Let's gooooo-

I'm gonna try to make this chapter as long as possible, my goal is to at least reach past 2500 words, lol. (Edit: I passed that :] ) I challenge you to comment every chance you can, lol.

Italic words are either thoughts or emphasized.

Bold and italic words are sounds.

TW: Fighting, yelling, swearing, obsidian box, fireworks (brief), withers, violence, panic attacks, mentions of death and dying, explosions, implied suicidal thoughts, I'll add more if I need to

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(3rd Person POV)

Things were escalating quickly, even if nothing was verbally displayed, everyone knew. L'Manburg received a letter from someone they weren't very keen on, Technoblade, which stated that he would he arriving at the nation with back up. No one was surprised, especially the president, who had been awaiting a letter like this ever since the failed execution. 

They were prepared of course, L'Manburg had a decent armory, and everyone had fighting experience, except for Ranboo, but Tubbo was sure that he'd be ok, Ranboo tends to stay away from conflict, a self preserving strategy. Nervousness was in the air, stomachs twisted with anxiety and worry, but they all had to move past that, because today was the date the letter spoke of.

Doomsday.

Tubbo wouldn't let the country let it's last life, it meant to much. Wilbur gave it to him, dumped his legacy on his shoulders in place of a goodbye, he couldn't let it die. Quackity seemed to agree, but in a much more violent way, all armored up and ready for a fight of the century. But, Tubbo didn't want a big fight, there'd already been too much of that, with the past two L'Manburg wars plus everything in between.

Plus, Wilbur himself taught the original citizens of L'Manburg to at least try to resolve conflicts with words, not violence. And at this moment, Tubbo wanted the nostalgia of the old L'Manburg, the one before the election. The rules of solving conflict with words and wearing no armor, but alas most of the old traditions were long gone.

Everyone was prepared for the worst, the feeling of impending doom thick as clouds roll in, blocking out the sun. Part of the president knew that this would be it, the last life of L'Manburg, but he would still try to resolve this.

"Should we try to meet them half way, try to talk them out of it?" Tubbo asked his cabinet, which at the moment only included Quackity, Fundy was no where to be found. Although Tubbo asked a question, you could hear the fact that he wouldn't back down from the idea.

"No! It's Technoblade, Tubbo, words aren't his thing, his thing is violence and war and withers. And if we leave then they'll get past us, and have a free shot!" Quackity shot back, not even giving himself two seconds to think of an answer. It didn't help Tubbo's internal conflict.

Tubbo sighs, and compromises his plan. Still not a solid no, but it's not yes either, it's an improvement from his previous yes man habits. "We'll meet them when they get here then, form a human blockade, but we'll try to talk first. Ok?"

Tubbo may have asked a question, but the finality set in his tone disproved any and all arguments then and there. Tubbo wasn't a push over, or at least he wouldn't be now. Quackity nodded, internally judging the president's decision, and left to find the armory. Tubbo nodded, even though no one was there to see it, or at least that's what he thought.

"Are you ok, Mr. President?" A certain heterochromatic boy, also known as Tubbo's Minutes Man, Man O' Minutes, asked. He was standing in the doorway, Quackity must have passed him. Everyone knew of the letter already, so Ranboo was also nervous, it being obvious in the way his tail whipped around erratically around his ankles.

Tubbo looked up, a small smile falling on his face at the sight of his friend, "Yeah, I'm fine, Ranboo. I told you, just call me Tubbo."

"Ok, that's good, Mr. Pre– Tubbo." He replied, a similar smile finding its way onto his face, and his tail movements slowed. "I should probably uh, gear up, you know?"

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I think that's where Quackity went too, and I should also go. Come on." Tubbo walked away from his spot next to his desk, and towards the door, past Ranboo.

Ranboo hummed a quick "mhm" before following Tubbo, an as comfortable as the current situation can be silence fell between the two. The walk there was quiet, most citizens were already making their way there, meaning Tubbo and Ranboo were some of the last people to start the small journey through the nation. Fundy was still no where to be found.

