s fine, I get asked a lot. I’m half albino.”
“Okay, I take that back, sorry Tubbo. How can you be half albino?”
Ranboo shrugged, “I don’t know. The doctors did a bunch of tests, and they said I’m just like that. Everything else is normal.”
“Huh.” Tubbo watched him scrutinizingly for a moment, before his face cleared. “So, do you want to hear about bees?”
Ranboo’s brow furrowed, much like Purpled’s had, although he couldn’t have known it.
“Uh-”
“Wait- don’t do it-”
“-sure?”
Purpled slumped down in his seat, groaning softly as an almost manic look appeared in the goat-hybrid’s eyes.
“Bees are only the best animals ever! They-”
-0-0-0-0-0-
Purpled didn’t want to be here.
Though to be fair there weren't many places he actually wanted to be, so he probably couldn’t be too mad about it.
The second the shuttle doors had slid open he’d been onto the platform, pushing past students already dressed in the tight space-suit-type-thing that the Academy called a uniform, and had claimed a seat hunched right in the back of the shuttle, wedging himself into the seat and pulling the hood over his head.
[1 NEW MESSAGE FROM: I_MAKE_PUNZ]
I_MAKE_PUNZ: hey kid, you onboard?
Lilac_skies: yh im on
Lilac_skies: did you change my name again?
I_MAKE_PUNZ is typing…
I_MAKE_PUNZ: have a good trip. let me know when you land
Purpled sighed, signing off with a smiley face instead of actually replying on the comm set. Punz was a prick.
Stuffing his comm-pad back into the pocket of his hoodie, Purpled settled back into his seat to watch out of the window of the shuttle, letting himself fall into the depths of his seat. Hopefully when the other kids came they’d leave him alone in his little corner. Maybe he’d even get a nap in somewhere.
Evidently whatever god was watching over him thought it would be hilarious if it did the exact opposite of that.
Okay, maybe he was being a little unfair. Tubbo wasn’t actually that bad, once you got him talking and not apologising - Purpled had never known so many bee facts. And then Ranboo seemed nice as well. A bit strange, a bit quiet and yet somehow loud, but nice.
But Tommy? Tommy was an entirely different level.
The first time Purpled set eyes on the blonde, he knew that all semblance of peace and quiet within his life had been promptly dashed against the metaphorical rocks.
The kid had bounded into the shuttle with none of the shyness you might expect for a barely-six-year-old who was going away to intergalactic boarding school for the first time, instead waving enthusiastically goodbye out of the window, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
He’d bounded up to them, full of confidence, and bright smiles and a full belief that the love he clearly had for everything around him was returned.
Tubbo had been immediately delighted with the newcomer, who had taken the seat in front of the brunet so they could talk over the back of the seat, Tubbo seemingly happy to stop his speech on bees in lieu of the younger boy.
(Tommy had been outraged to discover that he was in fact the youngest of the group, despite having a birthday fairly centered in the Standard Calendar.)
At some point Ranboo had been dragged into the conversation as well, reluctantly at first, but slowly gaining confidence with the group, beginning to make his own jokes and references, to which Tommy responded to with delight that he’d coaxed the taller out of his shell.
(Tommy had also been outraged to find that Ranboo was not only taller than him, but was taller by a good seven Standard inches).
Admittedly the blonde had attempted to engage Purpled in conversation as well, aiming questions and curious looks every so often, to which Purpled replied with short answers or none at all, choosing the cool pane of reinforced glass over making conversation.
It wasn’t like he needed friends anyway.
It wasn’t like he’d thought that Tubbo had been his friend.
Purpled wasn’t here to make friends. He was here to work his way through the ranks, and quality as the youngest pilot they’d ever seen.
If he was good enough (and he knew he was good), he could be out of there by the time he was sixteen.
And if something pulled inside him, turning his head just enough to listen to the banter and the jokes, then it was from a purely mercenarial point of view. The more he knew about his classmates, the better prepared he was to defeat them. That was all.
