Chapter Text
The world is shaking when Tommy wakes up, the air raid sirens were screaming and explosions already ringing in the distance. Still in bed, he covers his ears in a futile attempt to try and block out even a small amount of the deafening chaos going on outside, only for thundering footsteps to approach and Tommy’s door to be flung open, revealing a panicked Techno.
Techno barrels into the room gathering items from various drawers. He then notices Tommy still laying in bed with his hands over his ears.
“Theseus? What are you doing? C’mon Theseus!” Techno shouts as he runs over to drag Tommy out of the bed.
Across the house, Wilbur parts the blackout curtains to peek at the destruction occurring across London, only for his father Phil to come into the room.
“Wilbur, get away from there! What do you think you’re doing?!” Phil grabs Wilbur’s arm and begins to rush out of the room. “Come on mate! To the shelter, now!”
The Minecraft family burst outside, Techno leading and opening up the door to the bomb shelter with Tommy and Phil on his heels. Will lags at the back but then turns around in a panic.
“WAIT, MUMZA!” Wilbur shrieks, realizing that he has left behind the last photo of his mother before she was called out to be a nurse in the war. Will turns to run back into the house to find the photo.
Phil sees him run back towards the house as the whistle of a bomb signifies its descent into their neighborhood and screams, “WILBUR, NO!”
Techno makes a grab for him in order to stop him from running back into the house but Will manages to evade him. “WILL!” he leaves the door to the shelter and begins to run after Wilbur. “I’ll get him!”
“TECHNO COME BACK!”
The whistling of the bomb is getting louder as Wilbur makes it to the living room, grabbing the photo of his mother just as Techno yells “WILL!! WILL, GET DOWN!” and barrels into him, sending them both to the floor screaming as the whistling stops and the bomb explodes, shattering the window above them with a spray of glass shards raining down.
“Come on you idiot! RUN! Get out!” Techno shouts, yanking them both upright as Will scrambles to grab the now shattered picture frame of Mumza. The boys run through the house and out the door. There they see Phil and Tommy waiting in the bomb shelter with the door open.
“Come on! Hurry!” Phil holds open the door so his boys can run in.
Will collapses onto one of the nearby beds clutching the picture frame to his chest.
Techno, who is still standing and out of breath from running, starts shouting at Will, “Why can’t you think about anyone but yourself! You can't be selfish! You could have died! WE could have died!”
“Techno that’s enough! Stop it!” Phil scolds Techno and then turns to Wilbur to calm him down “Shhh, it’s ok.”
“Why can’t you just do as you’re told?!” Techno exclaims in frustration. He makes eye contact with Will only to let out a huff and slam the door to the bunker shut.
____________
“𝑨𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝑾𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔.”
Phil stops at the platform where their train is supposed to be arriving, setting down his luggage and turning to address his boys. He kneels down to Tommy’s level and pulls their train tickets out of his pocket.
“Now Tommy, this ticket is very important,” Phil says as he holds it out for Tommy to take. “You will need it once we are boarding the train, alright mate? Now, are you warm enough?”
Tommy takes the ticket “Yes Dadza I’m fine… just… bit fuckin’ pissed that we’re leaving home.”
“If Mum were here, she wouldn’t want us to leave,” Wilbur complains while fiddling with his shoulder bag.
Techno let out a snort “If Mum were here the war would be over and it would be safe to stay at home.”
“Now none of that, think of this like we’re going on holiday for a while. Now boys, promise me that we are all going to look after each other, I don’t want any fights on the train, got it?” Phil gives an expectant look to all three of his sons.
He gets a unanimous grumble of agreement from them.
“𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑨𝑹𝑫! 𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑨𝑹𝑫!”
Phil fixes Wilbur’s coat and gives him a smile even as the boy looks away and pushes up his glasses. “Alright, off we go.”
The Minecrafts make their way towards the train and get in line to board. While waiting Phil begins to spiral. They’re leaving home, the home he and Kirsten made together, where he raised his boys. There are so many memories and moments they are leaving behind. But this is the best thing Phil can do for his family right? In order to keep them safe and so they can return later if there is anything to return-
“Tickets please!!”
