Tommy was not at all comfortable with that arrangement. Dream being on Hermitcraft? Dream being around his friends? His newfound family? It had to be a fucking joke or some nightmare that he couldn't force himself to wake up from. Perhaps he'd fallen asleep during the trial and his imagination had come up with this shitty outcome. Maybe his brain had mustered his fears into reality -that was how it seemed as the ceiling above him spun.

Shroud chittered from somewhere beside him, eight eyes locked on Tommy and almost looked to be conveying worry and confusion. Tommy stared back; Shroud's eyes had always been too human and it was comforting somewhat but they were also grounding. They were grounding enough to remind Tommy that what had occured outside the court room had been absolutely, unquestionably real.

Tommy had been the first to enter the Hermitcraft server when they'd arrived at the portal halls, despite the fact that he'd been walking behind everyone to keep an eye on Dream. Back then, the man hadn't tried anything to harm the hermits but there was a No-PVP rule to abide to in the Main Hub and especially in the portal hallways -that and the fact that he had been greatly outnumbered.

In the server, though? Dream could pick them all off one-by-one, loot the bases for enderpearls and invisibility potions before anyone could bat an eye and Tommy had to do something before that could happen. For now, Dream was locked away in Xiusma's towers in the jungle, presumably to be briefed about server rules and whatever else Xisuma would be tutoring him on.

Speaking of, what the Hell was that about? Tutoring? Xisuma being the teacher of his enemy and abuser? What the fuck were the judges thinking when they made that great, fantastic, fabulous decision? Tommy had debated on asking Xisuma to report them to the higher powers -whoever those were- but the admin had promised to explain and Grian had told him to wait; to trust. Tommy had wanted to shove that trust up the avian's butt but he had been in an unstable emotional state back then.

He was calmer now. Not by a lot, mind you, but certainly calmer. He missed Wels and False, even if he didn't bump into the former much. The knight had this aura around him that made his mere presence addicting, like a drug that seemed innocent at the start but the aftereffects of which were severe. Maybe after the interrogation, they would have them back; they'd get them back, Tommy would make sure of it.

Shroud chuffed, whiring around like a spooked dog. He curiously approached the stairs leading to Tommy's room, looking down the stairwell like something had crept inside. Tommy was alarmed for a moment, quickly sitting up on his bed.

"Shroud?", he whispered. The big spider didn't respond to his call right away, leading to Tommy standing up and slowly following. "What's up, bud? Is there a zombie down there?"

The look he received didn't clue him into what was wrong downstairs. Sadly, the wide spider eyes couldn't crease or do anything more than stare at him due to the lack of eyelids. The critter  hissed and started descending the steps two at a time, going at a fast pace that Tommy had a little difficulty keeping up with him.

"Shroud, slow down!"

Tommy wondered what had spooked the spider so much or what had surprised him so much that he was running outside. Shroud almost never went out on his own; he only did so when there was a zombie or someone else around and even then, he didn't rush about it. That was a whole other level of... fear? Shroud was never afraid of anyone; not even Doc scared him. He was indifferent to new faces.

By the time he reached the bottom, chest heaving and breath slightly caught in his throat, there was already screaming outside. He recognized that scream; though it was rare to hear it. Normally, Tommy was the one doing the screaming, you understand!

"Tubbo!", he shouted once he ran out of the door, finding his best friend pinned under a very agitated Shroud. The boy in question stopped screaming in order to turn his head (strain it really) and look at him. There those baby blue eyes were, bangs a mess on and around his forehead to show them off in bright, afternoon sunlight. 

"Tommy!", Tubbo smiled but Shroud didn't get the message, proceeding to hiss and rub his fangs threateningly over him. The goat  "Get this spider off me!"

Tommy moved to do just that, grabbing the spider by the front and tugging him off firmly enough that the spider had to let go.

"Shroud, get off him!", Shroud responded in a chuff. His fangs stopped moving as Tommy leaned him away from Tubbo, who let out a breath of relief. The boy sat up, accepting the helping hand Tommy lent once the spider was crawling in the grass. Curious, red eyes gazed at the two of them, perhaps confused. "Sorry about him, he never acts like this"

"You have a pet spider now?!", Tubbo guffawed, "Man, that's cool!"

