(A/N: request as a pic. i hope you don't mind that I only decided to do the first one! you can send a request for the second one if you want me to write that too!)
Seven and a half months. 32 weeks. 224 days.
That was how long it took for Luke to finally break into Dream's server to find Tommy.
After everything that had happened on SMPEarth, Luke had decided to split off by himself, to go branch out and try new things. He did keep in contact with the rest of the Bay; every week, they'd send letters. Around the second month, though, Tommy's letters had started to stop, but at that time, Luke was going through hard times, so he didn't really think much of it.
It was only when the letters had completely stopped that he grew concerned, and that concern — along with worry and fear — only grew when Deo and Bitzel decided to personally visit him to talk about Tommy's sudden disappearance.
Through some investigative work, they found out that his disappearance was connected to several others' — names like Philza, Technoblade, WilburSoot, ConnorEatsPants, along with several others... all of them had disappeared, one after the other. There had been no signs of kidnapping, and everything had seemed normal before they all disappeared.
Some of them were last seen around the portal to Dream's server. And those that weren't... well, a little more digging, and it wasn't too hard to figure out who Dream had invited onto his server.
There was only one explanation: Dream had forced them to stay.
They eventually found someone who could help them: ItsAlyssa, a former member of the server, who had walked out one day and supposedly had never gone back in.
A visit to her home-server led to her telling them everything they needed to know.
Alyssa confessed that Dream had been using some sort of admin magic to slowly remove everyone's memories, twisting them to something to fit his ideas, make them play a story that they'd never consented to. She had managed to escape, only because of Callahan, who was somehow immune to the magic, but who had stayed back to make sure the server wouldn't collapse, and to make sure there was an escape route always available should the worst come to worst.
It was sickening.
They needed to get Tommy — to get everyone — out of there as soon as possible.
With a bit of help from Deo's wild magic, Luke's brains, and Bitzel's craftsmanship, they managed to build a fully functioning hacked portal to the server, one that would not put them on the server list, or the player list. They would essentially be invisible to admin logs, unless an admin spotted them.
"Ready?" Deo asked them quietly. Like and Bitzel nodded.
They had all the things they needed, and they had a plan on how to get the most resources in the quickest way possible. Their plan would work.
It had to.
The portal opened, and all three of them hopped through it.
Luke blinked at the place they'd arrived in. It was... some sort of beach, with umbrellas and cakes and mats decorating it, like a beach party. Half of them were destroyed, though. A quick look around the place showed... a mismatch of builds and creations.
"What the fuck?!" a familiar voice screamed, and Luke whipped around to see...
"Tommy," he heard Bitzel whisper.
"Who are you?" Tommy demanded, and gods above, he looked awful. His clothes were in tatters, and his appearance looked no better. What was more concerning, though, was how he didn't seem to recognise them.
"Tommy, don't you remember us?" Bitzel stepped forward, a pleading look on his face. Tommy's face twisted, and he shook his head, still looking wary.
Luke shared a look with Deo and Bitzel. There was definitely something wrong with Dream's server.
"Okay, Tommy, that's fine, just..." Deo went to talk to Tommy, and to perform his wild magic to get him to remember, as Luke saddled up to Bitzel to immediately begin drafting letters to Hypixel, and after a quick check at the server list — with their names noticeably absent, since they haven't really gone through the whole process of officially joining — they sent out messages to some of the known people who had been searching for the missing members, as well as leaving them instructions on how to get in without getting their name on the server list.
There was a loud, wild scream, and Luke spun around as Deo was pushed back, with Tommy shaking and struggling to stand up. Just as quick as it happened, Tommy stood straight up, and blinked.
"Deo?" Tommy rasped. His eyes were bluer now, filled with more colour, and he looked between them wildly, as if he couldn't believe they were really here. "Luke? Bitz?"
"Oh, Tommy," Luke whispered, and that was all it took for Tommy to burst into tears, crumbling onto the ground on shaky knees. They wasted no time in helping him up, soothing him and letting him cry.
They shared a look over Tommy's shaking, crying body. They had a lot of work to do.