“Dad!” Techno shakes his father back into focus. “Hand him your ticket, we need to board,” he says, giving his father a worried glance.
“Ah, yes, sorry! Was lost in my own head there for a bit, mate.” Phil states as he hands over his ticket. They all board the train and find a cabin with enough room for all four of them.
____________
The train ride was long, and Tommy spent the time gazing out the window, watching the city and large buildings gradually disappearing, making way for smaller towns, open fields, and farms. Tommy decides this “holiday” trip is already taking too long and resolves to take a nap instead of letting himself get any more bored.
“-mmy? Tommy? Theseus, wake up.” Tommy’s eyes squint open to see his eldest brother shaking him awake from his (very uncomfortable) position leaning against the window of the train. “Let’s go Tommy; it’s our stop.”
“Alright, alright I’m up dickhead… and I wasn’t sleeping; I was just resting my eyes.” grumbles Tommy as he wipes away the sleep seeds from his eyes.
“Alright, whatever you say child.” Techno moves towards the halfway where Phil and Wilbur have already collected themselves and are ready to leave the train.
Tommy stands up quickly and grabs his suitcase, screaming with renewed energy, “I AM NOT A FUCKIN’ CHILD!!”
After a bit of Tom-Foolery (pun intended) all four members of the Minecraft family manage to make it off of the train and into… the middle of nowhere. There is nothing around here, even as the train pulls out all that can be seen are grassy fields and a lone dirt road.
“The professor knew we were coming, right?” Techno asks to no one in particular.
“Wait, I think I heard something.” Tommy says, and sure enough in the distance, a car can be heard honking and approaching the station. The four of them pick up their luggage and rush to where the road was. And there was the car approaching, it’s almost at the station and… wait… wait a minute, it’s going past… and… it’s still going.
“Maybe we’re in the wrong place?” Wilbur suggests.
“No no, I’m positive this is where we’re meant to be, they are probably just late.” Phil says with a lack of confidence.
It was at this moment that the clop of horseshoes could be heard in the distance. A horse-drawn carriage appears on the dirt road and slows down until it’s at a full stop in front of them. There is a woman sitting in the driver’s seat who looks about middle-aged.
Phil steps up and asks “Mrs. Macready?”
The woman looks down at him from the carriages and says “I’m afraid so… Is this it then? Haven’t you brought anything else?”
“No ma’am. It’s just us.”
“Small favors.” The woman-Mrs. Macready-said.
Wilbur scoffs but plays it off as adjusting his guitar bag when Phil gives him a glare.
Tommy decides he doesn’t like her very much, but is too respectful to call her a pussy because he is the biggest and the best man ever.
The Minecrafts get into the back of the carriage and eventually arrive at the enormous house. Tommy gaped as they approached; he knew that this was a mansion, but holy shit!
After arrival, Mrs. Macready starts to give what feels like a two-hour-long speech explaining all of the rules in the house while giving them a tour leading them to their rooms.
“Professor Kirke is not accustomed to havin' children in this house. And as such, there are a few rules we need to follow. There will be no shoutin'. Or runnin'. No improper use of the dumbwaiter.” Wilbur reaches out to feel the smooth marble on one of the carved busts but is stopped when Macready exclaims “NO touchin' of the historical artifacts! And above all, there shall be no disturbin' of the professor.”
Tommy thinks this place sounds more like a museum than a house.
____________
Later that night everyone was gathered in Tommy’s room listening to the radio and getting ready for bed.
"𝑮𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔-”
Tommy covers his ears not wanting to hear news about if their home was still standing or not.
Techno walks over and turns off the radio, having noticed Tommy’s discomfort. “Well, I think that’s enough of that.”
“The sheets feel scratchy.” The youngest complains as he moves under the covers more.
Phil sighs and moves over to Tommy’s bed from his spot at the window. “Wars don’t last forever, Tommy. We’ll be home soon.”
Wilbur scoffs, “Yeah, if home’s still there.”
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Techno deadpans.
“Yes, MUM!”
“Wilbur!” scolds Phil. He turns back to Tommy, pulling up the covers and tucking him in. “You saw the mansion from outside Toms. This place is huge! There is so much we can do here. Tomorrow’s going to be great. Really.”