In which we let cuts dig even deeper.

      Or, the kids are the ones doing all the fighting.

"Why are there buttons everywhere?" 

Wilbur sounded almost glad, but Tommy was scared. 

He wouldn't show it, though. 

He shouldn't show it, though. 

His ear still rang. 

"What the fuck happened here?" 

Quackity stared with a fix of rage and fright at the small buttons around him. 

Wilbur's hand floated towards a wooden button in almost a trance. 

"Wilbur, don't." 

Tommy's voice was small and afraid. 

He cleared his throat. 

And he tried again. 

"Wilbur, don't. We don't know if Schlatt had TNT planted here." 

"Well, why don't we find out?" 

"NO!" 

Wilbur's voice was a whisper, yet he said it with a grin. 

Tommy didn't know how he could say something like that with a grin. 

His hand floated near another button. 

"Stop it! Stop it, man!" Tommy grabbed his hand. "What the hell are you doing? This is our new home, Will! We built this place." 

Wilbur's hand shook against his. 

"Why do you want to blow it up?" 

Wilbur looked him straight in the eye. 

"Let's be honest, I don't have a home, Tommy." 

He pried his hand away. 

"We're going back there. I have a couple of stacks of TNT from Dream. It's not the end of the world." 

Quackity jutted in. "Wilbur, the meeting didn't go to plan. But there are still ways we can fix it. Listen to me-" 

Wilbur turned away, but Quackity grabbed his arms. 

"Wilbur! It's not fucking time yet, ok? It's not fucking time." 

"IT'S NEVER FUCKING TIME!" 

"Wilbur?" 

Wilbur turned his head towards the pathway. 

2 bright black eyes and a foxtail. 

Tommy's eyes widened. 

"Oh, look who it is. It's my traitor son!" 

Wilbur laughed till he coughed. 

"IT'S MY TRAITOR SON!" 

Tommy drew his bow. 

"On the path, you fucking fox face. Stay the hell away." 

Fundy stepped gingerly onto the pile of wooden planks, not expecting the less than enthusiastic welcome. He still stood with his head up high. 

"What the FUCK are you doing here?" 

Fundy cleared his throat, adjusting his cap. 

"I say it's a fine evening, don't you?" 

Tommy's eyes narrowed, but Fundy kept his head held high. 

"A fine evening for some good old double-crossing." 

"Oh, you bastard." Wilbur cackled, looking at Fundy with contempt. "You two-faced fucking bastard." 

Fundy's eyes flashed with hurt. 

"I-I actually have something for you, Wilbur." Tommy could see the nervous twitch in Fundy's hands, even though he tried to act like he was tough. "Something that could lighten up the mood." 

"I don't want what you've got to give me." Wilbur's eyes stood cold and unforgiving. 

"Well, uhm-" Fundy looked a little lost as he looked around, before hastily pulling a tattered book from his coat. "I've been documenting some stuff that could help you guys." 

"I said I don't want what you've got to give me." Wilbur spat out words like venom. "You haven't given me anything but pain in return for what I've given you." 

Fundy cleared his throat again, staring over. "I've been documenting-" 

"Get out of here, fox face." Tommy pointed his crossbow at the door. "We don't have room for traitors." 

"I'VE BEEN DOCUMENTING EVERY SINGLE STEP THAT SCHLATT HAS TAKEN EVER SINCE HE SET HIS FOUL FEET ON THAT GODDAMN PODIUM, ALRIGHT?" Everyone went silent at Fundy's sudden outburst. 

"So if you would lend me a moment to speak, that would be great." Fundy looked at every single one of them in the eye. "That would be great." 

"Did you put the buttons here, Fundy?" Wilbur's voice was amused. "One of your little pranks for attention?" 

Fundy glanced around guiltily, his cheeks flushing red. "S-Schlatt is not as powerful as he seems-" 

"Oh, so it was a cruel prank you son of a bitch." Quackity drew his sword. 

"Schlatt is not as powerful as he seems-" 

"Get out of here, bitch boy." Tommy poked him with his crossbow. "I'd never trust you in a million years." 

"He's not powerful-" 

"Let him speak." Wilbur sat down, looking at Fundy with that same look that he hated, looking at him like he was some kind of entertainment. "I want to hear the fur boy speak." 

"He's like a broken record, for Christ's sakes." Quackity pushed him with the hilt of his sword, and Fundy fell back on his bottom. He hastily stood up. 

