Reunion with best-bee-boi
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In which you're THIS close to have a mental
break-down in the middle of a forest.
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-defective-aribot on tumblr

You practically flew up the stairs and into the hallway. There was only one door at the end of it, so you figured Tubbo would have to be in there. Unless of course he was hidden in a secret basement and you were about to burst into Schlatt's bedroom or something - you doubted it though.

You looked down at yourself to see that the invisibility effect had completely worn off - you were fully visible again. It was great to reunite with your body, but it also meant that you couldn't afford to run into anyone besides Tubbo.

You were about to knock on the door when you realized it might cause too much noise if Tubbo decided to shout "come in" or something - and therefore you just opened it carefully.

Relief filled your body when you saw it in fact was Tubbo's room you had walked into. The boy was sitting at his desk, his back facing you. You could see his brown hair and iconic green shirt behind a large chair. He was busy writing something, so he didn't turn around.

It was the first time you saw someone you actually knew since returning to Manburg. It was nice, and you felt the tight blanket around your heart loosen up a little.

You locked the door behind you, making sure Sapnap wouldn't suddenly burst in. And for a moment you just stared at Tubbo's working figure.

"What is it now, Schlatt?" Tubbo mumbled, sounding as tired as ever. He let go of his pencil and slowly turned around in his chair. It was a pleasure watching his eyes widen in surprise when they met yours.

"(Y-Y/n)!" He gasped once realizing it was you. Happy tears formed in his eyes as he sprung up from the chair, running towards your open arms.

"Tubbo." You laughed in relief. You smiled genuinely for the first time in what felt like forever, a warm feeling filling your body.

He practically flew into your arms so you had to take a step or two backward to keep balance. He buried his head into your shoulder and hugged you as if his life depended on it. You stroked his hair and closed your arms around him in a warm embrace. You had missed him more than you had realized.

"You're here. You're really here." Tubbo said on repeat and it sounded like he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming. It didn't take a long time for him to start rambling: "I-I'm so sorry. We were so stupid. We regretted ever doubting you right after you left. And when Dream told us the truth we felt even worse. We tried to find you again, but you were completely gone. We thought we had lost you-" The boy sobbed uncontrollably. It was hard to make out what he was saying, due to him talking directly into your shoulder.

"Hey, It's okay Tubbo. Really, I'm not mad." You calmed him down. "I'm here now, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm so glad to see you again." He breathed, continuing to hug you. You stood like that for a while, until he finally pulled away, his face red and his hair a mess. His eyes were still watery, but at least he was smiling his little innocent smile.

But then his eyes winded as he remembered something, and all of his current happy-tears got replaced by sad ones.

"He banished Tommy, (Y/n). Schlatt did. And Wilbur too. And now he's forcing me to hunt them down and hurt them. He keeps ordering me around, making me do things I don't wanna do. I-I don't know what to do."

You placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, hey, we'll figure it out, okay? None of this is your fault, Tubbo. It's Schlatt who's being a huge dick and taking advantage of you and Tommy's relationship. He's trying to use you against Tommy, and that is so wrong in every possible way. But it'll get better, okay? I promise it'll get better." You continued to comfort the boy, and he continued to cry.

You rocked him back and forth. You hadn't expected this to be so emotional, but here you were. Tubbo was like a little brother to you, and for Tubbo, you were like the older-sister and mother-figure he's never really had. Even though you were way too young to be his mother.

It was like a punch in your stomach when you remembered what you came here for - and that your time was limited. "Crap," you mumbled under your breath, placing your hands on Tubbo's shoulders. "Tubbo, I don't have much time left."

His face was painted with confusion. "What do you mean?"

You began explaining. "No one knows I'm here - and we don't have much time left until Sapnap comes for you. He and Schlatt suspect that I'm somewhere around Manburg, but they don't know for sure yet. Therefore, you have to keep this a secret, okay? Jack and Niki helped me get to you, so they know as well. They told me that you may know where Tommy and Wilbur are hiding. Is that true?"

Tubbo nodded eagerly. "I visit them often when Schlatt doesn't keep an eye on me. I'm like their spy."

"Oh, thank goodness." You breathed, smiling widely. "Can you describe where?"

And so he did. He even drew a little map for you on a piece of paper, in case you'd forget. He told you how the entrance was very well hidden, so you had to look very carefully. You nodded and put the paper in your bag.

You were about to say something more when you heard footsteps followed by someone trying to open the door. "Hey Tubbo, it's Sapnap. Open up."

The two of you froze. Tubbo shook his head desperately as if he didn't want you to leave. "Uh, coming! Two seconds!" He managed to yell anyway, in his most convincing voice.

You hugged him once again. "It's okay, Tubbo. We'll see each other soon, okay? And then we'll ki-, I mean, stop Schlatt. You just need to hang on. I'll say hi to Tommy for you."

Tubbo let out a shaky breath, looking at you. Then he nodded with determined eyes, and you did the same. You were just about to run away, escaping through a window when he took a hold of your wrist. "(Y/n)!" he whispered.

You rose a brow and hummed.

"Thanks for coming back."

You smiled. "Always."

And with that, you opened his window and threw one of your enderpearls. You looked back to see Tubbo smile sadly at you while walking over to open the door. You gave him a thumbs-up before your body disappeared into thin air.

-

You couldn't decide whether you were insanely good at aiming your enderpearls, or extremely bad. You landed right on a sheep, knocking the poor animal to the ground. You could argue that it was animal abuse, but it sure was a soft landing.

"Oops! Sorry, mate." You patted the terrified sheep as you stood up, checking that there weren't any people around. But the only living creature around was that sheep, which was now running away for its dear life.