Tommy laughed alongside Tubbo, Shroud looking between them like a confused dog. The little guy had always acted like a dog, actually. He'd have to ask Cleo about that behavior.

"Yeah, isn't he pog? His name is Shroud", the critter in question posed, proudly holding himself higher on his front legs.

"Well", Tubbo hesitated. "Nice to meet you, Shroud... does he understand you?"

"He does- don't ask how, I don't know", Tommy responded. "I have to ask Cleo about that at some point"

"Where does Cleo live?"

Tommy raised an eyebrow at that. He had showed Tubbo where she stayed last time they hang out, before the trial had started. Did he forget? Oh, maybe he got confused over the concept of bases and mega bases. That was probably it.

"She lives in the zoo, I showed you, mate"

"Oh, right"

Tommy laughed at the dumb look that sat upon Tubbo's face.

"So, where have you settled?", he asked.

"I've uh...", the other started slowly, fingers fumbling with the hem of his... robe. Tommy blinked. He hadn't taken notice of the wardrobe change before but he was certain that he had seen that type of fluffy robe somewhere before. "I've made a little nook in Scar's village. Don't tell him!"

"That's where the robe is from! Okay!"

"Shhhh!"

Tommy only laughed at the alarmed state of his friend, who slammed a hand over his mouth, only to have his palm licked. "Ewww", he immediately regretted it, of course, because no one was allowed near Tommy's mouth by law.

"I needed some new clothes, okay?", was the excuse he got.

"Right, right-", a loud, familiar beep interrupted their little talk.

xisumavoid: Tommy and Tubbo, can you go to Mumbo and pick up some concrete for me?

"...the fuck?", Tommy raised an eyebrow in question; Xisuma had never asked him to pick up anything for him -only to put something (that he'd stolen) back. That's curious. Tubbo seemed just as confused but seeing as he was fresh on the server, he didn't pick up on how out of character that sentence was for Xisuma.

"What? Is this not normal?"

Shaking his head, Tommy hovered his hand over the digital hologram of a keyboard. What was he to reply? He had to think hard about it, as embarrassed as he was to admit by the end of his thought process.

Dream was there, he had to remind himself that. Dream was over there with Xisuma, on the server with him and about twenty other people who could possibly be in danger. The admin was probably speaking in code, signaling for something that Tommy hadn't been told about. At best, the response he could give was a simple 'yeah', which he quickly typed and sent.

"He never does that", Tommy muttered right after the text appeared on the chat screen.

"He never has you do manual labor?", Tubbo asked, a sort of surprise on his face. Tommy couldn't blame him; they were both used to authority figures being absolute dickheads, waiting for everything to be served to them on a silver platter.

"No, never! Xisuma isn't that type of guy", he said, sighing and deciding that following Xisuma's narrative could only be beneficial to them. "Have you met Mumbo?"

Φ

Stress didn't expect to have any visitors that day. Aside from the stray pesky bird (Grian) and Iskall flying through the lake to go back and forth from their bases, no one else would stop by for a quick visit. Tommy was probably spending time with his friend somewhere, maybe playing minigames together. Everyone had things to do, herself included.

So, that was why, when she saw someone in the treeline, she was a little surprised. It was hard to make out who it was, given that they blended in perfectly with the jungle foliage. Dandelion stared at the person opposite the lake, gaze intense but not barking. It was a little unnerving.

"Hello?", she called out, the dog taking a few steps to the side. She set the shulkerbox she was moving down on nice, green grass. She expected a response but received none, which was weird. Maybe, the preson didn't hear her; it was quite the hot day anyway and they could've had been preoccupied with something else.

So, she called out again, and when the person did peek slightly out of the bushes and underbrush, her breath hitched at the sight of bloodied clothes. Dandelion barked that time, paws instantly on the move as she ran the half-moon of the lake. Stress followed, stupidly so as Tommy would've told her had he been around then, with no weapon -she had left her sword in the skull because she hadn't thought of a reason to use it while moving stock. Zombies and skeletons hiding in the shadows were the last of her worries, though, so it was alright.

"Are you alright?", she asked, whistling for Dandelion to return to her as she reached them. The colour of the clothes made her stop dead in her tracks; green. An ugly shade of green that Tommy would prefer to set on fire than look at. But the green had blood on it, ripped fabric where a zombie had managed to get a hand on him.

