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Since the beginning of time, many had heard the legend of the Blood God. There are many theories about him. Some say he’s destruction. Some say he’s the product of war. Some say he’s ruthless and heartless. Some say he could take down an army in the blink of an eye.
Some of those theories would be true. He could and has taken down entire armies in the blink of an eye. He can be ruthless and heartless. But people forget that blood is more than just war. Blood is family. Blood is life as much as it is death. Blood is to sisters and brothers as much as it is to two enemies trying to prove a point.
Blood brings people together as much as it tears them apart. It’s as kind as it is ruthless. It is mercy as much as it is cruelty. Pain as much as prosperity. Blood is so much more than destruction, and maybe that's why Technoblade felt so drawn to this.
To the unnatural explosion of stars that only happened once every millennia. The way the birds chirped louder and the wind carried the leaves and the grass in a dance to a tune only the world could hear. The piglins in the nether grunted and the ghasted cried louder. The Enderman screeched and the dragon roared loudly.
Every creature in every biome seemed to celebrate and Techno immediately knew. A god had been born. The earth was young, only a couple hundred million years old. The nether and end were a little younger and a little older. There were few gods who roamed. Techno wondered who Prime had chosen this time.
He remembers the creation of both Life and Death, for without him there could be neither so he came first. He remembers the creation of both Chaos and Peace. He remembers the creation of time and of the demon that ran the nether and of the elements and seasons that helped life in the overworld and the void that helped keep Kristin (the goddess of death) a little less lonely in the end.
What more could she want? What other god could she possibly need? Techno wanted to know so Techno set out to where the stars shone brightest and the wind was warm but alive all the same.
It was a field with the moonlight directly on it and in the middle of the field was a baby in a white and red cradle. Techo wasn’t naive. This baby would be powerful some day. Techno could have walked away. He could have stayed out of it and let the godling grow on his own like he did the other gods.
But there was something he was so drawn to about this one, something different. So he haphazardly approached the cradle. Inside was a baby with beautiful golden hair and blue eyes that the morning sky and seas below would envy. He had a smile that softened even Techno’s heart.
On the cradle was an inscription. ‘Love and Attachment.’ That made sense. Techno loved this kid already. He carefully picked him up and smiled at him. “Looks like it’s gonna be me and you kid.” He hummed. “I just hope you don’t hate me by the end of the century.”
He looked up at the moon and gave it a nod, knowing she was always watching, and walked away with the baby. In the stars above, Prime smiled knowing she made the right choice.
Over time, Techno realized he did too. He ended up naming the child Theseus. It fit him for some reason. The godling couldn’t pronounce his full name in his formative years so Theseus devolved into Tommy.
Tommy is a little ball of energy and he is the sweetest child ever. He loved and cared about everything from the tiniest blade of grass to the tallest enderman. As a result, the creatures of the dimensions loved him as much as the gods did.
The humans were the only people Techno ever worried about.
Tommy loved humans but Techno didn’t trust them. Since Techno and Tommy came from the same goddess, Techno saw Tommy as a little brother and swore to protect him with his life. It was hard to keep the kid from getting his big heart shattered when he would eventually realize humans are selfish creatures.
Techno always tried to tell him on days like these that humans simply weren’t worth it.
See, Techno had resided them in an old mansion in the woods that he’d reformed centuries ago and forgotten about. A perfect place for Tommy to discover his powers and his domains without human’s judgemental eyes. But from time to time, explorers and wanderers would pass through and Tommy would always attempt to talk to them until Techno pulled him away.
“But Techie, I wanna see the people!” He would always whine. “Humans will only hurt you Theseus. They’re selfish and heartless. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Techno would always explain.
“Techie-”
“Theseus.” Tommy always sighed and ended up dragging Techno to make cookies. Today though, Techno had to leave to handle a war, and Tommy was left in the cabin by himself.
He saw a beautiful woman with auburn hair, fair skin, and green eyes walking through the woods. On the one hand, Techno always said humans were selfish and heartless, but Tommy could feel the love radiating off this woman.
He could see the many lines of attachment that were invisible to everyone but him, connecting to all the things she chose to latch on to. She did not seem selfish. So Tommy went to talk to her. “Hello!” He smiled at her.
She turned around with a jump and calmed down seeing it was just a boy. “Hello there! What are you doing out here all by yourself? Where are your parents?” She asked.
“My brother used to say my mommy was in the sky watching us. I don’t have a dad.” She frowned a bit at the response.
“Where’s your brother?” She wondered.
“He went to war.” Tommy vaguely smiled. The woman's face softened at that.
“So your by yourself?” Tommy nodded.
“Well my name is Clara. What’s yours?” She asked, kneeling to his level.
“Tommy!” He smiled.
“Would you like to come with me, Tommy?” She offered. Tommy nodded excitedly and grabbed her outstretched hand. He really hoped Techno wouldn’t mind, he vaguely thought as he followed her into town.
The longer Tommy stayed with Clara, the more he wondered what Techno could have been talking about. Clara was so loving that Tommy never wanted to leave. She put her all into everything around her and in the month Tommy had known her, he became tempted to make her his very first patron.
Everything was going fine and Clara even offered to adopt him! Until one day they woke up to everyone in the town panicking. The skies seemed to be red and even the grass was cowering in fear. It was a strange and scary sight.
“What’s going on?” Clara asked a panicked civilian who was running by.
“The blood god is here and he’s angry .” The person said. Tommy started smiling excitedly. He didn’t know Techno would be back today!
“Tommy we gotta go-”
“I wanna see him!” The stranger and Clara both turned to Tommy with the most baffled looks on their faces.
“You’ll get killed, child.” The stranger said in a deadpan.
“No I won't!” Was all Tommy said for assurance before taking off in the direction where the fear was most prominent. Clara dashed after him and the stranger said a silent prayer to the goddess of life to bless their souls then rushed the opposite way.
Tommy ignored Clara as he ran closer and closer to the chaos. She watched as even the trees seemed to cower away from what Tommy was running towards with a skip in his step and a smile.
“Where is he? ” She heard him growl.
“Who?” One of the village council-men cried.
“Techno!” The Blood God turned towards Tommy, Clara's Tommy, with pure red eyes and rage on his face that even the densest of people could recognize. For a second she was convinced the kid was a goner.
Then his face softened and he held out his arms, embracing Tommy. “Theseus!” He sighed in relief, letting the anger slip from his tone and his usual mono tone came back.
“Techie! I met some humans!” Tommy smiled.
“You scared me, Theseus. You can’t just leave like that. I thought it was time for the blood god’s revenge.”
Tommy giggled, not realizing how serious Techno was. He would burn down the world a million times, give up his immortality, and face every angry soul who wanted revenge on him without his powers just to keep Tommy safe.
“Techie, I met a nice lady named Clara! She’s over…” Tommy looked around until he spotted his mother figure in the crowd, “there!” Techno turned to her with a raised eyebrow and motioned her over. Clara was silently planning her funeral.
She walked over and stood in front of him just barely keeping herself from sprinting in the whole other direction. “Hello Blood God. I swear I had no idea Tommy was... whatever he is to you. I just saw him in the woods with no parents or any adult in general, and I just couldn’t leave him and-”
Techno held up his hand, stopping Clara’s rant before he turned to Tommy and raised his other eyebrow, making Tommy giggle but explain.
“She’s so loving Techie! I can see all the attachments she has and feel the love flowing from her! She’s… she’s everything I stand for.”
