Hey, hey! Long time no see! How is everyone? It's been a stressful week, I have exams to study for! God do I hate this but God do I need the education! That's it, enjoy the story :D

*

The night passed slowly after all that. Niki put Phil, Tommy and Tubbo in one of the big suites of the hotel and told them that they could stay there until they could find a new house. Of course, Madam Puffy called Dream while Niki was leading them to he room and showing them how the key card system worked, just so the boy would not be so worried about his younger brother not returning home on time.

They sleep there, in safety, away from the danger of the deep water, and have breakfast with the rest of the guests, though Tommy and Tubbo cause chaos in the kitchen no matter how much Technoblade and Wilbur scold them. Phil was nowhere to be found when they woke up so they had to take charge and watch over the two teenagers in his stead. Which is fine, Techno thinks, but he could've at least given them a warning about how feral these peapsqueaks are in the morning.

The two of them are the equivalent of two toddlers who have woken up with too much sugar in their system.

"Tommy, leave the cotton candy alo- and there he goes", Technoblade sighs and drags his hand over his face. It's only been an hour into breakfast service and they've already lost two cans of cotton candy and marshmallows to Tommy. That is very unhealthy for his body and teeth especially, but he is going to throw them all up if this continues so... does that make it better? Where does all that food even go? How much space is there for his stomach to expand even?

"I've lost Tubbo!", Wilbur shouts in a panic as he pokes his head out of the kitchen. "If you see a feral child about this tall with brown hair, bring him to me"

"I know what Tubbo looks like, Wilbur"

The other nods, face determined as he dives under the kitchen tables. The cooks give them raised eyebrows and exasperated faces. So Technoblade continues looking for Tommy in order to get out of this very awkward, social interaction.

"Found him!"

A wild Tubbo escapes from underneath the kitchen tables with a deafening screech, bolting towards the door but Techno is too fast and too big of an obstacle. The teen bounces off the pinkett's body and falls on his backside with an "oof".

"One down", he says, reaching down and lifting the boy by the shirt with ease. Wilbur cheers and announces his adventure to finding the hidden Tommy. The tall, blond raccoon has probably escaped to the dining room, eating his candy in some sort of den like the gremlin that he is.

"You are going into time out", Techno announces to Tubbo flatly. The child screeches and scratches at his hand like he's been burnt. Like he is a demon and Techno is about to douse him with holy water and whip him with a stick of basil. It's amusing.

Once Tubbo has been... dealt with, Techno marches to the dining room. He can hear the shouting and yelling from the second floor (where the family's suite is -isn't Dream supposed to come pick up Tubbo by the way? Dude must be worried sick. Techno only feels a little bad for him) and when he arrives, he is quick to identify the source of the problem.

Wilbur and Tommy are wrestling on the floor. Gods, he was expecting far worse. This is better than Wilbur throwing Tommy out of the window or the opposite of that scenario happening.

Thing is, the guests are more or less not amused. They are quite the opposite actually: annoyed and about to leave them a bad review on Yelp. Only the rascal human children are having fun, even leaving their seats to join in the fight.

"I am so sorry, Niki", he says to no one in particular. It's just practice -a rehearsal if you will- for the terrifying confrontation which he will soon be faced with. He picks up Tommy and Wilbur, who still grapple at each other despite having been lifted into the air like a pair of twin kittens.

Techno resolves to holding them under his arms instead.

The two don't make an effort to wiggle out of his hold. They are quite happy to continue some argument they were having where they are, being hauled into detention by Technoblade, who is apparently behaving like Phil -whatever Tommy meant by that side comment. He throws some quick (rehearsed and very much not heart-felt) apologies to the guests as he exits the dining room and pretends not to notice the fuming Niki standing at the exit to the lobby.

"Tommy, I swear to the gods, if I find either you or Tubbo in the kitchen again, I will personally chase you down and murder you", Wilbur scolds, quite upset, when Techno lets them down.

Tommy flails as if Wilbur spewed fire at him and burnt him, offended because he was being denied his rights to... what? Trojan raiding the kitchen? That's a peculiar right for a teenager but whatever you say Tommy.