"Dream?", she aked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

What was the admin of Tommy's home server doing in the middle of the jungle? He had to have remained at Xisuma's base perimeter, within Xisuma's line of sight and within the boundaries that had been set when the green clad man was invited on the server.

"I-", he looked completely off-guard, voice sounding strained behind the smiley mask. Stress shook her head, averting her attention from him to the blood splotches on his clothes. "I went for a walk..."

Stress would've had laughed at the horrendous excuse had she not been trying to make the most difficult decision of her life. He had escaped, somehow, and Xisuma was looking for him with Evil X; that must've had been why he'd asked Tommy and Tubbo to goto False's -so Dream wouldn't find them.

Stress couldn't exactly haul the man to Xisuma herself -Dream being much taller than her- but she couldn't exactly let him roam around the server as he wished; especially if he was looking for the kid he abused -the kid who had called her 'mum'. Goodness, the memory almost made her tear up.

Sighing, she looked at the eyes of the mask. How could he even see out of that thing?

"I could take you back to my base, it's right over there", she offered, pointing at the skull resting on the other side of the lake. "Let's patched you up too"

He looked... hesitant, Stress thought. She didn't know how he felt about the situation he was in; whether he regarded himself a prisoner or a tutor or something else entirely but she couldn't blame him for feelings. She didn't know what she'd feel if she were in his position and she never would. At least, she could keep him confined to an area Xisuma could reach easily.

After amoment, Dream nodded his head. Dandelion barked at something in the jungle, maybe the zombie that had bit the man. Being unarmed in the shadowed folliage, Stress decided not to linger, urging Dream to follow her around the lake. The dog ran onwards, having had been spooked by whatever the thing behind the trees was but her tail was wagging anyway, as if she hadn't just got scared of whatever was in the jungle.

"Sit and I'll get you some bandages, alright?", she told him more than asked when they'd entered her base. Dream sat on the nearest chair in the space, which just so happened to be a shulkerbox. Stress didn't remember what the contents of that box were but there probably weren't any pointy things inside. Right, she also had to hide anything that could be a potential weapon just to be safe. "Dandelion doesn't bite, by the way, so feel free to pet her"

Dandelion sat on the floor, looking questioningly between the two, looking almost betrayed at the fact that she had to babysit a grown man. Stress would be sorry later. With that, she left -she swore she was gone for a few minutes to gather some supplies and hide swords and axes- only to return to Dandelion having pushed herself almost fully on Dream's lap, the latter laughing lowly and trying to calm her down. The scene in front of her contrasted to the one from before, having gone from calmness to excitement with seemingly no context. Was Dream a dog whisperer?

She decided to just smile where she was stunned in the doorway to the room. If Tommy were there, he'd be questioning her sanity... probably.

"I see you two are getting along", she commented and Dream's reaction was immediate. Sound went still, arms stiffer in their movements, acting aloof and a little awkward.

"Oh, uhm- yeah", he shrugged. "She's nice, I guess"

Stress didn't know what to make of all that. She dragged a flat-top chest close and set down the hooked needle and strong, thin string ontop of it but not before laying out a cloth beneath them. There were hygiene rules to upkeep!

"I couldn't find any potions, I'll put some in the brewing stand after I stitch that wound of yours closed because infections in a jungle aren't fun to deal with", she then pointed in the general direction of... all of him, really. "Has it stopped bleeding?"

She couldn't tell from that angle, being in front of him rather than behind him and the lime green fabric didn't allow further examination. She grabbed a stool from somewhere within the mess of shulkers -she hadn't expected visitors, so the base was more or less of a shulker mess- and dragged it towards the box Dream was sitting on. She also pulled the chest closer to them, placing a bucket of water nearby, a wet cloth already sitting idly on the iron rim.

"It um... I don't know", he tried to shrug and that time, Stress caught how his body went rigid for a moment. That wound must sting.

"That's alright", she said as she sat on the stool. "Let's see...", she breathed through her nose, carefully peeling the torn pieces of crusty fabric away from the equally torn skin.

It wasn't a full bite, nor the worst Stress had ever seen but it was still deep. She had had a few ugly run-ins with zombies herself, so she knew that this one was perhaps one of the best outcomes from an encounter with the undead. It's good that it wasn't a skeleton that got its hands on the man -she hid a smile at the thought of Tommy disagreeing with that thought.

