Puffy was, technically, only a mother to Foolish. Back in Snowchester, back when it was a real town, it had just been the two of them. Puffy ran a bakery with her partner, Niki, and Foolish helped with infrastructure around the town. That's how she'd met Tubbo - he and Foolish worked together sometimes despite their young age (Tubbo had barely been ten at the time, if she remembered correctly), and they'd frequent her shop when they had time. Tubbo never talked about his own life, even now, after five years, and part of Puffy thought he never would.
Learning that Tubbo had an entire secret life, going to the fence every day and talking to someone who worked for Dream, was not as surprising as she expected it to be. And though at first she'd been apprehensive, seeing how easily Tubbo got along with the strange boy - Tommy, she learned - she began to warm up, hoping that maybe her instincts were wrong. She wanted to believe Tubbo, she did. And though she still wasn't entirely convinced, it wouldn't be right to turn Tommy away. He belonged in Snowchester, for now at least.
Snowchester, the mansion, was meant to be a safe haven, away from Dream, away from anyone who would ever want to hurt anyone who lived under its roof. The remnants of the real Snowchester - the ones that escaped in time, anyway - all lived here.
And, if Tommy was going to be a member of Snowchester, that meant she needed to trust him.
She had so many questions - she wanted to get to know him. Only natural, she supposed, since he seemed to be Tubbo's best friend, even more so than Foolish, who Tubbo used to cling to like he was his own brother. It was just curiosity, she told herself.
But now, he'd run off, and she hardly had any idea why. Like most others at the table, she'd barely caught any of what Ghostbur had said, he was talking so fast. It was the most excited anyone had seen him since they met him. He'd talked about his brother in the past, but (and she hated to admit this) she thought he'd died. Based on the way he talked about how he himself had died, how violent it sounded, she figured there was no way Tommy could have survived.
She wasn't sure how she felt knowing she was wrong.
"Ghostbur.. is that really your Tommy?" she asked quietly, breaking the tense silence that had set in after the two boys ran off.
Ghostbur turned to her, his brows furrowed. "Yes, but... I thought.. I thought he'd be excited to see me. We used to- We used to live together, alone, in L'Manberg, and.. I guess.. I guess I did something that I forgot."
Another silence settled in.
"So... if he's alive, and he's been alive.. why wasn't he with you?" Foolish asked. Ghostbur frowned at the question (not a well sight to see, Ghostbur frowning).
"I- I'm not sure, I- I remember.. I remember Dream killed me, and... then I woke up on the edge of the mainland. And Dream- He was there, and I asked if he'd seen Tommy... he told me to look in the western forest."
"And that's when you found us." Puffy sighed. "I'm sure he'll come around, Ghostbur, he just... needs time. Any of us would."
Ghostbur drooped a little, then nodded softly. "I just... I wish I could do something more for him."
---
"Why didn't you tell me about Wilbur??" Tommy hissed, carding his fingers anxiously through his hair.
"I didn't think it was important- I never talked to him much before!" Tubbo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can you just- can't you tell me what happened with him?"
"You fuckin' heard him! He was my brother and he died. I don't even fucking believe in ghosts, I- He was here?? This whole time??"
"Well not the whole time, he kind of- y'know, faded in and out, as he does." Tubbo shook his head. "But that's beside the point- is that- is that all?"
"All? All?? I'm not sure you're understanding I watched him die, Tubbo. I watched him beg for Dream to kill him because he couldn't stand being around me!! Dream told me it wasn't my fault but when you've been-" he broke off, his chest heaving. "I've had to carry that shit with me for five fuckin' years and now he's just looked at me like nothing happened."
Tommy let out a small, wrangled cry, and put his face in his hands, and Tubbo, completely at a loss at what to do, simply watched as a pale figure creeped up from behind Tommy.
"..Tommy?" he called out. Tubbo winced.
"Ghostbur, I really don't think now is the t-" he began, but Tommy cut him off.
"Fuck off, Wilbur," he growled, still pressing his palms into his eyes.