And if a little voice instead his head who sounded suspiciously like a certain idiot back home told him otherwise? Then that voice could shut up. What did it know anyway?
-0-0-0-0-0-
Origins Academy was everything that Tommy's Dad had said it would be.
Admittedly, when Phil was young enough to be a Launchie, the Academy was still situated on Mojang, before the Great War happened and the planet was decimated. But they'd rebuilt it almost exactly the same, and he'd promised it wouldn't be too different from the place he grew up in.
The biggest difference, in fact, was that instead of being built on the planet surface, the Academy ringed all the way around the moon it was situated on, orbiting like some great metal octopus that had lost it's head. But all the info on his comm had promised that with the gravity in place, it would be just like walking on an actual ship or a planet, and that no one would end up spinning around like Tommy had been worried about.
The first day, he'd made three entire new best friends, and a whole bunch of normal-level-friends to play with, taking the lead in orientation, introducing himself bright and early to his instructors like Dad had said to do, and figuring out the map as soon as he could.
The first night, he might have cried himself to sleep clutching his comfort toy Henry, and wishing that Launchies were allowed to call home in the first month, but by the next morning, he'd washed the tear gunk off his face and put his best foot forward like Dad told him to.
He wasn't quite sure which was his best foot yet, but he liked his left a lot and so he tried to make sure he stepped with that one first every time.
Purpled was homesick too, he thought - the… actually Tommy wasn't quite sure what species he was, but he was always so quiet, fiddling with his comm and staring at the wall during lessons. The boy looked almost human, sometimes, but that was impossible, because all of the humans were kept in sanctuaries now after they went almost extinct during the Great War. His eyes made Tommy think of the citizens of Slimeria, with their spongy bones and antenna, so maybe he was just born funny? Dad said that sometimes chicks were hatched wrong, like Elytrians could come without wings or with oddly shaped ones, and Tech said that Piglins could be born without tusks, or smaller than normal, or bigger than normal-
Anyway, the point was that Purpled was homesick, and so Tommy, being a great best friend, was going to do everything in his power to help!
Which was… harder than he'd thought.
He really was trying, he promised! It was just that every time he tried to get close to the Slimerian, in lessons, in free time or even in their bunks at night, the four of them having claimed their room together, Purpled found an excuse to leave again! The only people he ever seemed to talk to were Tubbo and Ranboo, and whoever was on his comm. It was frustrating, and Tommy felt very hard done by since he'd been so nice!
"Mr Craft? Do you perhaps have something more urgent to be doing than answering my questions?"
Tommy startled upright, flushing sheepishly, "Uh- no, sorry Professor." he replied, "Could you repeat the question please?"
Professor Kajuroi raised an eyebrow, but did so, "I asked you to explain what happened to Mojang as succinctly as possible, and explain some of the major effects on the Intergalactic Alliance."
"Oh right! Well, the decimation of Mojang was the first attack from the Void, having high- hij- taken over the ship with the first known doppelgangers. The Amongus went off grid for two point three Standard Time Units, and was scheduled for quarrantine when they docked, but the doppelgangers broke out and unleashed a Void creature, which swallowed all life on the planet and left it the first Death Planet. It's still contaminated to this day, and we can't send anyone down there to check it out!"
The Professor nodded, "And the effects this had?"
"Well the first one was that everyone panicked, and the Council had to call a universal lockdown and no ships could dock or leave, which meant that a whole bunch of trade was stopped, and the eco- echo-"
"The economy." prompted the Professor, still nodding.
"And the economy crashed! More ships kept disappearing, blipping out while in travel and then returning different. Several wars broke out between previously peaceful planets, cause everyone was blaming everyone else, and planets kept mysteriously being destroyed in like- way too short time for anyone to figure out what was happening! The smaller wars only stopped when the video of the first Void creature was released, and everyone could see what was really happening!"
"Good," Professor Kajuroi said, "That's a great start, Tommy, you clearly know a lot about this topic. Can anyone tell me what happened next?"
