The Freedom I Wanted [REWRITE]

VII. The Tree House

When Aphmau came and proposed the idea of build a tree house for the boys, Tommy was pretty excited. He really liked the idea and had never had a tree house.

"I got this Yggdrasil forest tree sapling from Zoey. It should make a huge tree that we can build the tree house to. I'm sure the boys will like it," Aphmau exclaimed, clearly excited, as they walked towards the spot she had in mind.

"Yggdrasil forest? What is that?" Tommy asked curiously. He had never heard of anything like that.

"Yggdrasil forest is where Zoey is from. Elves and fairies are raised there. It's a forest with trees that are never cut and have grown really tall, as tall as this one will. No one else is allowed to visit it than the elves and fairies," Aphmau explained as they reached the spot where she wanted to plant the tree.

"Right, Zoey is an elf. I've never really seen any elves before. From where I come from a huge part of the population are just humans," Tommy said. There were a few hybrids and shapeshifters on the Dream Smp, but he had never before seen an elf. Phoenix Drop also seemed to have Werewolves and Meif'was that he hadn't seen on the Dream Smp.

"How exactly was it from where you're from? Would you like to tell me?" Aphmau asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked a bit worried, remembering how broken the boy had looked when she had found him.

"I uh," Tommy hesitatedly started. He really wanted to get at least some of it out of his chest, so he decided to take a deep breath and let his heart out. "I was raised by my brother, who was taken away when I was four. I had two other brothers, twins, but they were taken away by my father who wanted to travel with them. I was left alone until a stranger came and took me to a different place. There I met someone who I will always consider as one of my brothers. I was four and he was just eight, but we managed to survive in an absolute hell. I escaped, but kept going back. We the twins and I were invited to a different server, I finally left that hell hole behind. But when we switched servers once more, my brother, Wilbur, decided to start a nation for drugs. It escalated as the owner of the server didn't like the idea and we went into a war. I was just 15 and a child soldier. We lost the war, but kept our independence. Only to have an election and lose it. We were exiled from our L'manberg, our nation. With the help of Wilbur's twin, Techno, we overthrew the dictator, but that wasn't enough for Wilbur. He had gone mad and exploded L'manberg. Then their dad joined and killed Wilbur in front of everyone. Quickly after that I was exiled because the owner of the server saw me as a threat to him. That's where you found me, exiled."

Aphmau was absolutely speechless. She had tears in her eyes, feeling so bad for her son. Quickly she rushed forwards and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. No child should ever have to experience things like that. Oh my Irene, I can't believe how cruel some people can be!" Aphmau rambled, still stunned. "I promise you that I will never allow anyone to hurt you. I won't let them lay a single finger on you!"

Tommy was stunned as well. He hadn't expected this woman that he had met just a week ago to already care so much about him. He didn't quite understand how she cared about him, but he was glad she did. She had really saved his life.

-----

     After the emotional moment, they went on to continue building the tree house. The Yggdrasil forest tree grew enormous. Tommy was surprised by it. He had never before seen a tree so tall.

"Woah! It's so fucking tall!" he exclaimed as the tree rose before them. His amazement could be heard easily.

Aphmau chuckled, "You get used to different types of tree when you travel around the world. I've travelled quite a lot when I was younger. I have seen multiple different worlds and realms. Some of them were very beautiful, others had lost their beauty to corruption," she explained. The look in her eyes was plaintive.