Niki kept reading the books first page over and over again. She didn't quiet understand anything. The book was old and the pages were yellowish and the text was written in Tommy's handwriting. How could the book be Tommy's if it was so old?
She took a deep breath in and sighed. This made Eret turn around and look at her behind their glasses, "What's it now, Niki?" He asked from her pinkette sister.
Niki looked back at them, "I don't understand this! This book has only one clear page and it seems to be centuries old! Plus, the only thing here is a letter from Tommy to Tubbo!" She exclaimed. She sighed again and ran her hand through her pink hair.
"Do you think it's just a prank? Or do you think it's real?" Eret asked and got up to walk to his sister. She sat down on the couch next to her and looked at the book. Niki looked at him and pointed at the text, "Look at that. The pages are actually old. But the thing is the fact that the text has been written when this book has been old. Look at it, it blends perfectly in the page!" She pointed out.
"It mentions this person names Aphmau. I remember Tommy saying that name when he left. Then there's Levin and Malachi. He mentioned them too and Malachi was the one who came to get him. Do you think this could be a good letter Tommy wrote when he went to that place called Phoenix Drop?" Eret thought out loud and turned their gaze from the book to Niki.
"I think it might be real, but why did Ranboo have it? Does he know something we don't?" Niki asked the next question. The whole situation was full of mysterious filled with holes. They needed answers, but where could they get answers from.
"We should go ask Phil and Techno what they know," Eret decided. "If Ranboo went to look for the oldest Watson, they have to know who they are," He explained and Niki had to agree. Looked like they were going to the syndicate.
Niki and Eret arrived to the syndicate's territory. They both knew that Techno and Phil wouldn't appreciate Eret's visiting, but this was a special situation and Niki wanted Eret to come with her.
Soon Phil appeared to their vision. He looked a bit confused and concerned. He definitely didn't seem happy about Eret being there, but didn't say anything yet. He walked through the snow to the duo.
"What brings you two here?" He asked calmly, but they both saw how he glared at Eret.
"We have a mystery on our hands. We found an old book with Tommy's handwriting on it. It's a letter for Tubbo and it seems to be from Phoenix Drop," Eret explained politically. They both saw how Phil tensed.
"Tommy's gone," Phil snapped. "We don't need him in our lives. You should throw the book away," He continued coldly. Niki and Eret noticed the way he talked about Tommy. It was pure hatred and disgust.
"I would like to hear more about it," A familiar monotone voice came from behind them. Everyone turned around to face Techno, who was glaring at his father with eyes full of blame.
"Techno-" Phil started, but Techno cut him off, "Shut up!" He snapped and stepped towards his father. "Even if you never had a heart for Tommy, I still do! Tommy's my brother and I love him, even if I don't always show it!" Techno exclaimed to Phil. Phil was his father, but he still couldn't forgive the old blonde after everything he had done to Tommy.
"Come on inside. I want to know what you have found out about him," Techno nodded towards the house, now completely ignoring Phil. Niki and Eret followed him inside and they sat down on the couch.
"So, what do you know?" Techno started kinda awkwardly. He wasn't used to showing people that he cared about Tommy.
Niki quickly explained him the book and Ranboo's odd behavior and leaving. She didn't mention tge oldest Watson yet, because she wanted ask about it after telling everything else.
"Ranboo just left.?" Techno tilted his head. He wasn't exactly worried, but it interested him. He wanted to know where the Enderman hybrid had gone to. Eret nodded, "He went to look for your older brother," He explained.
Techno quickly raises his gaze in shock, "Can you repeat that?" He asked, not wanting to believe what he had just heard.
"Ranboo went to look for your older brother. Apparently he knows something Ranboo needs to know too," Niki explained. She was carefully poking the ice with a stick. She didn't know how Techno would take the news.
"Ranboo went looking for... Grian..?" Techno whispered. He hadn't heard anything about his older brother in years.
"Is Grian your older brother?" Eret tilted her head and looked at the pinkette male, who was showing them a side of him that they had never seen.
"Y-yeah.. Or rather he was.. He got taken away around 15 years ago.." Techno stuttered. He remembered Grian well. He remembered how he had taken care of their baby brother at the age of 11 and at the same time helped Phil with Techno and Wilbur.
"Tubbo told us that he's nowadays living in Hermitcraft. We don't know anything else though," Niki explained. She noticed how something changed in Techno's eyes, maybe it was a peak hope, maybe something else.
"We thought about contacting the lands admin, but we aren't exactly sure how to do that," Eret admitted. Techno thought for a moment, "We could go visit Hermitcraft," He suggested after a while.
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Niki asked carefully. She really wanted to know what was going on, but she wasn't 100% sure if it was a smart idea to go to Hermitcraft.
"Doesn't Fundy know Iskall from there? Maybe we could ask him if he could help us contact Hermitcraft," Eret pointed out. Techno and Niki turned to look at her. They hadn't thought about that themselves. "I can call him right away," Eret continued as he noticed Techno and Niki's reactions.
She pulled out their communicator and chose Fundy's contact. The communicator rang a few times before the fox hybrid picked up, "Hello?"
"Hey, Fundy! You're friends with Iskall from Hermitcraft, aren't you?" Eret began. Fundy sounded a bit surprised when he responded, "Yeah, I do. What about it?"
"We want to contact Hermitcraft's admin. Can you help us in any way?" Eret inquired through the communicator in his hands.
