(Tw panic attack)
Cat and mouse. The cat, looking for the mouse, waits patiently by its home. After a while, the mouse gets curious, thinking the danger is gone. It peeks his head out, looking around making sure its demise wasn't imminent. As it sees the cat, it's too late. The cat swipes up the vulnerable creature. Batting and cuffing it across the floor. Once in a while it would fling the helpless into the air, letting it land on the ground.
The mouse would play dead. Laying still. Hoping for the cat to walk away. But the cat waits. When the mouse takes its chance, and bolts to safety, the cat catches it. Pinning it to the ground. Cat and mouse.
A child's game.
And, as time goes on. It evolves. The chase turns strategical. More players are added. A king added here. A knight added there. One by one the pawns and bishops are added and taken away.
"Checkmate."
Tubbo stared at the board, a sigh coming from the young president. Before a smile spread across his features. It wasn't like this hadn't happened before.
"You always win Dream."
Dream shrugged nonchalantly. "I'v been playing it longer." He started to reset the board. One piece at a time.
"I was thinking..." Tubbo hesitated. It wasn't like he needed Dreams permission. "I was thinking on visiting Tommy."
Dream looked up from the chess board. "Visit Tommy?"
"Yeah." As Tubbo spoke, the more eager he became. "I haven't seen him in....well...weeks! And...I miss him Dream. He belongs in La'manburg."
Tubbo looked away in the direction of Tommys house. It sat dormant, waiting for its owner to return. The torches had been snuffed out. It was dark and unusually cold. Tubbo didn't really like heat. Techno had made sure of that. But the cold of that house...it was unnerving.
The server felt dead without him.
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea Tubbo..." Dream warned, continuing to reset the game.
Tubbo frowned. "Why? He's okay right?"
A sigh came from Dream. He put the piece he had been holding down. A king.
"He's become violent. Extremely."
"What? Tommy? I mean, I know he's a bit thick in the skull and troublesome, but violent? The only times that's happened was when danger was there. Tommy's not intentionally violent."
Dream shifted his mask, letting half of his face be revealed. Eyes the color of cold poison bored into Tubbo. He wanted to make sure Tubbo understood that he couldn't see Tommy.
"Tubbo...he blew up Logstedshire. He tried to blow up the rest of his camp too. I don't even know where he got the TNT for it."
Tubbo was stunned. He...he had banished his best friend so that wouldn't happen. So that he wouldn't turn into....but he... No. There had o be an explanation. There had to be some sort of reasoning. Tommy was smart. Worse than smart, clever. He would know the risks of such actions. So why did he take them?
"No. He wouldn't do that! He...he couldn't blow it up."
"I can't let you get hurt, Tubbo. This server has been at a resolved peace, and I fear that if Tommy hurt you, it might change for the worst."
Tubbo was silent. He didn't know what to say. Was Tommy turning into Wilbur? "What happened to him?" If Dream was telling the truth....
Dream looked at Tubbo, before replacing his mask. "I had to restrain him, he's isolated in a safe place. I'm hoping, once he calms down, I can get him to see reason. Then you can see him."
There was an eerie feeling in his stomach. Dream wasn't telling the whole truth. Tubbo would stand for it. He was going to go to Logstedshire. Just to see for himself. He needed to make sure. Dream had been an enemy for the longest of time, and things like that don't change easily. Especially not as easy as a one person exile.
Tubbo slumped in his chair. Dream stood, walking to the boy. He rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'll keep him safe."
*
"Techno! If you hit me that ******* hard again I am going to blow all of your **** up!" Tommy hissed, clutching his side that had been bashed with a practice sword.
"You just need to be better," came the emotionless response.
"How the **** can I get better if you beat the **** out of me? Stop trying to ******* break my legs you son of a *****! I'm ******* blind!"
A sigh. Oh how Techno missed the silence.
"Tommy, we've been over this. You have to learn how to defend yourself. Stop only using you ears. Now, try again."
Tommy stood still, glaring as best he could. He didn't want to do this anymore. Techno lunged, placing the point of the wooden sword into Tommys gut. Another angry hiss came from the boy as he blindly swung his own sword. Techno easily glanced it off.