"Please, Tommy.. I just want to talk." Ghostbur approached, reaching out to put his hand on Tommy's shoulder, but he slapped him away.
"I don't want to listen," he spat, not looking Ghostbur in the eye. "I spent five years trying to forget you and I'm already remembering too much being around you, whatever you are."
Tommy wasn't looking, so he didn't see, but Tubbo saw the hurt in Ghostbur's eyes, how he looked so much sadder than he'd ever seen him before. Regardless, he sighed, and continued.
"Actually.. that's what I wanted to ask you about. I don't really.. remember much of being alive. Just bits and pieces... And most of them are good, especially the ones with you, so... I don't know what I did, but I wanted you to know that I'm sorry-"
"If you don't know what you did, why apologize for it??" Tommy spat, still focusing hard on the wall to the right of Ghostbur.
"B- Well, because- I want- Because I am sorry! I know if I ever hurt anyone, I didn't mean it-"
Tommy whirled and faced Ghostbur now, barely meeting his too-pale eyes. "Don't stand there pretending to be my brother and tell me you didn't mean a thing that you said to me back then. What was it if you didn't mean it? Was it some sick fuckin' joke? Were you under Dream's control or something? Whatever stupid excuse you have, I don't want to fucking hear it, okay? I'm done with you. I've moved on a long fuckin' time ago and I don't need you pulling everything back up."
Ghostbur was frozen, just listening to Tommy as he ranted. Funny, he thought he remembered Tommy's eyes being a brighter blue. He saw the shimmer of tears prick in his brother's eyes, and he saw them disappear just as quickly as they'd arrived. Tommy had done his crying, he supposed.
And so, he simply nodded, whispering a small apology for bothering the two, and disappeared.
Tubbo watched the ghost vanish, and anxiously bit his lip. "Did you have to be so harsh?"
Tommy didn't reply, so Tubbo continued. "You know, he talked about you a lot."
"Oh, did he?" Tommy glowered, his voice low and angry.
"..He did. He said he missed you, and more than anything he just wanted to see you again."
Tommy was silent. "Is that all he said?"
"To me, sure. He'd tell me stories sometimes, but.. I was never really around him, I was always busy, so I only ever heard the short ones. Stuff like how you'd paint together, how you had a garden together."
The look Tommy gave him forced him to reconsider his words. "Or... something. Sorry, I didn't- Sorry if I crossed any lines.."
Tommy shook his head. "No, it's- it's fine, just... we never did either of those things. We never painted together, he- he was always the only one painting. He never let me paint with him." There was a hint of a smile on his face as he spoke, though sad. "And we never had a garden. I couldn't go outside."
Tubbo just nodded. "Ah," he said. "Ghostbur.. has trouble remembering things sometimes. He's been writing them down recently, so it's gotten better, but.." he trailed off. "It's.. difficult sometimes."
Tommy nodded. "I think I can understand," he said, not unkindly. "Let's.. can we go.. somewhere else? Feel like the walls are closing in on me."
Wordlessly, the two of them left the hallway, walked down the west stairwell to the front door, and left.
---
"...Flying is impossible, Tubbo. Elytras were banned ages ago-"
"That's what you think!" Tubbo stepped near a panel in the wall of the front entrance, and it seamlessly slid open, revealing a very real, very patchy elytra.
"Whoa, did you make that??" Tubbo nodded as Tommy inspected the door and the elytra.
"Whoever used to live here used to fly a lot. We probably collected around fourty broken elytras at least. It was more than enough to make a set of them for all of us. Slap some mending on it and we were good to go." He unhooked the elytra from its rest and handed it to Tommy. "Wanna try?"
Tommy stared, increduled, at the contraption. A couple of strange leathers stitched together in a shape that vaguely resembled wings (they shouldn't even work without heaps of magic), patched together by string and a strange, tacky, almost slime-like material. Even in the shade of the entrance, it shone with magic, and Tommy was almost afraid to hold it. Magic never lasted for long around him, after all.