And everything that will be the fall of you , Techno thought the last part bitterly. “Do you trust her?” Techno asked seriously.
“With my whole life.” Tommy said, and Techno knew it was a promise.
He decided to give her a chance.
“Thank you.” She said, smiling thankfully. Techno hoped he wouldn’t regret it.
“So what is Tommy to you?” Clara ended up asking a few weeks later.
“My brother.” Techno said, intending to leave it like that.
“You adopted him? How did a god notice a child before we did 5 years ago?” Techno chuckled at Clara’s confusion, which just succeeded in making her more confused.
“Technically, we’re biological brothers and I’ve known him way longer than 5 years.” Techno shrugged. Clara was silent and Techno could practically hear the gears turning in her head and he chuckled when he saw it click. Her eyes widened and she gasped.
“H-he’s a god?” Techno nodded. “There was a god born recently and nobody knew? I thought the most recent was the god of Love.” Clara wondered. Techno just stared at her. “Tommy is the God of love? That...makes a lot of sense actually. But, why is he five?”
“Gods can choose how they want to appear,” Techno hummed, pouring himself some tea from the kettle Clara had started brewing before she decided to converse with him, “Tommy is love and attachment, and he’s innocent and loving, and willing to give back everything he receives tenfold. Like-”
“-like a child would.” Clara realized.
Techno nodded. “But loving like that...won’t he get hurt?” Clara whispered. She hated the idea of seeing Tommy hurt. He was just so outgoing and happy and innocent. Seeing him cry would possibly be the end of the world.
“Probably. But I’ll be here to help him. People... mortals are temporary. I’ll have him forever.”
If Clara squinted, she could see the fondness in his eyes that he refused to let show on his face. People painted the Blood God as heartless, but Clara could see that he would die for this kid if he could. It made perfect sense to her.
Tommy and Techno were brothers in a sense, in more than just that they’re both gods. They’ve only had each other for centuries and their domains match up. Love isn’t just relationships. Love is to families, friends, pets, and moments as much as it is to relationships.
Attachment is to items and materialistic things as much as it is to people and places and thoughts and hobbies. Blood isn’t just spilled. Blood is bonds between brothers in arms and sisters from the same womb. It's to fathers and mothers and promises meant to be kept.
They go together because they both do as much good as harm. Blood tears people apart as much as it binds them together. Love breaks people as much as it makes people. Attachments can bring you together and tear you apart. War can make countries and also bring them down.
They could both start and end lives. They’re both treasured and feared. From the cover they seem so different but once you read into them, they’re both the same book with different titles. They were also as dangerous to each other as they were to everyone else, but the only difference is they have an eternity to make mistakes and make up with each other.
The rest of them are limited to a mere average of 80 years. “You guys are one and the same.” Clara smiled.
“I know.” Techno nodded. Clara knows he knew. She just wanted to iterate it. Techno decided then and there that she was one of the few humans he’d protect til her dying breath.
Maybe it was the way she cared about Tommy. Maybe it was that she seemed to understand why the God of Love and Attachment would hang out so closely with the god of blood and war. It could chalk up to a lot of things but he swore to protect her, and protect her he did.
He protected her until her dying breath. Unfortunately, even the Blood God can’t stop old age. Tommy was by her side the whole time. He held her hand and told her assurances and recounted all the fun times they’d had together.
They’d laughed, he’d cried, and Techno could do nothing to prepare him.
The day that Clara died was the first time Techno had ever seen Tommy cry and it seemed the world cried with him. The air wasn’t as joyful, the animals and mobs weren’t as lively. Even humans felt dread and they didn’t know why.
Because love is more than just happiness. Love is tears, and hard times, and mourning. Love can hurt you in the long run. It had hurt Tommy, and Techno had no idea how to help. He decided he needed the help of a god younger than him by just a few hundred years, but still a mother figure to him all the same.
She was more than happy to agree. It seemed Tommy’s sadness affected the older gods too. She came back with him to the cabin in the woods where Tommy was staring dazedly at the wall.
“Theseus.” She announced her presence. Tommy wasted no time in running into her arms and wrapping around her tightly.
“Kristin,” He sobbed.
“I know.” She said, and he cried and cried and cried and Kristin let him. She kicked Techno out because she could see him hurting at the sight, leaving just her and Tommy.
“Please. Please bring her back. I wanna make her immortal. I don’t wanna lose her again.” He begged.
“Tommy. even Death cannot bring back those who were dead. Life would not want her to suffer either. She had to go Toms. Her soul was ready.” Kristin explained.
“But I miss her.” He rebutted. Kristin hummed in thought for a second.
“I can’t bring her back Toms,” He whined at that but let her finish, “but I can make it so that you can talk to her.” Tommy looked up and Kristin noticed for the first time how red his eyes were.
“How?” He wondered. “I can give you a chat like Techno’s. Techno has all those he’s killed that were worthy enough for him to carry with him for centuries after he died. Yours can be those who you have loved and they returned it as fiercely as they could. Those who truly cared about you.” Kristin offered. Tommy nodded excitedly. Kristin tapped his head and there was a small light then nothing.
“Did it work?” He wondered. Kristin shrugged.
I’m here Tommy
Tommy smiled to himself. “Hi, Clara.”
Hi, Toms
“You're gonna be there forever?” Tommy asked, not wanting to lose her again.
Forever times infinity
“That’s a long time.” He chuckled.
Hm, I don’t mind
“Pog.” Tommy clapped.
Kristin left the room and let Tommy catch up with Clara, and went to talk to Techno who was watching Tommy excitedly talk to seemingly thin air.
“Thank you Kristin, so much.” Krstin knew he meant it because Techno hardly ever said thank you.
“Any time. Everyone hates seeing him hurt. It’s the least I could do.”
Techno nodded half heartedly. “He’s gonna keep loving.” Techno pointed out.
“Well, he is love.” Kristin hummed.
“He’s gonna get hurt.”
Kristin nodded. “And he’s gonna indirectly hurt people. He may be taking a child's innocence but he knows love better than we do. He knows love helps and hurts. Part of his powers is seeing how people's love and attachments could end up.
He knows how it could end. How it could hurt him and them. But he just decides that it's worth it for some reason. He doesn’t give up on people or on things or on love despite knowing what could happen in the end.” Kristin explained.
“I don’t understand him. Humans just aren’t worth it.” Techno huffed. “Some of them aren’t. Even Life and I have given up on people who probably should’ve deserved a second chance.” Krisitn admitted with a sheepish smile. “He’s better than all of us.” Techno decided.
Kristin nodded along with him. “That he is.” She agreed before leaving back to her domain.
Techno decided that Kristin making Chat was the best thing she could have ever done for Tommy. As time went on, there were more Claras. Tommy always loved talking to them. They were kids who loved before they even knew what love was, adults who were willing to let him show them love even though love had hurt them more than it should have, teenagers still exploring love, and those who loved their whole lives.
There were others. Some who didn’t make it to chat. Those who had loved him but had given up. Those who had gotten to the worst possible outcome. Tommy had seen people be brought together by strange things and torn apart by strangers.
The strangest one he ever saw was when he first witnessed love torn apart by war. Techno was his brother and he’d been there for him since day one. He was war. Tommy could always find love in war.
But he saw a couple he’d matched when they’d met on an adventure to try and get to Kristin’s domain, the End. He saw the fire they had, the spark and he nurtured it. He saw the ends, which possible outcome was most likely to happen.