Fundy took a big breath. "Schlatt is not as powerful as he seems. He's actually the goddamn polar opposite." He looked Quackity straight in the eye. "You should know that." 

Quackity cleared his throat and looked away. Fundy continued. 

"I wrote a diary." 

"Aww, Fundy a little diary. Whatcha put in there? Your crushes, your little doodles," Wilbur's eyes narrowed. "Your plot to overthrow the person who raised you and loved you like a son." 

"I'd like you to read it, Wilbur." Fundy thrust it forward, and Wilbur looked at him in confusion. "Just read it." 

Wilbur took the book gingerly like it was about to explode in his hands. He flipped through it, and the ravine was silent as he licked his finger, turning the pages. 

"Did you write all this, Fundy?" 

Tommy could detect an ounce of pride in Wilbur's voice. 

That was all it took for Fundy. 

"Yes." His smile was wider than the moon. "Yes, I did." 

"Schlatt's power is a facade." A slight smile crept to Wilbur's face. "In reality, he stands alone." 

"What's a facade?" Tommy glanced at the word over Wilbur's shoulder in confusion. 

"It's like a front, Tommy." 

"Is he French? Schlatt better not be fucking French." Tommy turned to Fundy with seriousness in his eyes. "Are you French, Fundy?" 

"I-" 

Quackity burst out in laughter. "You better not be fucking French, Fundy!" 

"Is that seriously all you guys got out of this?" Fundy felt rage boil inside of him. "Fucking french? I've written this thing every single day, I risked everything-" 

Fundy stopped talking once he realized no one could hear him over their laughter. 

"Hello?" 

Everyone turned towards the small voice, and Tommy screamed. 

"What the FUCK are you doing here?" 

"LANGUAGE!" 

BadBoyHalo emerged from the corner where he was standing. 

"Quick, scare him off with cuss words!" Quackity jeered. 

"SHIT PISS FUCK BITCH!" 

Tommy screamed, and Bad flinched, retreating back and covering his ears. Tommy laughed and kept going. 

"FETUS SEX WOMB! FRENCH!" 

Bad ran up the stairs, trying to desperately cover his ears with his shaking hands. 

"FURRY-" 

Tommy was interrupted by Wilbur's hand on his mouth. 

"Actually, BBH come back down here. You're here to prove a point." 

Bad tried to hide the tremor in his legs as he took a deep breath, peering over the side. 

"So is Schlatt really alone in this?" Wilbur laughed. "He has no one beside him?" 

"Yes. Absolutely no one." 

Tommy pointed his crossbow at Fundy again."So you're really not a bitch, Fundy?" 

Fundy gave him a dumbstruck look. "Is that really all you got out of this-" 

"Well, he didn't say no!" Quackity burst into laughter. 

Fundy put his hands out. "Listen to me-" 

"I still don't understand why HE'S here." Tommy narrowed his eyes at Bad. 

Fundy was still trying to talk. "Listen to me-" 

"He's here to prove a point, Tommy." Wilbur grinned at Bad like they were sharing a little secret, winking at him. "Don't you see? Everyone's on our side." 

Fundy pleaded. No one heard him. "Listen-" 

"Remember when it was just us, Tommy?" 

Tommy flinched as memories of Wilbur laying in a cavern, catatonic flashed through his mind before he pushed them back down again, like swallowing throw-up. 

"I remember." 

"So that means it won't affect anyone but Schlatt.." Tommy's stomach filled with fear as the same crazed look appeared on Wilbur's face. "If we blow up L'Manburg now." 

"What?" 

Fundy's heart dropped to his stomach. No, he didn't hear it right. He didn't hear it right. 

"NO!" Tommy shouted. "No no no no no no no. Look, we can take L'Manburg back now, easy peasy-"

Everyone was arguing. 

No one was hearing Fundy's world get rocked until he couldn't stand. 

He didn't hear it right. 

But as Wilbur kept talking, he knew he had heard it right. 

And he knew that Wilbur was planning to fucking kill him. 

No no, why was Wilbur crumbling? 

No, no Fundy needed something to hold on to, why was everything crumbling?

No, no he thought he was going to something better than Schlatt, he thought he would get more than this, he thought he would get more from this, give him more from this. 

Give him something. 

This didn't feel good inside. 