"Is it alright if I cut the sleeve off? I could stitch it back on afterwards, though that might take a while", she asked, looking up to meet two black dots. She couldn't tell what Dream was thinking, let alone how he was feeling about the situation; she didn't know him as well as Tommy probably did, so the look he was giving her -if he was even giving her a look- was open to interpretation. "I might have to put a patch on this, though", she pointed to the bit off hole in the lime green.

"Sure", he responded. Stress felt a shiver travel up her spine, not due to the word but due to the tone of his voice. It sounded... not defensive but offensive, like an open threat. A threat to what, she could only assume. Maybe the hoodie was important to him but regardless, she would do her best to salvage as much of the torn sleeve as possible.

"Alright", she nodded. "Dandelion, could you bring me a pair of scissors, darling?"

Dandelion, who had distanced herself while Stress had been setting up, lying down a few steps away, stood up and patted off towards the storage system. There had to be a pair somewhere in there.

"She can understand you?", Dream asked, sounding absolutely buffled. Between the moment between him and Dandelion before and the change of demeanor now, it was pretty safe for Stress to assume that the feared man before her had a soft spot for dogs. The surprise emitted by him made her giggle.

"She can", she answered. "I think every pet here can understand speech to some degree"

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Even the big ones?"

Stress chuckled good-naturedly. She felt like she was unvailing the secrets of the world to a child instead of a grown man. It was not the weirdest thing for her to do, considering Hermitcraft had its own unique secrets, like most other servers do.

"Maybe, I haven't tried talking to any of the giants", not even to the butterfly that visits the lotus flower from time to time. "I doubt they'd hear us on normal volume, we'd have to shout"

The dog returned with her favorite pair of fabric scissors and Stress took her time wiping off the saliva off the cool metal. With a 'good job', Dandelion patted off to her doggie bed, which had been hidden behind a few boxes. Man, she really had to get the place sorted; ever since Tommy moved out, the chest-monster had only grown.

"It's like", Dream started, while Stress figured out how to cut the sleeve. She hummed to show that she was listening as she fiddled with the stitches on the cuff of it. "It's like in stories"

"Childrens' stories?", she smiled, only the slightest hint of teasing.

"Well, yeah", the first snip of fabric happened and Dream almost winced.

"Don't move and you won't have to worry about this", she told him as she made quick, even work of cutting the sleeve open. "Do you have any pets on your SMP?"

"I had", the usage of past tense made her freeze.

"Oh. I'm sorry", Dream looked at her. Stress thought he had already been looking but apparently, he hadn't. She could feel eyes on her head then, not just the notion of it created by soulless, black dots.

"It's uh... It's fine", and Stress could only guess what had happened. Tommy never told her specifics about the war but if Dream did have a pet and it died, she could only assume what happened to the poor fella. "The fish survived"

"You have a fish then", setting down the scissors, she grabbed the wet towel and proceeded to softly dab at the wound, trying not to irretate it too much. The bleeding had stopped and she didn't want to make it start again. "What's its name?"

Dream hesitated before replying. "Beckerson", the hesitation went away right after, as he added, "He's a tropical fish, caught him wi-", and he stopped there, dead silent like he'd passed some invisible line. Stress, though, couldn't see that line, and while she knew it was there, she decided to ignore it. Sometimes, she told herself, you just have to push.

"With a friend of yours?"

"Yeah", he looked a little stiff but being the only one being asked questions could do that to someone.

"You know, we have a zoo on the server", that caught him off-guard, shoulders slumping just a bit. Stress dipped the towel into the clear bucket of water, watching as the blood seeped out and swirled in captivating patterns inside the bucket. "After you are done with the whole tutoring thing, maybe you could visit. I think you'll like it"

And that was the last rock pushed out of place for the dam to collapse. A whole river of questions flooded the room, driving any remaining nerves and awkwardness out of every available exit of the skull.

What animals are there? Are they big? Are they small? Is it a petting zoo? Would he get to feed all the animals?