A small crowd has gathered around the armory, and Tubbo's eyebrows furrowed with confusion, not being able to see past everyone. "What going on-"

Then he saw it, the armory was empty. No armor, no swords, axes, bows, arrows, nothing. They all had to rely on whatever armor and weapons they personally own. This was troubling to say the least, but a quick process of elimination in Tubbo's head had narrowed out all suspects down to Fundy, the only citizen not present at the moment. Tubbo sighed.

"You'll have to use whatever armor and weapons you own, I'm sure you all have some, I'd be surprised if you didn't. I'll be waiting at the edge of L'Manburg, waiting for them." Tubbo announced, and walked away and towards his office, where must of his things were stored, as he practically lived there.

Everyone dispersed, to gather what they owned. Some people grabbed more than just their armor and weapons, taking some of their valuables, just in case. Many people were already doubting the nations life span, the memory of Technoblade's last attack still vivid. Some swore they could already hear the shrill screams of withers.

After grabbing his armor and weapons, purposely leaving some of his not so valuable valuables, a small way to reassure himself that he won't be leaving it all behind, that he will solve this without violence, he made his way to the edge of L'Manburg. He assumed they'd be coming from the docks, as that's where Technoblade's home was, across the ocean specifically. After only fifteen minutes of standing there, everyone else was standing either next to or behind him, and in even less time three boats were visible on the horizon.

Please don't be Dream. The opposed god of the server hadn't been seen since Tommy before Tommy died, and was behind Technoblade's escape at the execution, and Tubbo's stomach was in knots at the mere possibility that the masked man could be Technoblade's ally. Technoblade on his own, even without Phil, is scary, powerful, destructive. Phil on his own was dangerous, although with his wings injured he was slightly less of a threat. But Dream, not only was his skills good, and his armor and weapons were even better, but the thing that made Dream even more dangerous was his brain. Dream was always thought out, plan going five steps ahead, with at least four back up plans, just as thought out each.

Together they'd be unstoppable.

Now that the three boats are closer, Tubbo tries to identify who is in each. The one in the middle, and the closest if the three, is Technoblade, the pink hair makes it obvious. To his right is Phil, his blonde hair and bucket hat undeniably him. But the final boat, to the right of Technoblade, also has a person with blonde hair.

There's only so many people with blonde hair on the server. Dream, Phil, Niki (for a bit), and that's really it. Niki has pink hair now, and Phil is in the other book. The person in the boat luckily doesn't have a mask, Tubbo exhales the breath he was unaware he was holding in, bit who is in the boat then? There was only one other person with blonde hair on the server.

No.

The boats reached the docks, and the trio started to make their way closer to the country. The third person's blue eyes shone in the sunlight,  the clouds now gone.

No.

Tubbo subconsciously held onto his compass labeled "Your Tommy" as tight as he could, despite the glass being cracked and the metal slightly dented from a run in with a creeper, he still treated it dearly. Even if the needle spun, whether that was because Tommy was dead, or because the creeper was unknown. Something else reflected the sun, the person was holding it, something metal, pocket sized, that sparkled with enchantments.

Surely not.

Them they made eye contact, and Tubbo felt like fainting then and there. His legs shook, hands and arms going limp, jaw following suit, eyes wider by just a fraction. Everything and everyone else seem to fade away, it was just Tubbo and the person. Tubbo couldn't hear the quiet gasps coming from a few members of L'Manburg, he couldn't feel the breeze go through his hair, he can uld barely feel the ground he stood on. He could feel the hand placed in his shoulder, which was undoubtedly meant to ground him.

Tommy was dead. He had a funeral. Tubbo mourned him. Ranboo mourned him. The compass needle spun, its destination gone. Tommy wasn't friends with Technoblade. Tommy liked L'Manburg. Tommy was Tubbo's friend. Tommy is dead.

So why is he standing next to Technoblade, breathing, staring right back at me?

