When Aphmau came and proposed the idea of build a tree house for the boys, Tommy was pretty excited. He really liked the idea and had never had a tree house.

"I got this Yggdrasil forest tree sapling from Zoey. It should make a huge tree that we can build the tree house to. I'm sure the boys will like it," Aphmau exclaimed, clearly excited, as they walked towards the spot she had in mind.

"Yggdrasil forest? What is that?" Tommy asked curiously. He had never heard of anything like that.

"Yggdrasil forest is where Zoey is from. Elves and fairies are raised there. It's a forest with trees that are never cut and have grown really tall, as tall as this one will. No one else is allowed to visit it than the elves and fairies," Aphmau explained as they reached the spot where she wanted to plant the tree.

"Right, Zoey is an elf. I've never really seen any elves before. From where I come from a huge part of the population are just humans," Tommy said. There were a few hybrids and shapeshifters on the Dream Smp, but he had never before seen an elf. Phoenix Drop also seemed to have Werewolves and Meif'was that he hadn't seen on the Dream Smp.

"How exactly was it from where you're from? Would you like to tell me?" Aphmau asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked a bit worried, remembering how broken the boy had looked when she had found him.

"I uh," Tommy hesitatedly started. He really wanted to get at least some of it out of his chest, so he decided to take a deep breath and let his heart out. "I was raised by my brother, who was taken away when I was four. I had two other brothers, twins, but they were taken away by my father who wanted to travel with them. I was left alone until a stranger came and took me to a different place. There I met someone who I will always consider as one of my brothers. I was four and he was just eight, but we managed to survive in an absolute hell. I escaped, but kept going back. We the twins and I were invited to a different server, I finally left that hell hole behind. But when we switched servers once more, my brother, Wilbur, decided to start a nation for drugs. It escalated as the owner of the server didn't like the idea and we went into a war. I was just 15 and a child soldier. We lost the war, but kept our independence. Only to have an election and lose it. We were exiled from our L'manberg, our nation. With the help of Wilbur's twin, Techno, we overthrew the dictator, but that wasn't enough for Wilbur. He had gone mad and exploded L'manberg. Then their dad joined and killed Wilbur in front of everyone. Quickly after that I was exiled because the owner of the server saw me as a threat to him. That's where you found me, exiled."

Aphmau was absolutely speechless. She had tears in her eyes, feeling so bad for her son. Quickly she rushed forwards and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. No child should ever have to experience things like that. Oh my Irene, I can't believe how cruel some people can be!" Aphmau rambled, still stunned. "I promise you that I will never allow anyone to hurt you. I won't let them lay a single finger on you!"

Tommy was stunned as well. He hadn't expected this woman that he had met just a week ago to already care so much about him. He didn't quite understand how she cared about him, but he was glad she did. She had really saved his life.

-----

     After the emotional moment, they went on to continue building the tree house. The Yggdrasil forest tree grew enormous. Tommy was surprised by it. He had never before seen a tree so tall.

"Woah! It's so fucking tall!" he exclaimed as the tree rose before them. His amazement could be heard easily.

Aphmau chuckled, "You get used to different types of tree when you travel around the world. I've travelled quite a lot when I was younger. I have seen multiple different worlds and realms. Some of them were very beautiful, others had lost their beauty to corruption," she explained. The look in her eyes was plaintive.

"When you were younger," Tommy quoted, tilting his head, "Aren't you still pretty young. On your early 20s or something?"

"I'm really flattered by that, but no. I'm older than that. Some people just age different for reasons unknowns to others," Aphmau hummed, smiling.

"Are you immortal or something?" Tommy joked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you believe in immortality?" Aphmau asked curiously. Her reaction didn't assure Tommy if the answer was yes.

"No," Tommy answered with a shrug. "I have met many who claimed to be immortal, yet they all are now six feet under. I believe that there's always a way to cheat on the immortality," he explained his opinion.

"That's very interesting thing to say," Aphmau pointed out. She seemed pretty curious and impressed about it. "But you do have a point, that's what I'll have to admit."

"I always have a point," Tommy grinned with a smug smile on his face.

"Sure," Aphmau laughed.

Slowly their conversation switched to the tree house as they started building. Tommy was amazed to use all the weird stuff that Aphmau had. There were so many things that he had never before seen. Phoenix Drop was full of those, which had really surprised Tommy the moment he had arrived, and still continued to surprise him.

-----

     Tommy left the tree house for a moment to go get Aphmau some items she had asked for. On his way to the house he stopped by Zoey and the boys, who were currently having a nap and their room.

When Tommy got back to the tree, he was immediately met with a scene that he wouldn't have wanted to see. He watched Aphmau fall from the tree. Garroth was there to catch her and she seemed to be alright, but Tommy had a pit in his stomach. What if Garroth hadn't been there? Aphmau would have fallen to her death, and Tommy could have saved her, but he wouldn't have. He had frozen in fear the moment she had fallen.

Tommy found himself shaking. He quickly took a deep breath in and rushed back to the house. He pulled his best fake smile on and made his way back to the tree, pretending to be exited. He pretended as if he hadn't seen her fall, as if he wasn't so fucking scared. Aphmau fell for it easily.