Tubbo waved his hand in the air, back and forth, "I can! I can! Okay, so-so-so- so everyone was really scared of the Void creatures! Travel between galaxies was stopped entirely, because that's the only place where the Void is, but they restarted between planets which is good because then people can eat food and have stuff! The Intergalactic Military pulled up all it's pilots and soldiers and sent them to try and kill the creatures, but we lost a load of people before we realised it was a bad idea."
"Ranboo, what were the Void creatures primary weapons, and why were they so effective?"
"Uh-" the Enderian looked panicked, "They used- I don't think we know exactly what they used, but they radiated uh- terror. It would cause everyone on board to freeze up and get really scared, sometimes they'd forget to do their jobs and the ships would blow up, and sometimes they'd just sail right into the Void and get eaten. Or replaced. Sometimes they'd come out and everyone would be wrong."
He scratched the white side of his face nervously, itching compulsively.
"Aimsey-" the Professor called on another student, "How was the tide of the war turned?"
"Uh-" the girl flipped through her textbook, "It says here that- "Humans were one of the newest species to join the Council, and as a young planet, were supposed to stay relegated to their own planet. Earth was placed under lock down, because Humans had been known to rebel against Council orders before, but with their- less soup- superior space vessels, they weren't expected to be able to even leave their galaxy. Within a Standard Monthly Rotation, however, Humans managed to not only push onto the front lines of the Void, but take the first victory the universe had seen since Mojang."
"Precisely! Now, I am not the teacher to go to for biological analysis on the hows and whys of Human success, but I can tell you that the reason Humans brought down the first Void creature during the War was because they were immune to the weapons of the Void. They could steer their ships right into the hollow space between galaxies, and even with their inferior weaponry, take down the unsuspecting creatures. From there, each War ship had at least a twenty percent human staffing, and our top pilots were all from Earth. The tide of the War turned quickly, going from the Council trying to prevent Universal annihilation, to an onslaught to the Void creatures. The year that the final battle was won, and the Hive-Mother was slaughtered, the rest going dormant, was reset to Standard Annual Rotation 0, to commemorate the sacrifice of all the fallen soldiers."
"And the human race."
Professor Kajuroi hummed in acknowledgement. "Indeed so, Purpled. Unfortunately, as one of the last stands of the Void, Earth was decimated. It remains a Death Planet still, untouchable. The majority of the Human population still resided there, and only a small proportion had travelled out to the rest of the galaxy. Over time, the population has dwindled, and now Humans are considered to be almost extinct. Some theorise that-"
"The population didn't just dwindle," Purpled interrupted, sitting upright with the sort of fury on his face that Tommy had never seen before, "They were slaughtered!"
"Purpled, sit back down." Professor Kajuroi's face left no room for argument, "This is a topic that is not covered until your fourth year, as far as you are concerned, Humans died out naturally."
Tommy frowned, fluttering his wings nervously. What did she mean by that? Dad had never mentioned anything about anything else happening to the Humans? They only had a million or so left once their planet was destroyed, and they were a short-lived species, less than a 100 Standard Annual Rotations. They'd simply not reproduced fast enough to stay alive… right? But now Professor Kajuroi was saying that Purpled was right and something else had happened, but they just weren't allowed to know yet?
"But they didn't! That's a lie! Just because-"
"Mr Dropsby, that is quite enough! If I hear another word from you this lesson, wherever you have learnt this information from, then you will be facing severe-"
Half the class gasped as Purpled kicked his chair away from himself, before storming towards the door and out into the hallway.
Professor Kajuroi looked shocked, as if she'd never had a student walk out before.
"I'll go after him!" he announced loudly, "He's my friend-"
Professor Kajuroi nodded, "That would be kind of you, Tommy."
"We're going too! Right Ranboo?"
Ranboo looked startled as Tubbo dragged him upwards, but nodded timidly.
Professor Kajuroi looked like she was going to argue for a moment, before she shook her head and let them go, the three boys dashing out into the corridor.
Now to find Purpled-
-0-0-0-0-0-
Ranboo should really stop letting himself be dragged around the place by these two-
He'd gotten into so many situations in the last two weeks! Not all of them technically bad, but he'd still been shaking with anxiety the whole time.