Stress had hit the nail on the head. She answered most questions, which proved to be a great distraction from any pain or discomfort the man had been feeling while she skillfully stitched the wound. Then again, Dream seemed unfazed by the constant piercing of the needle and the drago and tag of string. As good at stitching as she was, such painful things were guaranteed without any anesthetic. Then again, the guy fought in wars; he had to have had become used to that sort of treatment, or the wound was just numb.

How long does an adrenaline rush last again?

"I think you can feed them but I am unsure", she didn't remember many details from Tommy's trip to Cleo's zoo. "You can help me feed the animals around here for the meantime, though!"

It would buy her enough time to shoot a message to Xisuma now that Dream didn't have an open, bloody wound. She tied the last stitch and retrieved a clean cloth from a nearby chest to wrap around her work.

"Okay"

She nodded, standing up and stretching her back.

"I should have a shirt for you to change into while you go out with Dandelion", Dream looked back at her with a weird look. She thought it was a weird look. "I still have to fix up your sleeve", she pointed to clear his... confusion? And if he actually adored that hoodie, he wouldn't try to slip away. Stress wasn't the proudest of that thought, hating that, in a way, it was manipulative even when she had no such intention at all.

Hesitation on the forefront, Dream started shaking off the fabric as well as his injured arm would allow. Stress took that as her cue to grab a shirt for him. Her legs took her to Tommy's old, cobblestone-walled bedroom, where the boy had left behind most clothes that didn't belong to him.

The closet opened with a low creak, the hinges groaning despite not being old enough to be complaining. Inside were mostly green tees and one or two red jumpers, little gifts from Iskall and Grian or Tommy's handy thievery but her eye caught a smidge of pink amongst the mess. That was strange; she'd never seen him wearing pink, let alone stealing one of her own cardigans; she decided not to touch anything, opting to tell Tommy to see if he needed anything from the room when she'd next see him. For the time being, she grabbed one of the green shirts, hoping that it would fit the man's size.

When she returned, Dandelion was already wagging her tail by the door. Hoodie folded on the top of the stool, Dream stood with messy hair, upper body covered by a black turtleneck, tight enough to easily show off the lean built it was hiding. Stress gave him the green garment she was holding with no hesitation and helped him tug it on voluntarily. She felt the man go still when she first touched him but that stillness was soon gone, resuming the task at hand.

"Off you two go!"

And she herded a fully grown man and a happy-go-lucky dog outside, following them shortly with the torn hoodie after putting some healing potions to brew. Those would be done in about an hour; enough time for her to give the fabric a good wash to get all the blood out.

Φ

"Hello, Mumbo Yumbo!", Tommy yelled from the air, circling the man with his pair of elytra like a vulture. Tubbo had landed on one of the temple's supporting wrenches, and he had almost slammed face fist into it like a swan dive. His friend was a shaking, nausious mess, having had never flown with an elytra before. It was an experience, to say the least, and the fact that he was now dangling off the edge of the thing wasn't reassuring.

The man looked up from the bamboo he was planting in the grassy patches alongside the other foliage. He looked sweaty, hands a mess of dirt and small pebbles, an open chest of pure soil next to him. Mumbo huffed at the nickname and shook his head, though he did not take any offense to it. "Hey, Tommy, are you here for the concrete?"

"Yeah!", he landed on the flat top of the support with a graceful swoop. "You okay, Tubs?"

"You know, a little help would be nice!", Tubbo growled at him, scrambling to pull himself up and failing. He made it a little ways up to only slide and fall back to his previous, dangerous position. Tommy laughed, some part of him finding the situation funny, as he carefully got on his knees and stretched himself as much as he could without receiving the same fate as his best friend.

However, even with his precarious position, he couldn't reach and letting Tubbo fall with how inexperienced he was would be a bad decision. At that moment, he remembered.

"Do you not have any rockets left?", he asked, the distance being small enough for him to not have to shout. Tubbo shook his head. Well, there goes that.

"I think I'm slidin'!", Tubbo all but screeched. Tommy slid down by his surprise, only stopping his momentum with hands burnt from friction with iron. Maybe letting Tubbo fall wouldn't be that bad of a decision unless Tommy could pull off a mid-air rescue.

"It's fine, Tubbo, just glide down!"

"I don't know how!", that's true, Tommy realized. Tubbo only knew of real wings, Philza's wings, not mechanical ones that weren't directly attatched to his body.