"You said it has mending on it, right?" Tubbo nodded.
"Courteousy of the previous owner. We think they had a trading hall - that's what that divet in the main room used to be!"
Tommy grimaced, remembering the bones he saw in the cabinets of the trading hall. "That's grim, man. And you think the villagers were just.. left there?"
"Probably. I think something happened to the previous owner to make them abandon this place."
Tommy nodded absently. "Yeah... just wanted to make sure you had more of those mending books."
"Plenty. Why?"
"...You know why."
Tubbo thought for a second. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. "Oh!! You're anti-magic!! Sorry, forgot." He set the elytra back in its cabinet and pressed a button to close it again.
Tommy rolled his eyes. "I'm not anti-magic, that makes me sound like a stuck-up mother who hates things and yells and has a nut allergy."
"Well, what else can you call it?" Neither of them had an answer. "Exactly. Anti-magic it is."
"That's so confusing, though."
"Okay, so you have anti-magic." Tubbo set his hand on Tommy's chest, over his heart. "You've got a hole here that sucks up all the magic that gets shot your way."
Tommy pushed Tubbo's hand away. "Yeah, I'm aware. It also 'sucks up' all the magic around me. Everything magic tends to fail around me."
"I haven't failed." Tubbo smiled, and Tommy snorted.
"You're so stupid, dude."
"I probably have the parts for an extra elytra somewhere. One without magic. It doesn't need it to run."
Tommy raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't it?"
"Nope. You just gotta jump and deploy it in time."
Tommy's face went pale. "Jump? From where?"
"You know - a tree, or the roof, or a mountain, or a tall pillar-"
"Okay. Fine. I'll let you make me an elytra. I'm trusting you not to let me die, okay? And if I die it's on you to bring me back."
Tubbo laughed. "Sure, bossman. Don't worry, you won't die unless you just dive towards the ground like an idiot. And I won't let you do that.
"Sure."
Tommy followed as Tubbo wandered to his room, which was a bigger room than he'd ever seen in his life, probably three times the size of his whole L'Manberg home, dug through his chests, and pulled out a few elytra scraps for Tommy's elytra.
"I didn't... think you were making one now," Tommy murmured, watching Tubbo sew and glue the scraps together.
"Why not? I have time." Tubbo didn't look up from the elytra. "After all, I've had to clear my schedule for the next six months because someone couldn't contain their excitement."
"It's not my fault the house burned down early!! I just- I- It- It's complicated!"
"Uh-huh."
"Ohhhh my goooood you are unbearable," Tommy groaned. "I should have never met you."
Tubbo scoffed. "Like you had a choice. And now, you're stuck with me!~" he sang.
"How lovely." But Tommy was smiling.
They sat in silence for a bit longer.
Then-
"Hey, you grew your hair out," Tommy hummed.
"You put more white in yours," Tubbo muttered absently, too involved in his work to respond properly.
Tommy reeled. He.. hadn't been expecting Tubbo to notice. Really, he'd hoped no one at all would talk about it.
"Didn't think you'd notice," he said.
"Didn't think you'd notice mine, either. So what is it? Did Dream let you put highlights in your hair or something?"
Tommy scoffed. "As if either of us had time for that."
"You had time to meet with me every day."
"At night, while I was meant to be asleep."
Tubbo looked up. "You didn't mention that."
"I thought it was obvious. Aren't you supposed to be smart?" Tommy laughed, but Tubbo wasn't smiling.
"I just never thought about it before, I guess," Tubbo said.
The conversation lulled.
"You were up late too," Tommy said.
"Yeah, because I didn't sleep for a few years."
Tommy nodded absently, fiddling with the end of his bandages.
Wait.
"Wait- Did you say a few years??" Tommy exclaimed.
"No? I said days, bossman."
"You definitely did not say days."
Tubbo sighed. "Don't worry about it, Tommy. It was right after Snowchester, I just.. had trouble sleeping. I didn't actually stay up for three years straight. That's impossible."