"So, you got the message." Technoblade announced, his rough voice snapping Tubbo out of his daze. He had to shove his emotions aside, to think logically. But his friend is alive, and standing right there! No, he needs to save L'Manburg.

"We did." Quackity replied when Tubbo didn't. Tubbo scolded himself, and dully noted how unprofessional that must look for him.

"So, are you gonna just stand there or?.." Technoblade never had a way with words.

"Techno, I was wantin' to talk to Tubbo before you went all wither crazy." Tommy interjected before Tubbo could stammer his way through a response. Technoblade huffed and crossed his arms, but didn't say anything in reply, while Phil nodded to Tommy.

It was him. It was Tommy. He was alive. But he couldn't be. Surely not. Tubbo cried for him, arranged a funeral for him. He watched the compass needle spin for countless minutes before resuming his work. He cried while remembering the good memories that they shared. Tubbo thought he lost his best friend, his brother, his Tommy.

Tubbo took note of all the eyes on him at once, almost physically shrinking in on himself, but he refrained from doing so. He glanced back at Ranboo, who also looked shocked and emotional, but also held a concerned look for Tubbo, and he realized that Ranboo's hand has never left his shoulder. He had to do this, for himself, for L'Manburg, for his friends.

"Yeah, let's talk over there. No armor or weapons." Tubbo shifts his gaze to across a nearby river, and Tommy nods, both of them start to walk over to the edge, before using enchanted Tridents to get across. Nobody mentioned the fact that in small print writing was the title "Manifork" on the trident Tubbo used.

"Hi, big man." Tommy greeted once they were on dry land on the other side of the river. The nickname painfully brought up hundreds of memories. Both of them tool of their armor and put strapped their weapons to their sides.

"Hey." Tubbo choked out, bit he couldn't bring himself to completely shove his emotions aside, so he decided to try to sort them out in small portions. "Long time no see, hm?"

"Heh, yeah. Wish it could've been sooner." Only then did Tubbo realize how nervous Tommy looked. It wasn't obvious, a stranger wouldn't be able to tell, but Tubbo could. The way Tommy stood, leaning on one foot more than the other, hands fiddling with each other, stopping to occasionally brush a strand of hair from his face.

Tommy looked different too. His hair had grown out slightly, and it looked like he didn't know what a hairbrush was. He wore warmer clothes, which were different shades of blue. Tubbo recognized it as one of Techno's old cloaks. Tubbo found the lack of any red and white sort of unsettling, as though his friend had moved on.

Had he moved on? Here Tommy was, on the side of the man that demanded blood and anarchy, ready to destroy a place he once called home, while Tubbo stood opposite of him, as the president. Tubbo stood, clinging to the past. They both acknowledged that.

"You can't do this, you can't just let them so this, Tommy. You can't be serious, I mean, L'Manburg is-"

"Was."

"Was your home! You can't just- just throw that all away!" Tubbo tried to reason, more emotion in his voice than he would have liked.

"Tubbo.." Tommy reached out, to see how Tubbo would react. To see if he was actually there. "I won't let Techno blow sh*t up, all he wants is the government gone, don't you see?"

"What are you implying?" Internally, Tubbo hated how casual this conversation seemed. He wanted to just spew a thousand questions at his friend, he wanted to cry, sleep, he wanted to do a million things and defending a country was at the bottom of that list.

"Just disband the government, Tubbo! L'Manburg won't be damaged if you do that!" Tommy responded, his eyes portraying the emotions that he was feeling as well. Tommy was so happy to see Tubbo again, but he knew other things took priority at the moment.

"I can't just do that, Tommy! L'Manburg can't just run off of chaos, off of anarchy!" Tubbo said, distressed. He had to admit, Tommy had a point, but nobody wanted anarchy, other than Techno and Phil. And even if he disbanded the government, who's to say that Techno won't still go and unleash the withers?

"If you don't do that, then I'm not losing you too." Tommy stated, putting his foot down. He wouldn't budge. He had the discs, or one of them, and all he wanted was his friend back. He had went through exile, because of L'Manburg, the country wasn't what it used to be.

