26. (cosplay competition, pt. 3 (credit to Mixy_ttwara)

"Uh."

Tommy glanced at Technoblade. "What?"

Technoblade stared blankly at the outfit Tommy had donned. He had foregone his usual red-and-white t-shirt, instead sporting a white dress shirt and a royal red cape that he'd gotten from who knew where. A crown was nestled in his hair.

Wilbur appeared around the corner, staring down at his communicator. "Tommy," he called, looking up. "Why-- what the hell are you wearing?"

Tommy scowled at him. "What, I can't wear capes?"

"I-- no," Wilbur said, looking bewildered. "You're, that's-- what happened to your normal outfit?"

"This is my normal outfit."

"Pretty sure it's not," Technoblade grunted. He grabbed the edge of the cape, ignoring how Tommy yelped indignantly and tried to tug it away. "Is this- is this a shower curtain?"

"No," Tommy lied.

"It is," Technoblade muttered incredulously. "Where did you get a shower curtain?"

Tommy scowled. "It's not a shower curtain," he insisted. "It's- it's my royal cape."

"Uh-huh," Technoblade said, finally releasing his grip on the cloth. His gaze turned to the crown. ". . . that's real gold, isn't it."

"Maaaaaybe," Tommy hedged.

"I'm part piglin, Tommy. I know what real gold looks like."

Tommy gained a mutinous look. "You don't know shit, bitch."

"Where did you get it?"

"What, the crown?" Tommy adjusted it. "Made it myself. Pretty great, innit?"

"What about the gold for the crown?"

Tommy shifted. "I might have committed some theft from the government."

Wilbur looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. "You snuck into the L'Manberg vaults?!"

Tommy crossed his arms. "I had help! It was fine!"

Technoblade eyed him. "Did you leave any evidence?"

"Of course not," Tommy sniffed.

". . . Good job," Technoblade said, then turned with a dramatic flare of his cape and stalked away. Scowling, Tommy tried to copy him, only for the end of his shower curtain (cape, it was a cape) to smack Wilbur in the face.

"Oh shit! Wil, I am so sorry--"

27. (credit to DanganronpaFan0519)

"Hey, Dream."

Dream looked up from the book he was reading. "Oh, hey, Tommy."

Tommy grinned. "Let me get exiled again so we can actually be lads on tour."

A pause. Dream set his book down. ". . . Give me an excuse to get you exiled, and you'll have a deal."

~~~

"You know," Dream said flatly as he rowed the boat, "When I said 'give me an excuse', I didn't mean 'cause massive amounts of property damage and traumatize Sam for life'."

Tommy shrugged unrepentantly. "I'm saving you the trouble of canceling the project, big man."

Dream sighed. "I paid a stack of diamonds for the prison--"

"--which you're not gonna need, because we're gonna go completely off the fucking rails."

The boat slowed. ". . . What?"

Tommy grinned. "How do you feel about building an empire?"

"We're not calling it Business Bay: Electric Boogaloo."

"C'mon, Dream--"

"No," Dream enunciated. "Think of a better name."

Tommy scowled. ". . . The Principality of Prime."

Dream looked thoughtful. "That. . . works, actually, given that we both established Church Prime. We can share the 'prince' title."

"Pog. Now all we gotta do is build shit."

~~~

"That," Dream said flatly, "is the ugliest palace I have ever seen."

Tommy scowled. "You try building, mister totally-not-homeless--"

