"Hey, Tommy."

"Wil?" Tommy's eyes widened. "Wait, no. How are you here? I'm not dead!"

Wilbur shrugged. "They think you are."

"They?"

"Nearly everyone on the SMP."

"What?! But I'm not!"

"Most of them don't know that."

"Wait, what do you mean 'most of them'?"

"A couple people-" Wilbur looked back, startled, before interrupting himself. "Hey, Tommy, I have to go. But, uh, be safe."

"Safe?" Tommy asked, but Wilbur was already walking away. Tommy ran after him, reaching his arm out towards his brother. "Wil! Wait!"

Then the ground opened up, and Tommy fell into the void, still screaming his brother's name.

Tommy screamed into his pillow. He'd been having that same dream over and over, and he could never find out what Wilbur had meant by "most people".

Did somebody believe he was still alive?

They should. He was very much alive.

If so, who? And how?

Tommy hoped it wasn't Dream. Anyone but Dream.

An alert sounded on Tommy's comm. He rolled over to check it and found, like, 15 missed messages.

<MumboJumbo> Tommy

<MumboJumbo> Are you awake?

<MumboJumbo> Yes or no?

<MumboJumbo> I'm going to assume yes. It's 11

<MumboJumbo> Are you still up for learning elytra?

<MumboJumbo> Grian said hell help teach you

<MumboJumbo> Wait ARE you awake?

<MumboJumbo> Tommy wake up

<MumboJumbo> messgae me when you see this

<MumboJumbo> message*

<MumboJumbo> Tommy it's noon where are you

<MumboJumbo> We were supposed to start at noon

<MumboJumbo> Do I need to come make sure you're not dead?

Tommy groaned and sat up, hastily typing out a message.

<Tommyinnit> No I'm awake i slpet in

<MumboJumbo> FINALLY

<MumboJumbo> Okey me and grian are waiting at my base

<MumboJumbo> You can walk through the nether, right?

<MumboJumbo> Or through the overworld

<MumboJumbo> Okay*

<MumboJumbo> Or we can pick you up

<Tommyinnit> I can walk

<MumboJumbo> Okey

<MumboJumbo> AGH okay*

Tommy hauled himself out of bed and grabbed some clothes out of the drawers Stress had left him. His room was starting to look sort of nice. There was a table in the corner with a sad-looking plant on top. His bed was in the other corner, overhung by a poster for a band that Tommy had never heard of- ABCD or something. He couldn't bother to check.

Across from the foot of his bed was his drawers, which held clothes a couple people had lent him. Stress had fixed up his red shirt and khaki pants too, but Tommy really didn't want to be reminded of what had happened, so he chose not to wear them.

It was probably another 30 minutes until Tommy made it to Mumbo's insanely large base. He was kind of glad he was going to learn how to fly today. The Hermitcraft server was nearly impossible to get around without wings.

Tommy found Mumbo and Grian together in Mumbo's basement-storage area. Well, Mumbo was asleep, and Grian was doing... something.

"What-" Tommy began to ask Grian, but the man put a finger to his lips and pointed to Mumbo. As Tommy walked closer, he soon discovered that the blonde was quickly covering the taller in chicken feathers. After watching for a while, Tommy began to help.

The man was almost covered when suddenly a feather drifted down towards Mumbo's face. Grian and Tommy glanced at each other, and barely holding in their laughter, watched as it floated just above Mumbo's nose. For a moment, it seemed as if it was going to drift into the air again as Mumbo breathed out, and Tommy nearly let himself relax, but as the man then breathed in, it promptly went up his nose. The moustached man snorted and then fell out of the chair he was in, coughing. Tommy let out a bark of laughter and then too fell over, trying to catch his breath. Grian didn't even try to stay standing as he collapsed back onto the soft grass, silently laughing. Soon, everyone was wheezing, even Mumbo, who looked like a chicken, covered in feathers.

Grian sat up, wiping a tear. "Who's the poultry man now?" And then fell back again, wheezing.

Mumbo snorted, standing up and trying to brush the feathers off. They stuck to his suit like glue.

He looked up in a silent plea for help, and Tommy started hacking, he was laughing so hard.

"I was tired!" Mumbo protested, a hint of a smile on his face.

"You can't fall asleep with me, Mumbo!" Grian shouted at the ceiling. "I thought you knew that!" He lifted his head up and looked at Tommy. "And now I have an accomplice." He said, a malicious grin on his face.

Tommy grinned, sitting up and looking around Mumbo's storage room. How could one person have that many items?

Mumbo sighed, admitting defeat against the feathers, and stuck out a hand to help Tommy up, which Tommy took, albeit reluctantly.

Tommy brushed off the feathers that had migrated to his shirt as Grian stood up too.

"So, you want to learn how to fly?" He asked.

Then two brown feathered appendages appeared on Grian's back. Not elytra, real wings, like Philza's.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Very dramatic, Grian."

The man in question looked mildly offended. "My wings are amazing, thank you very much."

"Eh, I've seen cooler."

"Mhm, sure. You can't get much cooler than these bad boys." Grian flexed a wing.

"My dad can," Tommy smirked before realizing he'd said way more than he'd wanted to.

Before Tommy could change the subject, Grian jutted in. "Your dad is an avian?" He asked. "What kind?"

Tommy sighed, knowing any hope of redirecting the conversation was lost. "Yeah, a Raven."

"I know a few Ravens. What's his name?"

Tommy looked to the side, slouching his shoulders. He had said too much already.

"Nevermind," Grian said. He must have noticed Tommy was uncomfortable.

"Okay," Mumbo said, interrupting the awkward silence. "Here's an elytra." He handed Tommy a wing-backpack. "We're not going to use fireworks yet, because those are harder and because Grian told me I was stupid for making you use them the first time."

And that's how Tommy found himself on top of Mumbo's base, staring down at the ground 100 blocks away. Grian was flapping his wings in midair across from him, and Mumbo was waiting encouragingly below.

"It's easy," Grian was explaining. "Just jump and lean forward. The wind will catch the wings, and you'll glide forward. Tilt your body to turn. If you somehow fall, I'll catch you."

"How?" Tommy asked, tearing his eyes from the distant floor. "You're, like, two feet shorter than me."

Grian rolled his eyes. "Trust me."

Trust. Tommy'd trusted a lot of people, and every one of them had failed him. He, on the other hand, was very trustworthy. That's why everyone called him Tommy Trusty. no, they didn't yes, they did

"Okay, just jump!" Grian said, trying to encourage him.

The thing was, Tommy didn't like heights. It reminded him of that dirt tower in Logstedshire-

Tommy took a deep breath, forcing himself out of his thoughts.

He stepped forward, and

j

u

m

p

e

d

Tommy tried not to scream. He really did. But he'd closed his eyes, and the wind was whipping in his hair, and he was so scared, but he felt so free , and then he opened his eyes, and the ground was coming closer, and he was still falling, and then Grian was there holding him tight, and Tommy was safe. He was finally safe.

Tommy was still gripping Grian tightly as he lowered them to the ground where an anxious Mumbo was waiting.

"See," Grian said, catching his breath. "I told you I'd catch you."

Mumbo rushed over to Tommy, who had sprawled himself out on the grass, checking him over.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worried. "Are you hurt? Did your stitches tear?"

"No, I'm fine," Tommy mumbled, then sat up with a newfound excitement. "Can I do it again?"