They were supposed to have a family and grow old together. But when their factions went to war, they ended up on opposing sides. Tommy saw love slaughter that day. He watched one of his favorite pairings sever their own bonds.
He cried for them that day and the world cried with him. And he went to ask his brother about it. “Techno.” He said coming into the room. Techno looked at him to let him know he was listening. He knew why Tommy came to him; he just was really bad at apologies.
“War is like love.” Techno raised his eyebrow, not having expected that to be the first thing he said. “War gives a chance to rebuild. War solves problems, maybe not in the most ideal ways, but it does. And then people move on from it and they heal and they learn. Love comes after war. Love helps rebuild and it helps people heal. It comes during war in Soldiers and Knights fighting side by side with brothers or lovers to fight for what they believe in even if they’re doomed to war.
Love and War, they’re beautiful and ugly. They feel great but they hurt at one point or another.” Techno nodded along to his rant not really knowing where he was going with this. “They were supposed to fight together, Tech. Side by side til they couldn’t fight anymore. But she stabbed him. And he died and their love with it.” Tommy whined.
“That’s how it is Theseus. You can have all the faith you want in people but at the end of the day, they’ll show their true colors.” And they left it at that. Tommy just laid on him and Techno held him as he mourned what could have been.
Tommy learned from it and he grew with Techno. That’s what they were best at. Growing and learning and moving on. They always had each other and that would always be enough for them.
But they were still two different people. Whereas Tommy liked to settle and enjoy the smaller things in life, Techno wanted to explore and get the rush of adrenaline he always got when in a war. Techno didn’t ever have a reason to go, so he stayed with his little brother and let him do his thing, occasionally leaving to participate in wars his chat won't stop talking about.
The day Techno finally got a reason to explore, Tommy knew before Techno even told him. Kristin had apparently gotten a new patron, her Angel of Death as he was called, and since he was new to immortality, she wanted Techno to show him the ropes.
Techno didn’t know what ‘ropes’ came with immortality, it was really just living as you normally did with no expectation of death. Tommy knew what she was doing though. He saw it in the emerald green colored string that started to form, attaching Techno and this ‘Angel of Death’ together.
Kristin hadn’t wanted Phil to be lonely, and with both of their knack for exploring, amazing battle strategy, and similar sense of humor, they would be a perfect fit to spend eternity with. Tommy saw how it could go and he instantly agreed to help Kristin, wanting his older brother to do something in his own interest for once.
So when Techno came to him and told him he wanted to explore with Phil but he didn’t want to leave Tommy, the young god practically shoved him out the door with a stack of postcards and all his stuff conveniently packed.
Techno took the opportunity with a smile and set off on the adventures that would last centuries. Tommy heard from Techno every month with postcards, which turned to every week when communicators became a thing.
They didn’t see each other as often as they had, but they had an eternity to spend lollygagging and messing with the humans. The plan they had in place was for them not to see each other for another couple of centuries.
Tommy wouldn’t have snooped around this new empty area if he had known he was gonna get basically adopted by someone eons younger than him.
He had just been casually roaming the area when he heard someone come up behind him. He turned around and saw a man who could be mistaken for an older version of him with pitch black wings.
“Are you alone mate?” The man asked. In hindsight, Tommy should’ve sensed the blessing radiating off this man given by his favorite goddess, but Tommy was all too eager to have another orphan arc.
“Yeah.” He whispered, shivering a little bit to sell it.
“You can stay the night with me if you’d like.” He smiled offering his hand. Tommy took it and the man put Tommy on his hip. noticing that he didn’t have on shoes. “I’m Phil.”
“Tommy.”
Phil didn’t live far from where they were. He had a nice, moderate cabin that radiated warmth. They went inside and it looked just as cosy on the inside as it did on the outside. There was a basket for weapons by the door where Phil dropped his heavily enchanted crossbow, sword, and axe. He also took off his armor and put it on an armor stand sitting near it.
There was another basket and another armor stand. Tommy assumed he either lived with someone who currently wasn’t home, or he had extras just in case he found more gear. He should have recognized the lingering power of the all too familiar enchantments.
“Dad?” He heard a voice call. He looked up to see a preteen, about 10 years old, come down the stairs. “Who’s that?” Tommy would’ve thought the kid would be hostile towards him, since his dad had just brought in another kid unannounced, but his voice held pure curiosity.
“This is Tommy. He’s gonna be staying here for a little bit.” Phil explained, setting Tommy down. He could see the green string connecting the two of them. Green meant familial love and attachment. He smiled softly and walked up to the boy giving him a bright smile and a wave.
Wilbur then looked Phil dead in the eyes with the most serious stare a 10 year old could muster and said, “This is my brother. He’s never leaving my sight.” Phil chuckled as Wilbur dragged Tommy to his room, and showed him his guitar that his dad gave him ages ago.
Tommy latched on to him then and there. If he had paid more attention, he would’ve realized the bad ending was more likely than the good.
He honestly hadn’t known that Phil was the Angel of Death until Techno returned from wherever he was a month after Tommy had arrived.
“Wilbur! He’s back, mate!” Phil called up the stairs. Wilbur jumped up from where he was trying to ‘teach’ Tommy piano and scrambled to the stairs. Tommy followed curiously.
“Who’s here?” He asked.
“Our older brother!” Wilbur explained.
“He’s not your-” Phil started.
“Our older brother!”
“Mate he’s not my so-”
“Our older brother.”
“Wilbur he’s older than m-”
“Our. Older. Brother.”
Phil sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Your older brother.”
Wilbur smiled triumphantly and Tommy almost laughed at Phil’s pain.
Tommy wondered who would be coming. What person could be older than Phil and considered an older brother by Wilbur?
“Oh, oh, Tommy, go in my room and get the emerald earring! He’s almost here.” Tommy ran off to get the emerald earring from Wilbur’s room.
It was one of the only things you could easily find in the messy room since it never left its spot. Tommy always wondered why there was only one earring. He didn’t have time to ponder about it, as he heard the door open and Wilbur’s excited shouts.
He rushed down to see who this person could possibly be, and froze when he saw a familiar pink braid accompanied by an awfully familiar monotone voice.
“Get off my back Wilbur.” He huffed.
“Tommy! Come meet our older brother, Technoblade! Technoblade, this is your new youngest brother, Tommy.” Wilbur introduced, noticing Tommy on the stairs.
Techno gave him an indifferent look, but Tommy had known him long enough to see the panic he was feeling. He had two choices, expose them, or go with it. He chose the latter, not knowing how much Phil and Wilbur currently knew about Techno.
“Woaaah. Your hair is pink! Thats so poggers! You are officially a big man. Not bigger than me but you’ve reached bigman sta-sta-stades.” Tommy ranted, giving Techno a look that told him to go along with it.
“Status.” Techno corrected, letting his shoulders drop a bit. “Philza, you know how I feel about orphans.” He turned to Phil, completely taking his attention off Tommy.
“He’s not an orphan anymore! Dadza adopted him.” Wilbur smiled proudly.
“You’ve gotta stop taking in strays old man.” Techno huffed.
“Sure, mate.” Phil smiled. With that, Techno gave Tommy a look that said they would talk later and walked off to the kitchen with Wilbur on his heel.
“He’ll come around.” Phil assured. “He’s just not the biggest on people.”