You took the map out that Tubbo had drawn you, checking which way to go in. It was straight to the left and into the forest. You shot one last glance at the white house where you left Tubbo behind and gulped.

He said that he would sometimes visit Tommy - so maybe you would see him soon. It still really sucked leaving him behind though.

You took a sharp turn to the left and began walking. Tubbo had said, the walk would take about an hour, and that was way too long to be alone with your dark thoughts.

Of course, you could use the rest of your enderpearls and get to your destination in no time, but you only had five left, and it was never a good idea to run out of them. So by walk, it was.

The joy from reuniting with Tubbo slowly began to fade away, and in your mind, clear pictures of your old friend started forming.

Your thoughts were your own worst enemy and they started running wild when you were alone. On your way to Manburg you had just been angry. And trust me, you still were, but all of the other feelings that you had bottled up inside of you were starting to reach their limit.

You tried thinking of something else, tried humming your favorite melody, even talking to yourself, but nothing could distract you from the old memories that just wouldn't stop haunting you. He was stuck in your head.

You concentrated on walking. You looked determinedly at your feet, biting your lip harshly. You started tasting blood, but not even the pain could distract you at this point.

"I saw Schlatt kill your precious friend." You heard Dream's voice in your head. You jumped a little, placing your hands on your ears, shaking your head rapidly as if it would make his voice go away.

"He planted his sword deeply in your friend's chest, taking his last life."

You gasped for air, eyes tearing up. Your whole body was shaking and you had to stop walking.

You weren't ever gonna see him again. This whole time where you had dreamt of the moment you would reunite with him again, he had been gone. Dead. Killed in cold blood by Schlatt, because of a crime he didn't even commit. You would never get a chance to apologize to him. And he would never get a chance to apologize to you. You would never get to tell him just how much you had treasured the moments you had spent together, just how much he meant to you. Ever.

But even though these thoughts were spinning around your head on repeat, you forbid yourself from crying. You didn't care whether or not it was healthy to vent, you didn't want to cry. You associated crying with being weak, and you weren't weak. You weren't.

Stay strong, stay strong. You told yourself as you leaned against a tree. Keep it together, dammit. It's not your fault.

You kept repeating practically the only thought that made you feel better. It's not your fault.

Hatred was the only feeling stronger than sorrow. So you would just have to stay angry at the world, angry at Schlatt for putting you through this.

You were going to kill him. That much you had already figured out, but you didn't know how or when. You guessed you had to figure that out when you found Techno, Tommy and Wilbur.

But would killing Schlatt really make the pain go away? Make your eternal hatred for him, for the unfair world, fade away?

It had to. It needed to.

And it was going to.

You let out a shaky breath, pulling yourself together. It was a nice trick really - to turn sadness into anger - that way you weren't sad anymore, and the pain wouldn't be so strong. But you still had to act normal when you were around the others. That was fine. Easy. No problem.

You kept going like nothing had happened. You were still shaking a little, but it didn't affect your walk. You had a slight headache, and your vision was a little blurry but besides that, you were perfectly fine. You hadn't cried. You had kept the feelings inside, and they were going to stay there.

You kept looking at the map, making sure you were walking in the right direction. You had completely lost track of time so you didn't know how much time you had left. You guessed it was about 30 minutes.

And those 30 minutes you spend on absolutely nothing - well, besides walking. Your mind had completely shut down. Unlike a little while ago, you didn't think of anything, didn't feel anything. It was kind of nice, actually.

At one point you had to cross a river - there wasn't any bridge nearby, so you had to walk straight in. Luckily it wasn't that deep, so it was only your clothes from your knees and down that got wet.

You first stopped up when the nature in front of you started looking like what Tubbo had described you. There was a hill right to your left, a strange hole in the ground, and lots of trees. You looked at the map. The entrance should be around here.

You looked around for a bit and finally found the hidden door. It was just like the hidden entrance Eret had made in the hill to the final control room.

A shiver was sent down your spine from thinking about that. Bad memories.

You placed your hand on the cold doorknob but hesitated. Should you just go in there? What should you say? After all, you hadn't seen Tommy and Wilbur for quite a while - and even though Tubbo made it sound like they had regretted sending you away, that didn't mean they weren't still mad at you. And Techno had told you to stay in his home until he came back... And you didn't even want to think how Dream would react upon seeing you. That is, if he was there as well. He had told you that he was helping your friends out, after all.

You clicked your tongue. Screw it, you thought as you went inside.

You stepped right into the smallest room you had ever been in. There was a chest, a crafting table, and a bed, but that was it. You didn't know what shocked you the most - the fact that this shithole was their secret hideout or the fact that they were all sharing that one bed.

You were just about to exit again, thinking 'no thanks', when you noticed the tiny staircase behind the back-wall. You made your way around it and began to walk down.

The staircase was very long, and as you walked down you began to hear faint voices. You immediately recognized Tommy's loud, skeptical one. You began sweating.

The staircase came to an end, you walked around the wall and found yourself in an underground ravine. Your mouth fell open in awe. This place was huge.

It wasn't dark at all, despite the fact that there was absolutely no daylight escaping thorugh the roof. In fact, every bit of the ravine was lit up by either torches or lamps. Bridges across one side to another, staircases, and small paths were everywhere your eyes looked. Most of it was stone-themed, but there was some wood as well. You saw many doors in the walls, leading into rooms. This place was beyond incredible.

There was a banner, right above you. With big, fat letters it said 'Pogtopia'.

You laughed. Bet Tommy had come up with that one.

Well, you had made it. You were here.

Pogtopia.