Tubbo is currently on the phone with his brother, trying to assure Dream that everything is alright. Well, they aren't dead, Techno thinks, so unless you count the very devastated Phil, they are indeed alright. Perfectly safe and away from... Karl? Was that his name? He was barely paying attention when Niki explained the situation to them.

But then the brunet approaches him and hands him the phone saying that Dream wanted to speak with him. Techno shrugs and takes the small device into his palm, holds it all weirdly before he actually holds it close to his ear. Clearing his throat, he speaks.

"Hallo?"

Oh, now he understands why humans prefer this method of communication. It is so much easier to speak to the air rather than to a person. Huh. For so long he has only had his phone as decor for his desk.

"Techno! Where is Phil?!", Dream shouts through the speaker. Techno takes that back. This is not a pleasant experience. His poor ear, ow. "Is Tubbo alright? He didn't tell me much but I have a feeling that he's lying to me-"

And he goes on with some spiel, a conspiracy theory even, of Tubbo having gotten spanked or jumped in an alley while returning home- it's like he's speaking to a very worried father who has no idea where his kid is at 2am. Then again, Dream is basically Tubbo's sole guardian and caregiver, yeah, the guy has good reason to be acting like a very worried father. Techno, too, would've turned the world upside down if Wilbur suddenly went missing.

...Touch wood.

"Woah, woah, Dream, he did not get abducted in the middle of the night by aliens, calm down-", he says after a peculiarly absurd scenario his friend came up with.

He hears Dream take a deep breath alongside many others. He can faintly hear footsteps and cars honking. Is he running? In the street? Like a madman? No, no, like a mad​​​​​lad? (Look, Tubbo can teach a lot of Reddit things in one night).

He is, isn't he? Well, worst case scenario, he doesn't make it to the hotel (where else could he be headed to?) in one piece. Techno totally doesn't feel a twinge of worry at the back of his head. Nope, you're just imagining things. Moving on.

"Okay, okay, I'm calm", Dream tells him. Techno doesn't believe him for a second because he can still hear the way he shakily exhales but shrugs anyway. It could be from all the running he's doing.

It definitely isn't- ahem.

"What did Tubbo tell you?"

"He told me that he had a sleepover with a friend, and y'know, the only friend he actually hangs out with is Tommy so I can only assume that-"

"Tommy is here too, yes. He is currently getting lectured by Wilbur", he double checks the fact, looking over to the two tallest people he has ever seen to find that- yep, they're arguing... or laughing, one can hardly understand whatever language those two use to communicate with one another. "And Tubbo is giving me puppy eyes"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, he's probably trying to suck up to me so that I won't snitch- ow!"

He shoves the poor boy away from him, sending him straight into bed, where he splays like a very flat octopus. That'll teach him to never punch him in the gut ever again... He doubts it will but oh well.

"Snitch? Snitch on what?"

"Nothing! Anyway, don't get hit by a car-", he hears a loud honk just then. A loud honk and a car skidding to a halt through the speaker and outside of the building.

With an eye roll, he heads downstairs.

He arrives at the lobby just in time to witness the form of Dream but in a state that you'd mistake him for a homeless person. Dirty clothes like he'd bumped into a trash can and actually fell inside of it, his forehead shiny with cold sweat, eyes wild and body hunched over- no, he looks more like a prison escapee, scratch the homeless person concept. There's a stick in his dirty blond and dishevelled hair and a banana peel sliding down the side of his face.

...Had he actually fallen in a trash can? How did he even manage that? That's a feat in and of itself.

"Hey, Dream, uh, you okay there?", suddenly, he changes opinion about phones again. That's some character development right there.

Techno doesn't make it too far before the guy is holding him by the collar of his freshly-worn shirt and shaking him like a maraca. Oh, damn, his shirt is gonna get so many wrinkles, and it's new too- Techno almost whines in protest but he doesn't. He can only manage a shocked expression in the fact that Dream has the audacity to put his hands on him in such a way; on a future king.

This madlad of a human does not know of this though, so, begrudgingly, he lets it slide.