Tommy just beamed up at Phil, basking in his ignorance of the situation. “Of course he will! I’m the biggest man ever! He’s lucky to have met me.”
Philza chuckled and heard Wilbur let out a scream. “Let’s go make sure he doesn’t kill Wil.”
Tommy smiled and followed Phil to the kitchen. Turns out Wilbur was only screaming because Techno snuck up behind him while he was looking for something in the cabinets. Tommy could see the strings attached to Techno and Wilbur, green ones like Phil had, and decided he’d mess with him about “whatever happened to not trusting mortals” when they talked later.
Tommy and Techno didn’t get a moment alone for a few days, and when they finally did it was because Phil wanted to take Wilbur to the market but didn’t want to leave the sleeping ‘five year old’ by himself, so Techno offered to stay and watch him.
When Tommy awoke it was to Techno reading some strategy book to himself.
“How do you know Phil?” Tommy asked, breaking the relative silence and making Techno look up from his book.
“Kristins newest patron. He’s who I've been traveling with for centuries.” Techno briefly explained.
“I didn’t know you guys had settled.” Tommy countered.
“Phil had a thing with a fridge, bam Wilbur was born.” Techno almost laughed as he could practically hear the cogs turning in Tommy's head trying to figure it out.
“A…fridge?”
Techno let out an amused huff. “That’s what he told me. We split up for a little while and when we met back up, he had a 5 month old accompanying him and chewing on his hair. Told me the mom was a fridge and refused to explain further.”
Tommy laughed a little bit at the absurdness of it. Once his laughter died down, they went back into silence.
“So are you staying? Here with them, I mean.” Techno asked after a moment. Tommy hesitated for a second before nodding.
“And you're going to do your whole growing up thing again?” Tommy nodded again. Since he could choose his age along with his appearance, he could also choose to mature.
Sometimes, when he found a family he wanted to stick with, he would let himself age until they died or left him. Then he’d change some small feature about him, just in case, and start the cycle again.
“I wanna see how this one ends. The Angel of death, the Blood God, the God of Love, and the offspring of a fridge all as a family. This is either going to go really good or really bad.” Tommy said, smiling lightly at the oddness of it all.
“And you're hoping it's gonna go really good?” Techno said more than asked. It was Tommy's thing. He was optimistic to a fault for eons and would be for centuries more.
“Always.” Tommy nodded firmly. Maybe he’d jinxed it that day. He’ll never truly know. All he knows is that a few months later, Techno and Phil started going back to exploring, leaving Tommy and Wilbur behind since they were both ‘mortal’ and they didn’t want to risk them getting injured, killed, or used against them.
Tommy could respect it knowing how antsy Techno used to get when they stayed in a cabin for centuries. But Phil and Techno started leaving for longer and staying for less time. Wilbur always asked to go and they always said no.
Every time he said no, he could see the green line that once attached them dim and dim until it was hardly visible anymore. Tommy had never felt so helpless as the God of Love. He could tell Techno to stop going, but then Phil would go on his own, because he was an adventurer at heart.
Tommy could tell. Being the God of Love came with the perks of being a great judge of people's character. Their relationship was always meant to be strained because even as a father and son, they couldn’t be more different.
Wilbur was simplistic and enjoyed smaller things and staying in one place while Phil wanted to explore everything as if he would die tomorrow and never get to see it again. They were like Tommy and Techno in a sense. Except even though they had all of eternity together, Techno stayed until Tommy forced him to go. Techno loved Tommy too much to ever think about leaving his side unless he had to.
It didn’t really surprise him when Wilbur decided he wanted to leave as well and take Tommy with him. There was nothing tying him to this house anymore. There was no more of the excitement when Techno and Phil came home. Wilbur still had a good bond with Techno, because he at least sent letters, but it wasn’t the same as the 10 year old who would spend the week before Techno came home planning ‘brotherly activities’ for them to do.
The way he saw it, Techno wasn’t the reason Phil was always leaving (cause he’d gone on plenty of solo trips without Phil when Wilbur was younger), but he was the reason Phil never wanted to come back.
So when Wilbur got a couple of white lists from one of Techno’s old sparring rivals, he took the opportunity and moved him and Tommy to the Dream SMP.
Dream, George, and Sapnap had a pretty strong bond when Tommy first met them. One that Tommy saw as doomed to fail. He could have used his powers, should have used his powers, to force the bond to always persevere but he didn’t because it wasn’t a common occurrence.
He also felt the unbridled chaos lingering in Dream. Someone in Dream’s bloodline, or Dream himself, had been cursed with a dangerous need to always be in control. Control, as Tommy had learned from his time with humans, was like perfume. Sure, some of it was good, but too much would leave a lingering stench.
The stench, in this case, being hurt. Hurt was something Tommy knew well. With Love came heartbreak and with heartbreak came hurt. Tommy hated seeing anything hurt. From the smallest flower to the ender dragon herself.
It’s partially why he always refused to let Techno kill anything except zombies and skeletons while he was in the line of sight. Zombies were souls trapped to roam the earth until they either burned or were taken out of their misery, and skeletons were bodies with no brains or souls, left with a bow and infinite arrows to wander and cause harm.
He could tell this server would cause a lot of pain. Looking back on it, he should have left. He should have taken Wilbur and left. But he was attached to Wilbur, and this place made Wilbur happy, so he stayed.
Wilbur went to explore the SMP, so Tommy let him do his thing and spent a few weeks by himself. He vaguely realized that this was the first time in centuries he had been by himself for more than a few days. He didn’t mind, of course. He had an eternity to be with people.
He hadn’t been here before humans had but he would be here long after they were gone. It started off as him and Techno and it would end off as him and Techno. He may be temporarily lonely, but his brother would be with him in the long run.
For now, he’d be alone for a couple weeks. Or so he assumed before another kid joined the server.
Tommy had been sitting and watching the sunset when he met him. The kid came up behind him and sat next to him. Neither of them said anything for a while.
“It’s pretty, innit?” Tommy asked, breaking the silence.
“Yeah.” The kid agreed.
“I’m Tommy.” He introduced holding out his hand.
“Nice to meet you big man. I’m Tubbo.” Tubbo took his hand and shook it. Suddenly there, the rest was history. They grew a bond faster than anyone Tommy has made friends with in all his centuries of being a god.
He knew their future would likely end up bad, but he bonded with him anyways. If Techno were here, he would scold him for it but Techno is not here so he’ll make self-destructive decisions all he wants.
He got into some kerfuffles about a chestplate and a lemon tree soon after he met Tubbo. It was a fun little battle, something that reminded him of Techno. After it was all settled, he met back up with Wilbur who had acquired a child.
“Who’s this?” The ‘15’ year old asked.
“This is Fundy. Fundy, this is your Uncle Tommy!” Tommy had been an Uncle before. He’s had many many siblings and they’d all had many many kids. He was confused as to how him and Wilbur split up for a few months and this child looked5.
“How-”
“His mom was a fish. For some reason he’s a fox hybrid and has fast aging. I’m not complaining though. He’s my little champion.” Fundy beamed up at Tommy before going back to chasing butterflies.
Tommy could see the strong bond between them. Green mixed with red, yet another relationship doomed to fail. A father who would love his son too much then too little in a desperation not be like how his own father was to him.
It seemed a lot of relationships on this server were doomed to fail, but Tommy convinced himself he could handle it. He’d seen whole countries get torn apart from the inside because of dumb decisions people made off the high of war. A few bonds falling apart, while it still hurt him a little, was something that hardly phased him anymore.