Reluctantly, Tommy dropped it, but he was still unconvinced. It's not like he'd be able to go around Tubbo's back and ask about him, though - one, it was rude (not that that was that important, though), and two, he still didn't think any of the others in Snowchester trusted him. Not entirely, anyway - if he could go to anyone, it would probably be Foolish.
Foolish. What a strange name. And yet, it stuck in his head familiarly, like he'd heard it before. The man sure looked strange, as well - all gold skin with totally bright green eyes. With all the strangeness he'd seen, he'd never seen anyone quite like Foolish.
He wondered absently if he was a god.
As he waited for Tubbo to finish the elytra, he wandered around his room in wonder. The room stretched up what must have been two stories, with ledges and perches around the room. On the wall opposite the doors, there were two tall, narrow windows that let in more than enough light to read even in the farthest corner. The walls were lined with bookshelves and blinking lights (which Tommy would come to realize Tubbo made on his own) and chests upon chests of redstone materials. There were no ladders to the ledges - Tubbo said he used elytra to get to them.
Tommy sat for another half hour chatting with Tubbo about this and that as the latter finished the elytra. When it was finally finished, he led Tommy up to the eastern tower, one of the highest points of the mansion, to test it out.
Tommy peered over the edge of the railing. There was an outcropping of land several stories down, but after that it seemed to drop into nothing just beneath the tower. There was land, but it seemed far from where they were jumping, and impossible to reach.
"There is ground down there," Tubbo said, startling Tommy. "It's really hard to get back up, though. The walls are too smooth to climb and there are no stairs, so you have to elytra back up."
"Why didn't you cover it??" Tommy hissed, gripping onto the railing so tight his knuckles went white.
Tubbo shrugged. "I can fly out of it fine, plus Foolish thought it was cool. Look, just don't land in it and you'll be fine."
"That's very easy for you to say, Tubbo-" A particularily strong breeze whistled through the posts of the tower and Tommy yelped and ducked down below the railing.
"What, scared of a little wind?" Tubbo laughed, retrieving some rockets from his inventory.
"That was not a little wind that was a big wind and it is trying to kill us."
"If anything, it's your friend." Tubbo grabbed Tommy's collar and hoisted him up to standing. He handed Tommy the elytra. "Once you're strapped in or whatever, put that ring on your index finger. Pull it when you jump, and it'll deploy."
"You swear it'll work."
"Promise. Here, I'll do it first."
And before Tommy could protest, Tubbo jumped up onto the railing, elytra unequipped.
"Wait- Tubbo, your-"
But Tubbo had already jumped.
Tommy was off the tower in seconds, his elytra barely strapped on properly, hurtling towards the ground - and Tubbo - at heartstopping speeds. Using rockets, he managed to catch up to Tubbo before he hit the ground and grabbed him out of the air.
He flicked his index finger, and the elytra wings fwipped out.
They were flying.
Well- not quite. Tommy was still angled towards the ground, but hey, they weren't exactly falling like they were before. He glided to the ground, stumbling as his feet landed on the grass. Once he knew he was solidly on the ground, he let himself collapse entirely, Tubbo tumbling out of his arms ungracefully.
"What in the fuck were you THINKING, Tubbo?!" Tommy cried. "You could have died!!"
"But I didn't," Tubbo smiled. "You saved me. And I got you off the tower."
"You didn't need to do THAT to- aaaaaaaaaaagh!!" Tommy flopped on his back and closed his eyes. "You're a fuckin bastard," he huffed.
"Sure," Tubbo replied, disinterested. Tommy heard him stand up and walk around a bit. "Well this is a predicament."
"Hah?"
"We seem to be in a hole."
"What??" Tommy was on his feet in an instant - sure enough, they were in the very hole Tubbo had told him not to land in.
"You ready to fly again?" Tubbo grinned at him.
Tommy spluttered. "What?? I only did what I did to save your life! I'm not fucking flying again!"
"Cool. You can stay down here and die."
"Fine."