"I have a house!"

~~~

"--neutral ground," Dream finished, hands folded in front of him. Technoblade, sitting across from him, shifted uncomfortably.

"So let me get this straight," he started. "You just built an empire-- and you want the Antarctic Anarchists to back it?"

"It's a principality," Dream corrected. "More of a neutral ground, like Church Prime."

"Dream, we're called anarchists for a reason."

Dream shrugged. "It's a principality only in name. We're not actually gonna rule anyone, since Tommy and I'll be the only ones living here. We just need you to officially recognize it as a neutral entity. Not asking you to pay or anything."

"And what do we get in return?"

"A nonpartisan, fighting-free spot on this server and a safe haven if you need to hide somewhere," Dream offered.

Technoblade leaned back in his chair. "How do I know this isn't some backstabbin' scheme? Last time I worked with Tommy, he seemed pretty fine with throwin' me under the bus."

Dream hesitated, then sighed. Technoblade stiffened as the other man reached up and unclasped his mask, setting it down on the table.

Dream met Technoblade's stare, gaze firm and unwavering. "I'm willing to give away my mask as insurance," he said calmly. He reached into his inventory and produced Mellohi. "And Tommy agreed to trade one of his discs for your backing."

Technoblade stared at the two objects laid out in front of him. He knew their significance, the power they held over the people they belonged to. Or at least, the power they had held. The time loops had changed that. But Technoblade- and the rest of the server at large- had no idea.

Which was why Technoblade agreed to the deal. Dream grinned victoriously and pushed the mask and the disc across the table to Technoblade, who stashed them away. The two men stood, giving each other a mutual nod of respect in lieu of shaking hands.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Dream."

"Pleasure's all mine." Dream swept past him, his newly-crafted purple cloak swirling dramatically. "Let me show you the way out."

~~~

Tubbo stared into the depths of the portal, tugging nervously at his tie. Wearing a suit in the sweltering heat of the Nether was absolute hell, but he had bigger concerns at the moment. Namely, how would Tommy react when he saw him?

Dream hadn't forbidden visitation; if anything, he'd encouraged it. He'd set up a new portal system for easier travelling, and only asked that people wait a week before visiting Tommy, citing that the teenager needed time to settle down first.

But Tubbo had been the one to exile Tommy. Sure, Dream had been the one pushing for his exile, but it was Tubbo that had made the final decision. It had been L'Manberg or Tommy, and despite his promise of 'them against the world', he had ultimately chosen the nation over his best friend. He regretted it more than anything, but now that the exile order had been placed, he couldn't rescind it. Not without bringing Dream's wrath down on their heads.

Tubbo didn't really remember the look on Tommy's face when he'd been exiled. He'd been too scared to look his friend (were they still friends?) in the eyes. All he knew was that when Dream had been leading Tommy away, Tommy hadn't so much as glanced back.

Tubbo took a deep breath. He. . . he was scared, but he had to go see Tommy. Had to make sure that he was okay. Had to apologize for going back on their promise. He checked his inventory one more time, hand brushing over the two compasses residing there, then squared his shoulders and stepped into the portal.

The dizzying purple warped around him and faded away. Tubbo blinked the lingering swirls from his vision, then looked up.

A giant palace constructed entirely from cobblestone towered over him. Its doors were easily twice his height, painted in purple and emblazoned with a white cross. Violet banners with the same symbols hung on either side of the door and beneath the tinted stained-glass windows, and flags of the same design fluttered in the wind atop the parapets.

It was both magnificent and the ugliest thing he had ever seen. Tubbo gaped up at it and tried to figure out if he was hallucinating.

"Tubbo!"

Tubbo whipped around at the sound of Tommy's voice, and saw a blur of purple heading straight for him. He yelped and stumbled back, raising his arms in a weak attempt to stave off the oncoming attack.

Tommy crashed into him full speed, knocking him to the ground. Tubbo screamed and tried to shove him off, only to stop and blink when he realized that he was being hugged. "T-Tommy?"

Tommy released him, rolling to the side and sitting up. "You came to visit!"

"I-- yeah," Tubbo said, brain scrambling to catch up with the current situation. "Uh. How, how are you?"

Tommy beamed. "I'm doing great, big man! Even better now that you're here." He hesitated. "Didn't expect you to visit, actually. I thought you were mad at me. Are you mad at me?"

"No!" Tubbo blurted. "No, no, Tommy-- oh Prime, I'm so sorry!"

Tommy was taken aback. "Sorry? For what?"

"For exiling you!" Tubbo cried, frustrated that Tommy didn't seem to be taking him seriously. "I-- I broke our promise--"

"Tubbo." Tommy stared him straight in the eyes. "It's okay. I forgive you."

Tubbo gaped at him. "I-- you can't just--"

"Why not?" Tommy crossed his arms. "I do what I wanna do. And I wanna forgive you. So you're forgiven."