"Where is he?!", he demands. Oh man, he has never seen Dream this angry. It's kinda... hot? Is that the word? He's heard many female humans say that expression when they find someone attractive. Eh, he'll have Niki explain it to him later, it's fine.

"If you let go of me, I can show you", he tells him with a flat, somewhat offended, look. Dream makes a small "oh" in response. The blond lets go of him and winces at the sight of ugly wrinkles. Techno does not dare look at them, fearing that he'll commit a crime against human rights if he does. "Alright, follow me, idiot"

"I'm not an idiot!", Dream protests. Techno huffs.

"Says the guy who almost got hit by a car in the most desolate street I've seen in this city. How did you even manage that?", he asks, more and more bewildered as he takes this info in for a second time.

"He came out of nowhere!", Dream says, "He took a turn and he was behind me as I was crossing the street! Who drives like that?"

Techno, of course, does not have the answer to that. He hardly knows what a car is (he doesn't even know how to drive) and what he knows of the streets and the dangerous drivers come from the horror stories Madam Puffy has told him. Wilbur isn't much help either, because he just comes in with a flashlight and pitches in with some sort of sewer clown that lives in the drains.

How does a sewer clown even fit in with car crashes?

As you can tell, hangs out with very sane people. Yup, mhm, very sane.

Anyways.

Techno leads Dream to the second floor and as they walk up the stairs, he can't help but feel eyes on his back... is it his back? The small of his back? He can't really tell but it is most certainly something on the behind side of him. When he chances a look, a questioning eyebrow stuck on his face, he catches a glimpse of Dream's head moving. Yeah, that's what he thought.

Dream was just looking straight ahead.

They arrive at the suite soon after that... incident? What do you even call that? A suspicion? Whatever, doesn't matter. He knocks on the door, trying to be polite for once but Dream has dropped his manners.

He just. Barges in. Completely and utterly unannounced. Techno sighs. A second later, he hears screams of agony and pain and absolute misery come from inside the room.

If this wasn't a normal in his new reality, he would've flinched, maybe even screamed himself! Alas, it is exactly that: the norm. Don't get him wrong, he absolutely loves Wilbur and would totally kill anyone who lays even a finger on him but that doesn't stop their arguments from getting... explosive. Somewhat.

Skeppy approaches from around the corner, yawning into his hand, having obviously been woken up from his sleeping in. Serves him right; he doesn't deserve to sleep in with so little that he does around the hotel (that's his and Wil's excuse to hand their chores to him anyway). Plus, Techno is pretty sure he's seen him sneaking luggage out of guest rooms once or twice. The little kleptomaniac had it coming.

"What's all that noise?", he loudly demands, voice deep with sleep and little stalagmites (what humans would call sand) in his eyes. Techno picks him up in a panic when he realizes that the little idiot was going to walk into the suite. "Hey!"

"Shhhh! Shush!", Techno quickly shushes him and puts a hand over the diamond man's mouth. "Dream is in there!"

Skeppy blinks at him and gives him a flat look. As flat of a look as a little golem made of solid diamond can give anyway. He says something but his voice is muffled under the prince's palm sooo... he bites him. Mercilessly.

Techno can not describe the sheer ire and pain that sparked within him at that moment.

"What's your boy toy doing in Phil's suite?", Skeppy's unfiltered mouth asks. However, Techno is as dense as ever and raises a confused eyebrow. "Anyway, he's here to take Tubbo home", he tells him.

"You can't be that stupid, oh my god", the other matters to himself, Techno not managing to catch on. He shakes his head. "Why are they yelling?"

"Dunno"

"Fair"

Δ

Phil can say that in the few years they've lived amongst the humans, this is the biggest tragedy he's ever bore witness to. The remains of the beach house were nothing but pieces of drift wood floating in the sea, ropes and beams floating along when he arrived. There was nothing left but broken pieces that once housed so many good and bad memories.

Tommy crying after a particularly bad day at the human school... Returning home only to find the house on the brim of burning down because Tommy wanted to cook for them so that Phil could take an afternoon nap... Swimming together in their little cove and catching crabs... Tommy drawing while Phil was cooking. This house sheltered so many memories, all of them so unique and different.