Tubbo rolled his eyes. "Come on dude, we're flying out of here. It's easy, I'll show you! And I won't trick you again."
Tommy side-eyed him, unable to shake the uncertainty in his throat.
"You were a natural, man. It's like you've used an elytra before."
"I haven't," Tommy spat. "I've never even seen one before."
"You knew what mine was pretty quick."
"I meant in person, dick."
Tubbo smiled and equipped his elytra.
"What are you smiling at?" Tubbo didn't reply. "Oi, answer me!"
"Just watch. Take the rocket like this-" He held the rocket downwards and bent his knees. "-and then jump!" He leapt in the air right as the rocket went off, the elytra activating as his feet left the ground. He soared up for a few seconds, easily making it to the edge of the hole, then fell backwards and glided a bit. It felt so familiar, watching Tubbo fly around like that. He was so good with it, too - he was almost jealous.
Before he even realized he was staring, Tubbo had landed and flicked him on the nose.
"You gonna try, bossman, or are you just gonna stare?" he chided, throwing him another firework. "You might need a couple extra to get to the ledge up there."
"Do we have to go all the way up?" Tommy grimaced at the sheer height of the wall. There was a divet in the wall, like someone had carved out a hallway along the edge of it. "Can't we land there?"
Tubbo shook his head. "Nope. That leads nowhere."
"Did you not, maybe, build in an exit here? This place seems incredibly hazardous to the general safety."
"We never got around to it," Tubbo hummed. "Come on, let's get out of here. I don't wanna be stuck down here all day."
Tubbo took off again, leaving Tommy behind in the pit alone. The hiss of the rockets echoed off the perfect stone cliffs as he flew up. God, it looked so tall. Everything about this place was so overly huge. One had to wonder why this sheer size was even necessary.
If whoever built it hadn't been so fuckin' overzealous.. Tommy thought bitterly as he lit his first rocket, preparing to jump off the ground-
And he flew.
Something clicked in his brain as he shot into the air, and a small voice in the back of his brain awoke.
I know how Wilbur felt now.
For a second, he saw a figure, wobbly and ghost-like in its recall, reaching out a pale hand.
"TOMMY!!"
Oh. He wasn't flying anymore.
He wasn't flying anymore.
Quickly, he deployed his elytra and set off another rocket, shooting him just close enough to the top ledge that he could grab on. Wordlessly, Tubbo grabbed his arms and, digging his heels into the ground, lifted Tommy back onto proper land and half-flung him away from the ledge.
Once they'd collected their thoughts, Tommy took off the elytra and tossed it back to Tubbo.
"I think I'm done with flying," he said.
Tubbo nodded. "For now."
"What?"
"For now," he repeated, looking at Tommy. "You will get good at flying. It's good to have it as an emergency escape."
"..For what?"
"Y'know, just in case Dream comes back. He doesn't have an elytra, so he won't catch you if you fly away."
Tommy paused, glancing at the elytra again. "No... he doesn't have an elytra." But he has a god behind him.
"So take it." Tubbo tossed it back to Tommy and it hit him square in the chest. "We'll practice again tomorrow, yeah?"
"Y- Yeah, sure. Whatever." He opened his inventory and tossed the elytra into a random spot.
"Come on, there's more I want to show you!"
And just like that, both boys were off again. Surely they wouldn't run out of things to do in a giant house such as this!
---
There was never anything to do in Snowchester.
And Tommy being there did not change that.
Regardless, Tubbo was determined to find something. This was the first time he'd gotten to see Tommy, really see him, really hang out with him. He'd already shown him the two coolest things (the elytras and his room), so now he was lost. Saying he had more to show Tommy was not quite a lie, he just... didn't know what those things were yet. And now they'd been walking for a good five minutes - surely Tommy was getting suspicious now.
"So.. you didn't say where we were going." Oh, how perfect. He was definitely suspicious.
Tubbo just laughed. "You'll see when we get there, big man." And so will I.