-----

     Tommy sat on his bed, hands still shaking. The moon was high up in the sky, light shining in through his window as the clouds let it pass through them. The flame of his lantern was flickering, illuminating different shadows on the walls.

The feather leaking ink was shaking in his hands, making his writing look different from usual. There were ink stains on the table as well.

Dear Tubbox,

Today I witnessed something horrible. I was building a tree house with Mum. The tree was tall as fuck – from some fancy forest – and I saw her fall from it. It was horrifying, scared the shit out of me. Garroth, the head guard, caught her, so it was fine. I pretend that I didn't see it happen, but it still scares me. What if Garroth hadn't been there?

I don't know what I would do if Mum suddenly died. I can't even imagine what would happen to me. I would be all alone, again. Well, hopefully not all alone since Zoey, Levin and Malachi would be there with me, but I don't know if I could bare to see them again. It would be hard, knowing that they're my brothers due to Mum. I would feel so bad for them, it would be painful.

But she's fine and everything's alright. Nothing has changed. It just scared me a bit. I've already lost so many people in my life. I just want to finally have a family that I won't loose immediately.

But hey, how are you doing Tubbo? Has L'manberg risen from the ashes? Have you fixed my brother's unfinished symphony? How's everyone doing? Is Dream looking for me?

I really miss everyone, yet I'm happier here than I was there. I hope that you can forgive me for leaving you, Tubbo.

Your Tommy.

     Tommy shut the book and pushed it under his pillow. The room had darkened as the clouds had moved to cover the moon, dimming the light that got in.

A raccoon was rustling something under his window. He could see its ears. He smiled, watching the little trash panda do its thing in the darkness.

He hadn't seen raccoons before arriving to Phoenix Drop, but he had heard of them and had even been compared to one. That was why he considered raccoons as his true family. Fuck everyone else, he had raccoons and that was all that mattered, he would say.

Now he wanted the raccoon.

-----

     The air was cold, wind blowing past him as he made his way to the back of the house. It was way past midnight, everyone else was asleep, but Tommy was on his way to get the raccoon from outside his window.

He held up his lantern, trying to spot the animal in the darkness. The rustling could still be heard from somewhere near.

"Where did you go?" Tommy mumbled, looking around. He let the light from the lantern embrace the area around him, hoping it would hit the furry little creature he was after.

The rustling could be heard again. This time it was behind him. He spun around and froze.

A woman with eyes coloured with blood was staring at him from the shadows. She looked inhuman. Her smile was wide and really unnatural. Her hand was reached towards him.

Then, in a blink of an eye, she was gone. She had just vanished into the thin air. Tommy's blood run cold. He was gasping for air, trying to get his heart to stop pounding out of his chest.

He screamed when something touched his leg, scaring the raccoon that had come to sniff his feet in the process. Before the animal could run away, Tommy had already grabbed it and was rushing them both inside – not quite realising that he had taken the innocent little raccoon with him.

-----

     It was only in the morning when Tommy woke up to the smell of raccoon piss that he came to notice that he had taken the raccoon into his room. As a revenge the creature had seemed to piss on his bed. Otherwise it seemed calm, currently digging through a chest in the corner of the room, looking for any interesting trash it could find.

"Hey there buddy," Tommy called out. The raccoon turned around. It surprised Tommy a bit. He hadn't expected the raccoon to be so calm.

He continued to watch as his new friend rummaged through his items. After a few minutes he walked over and carefully picked it up. Her, picked her up, he corrected himself after checking.

"You know what? You're actually pretty cool! I shall name you Biscuit and you shall be my raccoon friend!" he announced, smiling widely. Biscuit, however, didn't seem to care much. She just wanted to go through his belongings.

There was a knock on his door. He pulled the raccoon to his chest, holding her close as he headed to see who was coming to get him this morning.

"Morning Tom–!" Zoey stopped, staring at the raccoon that was trying to wiggle her way out of Tommy's grasp. "Where did you get a raccoon from?" the elf asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I found her outside. She's mine now! And I named her Biscuit!" Tommy announced before settling her on the floor. She looked at him once more before running off to his room.

"She seems to like you. I've never seen a raccoon act so calm and careless around a human," Zoey pointed out, watching after the trash panda.

"I've been compered to one multiple times. The raccoons shall be my family," Tommy answered with a smug smirk. Zoey chuckled at him, smiling to the raccoon.

"I'm glad that you've found yourself a new furry friend! The breakfast is ready now, you can come eat with us," she told him. "And I'll be making soap today, so I would recommend coming home to eat," she added.

"Soup sounds nice. Haven't had any in a while, so sure, I'll be there," Tommy hummed.

"Great! Now, let's go upstairs before the boys start whining about you not being there yet," the elf said, smiling. The smile meant so much to Tommy – it proved to him that she cared. Everyone in his new family cared, and it meant everything to him. He was happy again.

Words: 2200

[14.2.2023]

It's the two year anniversary of this book– It's been two years and I still haven't been able to bring this book to an end. I really should learn that skill one day–

Anyways, did you spot the reference to my soap typo from the original book? :D