He was worried he would throw up in class, when Professor Kajuroi asked him that question. About them.
Ranboo… Ranboo wasn't a bad person. He knew he wasn't! His momma's had raised him to be kind and considerate and gentle, and whenever he wasn't sure what to do, he just thought about what they would do, and it usually worked out okay!
They told him that his birth wasn't his fault, his mother's death wasn't either, and that he was strong enough to overcome his nature, even if the white half of his face crawled and itched and longed for release, whispering to him about everything he could be, everything he should do-
He wasn't like them. He wasn't!
He promised he was good-
"How did you find me?" Purpled's voice was strangely thick, and liquid was dripping down his face, making his eyes red. It almost looked like tears, but there were only a handful of species who could produce tears in any other situation than severe damamge, and Purpled looked perfectly whole! Slimerian's certainly didn't - they usually wiggled their antenna to show emotion. But then again, since Purpled was… mutated was the nicest word Ranboo could find, maybe he had to make it up some other way? Or maybe he was just leaking fluid for some reason.
"You dropped your comm outside the door!" Tommy announced cheerfully as they all bundled into the storage closet. Purpled snatched the device immediately, face going pale.
Tubbo crouched down next to the boy, knees bending backwards and slot eyes widening, "Are you okay? You ran out!"
"Yeah, I noticed," Purpled grumbled as they all wedged uncomfortably inside, Tommy's wings taking up more than their fair share of space even folded, and Ranboo's long legs having to bend awkwardly.
"Are you- are you okay?" he asked softly, "You got very upset over the Humans…"
"Yeah well- genocides upset me." Purpled huffed, "And it's not fair that we're not told about it until we're twelve!"
"My momma said that it's because it's too scary for children to know about…" Ranboo piped up, almost a whisper, "I know it too, but she made me promise never to tell anyone else…"
Purpled's head snapped to the side, eyes wide, while Tubbo and Tommy looked between them indignantly.
"How come you guys get to know and we don't?" Tommy asked loudly, "That's not fair!"
"Tommy, be quiet!" Tubbo hissed, "We don't want to get caught! And there's probably a good reason if the adults don't want to tell us…"
"I don't care what the reason is," Tommy scowled, folding his arms, "I want to know now!"
"If I tell you," Purpled said, scowling even harder, "You can't tell anyone else. You gotta promise."
"I promise!" said Tommy impaitently, bouncing his leg, "Now spill!"
Ranboo looked at the ground, wanting nothing more than to sink into the ground and disappear.
"Well- humans didn't die out, for one." Purpled said firmly, "They were killed. At the end of the War, the surviving humans weren't sent directly to the sancturies. They were still roaming around free. But then, one day, a Void creature turned up."
"But that's impossible!" exclaimed Tubbo, "They all went dormant after the hive-mother was killed-"
"All of the proper Void creatures," Purpled corrected, "Unbeknownst to anyone else, they left sleeper agents all around. Sorta like the doppelgangers, but they weren't just replaced, they were the actual people with extra bits. It took a while to figure out, but eventually they realised that they only ever activated around humans. So they gathered up all the humans and put them in sanctuaries to protect them, which would've been a great idea if that hadn't made them sitting ducks. There were a million humans left at the end of the War, by the time the last sanctuary was destroyed, there were only a few thousand."
Ranboo hid his face in his knees while Tommy and Tubbo stared with open mouths.
"But- but why wouldn't they tell us that?" the blonde asked, confusion lacing his voice, "We're big enough to learn about the War but not what happened after?"
"I- I think it was because- because of the panic," Ranboo said quietly, "People got scared because they couldn't tell if their friends and family were themselves or not. Everyone got paranoid and things got rough for a few Rotations. I guess they don't want us being scared that people aren't who they say they are? Because there's always a chance that some sleeper agents are still dormant, with how long some species can live…"
Tommy's face went entirely pale, and he swallowed, "My- my Dad and my Uncle Techno were around in the war- what if-"
Ranboo cringed, oh he'd made that so much worse, hadn't he?