Tommy didn’t realize he was deep in thought until Wilbur snapped him out of it by finishing whatever rant he had been on and saying, “Right Tommy?” Tommy had learned to read Wilbur enough that he could come up with a good enough tone to answer on the spot.
“Right!” He smiled enthusiastically.
“So, how do you feel about scamming a few people?” Tommy grinned and agreed. Sometimes, he vaguely wonders what would have happened if he said no. A drug scam turned into a country and a country led to a war.
What started as Wilbur and Tommy turned into Wilbur, Tommy, Fundy, Tubbo, and Eret. Tommy latched onto each and every last citizen of L’Manburg despite knowing they’d all hurt him and each other eventually.
And hurt him, they did. Tommy knew what he was signing himself up for. He knew what war entailed since he was War’s little brother after all. He’d seen war topple empires and families far stronger than theirs. Doesn’t mean it hurts any less.
He knew something was up when Eret led them to a room so far underground they wouldn’t be able to escape at a moment's notice or be heard screaming from the surface above. He promised them armor and weapons to fight a battle they were so badly losing.
Tommy knew it was a trap the second he stepped into the dimly lit blackstone room. He could tell by the way that Eret was shifting nervously as if he was having second thoughts but it was too late for him to turn back now.
He saw the excited glint in his eye as Tommy pushed the button and Wilbur announced that there was nothing in the chests. When he heard the blackstone mechanics and saw their enemies jump out and slaughter them, Eret cackling maniacally as their death messages started popping up in chat.
“Down with the revolution boys! It was never meant to be.” A line that would haunt all of them in future events. One that some of them would use themselves. A line that led to 4 canon lives being taken in the span of 60 seconds. A record that has yet to be broken.
Tommy thinks that technically it only took 3 since gods technically don’t die. He could summon a totem of undying at will if he needed but even if he didn’t, gods have infinite canon lives and they can choose whether they want to waste one on an injury or not.
A god could bleed for all of eternity if they wanted to. There was a reason that Technoblade never died after all. Maybe that’s why Tommy called for the duel despite hating taking lives. He’ll blame it on the high of war, the grief of seeing 3 people he loved lose a canon life, and the seemingly never ending sense of dread sinking in his gut at being betrayed by one of his blessed.
Tommys blessed were meant to love everything and everyone the way Techno’s were meant to fight for what they believed in and Kristins were meant to help guide souls to limbo (by any means necessary). The blooming hatred they all felt was taking a toll on him.
Tommy had met his counterpart. The goddess of hatred and disgust. They’d met centuries ago. She had been the one to ask Prime to create him because she was tired of the lack of love in the world. Her name was Clementine and Tommy wasn’t even sure she would approve of this.
He didn’t know what he was thinking as he walked those 10 paces. He knows he could have made the shot easily. What does a young adult mortal have on a god who walked the earth before archery was even invented?
But he cherished every speck of life, from the tiniest mustard seed to the biggest jungle tree. No matter how much dream had caused him or would cause him, he couldn’t take his life. So he botched it. Lost what everyone thought was his second canon life right then and there.
He almost left it at that. Let the revolutionary war continue to be just that, a war. But he saw the tiredness and heavy grief on Wilburs face. He saw the way Tubbo looked outside the walls of L’Manburg wishing he could just go out again. He’d seen the way fundy was constantly on high alert.
And he knew Dream wanted the discs. So he decided he'd make a trade. The discs were his original attachments. They had a power to them that only a god's chosen item could have. But at the end of the day they were just discs. Sure he’d miss them like hell because they were one of the first things to help him understand his powers and they’d been through so much with him over the eons, but if they were broken they’d lose that power and he could always make and bless a new set.
And it was only two out of the thirteen (his two favorites but he was willing to overlook that) so he traded them. The discs for L’Manburgs independence. And it worked surprisingly. They got their independence. Everything they’d fought for, died for, they’d won because of a man's need to be in control.
They celebrated for days and even went out to get anything other than the bread and water rations they’d eaten during the war. And Tommy thought everything just might be okay.
Unfortunately for him, Wilbur was ambitious and he always had the need for more, a feat that was both admirable and abominable and could (and would) ultimately lead to his demise. He wanted to rig an election and Tommy should have said no.
But part of love was loyalty and his love made him loyal to a fault. Just another dangerous part of love and one of the reasons he stood by Technos' side as he toppled governments and brought even the mightiest of kings and queens to their knees begging for mercy.
So he agreed to help rig an election. And it backfired hard on both of them. They lost the election and citizenship to their own country. They ran for their lives as their friends, allies, and enemies alike chased them out of the place they’d created with a rain of arrows and maniac laughs.
They’d settled in a ravine where Tommy watched Wilbur slowly devolve further and further into insanity. It scared him. He’d heard of Insanity, a minor god with only immortality and insanity inducement as his powers who could turn the best of mankind into a lunatic with a snap of his fingers.
Techno had once teamed up with him for a war. All of the survivors were eventually put out of their misery by those they stumbled upon after they kept muttering of things only a truly insane person could think of.
Tommy wishes he would’ve told him to leave his blessed alone. He watched as Wilbur severed all his ties one by one. If he ever wanted Wilbur to come back from this, he’d need the help of the one person who’d helped him with everything since the beginning.
He called in Techno. In hindsight, calling the god of war to a war ridden environment in seek of help may not have been the smartest idea. Tommy realized this when he watched his older brother set his best friend off with a bang.
Something inside Tommy snapped at that. His brother knew not to mess with his blessed. It had been an unspoken rule between them since forever. And he’d gone and given one of his blessed scars that would haunt him for a long long time. He fought for Tubbo because Tubbo wouldn’t fight for himself.
In that moment Techno wasn’t the brother who held him when Clara died, he wasn’t the brother that brought him crowns whenever he’d come back from his anarchist trips, he wasn’t the Techno that’d been by Tommys side as long as he could remember. He was just someone who’d hurt those he’d laid his power upon and he needed his reckoning.
But when it came down to it, he couldn’t truly do anything. He’d hardly put up a fight before breaking down into sobs and letting Techno walk away. And for the first time since he could remember, the voices in his head didn’t comfort him. They cried with him.
Everything was falling apart too fast for Tommy’s liking. His last resort was writing a desperate letter to Phil. The man who brought this family together could surely save it before it fell apart. But he was wrong. Tommy had never been so wrong.
Tommy watched on autopilot as Wilbur blew up L’Manburg after Schlatt died. As Phil walked up to him with the enchanted diamond sword in his hand and pushed it through Wilburs chest. Tommy screamed more loudly than he’d ever screamed before as the person who’d been with him through it all stood across from him with a stoic face and an air of destruction following him.
Eventually Tommy stopped screaming because during War there was no time to grieve. He stood across the crater where his oldest brother stood with a wither skeleton skull and an undeniable air of victory.
“Let me tell you a story Tommy.” Tommy shuddered at the coldness in his tone. “Stay...stay still.” He muttered, holding up his shield to protect him from any possible projectiles Techno could fire his way. “A story of a man named Theseus.”
Tommy knew of Theseus. Techno bragged for centuries about a man named after Tommy, a hero at that. Tommy didn’t know what became of Theseus but he knew he existed. “His country was in danger and he sent himself over it, into enemy lines. He slayed the minotaur and saved his city. You know what they did to him Tommy?”