Listen to me. 

"Oh, look who's here." Wilbur smiled sneakily, and everyone looked around in confusion. "You can come out now Dream." 

And slowly, a masked man faded into existence. 

"I wouldn't say it's going to be easy peasy, Tommy."  

Everything was happening too fast for Fundy.

Listen to me.

 "Dream." Tommy lowered his crossbow. "Whatcha doing here?" 

"Making this just a little bit harder. A little bit more fun." 

Dream twirled the empty glass potion bottle in his hand. "Schlatt offered me something I couldn't refuse." 

"Whaddya mean?" Tommy's eyebrows furrowed. 

"I'm afraid you'll have to go to the battlefield without me." 

"What?" Tommy's eyes flashed. 

Betrayal. 

Wilbur chuckled. "Guess this is really where the party starts, huh?" 

"What'd he give you?" Tommy's crossbow was still hanging at his side loosely. 

"Something both you and Wilbur would take if you had the chance." Dream picked his fingernails. "Something that was in my best interest." 

"You BASTARD." Tommy's crossbow whipped up, pointing at Dream. "WHAT THE FUCK!" 

"It's fine, Tommy." Wilbur placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be so rude." 

"I thought we stopped trying to not be rude when you rigged bombs under L'Manburg." Tommy mumbled, looking at Wilbur's hand. 

And when you punched me in the face because you couldn't press the button. 

And when you yelled at me for being a kid. 

And when you urged me to fight Technoblade. 

And when you let Tubbo almost die. 

"Look, we don't need you to fight on our side, Dream." Wilbur looked down at Tommy with the same rebellious smile that he had when they were heading to fight for L'manburg, and Tommy pushed his feelings down, down where he couldn't see them. "We have Tommy, Tubbo, Fundy, Niki, Technoblade, and Big Q and so many other people. Our IQ is higher than yours." 

"So we're going to war, then." Quackity rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. 

"So I say, instead of some dirty, barbarian fight that we were planning to do," Wilbur smiled at Dream, highlighting the bags under his eyes. "We set a time and place. Something like a gentlemen's duel." 

There weren't butterflies in Tommy's chest, there were tigers crawling at his chest, trying to find a way up, struggling to get out.

And somewhere in there, was a screaming, shaking, crying, boy. 

A glint of an arrow and emerald eyes. 

"I'm fine with whatever Wilbur's fine with." Tommy thought he could Dream's plastic black eye on his mask wink. 

Sharp pain in his stomach. 

And the thought of that they were back here again, just like last time. 

History repeats itself. 

"The 16th, then. November 16th." 

"10 DAYS!" Tommy felt sick in the stomach. He hated when Wilbur set dates like this. There was always something on the horizon, always something that he had to wait and worry for. "Only 10!?" 

"See you on the battlefield then, gentlemen." Dream bowed low to the ground, mockingly polite. He took another potion bottle, lifting up his mask to down it, and Tommy tried to see if there was still a human under there. The ground started to erase him from existence. 

"Oh, by the way," Dream's tips of his hands, then his chest disappeared. "There's a traitor within your ranks." The smile on his mask grew wider before it disappeared. "Just thought I'd let you guys know." 

Accusations were thrown like readied cannons. 

Tommy's ear rang. 

And an orange fox tail flitted up the stairway as once again, the loop coming full circle again, shutting out any sliver of light. 

It blocked out the sun once again. 

---

The sun was gone when Fundy jogged back to Manburg. 

No whispered voices were here. 

Silent. 

A bench. 

And Fundy stopped to rest. 

He sat down, and the wood creaked under his weight. 

He was too old for this. 

But yet, the bench was too big for one person. 

He thought of Tommy and Tubbo.  

And he looked at the empty space next to him. 

He wished someone was on the other end. 

He could just ask someone, right? 

Wait, who could he ask? 

Who would wait for him? 

He snip, snip, snipped the ties with everyone just so he could mend them with someone else. 

Niki? 

He looked at the stars and wondered if he should call out her name, but he reminded himself that she would never answer. 

Wilbur couldn't hear anything he said at this point, even if he screamed. 

The stars spun faster, growing closer to each other in the sky, even billions of miles away, still closer to each other than Fundy was. 

He had someone, right? 

He had to have someone, someone had to be there, he had tried so hard. 

He held his stomach, staring into space, as panic rolled over him slowly and steadily, welcoming him warmly again. 