But as they walked, Tubbo suddenly realized he was near the greenhouse! Dammit, how had he forgotten the greenhouse?? He suddenly changed direction and picked up his pace, now heading towards the atrium that stuck off the side of the mansion.
The greenhouse was Tubbo's own addition - he'd built it himself using supplies he'd swiped from Foolish while he was putting the main hall together - a grangly beast of a thing that looked like it's own strange kind of tree, with branches that furled and knotted and curled towards the ground and up towards the sky and around the house. The inside of the "branches" were lined with all kinds of plants the likes of which most people had never seen in their lives, and small platforms where various pots and planters sat. The main "trunk" of the greenhouse stretched to the ground, accessible with a small, rickety stone staircase. The place was built for elytras, and after five years, Tubbo had learned to navigate it well.
Unfortunately, Tommy had not.
Tubbo was already taking off into the branches (they were small enough to where he didn't need a rocket, just the force from pushing off the main platform) before he remembered Tommy was there, and that there was no way of getting anywhere without an elytra... except the ground, via the rickety little staircase he'd thrown together years ago. The platforms lining the branches were too far apart to jump across, so Tommy was left alone on the entrance platform.
"Do you have to fly everywhere in this fucking house??" Tommy called, toeing the edge of the platform nervously.
"Sorry!! You still have yours, right?"
"Unfortunately," Tommy replied.
"Good! Use it and get over here!"
With a bit of struggle, he took off from the platform and wobblingly glided over to where Tubbo stood, barely catching onto the edge of the platform.
"You need to aim up high," Tubbo sighed, pulling Tommy to his feet for what felt like the twentieth time that day.
"That would have been nice to know before I used it," Tommy huffed. "So what's so special about these plants?"
"So special??? They're from the End!!! Look-" Tubbo gestured at the twisting glass tunnel. The glass here was black, still barely letting in a soft, purple light, and was lined with what must have been hundreds of different plants. Clusters of glowing mushrooms, dark creeping vines, purple trees with fruits that looked too big for the spindly plants, neon cacti, and so much more. It all seemed to pulsate and glow with - well, magic was the only thing that came to mind.
"Are they glowing??" Tommy fiddled with a leaf from a bush next to him, orange and, indeed, glowing.
"Yep. If you crush 'em they leave your hands all glowy."
Tommy picked a leaf and crushed it in his hands. Sure enough, there was a glowing orange stain on his hands where the leaf was. The leaf, now void of any light at all, fell to the ground, crumpled and sad.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Tubbo smiled. And, for the first time in a while, Tommy genuinely smiled back.
And they explored the glass tree, unaware of what watched them from the house just a few chunks to the east.
---
A pair of gloved hands slammed against the wooden table, echoing in the dark room. "Dammit," he growled. "Fuck!"
There was a figure watching him with sightless eyes from the other side of the room as he paced, silent and peaceful despite the bundle of rage that seemed to billow out from the man in green and up into the rafters. Pristine and golden as they were, they were far, far out of reach.
"I know he's in there. I knew he was speaking with Tubbo, I just-" He broke off. "I didn't think it would go anywhere. And for me to have to use the restore.." The man in green looked up at the sightless figure watching him ever so loyally.
"Lucky I gave you the key, I guess," he murmured. "Lucky you brought me back."
The figure quipped something in a language that sounded far from any human language.
"Oh, you want me to be thankful? Thankful that you didn't stop him from killing me in the first place? Thankful that you let him escape?"
The figure hummed something again, warbled and warped.
The man in green didn't reply. "..You're lucky I don't skin you alive," he muttered finally, after a too long, tense silence that the figure had not even twitched under. Oh, things were so dreadfully boring now that that stupid child was gone.
He'd have to find a way to get him back, and fast. The Day was approaching fast, and he needed every last set of hands he could get. Even if the person behind them, he thought, a bitter smile on his face behind the white mask that covered it, doesn't know he wants to help.
Sure, in the last four years he hadn't managed to convince him. But he knew he could. He didn't need magic to keep his people under control.
Of course he didn't.
He was Dream.
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