Tommy knew it was a rhetorical question, one Techno would tell him the answer to anyway but he still shook his head hanging on to his brothers every word hoping that this was all a bad dream or a prank and that Techno would take him back to their cabin like the olden days.
“They exiled him. He died in disgrace. That’s what happens to hero’s Tommy. But, if you want to be a hero,” Tommy felt all his bones chill at the laugh Techno let out, “Then die like one!” Tommy felt his whole world freeze.
Everything was running in slow motion as Techno spawned the withers. He didn’t know what to do, how to feel at all of this. The person he loved the most had just taken his heart and shattered it and he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t cry, he couldn’t scream, he couldn’t fight because those are all things that he’d do with Techno there to help him.
But now the skies seemed to dim and everything except the withers seemed to quiet. Tommy was convinced it was the end of the world. It was the end of his. He was vaguely brought out of it by a tug on his arm and Tubbo insisting they had to move . They had to kill the withers.
Tommy caught Phil’s eye. Phil slightly shook his head and went on to help fight the withers. He went on autopilot for the rest of the fight and for the days that followed. He didn’t remember moving out of pogtopia and back to L’Manburg.
He didn’t remember locking himself in his home and Tubbo begging for him to just come out. All he remembered was the phrase repeating in his head over and over like a mantra. “You want to be a hero Tommy? Then die like one.”
The one person he’d trusted and loved and followed his whole life had just destroyed the first thing he ever fought for that he actually felt a connection to. He’d told him to die. How do you come back from that? Tommy didn’t know. He didn’t think he ever would until a new person came along and offered him an allium.
Sure the personality Tommy had chosen to portray led him to lashing out at Ranboo but he’d kept the flower in his house potted and well taken care of. Ranboo was soft spoken and kind and loyal to people to a fault. He reminded Tommy a lot of himself so he blessed him and made the Allium his first attachment.
Tommy’s persona was great at causing trouble so he’d decided to take ranboo to grief George's house. This proved to be not one of the best ideas. He forgot that netherrack fire spread and had to rush to put out a fire, fix the house, and then dip.
They were taken to court for it, Dream being the only one who was really pressing on it, and Tommy was going to deny every last bit of it because they had no real evidence and he’d been exiled alone before and it was no fun. (His first war without Techno and one neither of them liked to talk about.)
Until they got Ranboo involved. If Tommy had been anyone else he probably would have thrown Ranboo under the bus and gotten themselves out of trouble. But Tommy immediately threw himself under the bus despite knowing what would happen in order to save his friend.
Dream immediately called for his exile and he didn’t even fight it. He just boarded the boat with the ghost of his brother and the man who would give him hell and rowed further and further from his freedom.
As the god of love, Tommy knew suffering better than even most other gods did. Suffering was just another part of love people wished to overlook in favor of the sweeter parts. But like love was pleasure, satisfactory and sweet. It was also suffering.
It was being tortured for or by someone you loved because you couldn’t bring yourself to stop it. It was watching someone you loved move on from you. It was being in a relationship where the love was one sided. Suffering in love was like pain in beauty.
It was there, so painfully obviously there but nobody wanted it to be.
It’s why Tommy endured exile for so long. But even gods could only bear so much. He wasn’t at his best and exile was not helping. So when dream blew up his house, he ran.
He didn’t know where he was going at first. He just let his feet take him wherever they saw fit. He didn’t realize he was going to Technoblades cabin until he actually got there. He didn’t know how he felt.
This was- is his brother. The same one who helped him learn to control his powers, the one who comforted him every time he cried for something someone in his domain lost….The one who told him to die a little over a month ago.
He didn’t have time to decide whether or not he wanted to face his brother as he tripped up the stairs and hit the door with a loud bang. He didn’t notice how lightheaded he was feeling until he got back up again.
Techno opened the door with his weapons in hand, only to put it away when it was just Tommy. “Tommy what are y-” Techno didn’t get to finish what he was saying as Tommy passed out at his feet.
If Techno were anyone else, he might have panicked. But he’d lived through enough to know that panicking would get him nowhere. He hoisted Tommy up onto his shoulders not liking how light he was, and placed him on the couch by the fireplace and draped a blanket over him.
He started some tea for whenever Tommy woke up and sat on the love seat opposite to his couch reading some book Phil had given him ages ago. Techno was quiet, just reading for a while, thinking about what could possibly have happened with Tommy and what he should say to him once he awoke.
Tommy finally woke up hours later. He didn’t say anything as he grabbed the cup of tea and glanced at Techno who was eyeing him warily. “I ran from exile. I need a place to stay.” He muttered. Techno nodded slowly. “Okay. But if you’re going to stay here you have to help me with...a little something I’ve been working on.” Tommy nodded.
Techno reached out his hand for Tommy to shake and Tommy silently shook it. He should have asked Techno to clarify what he was working on but he trusted his brother, perhaps too much.
While they prepared for whatever Techno was working on, Tommy got a glimpse of what it was like before techno went off all those centuries ago. He got his brother back.
On a particularly blizzardy night, he decided he wanted some hot chocolate. Even eons old gods loved hot chocolate. But he knew Techno would likely say no if he flat out asked, so he decided to trick him.
He yelled to Techno from the kitchen and Techno came running in a few seconds later with his sword in hand. “What happen-” He was cut off by Tommy snickering.
He put away his sword and turned to look at his little brother who was holding up two mugs, a couple buckets of milk, and hot chocolate packets. “Really?” He deadpanned. Tommy just gave him the most innocent look he could manage. Techno just shook his head and grabbed a mug, bucket, and packet and turned on the stove.
They ended up falling asleep on the couch with Block playing on repeat in the jukebox.
But all good things don’t last, not even for gods. It all went to shit when they went to get Technos weapons.
Love is painful, beautiful, and human. Love is hurt and Tommy is love. There were some parts of his domain he tried to avoid and hurt was one of them. Not only did he end up broken because of it but his patrons did as well. He failed miserably as he said the words to Tubbo that seemingly made the whole world freeze.
“The discs were worth more than you ever were.” 9 words sent his whole world crashing. It was something he said in the heat of the moment. Sure, the discs probably were more important since they were his blessed items after all but they were replaceable.
If there's one thing Tommy learned over the millenniums, it's that inanimate objects that people were attached to were pretty easy to replace. But lives, any of them, they were sacred. There was no coming back from death unless you had the favor of Kristin herself.
It’s why he loved humans so much. Their strive for survival and companionship despite knowing they’ll die someday, things most of the gods themselves didn’t seek out even with being immortal, it made them interesting and beautiful.
He’d had this conversation with Techno once a few weeks ago. When they were sitting on his couch like old times doing their own things and not worrying about the future and instead focusing on just the present for the first time in forever..
“Humans are selfish.” Techno insisted for the seemingly hundredth time. “Humans are odd. They think love and war are somehow opposites and they try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that." Tommy shrugged.
“They’re doomed.” Techno deadpanned. “You think I don’t know that? I’ve seen the wars, hell I’ve lived through them. But, a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts. I think it's a privilege to be among them.”
Techno stared at Tommy as if he’d grown 5 heads. “You’re unbearably naive.” He scoffed. Tommy just shrugged and grabbed a random book off the bookshelf. “Love is as naive as it is insightful. I know what I’m getting myself into, Techno.”
The older one just shook his head and sighed deciding instead of trying to stop him from getting hurt, he would just be there when it went wrong just like he always was.