Where were you? 

Where are you? 

Where is my person? 

Fundy stood up. 

Eret. 

Eret, Eret, Eret. 

Please give me a shoulder to sob on. 

Fundy started to walk briskly down the path. 

Give me warmth, give me strength, care for me, because I can't myself. 

The stars compelled him forward, and suddenly Fundy was running, running, running down the pathway, he was sprinting now, he would show the clouds that he was not alone. 

The wind cut at him, he was not ALONE. 

Please, I don't want to be alone. 

Phantoms screeched behind him, the warm, familiar shroomlights and the rainbow flag dotted the horizon, Fundy was running towards it head-on, he wanted to be welcome somewhere, he wanted to be home. 

Run, run, his legs hurt, run, run, run, let your breath get caught in your throat, someone will be waiting for you, someone will be waiting for you. 

With a warm cup of tea. 

A large wooden door with a round handle, raising up to the heavens. 

Fundy knocked. 

"Eret?" 

The lonely sound echoed through the world. 

Fundy pounded on it. 

"ERET?" 

And that sound was so lonely too, he had to pound again. 

And again, and again. 

Pound, pound, splinters in his fist, the door shook back and forth, it shook with Fundy. 

"ERET!" 

Open the door. 

Open the door and prove the stars wrong. 

Please. 

"ERET!" 

Please, say you were waiting for me, you were waiting for me, right?

"ERET! ERET PLEASE!" 

No, no the stars can see my tears now. 

They know I'm alone. 

Please, please open the door. 

"ERET!" 

Yells and screams mixed with phantom cries. 

And the stars laughed at him. 

"I need you." 

Listen to me, I need help. 

---

"Hello." 

Tommy whipped around, drawing his crossbow. 

A beat of silence ensued between them. 

"Dream." 

Tommy's eyes narrowed. 

"What are you doing in my house?" 

"I should ask you the same thing." Dream spun his sword in his hand, embedding it in the dirt wall. "You're not supposed to be here." 

"Well, it's MY house, isn't it bitch?" 

Ponk stepped silently inside the dirt hurt, ducking to avoid the ceiling. He didn't say anything, but he stood in front of Tommy protectively. 

Tommy let him, but he saw the crossbow in his hand. 

He edged away, drawing his shield. 

Just in case. 

Just in case. 

"I love how Ponk thinks he's menacing." Dream lurched his sword away from the wall. Tommy scowled at the pieces of dirt falling all over his stone floor. "I could kill both of you right now." 

"Shut up, Dream." Tommy wiped the dirt away with his shoe. "You're not as big of man as you think you are." 

Dream laughed in his face.

Tommy didn't laugh with him. 

The laughter slowly dissipated into the night. 

"Why didn't you team with us?" 

"Tommy." 

Dream moved forward until Tommy could see every single individual scratch on his mask. 

"I was never on your side." 

Ponk's crossbow nudged Dream back, but Ponk backed away when Dream looked at him. 

"Tommy?" 

A brown mop of hair poked its way out from a hole in the floor. 

A smile broke across Tommy's face. 

"Tubbo!" Tommy's grin could split oceans. "You a traitor?" 

"No, why?" Tubbo looked between Dream and Tommy in confusion. 

"Ok then, Tubbo's not the traitor, so it must be Technoblade." Tommy shouldered his shield, motioning for Tubbo to get behind him. 

Dream chuckled suddenly. "You're so quick to trust, Tommy." 

Tubbo shuffled over, dropping his voice to a whisper. "What's happening?" 

"Long story short, Dream's a bitch." Tommy's voice was not in a whisper. He scowled at Dream. "We've got all my disks now, Dream. You can leave now, ya big green pissbaby. Get outta my house." 

"Where did you get them?" Dream tilted his head knowingly. 

Tommy looked to Tubbo. He shrugged nervously. "Well, I got one from Wilbur." Tubbo shuffled through the tightly wrapped disks in his jacket pocket. 

"I know for a fact that Skeppy still has one of them." Dream tilted his chin towards two of the ones in Tommy's hand. "Those are fakes." 

"They are?" Tommy examined the vinyl disks in his hand. He ran his fingers over them. They weren't as rugged as they used to be. Were they fake? 