"Tommy, listen to me, we can't just let L'Manburg die, we can't let it run in chaos, think about what Wilbur would think if we let that happen!" Tubbo pulled the Wilbur card. It's the thing he used in his own mind whenever he wanted to give up on the nation, hopefully it would work on Tommy too.

"Tubbo, that L'Manburg is gone. Wilbur's L'Manburg is gone. It's only causing more harm than good, Tubbo! It's not my home, it hasn't been that in a long time. Why can't you accept it?!" Tommy yelled back, a painful truth in his words.

There's a silence between the two, and I'm that silence Tommy realized something; Tubbo knew what Tommy was saying, maybe even agreed and has the thought on his own, but he's had to be there for the nation so much that he pushes the fact away. Tubbo wasn't leaving L'Manburg without a fight. Tommy sighed.

"Tommy, a good captain goes down with his ship." Tubbo announced, his hair casting a shadow over his eyes. Then, Tubbo turned his back in Tommy and started walking back towards the rive.

Tommy sprinted after him, his longer legs getting him next to Tubbo in only a few seconds, and he placed obsidian in front of Tubbo, successfully tripping him, and allowing Tommy enough time to build a box of obsidian around Tubbo. He left a single hole that Tubbo could look out, so he could breath as well, and he almost regretted doing so, after seeing the sudden dread in his friend's eyes.

Tubbo's breath picked up, he was in a box. A familiar situation. The walls seemed to be closing in on him, and suddenly it felt like he was standing on wood instead of grass. And suddenly the obsidian felt more like blackstone, and subconsciously he was worried that someone would press a button and the walls would come down. He was afraid that someone was going to point a firework launcher at his chest and pull the trigger.

Tubbo's throat closed up, his tongue felt like sandpaper, and his head ached. His hands clawed at the walls, unable to move the obsidian. His chest felt unbelievably heavy, and he could hear his own heartbeat, he wondered if Tommy could too. And yet still throughout his ordeal, he desperately tried to keep the tears in his eyes from falling, like he would when he was having especially bad days as president, he has an image to keep.

"Tom- Tommy let me out! Let me out, Tommy! You can't destroy L'Manburg!" Tubbo yelled, his voice stammering, and using his voice only made the tears want to come down more.

"Tubbo, this stupid f*cking country caused all this. It hurt you, it hurt me, it hurt so many people, Tubbo. You know that. I'm done letting it hurt people." Tommy replied, voice just over a whisper.

Tubbo opened his mouth to say something, and he caught eye contact with Ranboo for just a moment, who was watching alarmed from across the river, before Tommy pulled out a loaded rocket launcher, and pointed it at Tubbo.

Tubbo's mind went into overdrive, thoughts were too fast and incoherent to comprehend, and everything was too hot. The box was too small and there was no air, he felt like he couldn't breath, no matter how hard he tried. His back his the wall, but he barely felt it, he wanted out. He wanted to scream but his voice was gone. His cheeks were suddenly soaked, he didn't even notice that he hard started sobbing. He saw Tommy's finger move closer to the trigger, and he clenched his eyes shut.

Whizzzzzzzzzz boom.

No pain came, but the unmistakable smell of fireworks flooded the small box, Tubbo had flinched, hands in front of his face, but he didn't relax his position. He slowly opened his eyes, and he saw traces of colour falling from the sky. He shot the sky, just to scare me..

Tubbo crumpled, he slid down the wall of the box and pulled his knees to his chest, and let himself sob. He grasped the grass beneath him, hoping that it would ground him, bring his wandering mind that was reliving traumatic memories back to reality. He couldn't hear Tommy mutter "I'm sorry, Tubbo.." he couldn't hear Ranboo all but scream "TUBBO!!" and he definitely couldn't hear the fighting that had begun in L'Manburg.