He became hyper-aware of just how delicate humans were as he could feel tubbos' heart break. He did the only thing he knew he could to make this right, no matter how dangerous it was. “Give him the discs.” He insisted.
Tubbo hesitated. His best friend may have just hurt him but he also knows what this meant to him. “You want me to...to give Dream the disc?” He repeated. Tubbo didn’t know what he wanted. Part of him was happy his best friend was trying to prove that he didn’t mean it, that Tubbo was more important to him than these dumb pieces of vinyl.
Another part of him knew what this meant to him. He knew that Tommy would probably die for the discs if he could. And here he was telling him to give it up.
Tommy was aware of the manifestation of chaos behind him, watching his every move as a would would a sheep. A man cursed with domain so in par with insanity it caused him to do things he normally wouldn’t do. He refrained from fixing a glare on him remembering that he was supposed to be a scared teenager and nothing more.
“Give him the disc.” He affirmed instead. The world seemed to deflate a bit at the utter defeat in his voice. “I…” Tubbo was taken back. In the time he’s known Tommy, defeat wasn’t something he’d ever been known to show. But here he was, defeated and telling him to give his most prized possession to his worst enemy to prove a point.
“He knows he has to pay. He realizes he’s fucked up.” Tommy didn’t have to turn around for him to know dream was smirking behind that ugly white mask. It took all the self control he;d learned from Techno over the years to not fight him then and there.
“I’m sorry.” He chose to say. An apology to tubbo, and to Techno for what he was about to do. “I’m sorry.” Tubbo reciprocated. “No,” Tommy shook his head, refusing to let Tubbo apologize for something far from his fault. “Just give him the disc, okay?”
Tubbo nodded and gave the disc to dream. Tommy moved on autopilot after that. Everything was fuzzy. He let his human side take over knowing if his god side did that he would likely call down XD and smite him for cursing the once kind hearted man and bringing pain to all these children.
(And yes as much as they teased him for being a child, they would always be children in his eyes because he was simply much older.)
He knows Techno knew he wasn’t fully aware but he could still hear the small plea in his brother's voice. Begging without begging, something he’d learned to detect after a long time. He went with Tubbo. He owed the kid that much.
He let them chase off Techno. All he remembers is crying with Tubbo in the cabinet at the end of the day and whispering apologies and reassurances that would likely mean nothing in the long run.
That was the last of the peace they got. The next day they prepared for war. A war they knew was coming, one they could not avoid.
They had gotten overwhelming support from all across the server. People who started as enemies, now coming together for a common goal. To save the unsaveable country. To give this symphony a good ending.
An impossible thing. But that was the beauty of his and Technos' domain and the reason he loved the saying “All’s fair in love and war so much.”
Some people truly thought it meant all is fair but it really meant that in certain highly charged situations, any method of achieving your objective is justifiable. Maybe that’s why they didn’t destroy the tnt cannons as they were being built above the country.
Realistically, one bucket of water would have left the redstone in ruins. But they decided they would fight with honor. They would win by playing as fair as they could.
Tommy liked to think as love, he was resilient. Love is like holding a match. In the beginning, when you first light it, it also lights the world around you. And then you put it on a candle or a campfire, anything to keep the flame going.
And it's beautiful. Watching the flame in your hand doing a delicate dance only those who lit it will resonate with. But sometimes, most times, it gets to the bottom while it enamors you and all that's left to remind you that it was ever there is the burn scars that are on your hand.
Something about seeing his nephew blow up their supplies right before the war reminded him about that analogy. He’d said that nobody was right and Tommy couldn’t agree more. But this was a place he’d fought for and seen people die for.
Hearing Fundy say “If I can’t make people smile, I’m going to make them cry,” as he blew up everything they’d worked for. Seeing him sever a lot of the bonds he’d built in L’Manburg made something twist in his chest.
He stomped it out and geared up with whatever he could find, hearing the patter of dog paws in the distance and knowing they were on the brink of war.
Now left to just him, Tubbo, Ponk, Quackity, Jack, Sapnap, Puffy, Niki and Punz (despite knowing the last two were traitors), they met Techno in the middle preparing to lose with honor.
Tommy doesn’t know if they had that honor. They started off strong enough, picking off the hound army and only losing a few. Then the withers were spawned and Techno whipped out the invisibility potions. He’d known then and there that he’d lost.
He found it ironic that the first explosions didn’t come from Dream’s tnt cannon above, but Niki’s own tnt below. He’d died more times than he could count by the time the tnt cannons finally fired up.
When the first piece landed he simply froze. It was like he was watching a movie, one where the ‘heros’ or those who were considered to be, were finally losing. Seeing people shout to each other for back up as they tried to kill withers, and just barely cover themselves in their shields in time for tnt to go off next to them hurt him more.
Seeing the desynchronization and realizing just how much they’d just lost and would continue to use made him finally snap. He stopped in the middle of the battle field, dropped his weapons, and sobbed.
If the situation had been any different Techno would have found it beautiful. The clash of swords, the high of adrenaline, the fear of those who knew they weren’t going to make it out of this on top. It was everything he was made for, to be on the winning side.
To ride out victory with a stoic grin and red eyes that gave people nightmares. He’d been riding out the high of victory ever since he joined this server, never stopping for a second to come down and reconsider his cause. Because Techno didn’t care about causes or morals, he cared about victory.
But in the midst of the chaos and bloodshed and confusion, he heard a sound that even after all this time never failed to break his usually stone heart. The muffled sobs of his little brother on the wrecked battlefield. There, he finally snapped out of it.
He finally realised what he was doing, that the high of victory, one of the best he’d felt in centuries, was affecting not only him but his little brother too.
Tommy was undoubtedly attached to this country like he’d attached to everything else he loved and Techno had just caused its demise.
He’d seen the way the people on this server treat each other. They killed and betrayed as if it was nothing. The people Tommy had brought together, had built to face impossible odds together with a smile knowing that they would always have each other, were severing their ties like clockwork.
He was war, he had seen better do worse to people much closer than friends. But Tommy hadn’t, not since Techno did his best to protect him from it. It became evident as his sobs became louder and louder.
Techno used his magic to calm the hound army and the raging withers, and stop the raining tnt. He slowly took everyone off the adrenaline high they were feeling and the battle field went pretty much silent as Tommys cries slowly became the only sound heard throughout what was left of the country.
“Tommy.” Tubbo realized, starting to run to his best friend only to freeze when he saw Techno kneeling by him. “Get away from him!” He demanded drawing his sword, “You caused all of this. You don’t get to talk to him.”
Techno scoffed and shook his head. “There’s more going on here than you realize child.” Everyone slowly gathered around the duo, curious and confused. Techno just ignored them and let Tommy cry into him. “Mate-” “Not now Phil.”
Phil frowned and pressed his lips into a thin line, clearly considering saying something but backing off anyway. Nobody spoke up, just letting Tommy cry. Dream was unsurprisingly the one to break the silence.
“Pathetic. Your country is pretty much gone and you're here crying in the middle of the ruins to someone who you betrayed a few days ago. Tears won't bring back L’Manburg Tommy.” Tommy glared at the masked man, waiting til he could form coherent enough sentences to actually respond.
“This isn’t my first country.” Dream looked clearly taken aback since that’s not what he, not what anybody expected Tommy to say. “I’ve built countries bigger and smaller and seen most of them fall in worse ways.” He started.