"Uh, well- I can give you Iskall's communicator number?" Fundy stuttered. He was surprised by the request and hadn't been prepared for something like that.
"Thanks, Fundy! We would really appreciate that!" Eret hummed and smiled, giving thumps up to Niki and Techno. "Yeah, no problem. I'll send it to you right away. Just please don't do anything stupid with it," Fundy sighed. The last thing he wanted was Iskall getting mad at him for sharing his number.
"Thanks again! Bye!" Eret cooed and hung up the call. "We're getting Iskall's number! He's hopefully gonna be our ticket to Hermitcraft!" She explained as their communicator pinged that he had a new message.
"Let's just hope it isn't a one-way-ticket," Techno grimaced. He had no idea what Hermitcraft's admin was like.
"Are you going to call him right away?" Niki inquired and tilted her head, making her pink curls fall below her shoulders. Eret nodded, "Yeah. We have to figure out what's going on," She said.
"Didn't you say this book had only one page?" Techno suddenly asked. The siblings spun around to look at Techno, who was currently holding the book. "What?" Niki asked and walked to him.
Now they all saw that there was another letter on the second page. It was again one of Tommy's for Tubbo.
Dear Tubbox,
This is the 2nd letter I'll write for you. Yesterday a villager named Alexis woke up from coma and we had a party for her today. I decided to leave a bit earlier since I don't think that I'll fit in with the young children. I can perfectly fine play with Levin and Malachi, but now there's more children and I don't know if I should join them.
I came inside and started writing another letter for you Tubbo! How are things is Dream Smp and L'manberg? Are you still the president? Is Wilbur still a ghost? Has Techno visited? How's Phil? What's Dream up to? Does anyone miss me..? And most importantly, how are you Tubbo?
I'm doing perfectly fine, but I'm just a bit worried about Lady Katelyn, who's at our docs. O'Khasis seems like a big threat to a village like Phoenix Drop. I have to admit that I'm afraid. Yes, the manly man Tommyinnit is afraid, don't you even dare to laugh Tubbox!
Aphmau also suggested that I should start training to be a guard. That sounds really interesting and I think that I might actually accept the offer. The guards in Phoenix Drop are really cool and strong, I would like to be like them! Maybe I could even learn to protect myself and you Tubbo! Then Dream would be finally afraid of me, that would be so cool!
Yours, Tommy.
They all stared at the letter without saying anything. There were a few parts that got their curiosity. Since when had Tommy been good with children? Since when had he admitted that he was afraid? And the fact that he had mentioned about being a guard when Malachi had taken him.
"This start to seem more and more real, but at the same time not," Niki whispered as she tried to examine the letter with her eyes.
"That would explain his good fighting skills," Techno admitted quietly. He had to admit that Tommy had grown strong and less afraid. When he had left, Techno had seen it. Tommy wasn't just a helpless child soldier anymore, he was a trained guard, who had the passion for fighting.
"I'll just try calling Iskall. I bet he can help us connect the admin," Eret mumbled. They didn't really know what else to say. The second letters appearing had kinda shocked him.
She clicked the number and raised their communicator to his ear. Soon an unfamiliar voice answered, "Hallo? Who's this?"
"Hello there, my name is Eret and I'm a friend of Fundy's. Are you Iskall?" Eret began. "Yes? How may I help you?" Iskall answered. He sounded a bit confused.
"Me and two of my friends have some business we would like to solve with your admin. Could you gave us their number?" Eret asked politically. She kept his calm and glanced at Niki and Techno, who were both staring at them.
"May I ask what kind of business?" Iskall asked from the other side of the line.
"My brother apparently came to Hermitcraft and he was looking for someone. We would like to know what exactly happened to him and the person he came to visit," Eret explained the situation to the swede.
"Oh! You mean the Enderman hybrid who came to visit Grian?" Iskall sounded less confused now. Things were kinda starting to make sense.
Techno's ears perked up once he heard his brother's name. He looked at the communicator Eret was holding and bit his lip.
"Yes, is he still there?" Eret inquired carefully. He didn't want to find out that Ranboo had already left somewhere.
"Actually, he and Grian left somewhere, but if you want to come here, I think our admin has more information for you," Iskall explained. He knew it wasn't the good idea to invite strangers to your home land, but well.
"Alright, we'll be there," Eret hummed. "Can you send me the coordinates?" She inquired.
"Yeah, I'll send them to you. Are you coming soon?" Iskall asked curiously. He kind needed to know when they were coming so he could inform Xisuma about their special visitors.
"We're coming as soon as we can. We'll be there in a day or two, depends on how long the travel takes," Eret hummed and run a hand through their brunette hair. Niki and Techno were still looking at him curiously.
"Alright," Iskall hummed, "Well, I'll go inform our admin. See you soon, I guess!"
"See you! Thank you for your help!"
Eret turned to look at Niki and Techno after hanging up the call, "Looks like we're going to Hermitcraft!"
Words: 2105
(Over 2000 words, wow!)
(Also the picture above is one that I took when here was raining a lot. Here has been raining hard and thundering lately)
(Also, also, people who live in apartment buildings. Do you always check out of the peeking hole in the door before going out? Because I do that to make sure there's no neighbors. Some of the neighbors like to greet everyone and it's always a bit terrifying to get in that kind of social situation, even if all you have to do is just say hey back and then run :D)