"I'm sure they're not, Tommy," Tubbo said reassuringly, "You said that they helped human evacuations right after the War, right? So if they'd been sleeper agents, they would've activated then!"
Tommy nodded, but there was worry in his eyes and his wings were twitching.
"And all of the Professors here are new, because all the old ones died when the last Academy was exploded," the Caprisan continued to reason, "And all the trainees are children, so we're totally safe here."
Ranboo, at the very least, was totally safe. He had nothing to fear at all. The other three-
As long as he didn't meet a human, Ranboo reassured himself, he'd be fine. And he didn't even know whether he'd explode into a giant Void monster anyway! He wasn't like other sleeper agents, after all. He wasn't a person who'd been infected.
He was born Void.
Or half at least.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Tubbo was glad that the paranoia hadn't stuck with Tommy for long. Paranoia was such a fun word - it was spelt funny, said funny, and meant a funny thing! Not funny that made you laugh, but funny weird, like people sometimes said Tubbo was.
He'd thought that the Academy would be like the books he read, that he'd make so many friends and have midnight feasts and win sports games and finally have people love him. It hadn't been.
It had been better than home, though! He had best friends, even if there were only three of them, the teachers all liked him because he was smart, even if he spoke a lot, and he was getting faster in their training classes!
After the first month of settling in was up, they were allowed to comm the outside world again, to talk their friends and family. Tubbo had rung his Dad eight times the first night, and texted him a bunch more, but he hadn't read them yet. He was probably just busy. He was always busy.
Aunt Puffy had picked up on the first ring, though! And he saw Dream in the cafeteria every day, and they sometimes hung out after school!
Not as much as they had at home - Dream had a lot of studying to do because he was graduating next year and so all of his exams were super important now. But he still gave Tubbo parkour lessons once a week, and listened to whatever he was talking about, and gave him big hugs when he missed home.
He wished Dream was his brother, sometimes. Being cousins was great, but he wanted a brother like Tommy had one, someone who you got to live with forever. Tommy complained about Wilbur a lot, but they still called almost every night, and he'd get mad if anyone but him said mean things about his brother.
But like Aunt Puffy said, there was no point worrying over things you couldn't change, and he couldn't change this.
Tubbo dragged his feet on the floor as he went, scuffing his trainers on the wall. Dream had had to cancel their parkour lesson today because he'd gotten injured during a training session in school and was still in medbay getting treated. Tubbo hadn't seen the comm message until he was changed and ready in one of the private holo-sim rooms however, and so now he had no idea where his friends were or what do to with his time.
Maybe he could go play on one of the Launchie-approved flight simulators? They weren't allowed to use the big and rough ones, but-
Tubbo paused, ears pricking upright as a familiar voice caught his attention. Barely a whisper, and it would've been unnoticeable to most species, but Caprisans had superior hearing, and Tubbo was intimately familiar with this voice.
Purpled was here!
Tubbo tilted his head down, trying to pinpoint the direction the noise was coming from. Was he in another closet?
But why? And who was he talking to?
Tubbo frowned as the voice faded out again as he walked down the corridor. There hadn't been any doors he could see… so where was he?
It took a few passes up and down the corridor to figure out exactly where the voice was coming from, and then Tubbo stood in confusion, looking left and right, trying to figure out how Purpled had turned invisible.
And then he looked up.
…
One of the ceilings tiles was slightly ajar.
How the heck had Purpled gotten up there???
"Purpled?" Tubbo called quietly, checking up and down the corridor, "Are you- up there?"
There was a sudden silence, followed by a shuffle, and two suspicious violet eyes peeking out, "Depends. You gonna snitch?"
"Of course not!" said Tubbo hotly, "You're my friend! I was just wondering how you got up?"
Purpled shrugged, "Skill. I'm good at parkour."
"Who were you talking to?"
"My brother."
"And why were you talking to him in the ceiling vent?"
There was a silence. And then- "None of your business. Why were you snooping on me? What did you hear?"