“Tommy, you're 16. You spent most of your life with us, that’s not possible mate.” Phil lightly explained, scared that another one of his kids was going insane. “I’m not 16, and my name isn’t Tommy.” Nobody asked him to elaborate. He spoke with wisdom and a burden none of them could even begin to understand.
This was not the loud, angry, determined Tommy they knew. The person in front of them was someone wise, someone who’d seen too much but kept hope for something better. They decided they would listen to him for once.
“All’s fair in love and war,” he scoffed looking at the stray gunpowder falling from the TnT cannons above him, “yeah right. Love and war are fickle things. Everyone thinks they are so different but they’re just alike.” Tommy sighed, leaning further into Techno before he continued.
“What do you mean? Tommy, where is this coming from?” Eret asked. “It doesn’t matter where it’s coming from! Because love hurts, okay? And war destroys and blood spills and attachments get lost, worn out, forgotten, and broken.
Love is moving onto a server with your little brother and meeting the love of your life and having a son and starting a country with the two of those three that you have left,” Ghostbur smiled a bit from where he was listening by Phil, “Love is fighting side by side with your best friend and returning home after long battles to two smiling, young, innocent faces,” Phil chuckled a bit at the memories.
“Love is watching your best friend spiral and standing by him even as he pushes you away and does increasingly unforgivable things,” George and Sapnap glanced at Tommy, then each other, then dream, then looked away clearly not wanting to think about it, “Blood is family, both found and made,” Tommy looked at everyone to let them know he was talking about them,
“Blood is spilled needlessly over things as simple as two discs,” The same people who were smiling at him for the previous comparison were now looking away in shame. “War is fighting side by side with your friends even when you know you have no chance of winning the war,” All the L’Manburgians basked in a sense of pride and nostalgia of a battle fresh on their hearts and minds, “War is betraying your country for a crown and title only to have it stripped from you at a moments notice.”
Eret tried to keep a neutral face but Tommy could see the hurt that flashed across their face. He may have been a good king but he was never the best at hiding their emotions. “Attachments are friends you make in the most unlikely of circumstances. Like the burning of a lemon tree,” Sapnap barked out a laugh at the reference to the way their friendship started. It was absurd and violent but that was just who Tommy was, and they loved him for it.
“Attachments scare people so much that they try hard to sever theirs in fear of the Attachments being used against them,” Tommy glanced at Dream who held his ground until he caught the eyes of his best friends, the people who’d been there through it all with him from the beginning.
Vague memories of manhunts, movies, hot chocolate, and an SMP for all of them to share were fresh on his mind. He avoided their gazes and snapped at the boy on the ground. “Why does this matter Tommy? What does any of this have to do with anything? Who cares if Love and War are the same or different? You lost . Stop trying to farm pity with tears and poetry.” He spat.
Tommy shook his head and let a soft version of his natural godly glow overtake him. “But war and blood is him and love and attachments are me and we’re flawed and we’re so different but we’re the same and we love each other anyway.
And we took a chance, multiple chances on you despite knowing how it would end up. We took the chance and you’ve left me in shambles. You’ve left me to watch everything I fought for, die or be destroyed. The friendships I formed, the bonds I tied so tightly. Severed. And some of you did it without second thought. All for what? For power that got stripped from you?
For a vendetta against a dead man cursed by his heritage to never truly be able to love the right way? To prove a point to what you thought was a child that his precious discs were worth nothing?” Tommy gave a laugh that held no humor and everyone flinched at it, not used to it even after his whole speech.
“Where did that get you? In a battlefield covered in soot and blood in the presence of both the oldest god and most adored god, who played your game but have finally had enough.” Tommy watched in amusement as everyone realized what he just said.
“Your….your…” He nodded and laughed at Punz’s surprise, “Theseus. The God of Love and Attachment.” Tommy formally introduced, nudging Techno to do the same. “Technoblade, God of Blood and War.”
Everyone was shocked. “I’ve walked the mortal plane for centuries and I’ve never seen this much hurt in such a short amount of time.” He scoffed. “Tommy-” “Theseus.” He corrected with a fire none of them had ever seen from him.
“Theseus, we’re so sorry. We had no idea.” Ranboo tried. “Of course you didn’t! But the magic a person possesses or the blood that runs through their veins should not determine how much you care about them. I should have listened to techno all those years ago. You lot are selfish. I’m leaving these lands. Everything that represents me, all the things I’ve given you that you all took for granted will be gone until you finally learn.” Tommy started to walk away but Phil grabbed his wrist before he could.
“Don’t touch me Phil. As the reason death chose you as her angel, I really expected more from you.” Tommy glared. “I-” Phil wanted to defend himself, come up with an excuse but seeing Tommys tear stained face and tired eyes reminded him of the kid he found all those years ago, out in the cold and alone.
He couldn’t lie to him and add more stress. Not in good conscience he couldn’t. “I’m sorry.” Tommy didn’t acknowledge the apology and walked further away from them. He was gone in a flash of light. Tommy was gone, and with him he took any chance at peace the server had.
"I should kill you for that. " Tubbo snarled, his glare bearing through Dream. Dream smiles, and chuckles, amused. Dream draws his sword. 'I'd like to see you try, Mr. President. I just blew up your country." Tubbo draws his sword, hissing slightly from the pain. He glares up at Dream, accepting the challenge. He runs at Dream, sword drawn. A flash of pink hair. A bored gaze greets him. His sword is lodged in Technoblade's hand, trembling.
"Tommy's been gone for all of 30 seconds and you start fighting again," Techno laughed, a bitter, unamused tone. Human love so quickly turns to hate. “I’ll leave with Tommy but until he returns, my domain shall reign supreme. I recommend either avoiding each other or learning how to fight as soon as you can.”
Everyone stared gravely at each other and the god walking away. The thought of only being able to bring harm from now on was unsettling to a lot of them. They knew they deserved it. They’d chosen to fight and fight even when the fighting was unnecessary.
They’d chosen war over love countless times and now love chose himself over them for once. They pushed him aside and called him a joke and now that he’s gone they don’t know how they’ll live.
Because Tubbo can’t feel the joy he once felt looking at the compasses Ghostbur got him and Tommy. Fundy can no longer feel the little bit of love he once did towards his fathers ghost. The L’Manburgians can’t feel the love and determination that led to them risking it all despite the odds.
All they could feel was anger. At themselves, at each other. The thirst for revenge was one felt strongly and it scared a lot of them. Techno recognized this. He scoffed and turned to everyone with one last withering glare. He gave everyone a final smite and decided to have a little pity on those his brother used to refer to as his friends.
“You may want to ask Prime to protect you if you can’t protect yourself. And before you go into battle, ask yourself if you treated me with enough respect for you to make it out alive.”
And with that, he too was gone in a flash of red with Phil following in a burst of shadows. It didn’t take long for them to devolve into chaos, only a couple escaping before they were drawn in.
Ranboo and Tubbo locked eyes for a moment, pained expressions hidden by a grim facade. Ranboo took Tubbo's hand softly, and paces ender pearls on them. He clasps Tubbo's hand in his, before he lets go abruptly. Taking an ender pearl in his own hand, Ranboo pearls away from where Tubbo would go.
“Prime protect us. Tommy,” He hesitated a moment, chucking the pearl in a random direction, “I’m sorry.” He whispered, disappearing with only purple particles proving he was ever there. The clashing of swords and accusing words ran rapid in the background.
Things would never be the same.