Maybe the waves worsened.

He had prepared for less when he decided to assess the damage. He had believed that only the front porch would be destroyed but the waves had taken the rest of the house with them before he arrived. It's a sad sight, a claw ripping through the flesh and tearing at his pride, ropes wrapping tightly around his heart and threatening to burst it.

He never wanted to rely on anyone for anything, preferring to be independent despite his political status as a prince or king. Especially after the fall of his kingdom, he did not want to burden anyone with his weight. Seeing his hard work- no, not only his but Tommy's as well- come to ruin, it hurt him. Hurts him. He can remember every single little detail from the day they built their home on land, together. Each piece of wood and nail and which ones Tommy hammered into the woods. The crooked ones were Tommy's doing but the kid got better in time.

Had he still been on his own, he wouldn't have minded much. What did a king of a destroyed land need to survive? Just a roof over his head, something to eat, perhaps a hobby.

He has a child, however, whom he's been taking care of for so many years, who looks so much like him regardless of the fact that they aren't related by blood. For Tommy, he has to bite his tongue, hold his frustrations and be patient. He's doing this for him; all for him, so he can grow up and live a good life somewhere safe. The beach house is anything but that now, especially with the new... threat of the sea. The boy needs a safe space to grow into an adult and Phil is not about to deny the option of Niki's hospitality if it grants him just that: a home, friends, escape from boredom, food and water. Phil can only promise to himself that he'll find a new home for them, somplace where they won't have to rely on anyone or anything other than the weather and the forces of nature.

Until then, he shall be patient, a battered rock in the wild sea, the canopy of a tree that shields all in rainy weather, holding onto Tommy's bright smile and newfound happiness like a lifeline. He'll keep his head down, do whatever Niki and Madam Puffy ask of him till he can find a way to repay their kindness. At least they are merfolk just like him and not humans; he doesn't know how he'd have reacted or what he'd have done if they were humans.

Seeking help from humans is perhaps the lowest he'd have stepped.

His hand touches a smooth piece of what once was a high beam. It's smooth and wet, chipped and split in places. The sea salt has already done its number on it. He sighs and stands up, wonders towards the ruins of the house. Only wooden planks remain, resting against the rocks and pebbled sand. Lifting a plank, he finds a wooden dolphin statuette, his gift to one of the princes, somewhat wet and slimy.

He could dry it off in the sun, so he pockets it. He searches for anything of value; emotional value because those are the only things he cares about. They never needed a hefty sum of money to survive.

The only things he finds are some of Tommy's old drawings and tattered clothes. Neither of which is salvageable as the drawings have dissolved in the water and the clothes have been torn on jagged rocks.

He sighs and sulking he makes his way back to the hotel.

It's a long walk and his legs begin to ache half-way but the cold sea-side breeze clears his head. He takes a deep breath in, looks left to right before crossing the empty street, and quietly opens the front door of the hotel.

...he did not expect to bump on anyone on his way in, seeing as reception should be empty at this time of day but would you look at that! The facts are denying him peace and quiet. Again. Sigh.

"Oh, hello, Phil!", Niki greets him from behind the counter. There is a big, leather-bound book on the top, seemingly used to check people in and out. It's not a technologically advanced system but if it still exists, it must work.

"Oh, hey there, Niki", he greets, putting on a smile. The kind woman doesn't deserve a grumpy frown. Her own small smile falls, though and her lips form into a thin line.

"How was it?"

With a sigh, Phil drops the act as well.

"It's... gone. Destroyed completely...", he might've felt a tear slip down his cheek at that. Maybe it was a figment of his imagination. "All our hard work has been swept away by the waves... Fuck!", he slams his fist on the counter.

He had not realized how much he had bottled up inside of him in the small time frame he was gone until his eyes became waterfalls of salty tears. Small dots of water appeared beneath his chin, making bubble patterns on the counter top. He doesn't notice Niki walk around the desk and approach him, he only notices the comforting hand on his back and then he makes the connection.