"Nothing!" Tubbo insisted, bemused at Purpled's sudden ferocity, "I was just trying to find you-"
He leapt back as Purpled tumbled out of the ceiling, somehow sliding the tile back before he fell.
"Yeah well- you found me," the boy said, shoulders tense, "I'm gonna finish the call somewhere else, thanks."
Tubbo watched in bewilderment as his friend stalked off, somehow even grumpier than usual. Had he- had he done something? Was this his fault? Had he annoyed Purpled too much and this was his real feelings and all the time they spent together having fun was him being polite?
When he barged into the medbay ten minutes later, the nurse on duty didn't have the heart to pull the hysterically sobbing Launchie out from the arms of the elder Caprisan who'd been admitted earlier that afternoon.
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Purpled felt like - excuse his swearing, Ponk always said he was gonna wash his mouth out with soap if he kept cussing - shit.
It was almost the end of a whole year of training, a whole year of friendship - and yes, he'd finally gotten over his thing with Tommy and had started to enjoy spending time with the Elytrian - and he'd suddenly dropped them all like soap bars in the shower.
Not that they had soap bars at the Academy - unlike the shitty ship that he'd grown up on, which had rattling pipes and temperamental water bursts, the showers here were all chemical based, dousing him fully and then drying him off in ten minutes flat.
It made him feel awful, but also- it was safest for them right now. He could apologise once this part of the mission was done and he was no longer lying awake at night in paranoia, terrified he was gonna get caught.
Most of the data transmission he'd done so far could be done on his comm, which was modified and encrypted so heavily that it was almost impossible for it to be bypassed. Sam knew what he was doing when it came to computers.
But this last one, this last file, would have to be a physical handover.
He couldn't access this one remotely, climbing up into the ceilings to hack into the wire and reroute information flow - he'd have to get the device the report was being sent to, upload it directly from there, and then transfer the memory stick by hand off to one of his crew. Which not only meant that Purpled had to steal one of his Professor's personal comms, but he'd also have to have time to download, transfer, hand off and then return it before anyone got caught.
So yeah, he was a little bit stressed.
And more than that-
He could swear that the other three knew what he was up to. What he was.
It was probably just the paranoia talking, and all, but-
It made him nervous. And when he was nervous, he got sloppy.
And sloppy was never-
"Purpled, are you coming or not?"
Purpled looked up sharply, hurrying along silently after Tommy. The field trip had been his best shot at this, and he'd barely slept the night before, the little he got, disrupted by realistic nightmares.
The older they got, the more off-planet trips they'd get to go on, but for now, this was their special end of year treat.
This time next week, they'd be sent home for the annual two Standard Monthly Rotation leave, but for now, they'd travelled out to a nearby planet who's inhabitants resembled what Punz said were hummingbirds back on Earth.
Tubbo was somewhere out in the abundant wildflower meadows already, having found a bees nest, and Ranboo was standing around awkwardly and sneezing every so often.
Everywhere, Launchies and Second Years were wandering around, theoretically doing a scavenger hunt, and realistically trying to eat all the pretty fruit and get themselves lost.
The chaos of the teachers trying to herd everyone in roughly the same area was the perfect distraction for Purpled - he made his move the second Tommy looked away, going for it before his nerves got the better of him.
It was easier than he'd thought to pickpocket the comm off Professor Mayleaf, the head of the strategy department and who'd been recruited for this because they were unfortunate enough to have a free day with the graduating years out on their end of year expedition too.
In ten minutes flat, he'd hidden himself away in a thicker part of the forest, having slipped away from prying eyes, and was in the middle of hacking into the device with the decoder Sam had gifted him. Only a few more minutes, then he could return it and make it to the meeting place on time.
It was stupid of him not to be on high alert, with everything that was at stake here.
He should've been watching-
Or at the very least, he should've caught the snap of twigs under stumbling feet, before three pairs of eyes were staring at him from behind a tree.
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Tommy knew he'd seen Purpled steal something! He'd been right!! And here he was, sat with the evidence in his hands, looking more guilty than Wil did whenever Dad asked who taught Tommy how to swear!