Tubbo gritted his teeth. "Tomm--"

"No," Tommy interrupted. "Shut up. I was mad at first, okay, but I get why you did it. Dream didn't give you a choice. Well, he did, but it was a shit choice with shit options. And--" he sighed. "If I were in your place, I dunno what I'd have chosen. To be fair, I did fuck up Dream's big project. No way was he gonna sit back and take it."

"But-- but exile. For property damage. It wasn't--" Tubbo slumped. "It wasn't fair, Tommy."

"I know," Tommy muttered. "But seriously big man, I don't blame you. Dream was being a bastard."

Tubbo said nothing.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Exile's not that bad," he said at last. "Dream's here to keep me company. He's actually a pretty funny guy when he's not being a bitch. We're starting a new nation."

"A new--" Tubbo turned his gaze back to the palace, then the structures he could see peeking out behind it. ". . . did you two make an entire fucking empire in one week?"

"Yup." Tommy pushed himself to his feet and dusted dirt off his purple tunic, grinning. "Welcome to the Principality of Prime, a neutral safe haven! No fighting allowed here, unless it's for self-defense. Lemme show you around."

28. the adventures of dreaxter, pt. 2 (credit to curry_powder)

"Where are we going?"

Sapnap didn't look back. "Kinoko Kingdom," he replied shortly. Tommy, trailing after him, made a face at his back.

"The fuck is a kincoco?" he asked.

"Kinoko, " Sapnap corrected. "It's an anime character."

"An anime character?" Dream faked a confused look. "Are they the ruler of the kingdom?"

"I-- no. She's mushroom-themed, though."

"Then why did you name it Kinoko Kingdom?" They stepped through the nether portal and into the island nation. ". . . Oh. It's mushroom-themed too!"

They entered the Kingdom with little fanfare. As they rounded one of the buildings, a man came into view, dressed in a multicolor hoodie.

"Karl!" Sapnap called. Karl jumped, snapping the book he was holding shut and stuffing it into his inventory.

"Sapnap! Don't scare me like that!" He turned to the group. "What's-- Dream?!"

Dream waved. "Hi, I'm Dreaxter!"

Karl stared at him for a long moment. "You're-- you're a ghost."

"I am," Dream agreed.

Karl took a step back. "You're a ghost."

Dream nodded slowly. "Yes, we just established that."

"You're not supposed to be a ghost!" Karl protested, only to grimace and duck his head like he'd said something he wasn't supposed to. "I-- sorry, nevermind. Just. How? How did you die?"

Dream fiddled with his ghostly fingers. "It was cold," was all he said.

Tommy pushed his way to the front of the group. "We're looking for Gogy," he said. "Do you know where he is?"

Karl stared at him like he'd just noticed him. "Tommy? Why. . . why are you with Dream?"

"He's nicer like this," Tommy said. Because Dream was standing at the very back of the group, Karl was the only one that saw him flip Tommy off.

"R-right," the man stammered. "Well, uh, I-- I think George's in that house?" he pointed at a small mushroom-themed house down the street. "He was sleeping there a couple hours ago. I'm not sure if he already left."

Sapnap snorted. "Probably not," he said, voice tinged with bitterness. Karl took one look at his face and opened his arms. Sapnap shuffled forward, burying his face in Karl's shoulder as the other man wrapped him in a hug.

Tommy and Dream glanced at each other before moving away, giving the two fiances some space.

"Talk about third-wheeling," Tommy grumbled. Dream shrugged, slightly subdued.

"Sapnap needs it," he said quietly. "I. . . I didn't think it would affect him this badly."

"Dude, you were his best friend."

"He promised he'd kill me if he ever saw me out of prison."

Tommy shot him an incredulous look. "That doesn't mean he'd be happy to see you dead!"

Dream said nothing, instead watching as Karl muttered something inaudible in Sapnap's ear.

Tommy sighed. ". . . How did you die, anyways?"

"Bled out," Dream said dryly. "Quackity didn't bring enough regen potions to fix the damage."

Tommy paused. "He didn't do that in loop zero."

"I may have intentionally tried to piss him off."

"What the fuck, Dream."

"Dreaxter."

"Shut the fuck up, bitch. I'll call you whatever I want." He hesitated. ". . . Are you okay?"