"Fuckin' Hells of the deep ocean, I'm sorry you have to see me like this", he apologizes but Niki simply shushes him and pats him on the back. "What will I tell Tommy?"

The mermaid doesn't attempt to say any comforting words. Phil thinks that is for the best because, honestly, they'd do more harm than good right now. How can someone say that it's going to be okay? After witnessing their home be destroyed beyond repair? His and Tommy's lives were torn away from them just like that, in a matter of seconds, by a wooden beam that should've held on for much longer than it did.

Someone laughs in the distance. It's not at all familiar but there is a sort of malice and hatred that accompanies it. Phil has only half the mind to pay attention to it, mind too caught up in what he'd tell his kid.

"Hahaha! How does it feel to have your life stolen from you?", the stranger asks- no, mocks. There is nothing kind in the tone of voice. "Losing your home? Your fucking family?"

Phil slightly turns his head, having only half the mind to listen to the hurtful words. Blond strands of hair make an effort to block his vision.

"Not now! Puffy!", Niki shouts one second and the next she has gone to the direction of the stranger.

"How does it feel to lose everything you honking selfish basta- Niki, let go of me!"

With more effort than it should've required, Phil collects himself when he notices the struggle. He is quick to lunge forward and pull Niki away, his bucket hat almost slipping off his head.

"You motherfu-", before Phil can finish his sentence, he gets punched in the jaw. He hears Niki let out a shout of surprise as the world around him spins.

The world stills for only a second as his mind tries to register the hit. For that sole second it is quiet, like something major has happened and all of them should keep quiet. Phil looks to the side, still stunned in a hunched position from the punch to the jaw, and his eyes widen.

Before him stands the prince and sole heir to the throne of the Angarctic Ocean... the fiance of prince Quackity of the South Pacific kingdom. Brown curls, gray and yellow eyes, a multicolored hoodie... and a malicious grin that is halfway to turning into a snarl.

"...Karl?"

Niki saves him from another painful punch as she puts herself between the two of them. Karl pulls his hand back to himself, locking his elbow by his head as if Niki was going to move any second. Phil shakes his head, trying to regain his bearings.

"Karl, that was really uncalled for!", the woman scolds the prince. And friend? No one refers to a prince or princess without their proper title. Names are reserved for family, friends and maybe others of the same status.

"No, Niki, I've spent years trying to track him down and finally I find him living his happy little life with some human kids!", Karl screams at her. Niki doesn't back down, though Phil can only see her back and the face of the prince from where he stands.

"He needs to hear it!", the prince exclaims.

"Karl", Phil says, unsure of how to proceed in this ordeal. What does he even tell the boy? It all happened so long ago... "Why-", he takes a deep breath, "Why are you here?"

It's been so long since the past has come back to haunt him. The destruction of two kingdom's by one greedy king, the decimation and thunder to the peace and stability of the seven oceans. Phil has... somewhat moved on but Karl is obviously not sharing the sentiment.

Phil can't really blame him. He lost his fiancé to the fall of the two kingdoms, a person he loved, just like he lost Kristin. He understands, he gets it, he knows what it feels like to lose someone so close to you without a single warning.

Karl turns his attention to him then, his eyes widening as if surprised. However, his expression is quick to return to its angry and hateful state as he glares daggers at him. Phil is lucky that Niki is holding him back.

"Why am I here?", Karl exclaims, offended or insulted, Phil doesn't know. "Why are you here, proud king of the North Atlantic?"

It's an accusation, yet another hurtful hit that shatters his pride and leaves a deep purple bruise on it. Phil knows what the prince's next words will be; he's told them to himself many times before in the first year of living on land.

"Running away from your problems, you fucking hypocrite!", Karl spews. Niki tries to stop him but her attempt is futile. "You let my fiancé be slaughtered and then ran away like a fucking coward!"

Phil had not run away. He wasn't a coward, not back then, not now. He's been a responsible merfolk ever since his sixteenth birthday, when he learnt of his scheduled coronation that would follow in the near future; since his father fell ill to an untreateable disease.

