Ghostbur made it back with a few pictures and how to sex 2 in his possession.

"L'Manberg actually looks a lot better now you're gone," Ghostbur said unironically. "The walls are down and everything. It's prettier. And there are these Christmas houses that've gone up. You know it's almost Christmas? We should do something special for Christmas in Logstedshire." Ghostbur jumped up and down enthusiastically.

Tommy blinked. "Now you're just making me feel bad."

"Oh," Ghostbur frowned. "I'm sorry. I've got two gifts for you, though. Would that make you feel better?"

"I guess." Tommy mumbled, feeling embarrassed.

"Okay!" Ghostbur perked up. "Let's go into the house! I'll hang the pictures up. Where do you think the first one should go?"

Tommy gestured to a small stretch of wall, and Ghostbur placed down an item frame and a little picture of L'Manberg.

"And I've got this," Ghostbur dropped a book to Tommy.

"How to sex 2!" He exclaimed.

"You're welcome!" Ghostbur said proudly. Tommy beamed and tucked it away in his private chest.

"Come with me, Ghostbur?" Tommy invited. He had a vague idea, but he wanted to test it first, to implement the first step as discreetly as possible.

Tommy located the ruined portal and filled the portal in before lighting it. The nether portal came aglow with the familiar shimmering purple light, and he stepped inside before being transported out into the nether.

He smiled to himself. He had a plan. "Home."

***

"Do you want me to teach you how to improve your tent?" Ghostbur asked hesitantly as he walked around the perimeter of the Tommy-built, Dream-improved tent.

"Mm?" Tommy asked, distracted as he crafted a bed and set it down.

"The issue with the tent is that it's a perfect triangle," Ghostbur began.

"Yeah!" Tommy said. "Thanks."

Ghostbur grimaced. "I mean, it should be taller than it is wide. Then it's more realistic."

Tommy sighed. "Okay." He said grudgingly.

Ghostbur smiled. "So just make it a block or two higher, and then put in the roof, and voilà! It'd look much better."

Tommy dropped the wool and the shears to Ghostbur. "You do it." He said, albeit a little pettily.

"No, it's your tent." Ghostbur said, confused. "You do it."

"Please? You know I can't build."

"Alright," Ghostbur relented. "I'll build one side, you watch, and you can build the other."

Tommy watched as Ghostbur did one side, and then when Tommy didn't move to do the other, Ghostbur finished the other side. Then, without asking, he added a little embellishments to the side to make the tent bigger.

"That looks nice," Tommy admitted, scanning the perimeter. "Now there's more space inside, too."

"Yeah." Ghostbur smiled.

"What should I name it?" Tommy asked. "I reckon I go nice and simple: tent."

"No, no." Ghostbur moved in front of Tommy, breaking the sign and replacing it with another. "Tnret."

Tommy's eyebrows rose, and then he broke into a smile. "I like it."

***

"Can't I go back for a while and visit my friends?" Tommy inquired.

"No," Dream replied. Ghostbur frowned.

"We've already established, no visitation. People can come here and visit you, but you can't go back." Dream finished.

Tommy sighed.

"You can have Ghostbur be your messenger." Dream suggested. "As long as he's okay with it. He can send and give messages to L'Manberg, but you can't go there yourself."

"Let's go to the nether." Tommy said suddenly. He didn't want to sit around and plead to go back, not yet, anyways.

Dream and Ghostbur trailed behind him as he entered the portal and exited in a new dimension. Lava in an endless pool beneath, and the entire world was dark red and lit by fire as far as the eye could see. Patches of soulsand, dark and menacing, interrupted long stretches of netherrack.

Tommy took a deep breath. "How can I get... down there?" He pointed. Dream looked over his shoulder and shrugged.

"Big help you are." He muttered and began bridging. His breath held in his chest as he slowly made his way over a large pit of lava, and underneath his one block bridge of netherrack, only air and a long fall separated him from death by burning.

When he emerged on the other side of the sheer cliffs of netherrack, Tommy took in a breath when he saw familiar bridges and touched land.

"Careful now," Ghostbur warned. "If you go through, Dream'll kill you."

"I know." Tommy said as he navigated the uneven terrain towards the nether portal.

"If you really wanted to get back, it takes less time to boat than to run through the nether." Dream pointed out almost snarkily, and Tommy turned and glared, but he couldn't find the energy to hate Dream at the moment.

Tommy stopped in front of the portal. Around him was the familiar blackstone constituting the base of the nether side of the community nether portal.

"Can't I go through, please? If not now, at least so I can spend Christmas with my friends?" Tommy asked. So he wasn't below pleading after all. He wasn't sure what to do with the information, but he really wanted to go home. The purple of the nether portal shimmered and seemed to beckon elusively, and he turned a pleading gaze to Dream.

"No," Dream smiled. Tommy sighed and turned away, somehow unable to feel anger towards Dream but rather sadness, disappointment.

"If you go through, I'll kill you," Dream added.

"I'll go through, take a photo, and come back." Ghostbur promised. "How does that sound?"

Tommy grimaced, and answered, "okay."

Dream patted Tommy on the back, and Tommy wrenched away with a deep frown. Ghostbur looked at Tommy for a few more seconds, then vanished inside the portal.

"I'll join him, too. I want to see." Dream said, a glint in his eye. Tommy didn't miss the mocking tone of his words.

When they both left him alone in the nether, Tommy gazed over the edge of the bridge, staring down at the seemingly unending pool of lava beneath him. The undulating pattern of the lava, identical across blocks, was mesmerizing, and he found himself leaning farther and farther over, until he teetered at the edge and caught himself. He regained his composure and stood up straight, waiting patiently for them to come back, but even as he stood there, he was terrified at that helpless feeling that had got him to lean farther and farther over, as it beckoned for a better existence than the one he lived.

Tommy couldn't resist another peak. He didn't hear when Dream returned and shoved him away from the edge. Dream's eyebrows were furrowed as he glared blankly at Tommy, and Tommy stared back, saying nothing.

"I can't just go back and take a little walk along the prime path?" Tommy asked, decidedly ignoring the moment.

"No, you can't." Dream said with a condescending little sigh.

"Not even on Christmas Day?"

Dream pondered the question for a bit as he began ushering Tommy back in the direction of the other portal. "Perhaps. I think I can consider... the exception for Christmas Day."

"Really?" Tommy grinned.

"I could consider it, but... probably not." Dream added quickly, but Tommy's instant upswing in mood couldn't be brought back down.

Dream led Tommy back towards the other portal, the one that led back to Logstedshire. As Dream bridged back up to the high cliff and Tommy trailed afterwards, an idea struck Tommy.

"If I hit you off right now, you'd die."

"I have god apples, so no." Dream responded calmly. Tommy gave Dream a good whack, and Dream caught himself on the edge and gave Tommy a warning glare. Tommy gave Dream another few whacks, and each time he caught himself. It was quite frustrating.

"Tommy," Dream said warningly.

"I just want you to die." Tommy said plainly.

Dream chuckled and merely continued on the way to the portal. "This way, come on." He said, completely unbothered. Finally, they reached the obsidian portal, complete with the shimmering purple light, and Tommy stepped through with a sigh, watching as the world undulated and reformed before his eyes.

"Home sweet home," Tommy said blandly.

"It'll be fine," Dream said as though chastising an ungrateful child. "People will come and visit you all the time! I'll come. It's actually fun. It's a nice change in scenery."

Dream must've known the hidden barbs in his words, and Tommy turned away from Dream and trudged back to Logstedshire.