"Just-", Tommy let out a frustrated breath, "-hold on a little longer"

Mid-air rescue it was. Tommy slid off the side of the wrench, elytra deploying and sending him on a glide. Using a rocket, he turned sharply, wings grasping air and lifting him up at a good angle. Tubbo was in his sights, arms straining to hold him on the temple's support, finger pads probably burning, eyes wide open and terrified, looking down at the nausiating height.

"Tubbo, look at me!", he shouted as he approached, arms outstretched in front of him, ready to catch the weight of Tubbo. The other looked at him immediately. "Let go!"

The trust between them had always been impeccable. It was something that could never be severed, not in the wars, not in the aftermath, not after Tommy'd unfair exile. It could only be thawed like ice in the heat of the jungle and that was why, when Tubbo let himself free-fall, screaming and afraid, Tommy caught him.

He maneuvered easily through the next wrench that he was gliding towards, turning around it and slowly descending to the insides of the temple. However, he couldn't swoop up and brings his feet in front of him to land properly. The extra weight made it hard for him to pull up, to gain enough lift to have enough space for his whole body on a vertical scale. They crashlanded in a mess of limbs and screams, rolling on the coarse dirt layed out in the interior of the enormous building.

"How do you get through the day?", came the impressed question from Mumbo, who was holding a shulker box of concrete fresh out of the huge sorting system running the length of the walls. Tommy groaned, pushing himself up but finding it hard with the petrified Tubbo lying ontop of him.

"Shut up", he shot back with no real heat but annoyance. He rolled to the side, Tubbo falling on the floor unceremoniously with an 'oof'. "I still don't get why Xisuma sent us two to pick up his stuff"

Mumbo handed him the box and Tommy took it with no difficulty. "Well... he must be busy. He has Dream to look after and tutor and I imagine Evil X is also keeping an eye out"

That didn't quite make sense and Tommy hadn't thought about that before but going to Xisuma would be synonymous with going to Dream; if not running straight into him. Tommy thought that Xisuma wouldn't force him to come face to face with his abuser. No, no, he didn't think because he knew; he knew that Xisuma was kind and accepting and all that Dream never was and never would be.

Unless... Dream was sneaky. Hide all the knives in the room and he'd find another way to stab you in the back. Something must've had happened.

stressmonster101: X come to my base

And that was extremely suspicious. They all knew to not distract Xisuma while Dream was on the server for their general safety. Stress, the kind, understanding heart, out of everyone, shouldn't have had asked Xisuma to leave his base and leave Dream unattended.

"Did somehing happen?", Tubbo asked, brows furrowed.

"I don't like this at all", Tommy added with his one puzzlement and then the thought came. The thought of there being nothing for Xisuma to attend because Dream had somehow managed to escape and in that case, they'd either be screwed or living in paranoia until the admin left. There were ways to escape a tower aside from a pair of elytra after all; ender pearls or the tedious staircase down the outside if the stairs were blocked. "I'm going"

Mumbo shook his head.

"Tommy, this is probably something you should stay out of", he said, like he knew and he probably did because for as much as Mumbo called himself stupid, he wasn't. He was a smart man, perfectly capable of connecting the dots himself. Tubbo turned to him with the most terrified expression Tommy had ever seen on his best friend's face -he didn't like it.

"Do you think that-"

"I do and I hate it", Tommy breathed, checking the durability on his elytra before walking towards the exit. "And I swear if that green bitch does tries anything, I'll kill him myself"

And if that monster of a man had tried to do anything to Stress, Tommy would make sure he'd regret it.

====
So, I've been gone for like a month from this work. Why? Well, I had set a sort of schedule of updating one story at a time, going from this to Benchtrio's Guide, to Uncle Grian. So, what happened after I updated the vigilante fic? I was hit with writer's block and my bunny got himself injured under the sofa, leading to us going to the vet for a tilted head, being told that it might be a brain infection and now vet said that it could be a fracture.

All in all, life has been stressful! :D But the sort of stressul that doesn't inspire any writing, y'know?

Anyway, I am slowly coming back and Uncle Grian, the rewrite of An Ocean's World and Spirit of Mossy Green will continue. However, I might keep these three exclusive to Ao3 until I get my arse to make a good book cover for Wattpad and Quotev! Unless you guys want these to still be updated in the one shot book?