He did not let anyone die; they died by the enemy's hands; he tried to save as many as he could. Kristen too, he tried to save her but he didn't manage to do so in the end. It's not his fault that wretched king waged war on his kingdom and it surely isn't his fault for calling in help from his alies.

Only the South Pacific, one of the smallest kingdoms, had responded to them out of kindness and good will. They didn't arrive in time, however, as the kingdom was destroyed within a day but from what Tommy had told him, they had not arrived at all. The king found them before they even reached the borders.

"Look, Karl, you aren't the only one who lost someone in that war!", he shouts back, showing his teeth like a dog that's about to bite, eyes narrowing and brows furrowing.

Karl looks taken aback, perhaps from the sudden string of words that escaped Phil or the fact that he didn't expect to be talked back to; Phil doesn't care. If the prince came all this way just to accuse him, he is very much unwelcome.

"I lost my fiancé too, Karl. She died before my own two eyes", he tells him in a low voice, almost spitting the words at him. "Crashed by a pillar and I was unable to do anything"

Karl might've bit his own tongue.

"Your fiancé rushed to help us unlike you who shut the doors to everyone and hid like you were the ones being threatened! So you can't come here and call me a fucking coward when you didn't do shit to help your fiancé!"

The prince winces like he's been hit in the gut. Yet, his face morphs into that of anger and betrayal, maybe self-doubt. Niki looks aghast too, as she knew Phil to be a pacifist and not this aggressive.

"The two of you", she starts. "Need to work this thing out"

Phil is more or less surprised at the fact that Niki has just decided to take the role of mother dolphin. Karl looks at her with a certain curiosity too.

"So your room is the suite next to Phil's"

"What?!", the two of them scream in unison. Niki looks at them with a raised eyebrow.

"That's a start, I guess"

Δ

In the ocean a great war starts. A war between a greedy king and the greatest fortune tellers to have ever existed. The demons of the king lead this charade, they clash with the soldiers, they fight and bleed and heal with the sea salt. The soldiers hold tridents and swords and spears, they ride great water horses, fierce and unyielding, yet it's not enough to push back the enemy.

The Arctic Kingdom falls within two days.

It was expected to take longer than usual, they'd expected them, after all.

"You will regret this, king of nothing", the prince seethes at the king when they are brought to the throne. Dream smiles at him, or rather, he grins. He grins at the victory, at the reality that he is one prince closer to his goal. A gemstone of aquamarine rests against the prince's sternum, hanging by a string of shark teeth and fishing line.

"Oh, Prince Eret, I don't think I will", the king says as he rests his cheek on a fist, a leg crossed lazily over the other.

"You may achieve your goals but in the end, you'll meet with a terrible fate", Eret, with a crown of gold on their head, says. Milky white eyes meet the king's in a stare down that the prince can't win. "You'll die alone in a sunken kingdom"

Dream keeps his composure. The prince may be a fortune tellers bit fortune tellers can only know so much. The king hasn't even begun his reign yet, he is not about to fall. A black hand falls on his shoulder then, delicately gripping him to hold him back from something he is not about to do.

"Did you see me, Eret?", Ranboo asks, face blank and voice emotionless. The prince's breath hitches as they look at the direction of the other.

"I'd caught a glimpse of you outside of the castle gates", they say. "I thought you had come to seek shelter, finally, after all these years"

"How do you feel? Betrayed? Hateful? Angry? Or maybe happy that your prediction came true?"

Dream looks at Ranboo puzzled. The prince doesn't comment, doesn't so much as explain his emotions to him; he doesn't so much as look at him. The king doesn't know how to feel about this situation.

"I am but one thing Ranboo", they say and bow their head. The crown threatens to fall. "I am disappointed that you gave in to your fate"

Ranboo clicks his tongue. He looks at Bad, who has been holding the prince's hands behind his back this whole time. The demon looks at him with expectant bright white eyes.

"Take him away, lock him up" he demands, leaving without so much as a reason for his sudden anger.

Dream looks at Bad and the demon looks back at him. The one remaining prince lets out a sigh.

"Fate is never set in stone"

===

Also, any Miraculous Ladybug enjoyers? I'm currently watching the 4th season!