"What are you doing with Professor Mayleaf's comm?" he blurted out, his wings fully extended for once, since there was plenty of room out here, "My Uncle Techno says that if you're gonna steal then you better not get caught!"
"You can't tell anyone!" Purpled said suddenly, eyes filled with fear, "Tommy please. No one can know!"
Tommy folded his arms, "But-"
"Tommy… maybe we should hear him out first?" Ranboo set a clawed hand on his shoulder, the Enderian shuffling his feet, "He probaby has a good reason… right Purpled?"
A flash of emotions crossed his friend's face, too quick to read, "Not- not one I can tell you. It's- it's really important that no one knows this secret, and explaining to you is too risky."
Tubbo bit his lip on Tommy's other side, "Purpled… we want to keep your secret, but we have to know why! It's unfair to just ask to keep it and not say why."
"Because they'll kill me if they know!" Purpled slapped his hands over his mouth a moment too late, and Tommy was concerned to see that he was crying again. What did he mean they'd kill him?? The very worst thing that the Academy would do would be to expel him, but since he was young, he'd probably get off with a lot of detention.
"Purpled- the death penalty was banned millenia ago!" exclaimed Tubbo, "They wouldn't kill you!"
"I- I think they would…" Ranboo looked strange, when Tommy turned to face him. He was sweating despite the breeze, shoulders held tensely, and was staring at Purpled with a stunned realisation, "Purpled… are you… are a- a Human?"
Tommy almost laughed. What a ridiculous thing to say! Maybe the pollen was getting to Ranboo - Enderians were predisposed to flower allergies since they came from an almost barren planet.
Purpled didn't deny it. He just stared at Ranboo with wide and terrified eyes, shaking like a leaf.
Tommy's urge to laugh drained away into a sickening pit.
"But- but Humans are extinct-" he said, "They're- you said it yourself that all the sanctuaries-"
Purpled swallowed, "They- we- some- some escaped… we-" his grip went white-knuckled around the comm, "Some got out on a ship. We've been there since… I'm a fourth generation survivor."
Oh. Oh dear. This was- Dad hadn't ever told Tommy what to do when this happened-
"That's- that-"
"That's awesome!" Tubbo shrieked.
Three pairs of eyes shot to him.
"I thought you hated me! But you're actually a member of an almost extinct species on a mission to defeat the government! That's so cool! Are you gonna send all of Professor Mayleaf's reports to the other Humans? What do you need them for? Why do you have purple eyes when humans are only supposed to have blue, green or brown?"
"Uh- they-" Purpled stumbled over his words, "My eyes are natural, it can happen sometimes in humans, just not alot. I- I need to do a physical transfer with the data- we need it to avoid Council ships… we mostly restock on smaller planets but they still sometimes get patrols… how- how did you know, Ranboo?"
"I guessed." The Enderian shrugged, looking intently at the ground, "It was just- a hunch."
His hands were clenched so tightly that Tommy was a little worried he was going to break through the skin and bleed.
"I- I should go. You guys go back to the group, you can use whatever excuse you like when they question you."
"Question us? About what?"
"About me? I can't go back now you know, you'll tell someone-"
"Of course we wouldn't, Purpled!" Tommy said earnestly, "Right guys? You're our friend! We're gonna help you! I can get the comm back, if you want, and Tubbo and Boo can make an alibi for you!"
Purpled swallowed, clutching the comm a little tighter- "Do you promise you won't tell? They'll lock me up if they find me, and then catch everyone else, and then we'll all die-"
"We promise," Tommy said earnestly, "Right Tubbo? Ranboo?"
"Of course!" Tubbo said, "I want to know everything about you though!"
Ranboo nodded, "We'll keep your secret. You better go quickly, though, we only have another thirty minutes before we need to report back to the shuttle."
"And what do we do from there?"
"I mean, we do have that essay for Professor Kajuroi due tomorrow-"
"Tubbo, don't remind me. That's a highly traumatic experience."