"Here. Burn them. None of us will have them." Dream flicked a flint and steel, and a fire erupted. The flames echoed in Tommy's eyes. He looked down at the disk, and then back at the licking flames. And in a blink of an eye, he threw them in. 

Before they could disappear, Dream caught them and stuffed them into his hoodie pocket. 

"OY!" Tommy rushed forward, trying to grab them again. "I thought you said they were fakes!" 

"May or may not be." Tommy could tell he was grinning that smug, smug grin. "We'll see." 

"Fuck you, man." Tommy grabbed Tubbo's hand. "C'mon, Tubbo, we're leaving." 

When they went through the doorway, Tommy could feel his bare elbow brush Dream's hoodie. He recoiled as a weird feeling of disgust came over him. He looked up at Dream's mask, and it stared blankly back at him. A shiver ran through his spine. 

He pulled Tubbo faster to the safety of the wooden path. 

"Tommy, what happened?" Tubbo stumbled behind Tommy. "Why is Dream a bitch now?" 

"So basically we tried to take back L'Manburg and that didn't work out because Schlatt put explosive thingys under Pogtopia and then Fundy showed up and now he's not a bitch, but Dream was all like "ohohohohoho" I'm a bitch now I'm gonna betray you and there's a traitor, that's why I asked if you were a traitor when you walked in but you said no, so you're not the traitor-" Words tumbled out of Tommy's mouth like word vomit. 

"Wait wait wait," Tubbo put a hand over Tommy's mouth, shutting him up. "There's a traitor?" 

"Well, yeah, it must be Technoblade." Tommy said it like he already made up his mind. It was a fact now. 

"Tommy, Wilbur's been wanting to blow up L'Manburg this entire time. He's on the side of chaos, just like Dream. He said it himself." Tubbo looked up at Tommy, who looked away. "It would make sense, wouldn't it?" 

"No." Tubbo's brown eyes searched for Tommy's blue ones, but he avoided them. "No, it doesn't. Wilbur's not the traitor." 

Tubbo sighed. 

Tommy huffed. 

They had stopped in front of L'Manburg. Their feet had somehow lead them there. 

The walls were gone. 

A fall wind blew through, ushering in the winter. 

And it was empty, and scattered, and not beautiful. 

Tubbo could see it could be, though. 

Tubbo looked towards the future. 

And Tommy still saw the walls, and the caravan, and blue revolutionary hats, and the past. 

Tommy's hand was cold and bony in his. 

The sky was gray that day like it was about to rain. 

Groggy and bland and desolate. 

"That's a pretty tree." 

Tommy followed Tubbo's small left hand to the reaching branches of an old tree. Tommy tilted his head when he looked at it. 

"Here, here! This is where I want to build a treehouse, Wilbur! Right here!" 

"Oh, alright."

Tommy traced his thumb down the bark, and he hit a ridge, a rough W carved in the wood. 

Wilbur. 

Leaves from the trees were at his feet. 

The tree was no longer blooming green like it used to. 

It was becoming winter. 

Tommy took out his sword, using the sharp edge to grate the wood. He spelled out his name, T-O-M-M-Y. He stood back, admiring his work. He allowed a smile to come to his lips. 

"Here." 

Tommy handed his sword to Tubbo, and he approached the tree, carving his name right next to Tommy's. Tommy held the back of the sword, helping him spell it. 

They stood back and smiled at each other, and then at the jagged names arching across the bark. 

"L'Mantree." Tommy put his hands on his hips. "That's a good name for it, isn't it?" 

Tubbo knocked on its bark kindly. "Yeah!" 

The tree rattled in the wind as if in agreement. 

Tubbo stepped forward. 

He took out the small, crushed yellow flower from his breast pocket and set it gently in a little alcove in the wood. He pet the tips of the petals lightly, before stepping away. 

I have Tommy with me now, I trust you to keep him safe for me. 

Tubbo took Tommy's hand once again, and they gazed one more time at the last hint of their original home. 

And then the two boys set out to prepare for a war. 

But then the tree saw one boy rush back really quick, his blond hair bouncing against his forehead. 

He carved a heart around the names, a deep line that would never weather away. 

He left like the summer breeze. 

And the jagged names and the jagged heart stayed there, waiting. 

And a trickle of blood ran down Tommy's ear. 

"Hey, Tommy, there's blood on your ear. Are you alright?" 

Tommy's ear rang. 

"Yeah." 

"I'm fine."