Dream grinned. "No, but I will be after I glitter bomb Las Nevadas. Wanna help?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

29. lava, pt. 3 

"Give it to me, Tubbo," Dream commanded.

That was his cue. Tommy charged into the ruined community house, grimacing as the water left his clothes sopping wet. "NO!" he shouted. "NO, NO, DON'T--"

"Tommy?!" Tubbo cried, turning to him. Tommy hastily downed a cup of milk, shuddering at the tingling sensation of the invisibility potion wearing off. "What-- what are you doing here?!"

"Tubbo," he greeted, then turned to Dream. ". . . Dream."

"Tommy," Dream returned, his face hidden behind his mask. "Would you like to explain yourself?"

Tommy scowled. "I didn't blow up the fucking community house," he protested. "Does this look like something I would do?!"

"Yes!" Dream snapped. "Yes, it does. You burned down George's house--"

"Everyone here has griefed before!"

"--you snuck in here when you were supposed to stay in exile, and then you blew up the community house!"

"You have no proof, bitch!"

"Your past is plenty of proof! Who else would do something like this?!"

There was a moment of tense silence. The two glared at each other, neither willing to back down.

Tommy drew himself to his full height. "Dream," he said coldly. People leaned forward, waiting in gleeful or anticipative silence.

". . . The floor is lava."

"Prime fucking damnit," Dream cursed, hastily hopping into the waterfall and paddling to keep himself afloat. "I knew you would do it, you little shit, I knew-- "

Tommy flipped him off. "Shut the fuck up, you green bastard. This is payback for Technoblade's house--"

"--need to keep you on your toes--"

"--that's the lamest excuse I've heard in twenty years--"

"--not as lame as loop 317--"

"--you said we'd never speak of it again!"

"You said we wouldn't," Dream chirped, still treading water. "I never agreed."

Tommy kicked him out of the waterfall.

30. (credit to LeyRei)

"It's so cursed," Ranboo whispered, rocking back and forth. "So cursed. It's cursed beyond human comprehension--"

"What's so cursed?"

"Tubbo!" Ranboo wailed, leaping to his feet and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Thank Prime, you're normal!"

Tubbo patted his hand. "Uh, yeah? Whaddya mean, 'normal'?"

Ranboo shuddered, his eyes growing distant. "It's so cursed," he repeated.

"He's freaking out for some reason," someone grumbled. Tubbo whipped around, eyes widening.

"T-Tommy?"

"Hey, Tubbo," Tommy greeted. "Can you get Ranboob to stop panicking?"

Ranboo whimpered and backed away, sinking to the ground and clapping his hands over his ears. "Make it stop," he begged no one in particular.

"Why the fuck are you talking like that?" Tubbo asked blankly. "Why-- what the hell happened to your accent?"

Tommy scowled and crossed his arms. "You too?" he complained in a flawless American accent. "Everyone's been saying some shit about that today. It's fucking annoying."

"Tommy!" The teen turned to see Dream hurrying up to him, looking harried. "Have you seen George? He ran away when I tried to talk to him."

"I wonder why that is," Tommy drawled.

"I-- what?" Dream seemed taken aback. Then he noticed the other two. "Why is Ranboo on the floor?"

"Dream has a British accent," Ranboo hissed, wild-eyed. "Whyyyyyyyyy."

"He's having a mental breakdown," Tommy informed Dream. "Dunno why he's so freaked out about our accents. And for your information, your Cockney accent is shit."

"Not like your American accent is any better," Dream jabbed back.

"For the record," Tubbo put in, looking bewildered even as he dropped into an over-exaggerated Italian accent that sounded suspiciously like Mario, "both of your accents seem-a prrretty okay-a to me."

Ranboo began to sob.

Loop Notes:
26. "Tubbo, why are we missing twenty gold blocks?" "A piglin probably came through and stole them." ". . . Tubbo, piglins live in the Nether." "Yeah, so?" "I-- nevermind." "'Kay, big Q! See ya later!"
27. Tommy gets a therapy arc, one loop at a time.
28. In retrospect, Karl was acting quite sus.
30. This set off a series of server accent-swaps. British Dream was cursed, but nowhere near as cursed as British Mexican Dream.