Tommy fiddled with his hands and his shoulders hung low, the firework was the signal to Techno and Phil to go in and destroy the nation, but Tommy also used it so Tubbo would stop struggling, and now he saw how stupid of him that was. He couldn't bring himself to look at Tubbo, but he heard his sobs and hiccups and him muttering things that don't even make sense. He heard Ranboo scream Tubbo's name, and part of him felt bad for hurting him too.

Ranboo used to be his friend after all. He would visit Tommy in exile, and even if it was just Ranboo, and even if he didn't visit often, it still made Tommy feel a bit better. He didn't know how close Tubbo and Ranboo were, but from the distress in Ranboo's voice, and the purple particles Tommy caught a glimpse of in the corner of his eye meant anything, they were close.

There were screams from various other citizens in L'Manburg too, Tommy could even attach some screams to faces, like the yelp that he heard just now, it must've belonged to Big Q. He looked up and across the river, Ranboo was gone, and part of L'Manburg had started to catch fire. He saw the fire spreading to the docks, and he left to move the boats.

Tubbo eventually stopped crying, the crushing weight of numbness taking over. He was now clutching dirt which had broken blades of grass sprinkled in, he didn't realize how much he had been using the grass as a sort of life line. He heard retreating footsteps and flicked his gaze out the makeshift window, and saw that Tommy was gone.

He also saw the fires that had started to engulf L'Manburg. They were spreading quickly, and new ones were continuously getting started by the withers. Tubbo tried to count them all, he could see around 20 of them, which is more than he imagined. He thought there would only be one or two, like last time, but he was wrong, oh so very wrong.

He couldn't see Ranboo anymore either, and he didn't know whether to be worried or glad. I'm one hand, Ranboo could still be in L'Manburg, possibly dying, and on the other, he could have died already. Tubbo hoped that the latter was true. Ranboo really was one of Tubbo's best friends.

Eventually, Tommy came back, and both him and Tubbo shared a moment of eye contact, before they both looked away. Tubbo tried to imagine the sound of bees and the smell of flowers, but the scent of fireworks was far too overwhelming. Tubbo dully noted the shrill cries of the withers, and he couldn't even bring himself to flinch. He closed his eyes, and somewhere in his mind, he hoped he never opened them again.

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The obsidian walls were taken down by Tommy, Phil had came over to say that they should head back home, and that Techno would take care of the rest. Tubbo stood up slowly, wobbly on his feet, but it wasn't from physical pain. He was just tired, in every form a person could be. Tommy shoved something into his hands, but he didn't look at it, instead his gaze was locked on the orange flames and grey smoke that used to be L'Manburg.

"Tubbo, come on! Enderpearl!" Tommy said, but his voice sounded far away, even if he was standing right next to each other. Tommy's stomach dropped when he say a stray Wither heading their way, and he grabbed Tubbo's wrist, and forced him to throw the enderpearl towards the nether portal, their boats were gone.

Tommy followed suit, and he guided Tubbo through the nether, and they went through another portal, which lead to the Arctic biom that Tommy now called home. 

"You can use that house, Tubbo." Phil told him, and he nodded in acknowledgement. Tubbo started to make his way over to the cabin in the side of the hill, and Tommy followed just in case.

Once they were both inside, Tommy didn't know what to say. He messed up, he had to admit, and it was late. "I'll uh, talk to you tomorrow, Tubbo."

"Ok, Tommy. 'Night." Was all Tubbo said, before he closed the bedroom door. Tommy looked at the ground, words caught in his throat, but whispered "Goodnight" into the door, and left what was now Tubbo's cabin and walked to the home that he shared with Phil.

"Tomorrow's a new day, mate. Tubbo can't stay mad at you forever." Phil reassured him, and Tommy cracked a small smile. Hopefully they'd be able to heal.

He went into his own room and laid on his bed, it only took around 10 minutes before he was asleep. For once, he didn't have nightmares.

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Ok, I'm ending it here, lol. I hope you all like the first chapter/prologue!!

Word Count: 3900-4000 words