"You slashed too much. Not to mention you'd be dead."
"Techno, I don't ******* care, okay. I don't care."
Techno looked over the boy. His sightless eyes stared back.
"We'll try something different."
A groan came from Tommy. He was so done with Technos "lessons." He just wanted to go inside with a warm cup of cocoa and snuggle in the blanket he had been borrowing.
But he followed the footsteps.
Techno opened the door to the first floor of the cabin. He shuffled through the chests that were staked against the wall. He needed something strong. He picked out the blaze rods. A sweetly iron scent swept over the room. It smelled like a freshly cut bit of metal.
"Tommy?"
"I'm right here big man," he responded as techno stepped out of the house.
His brows furrowed as a new scent entered the air. It smelled of a fresh weld. Like melted metal.
"What is that?" He asked, his head tilting slightly.
"The first thing we need to do, is strengthen your other senses. Smell would be a good start. This is a blaze rod. We are going into the woods."
*
The snow was freezing against his palms. He sat in the middle of a cluster of spruce, waiting for a sign of movement. Sitting crisscrossed, his ands balancing him, he listened.
Techno had brought him into the middle of no where. Apparently to "heighten his senses." What a load of ****.
"Left!" he called out, that same melted smell wafting over him.
Techno stood by one of the taller trees to Tommys left. He figured he could start with something with a strong oder, and slowly diminish the strength of the scent. If Tommy could identify the smallest thing with smell, then that would be one more thing that was out of the way.
"Technooo," Tommy whined, falling on his back with a 'whumf.' "Can we go back now?"
He was board and slightly cold. he was tired of the 'training' Techno was making him go through.
"You have to know how to do this. It'll help immensely."
Tommy rolled his eyes. How was the ability to smell a corn flower from a mile away going to help him? But he went along with it.
Time moved on, Tommy calling out the directions Techno came from, holding the blaze rod. Each time it got easier. Tommy was able to sense Techno from further and further away. By the time they were done, he could sense a blaze from the next dimension.
"Well, this was a waste of time," Tommy muttered, standing and brushing the snow off his pants.
His head swung around the surroundings, trying to find any glimpse of Techno. He waited some five minutes before he got board. Where was he? He must'v gone out further.
With a huff, Tommy started walking. He could still smell the hot iron. and it had been stronger at his left side. So he proceeded to follow the scent. It was really the only thing to do, wasn't it.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he shivered. He was wearing one of Technos spare cloaks, but the damp chill still seemed to sneak into his muscle.
"Techno!" He called once again. "Techno where are you!" A small growl came from the boy. "Stupid pig."
He paused. A new scent had entered the air around him. The smell of sulfur and charcoal. He turned slightly, trying to find the source of this new scent, before he heard the slight crunch of snow and a hiss.
Gunpowder.
A ricocheting boom sounded and echoed from the trees. A blazing heat seared around Tommy, flinging him away from the blast.
*
Techno had made sure not to go too terribly far. He knew Tommy would follow soon after he left, and he made sure to stay ears distance away. That was, until he heard the explosion.
In a swift movement he turned and bolted towards the sound, sword automatically drawn. His eyes caught the glimpse of the burnt tuffs of the trees around the center of the creepers blast.
"TOMMY!" Techno was panicked. He looked around wildly. "Please be okay, please be okay. Ohhh Phil's going to kill me," he muttered under his breath.
A sigh of relief as he saw Tommy against a tree. But that instantly turned to an icy alarm.
"Tommy?"
He had pushed his body against the rough bark of the tree, arms clung tightly around himself. His items strewn the ground around him. But the most unnerving, was the fear. His pale, blinded eyes shown the vivid liquid fear. Fear that shouldn't have been shown in such an injury.
"I-I-I'm sorry. I did-didn't mean to h-hide them. I-I just wanted some-some place to m-myse-self," Tommy squeezed his eyes closed. "Dream, j-just let me keep the picture. Please?"
"Tommy." Techno rested his hand on the boys shoulder.
He shrunk back at the touch, a shudder resinating from his frail body. He looked so much smaller. The wight of his exile crushing his shoulders, making him sink deeper and deeper.
"What did he do to you?"