"I'm heading out!" Technoblade called.
"Wait!" Mellohi cried. She tackled him in a massive hug, which he returned awkwardly. "Stay safe!"
"Thanks, kid," he responded with a smile. To Tommy he said, "Don't steal anything, and try not to set the house on fire."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The child waved him off.
Techno rolled his eyes at Mellohi, who giggled. He tousled her messy indigo hair, and then he was gone.
She and Tommy stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
"So." The little Enderman dragged out the word. "What do you wanna do?"
"I dunno," Tommy shrugged.
More silence.
"Do you want to build a snowman?"
:-:-:-:-:
Somehow Mellohi convinced Tommy to build a snowman with her, but the conditions were that it had to be the biggest snowman ever, and they had to have a snow fight afterwards.
Tommy worked on rolling the base because it was the largest, and he said Mellohi wasn't a big enough man for it.
"I'm not a man, and neither are you," she pointed out.
"Shut up," he muttered, chucking a snowball at her. He missed. Badly.
The little Enderman stared at the place the snowball had landed, then glanced back at Tommy. Her distorted grin was full of mischief.
Before the boy had a chance to blink, Mellohi gripped the large snowball she made and disappeared. Her friend glanced around wildly. Suddenly, she teleported above him in a flash of purple, and dropped the gargantuan mound of snow on top of him. She fell to the ground with a loud oof, just the same as Tommy. Only he was crushed under the snow.
"MELLOHI, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Tommy screeched. Mellohi also screeched as the fuming boy exploded from the snow pile, charging at her. He chased her around the cabin, tripping and falling occasionally. Every time he did, though, the little girl slowed down to make him feel better.
As they were sprinting about, immersed in their game of tag, Mellohi crashed into something. She thought it was a tree, but quickly dismissed the thought when it fell over and began to laugh. The little Enderman glanced up in worry, only to find that she recognized the snow-covered face. Philza was lying in the snow, grinning his face off. Mellohi lit up, her tail wagging in excitement.
"Dadza!" she cried. She paused. She laughed. "I'm sorry! I called you Dadza instead of Philza!"
"It's okay, mate," Phil chuckled. "You can call me Dadza. That's what the crows call me anyway."
"Really?!" Mellohi's purple eyes sparked under her blindfold.
"Really."
"Oh, Dadza!" she squeaked. "I missed you so much!"
Phil laughed again. "I missed you too, little Mellohi."
"Alright, get up," Technoblade snickered, towering over them. "You don't want to catch a cold."
Techno helped his friend and the little Enderman off the ground. Tommy came stamping up to Phil, still ticked off about getting buried in snow. Mellohi hid behind the Piglin, who chuckled and picked her up in a piggyback.
"Phiiiiiiiiillll!" Tommy whined. "Mellohi buried me under the snooooooow."
"Oh, here we go again," Phil muttered under his breath. "Tommy, did you deserve it?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"That's what I thought."
Mellohi was laughing along with Phil when she noticed Techno started toward the cabin.
"Techno?" she asked. "What's the matter?"
Though she couldn't see his face, she could tell by his tense posture that what he was about to say wasn't good. "Get your gear," he said. "There's something you gotta see."
:-:-:-:-:
The community house was in ruins. It looked like someone dropped a nuke on the place. And judging by the shouting in and around the decimated structure, the primary suspect was....Tommy?
Mellohi glanced at where the boy would've been, had he not been invisible. She flicked her tail nervously as she sensed his shock.
"Oh, no," Sebastian breathed. "What happened here?"
"By the looks of it," Dexter remarked snidely, "it was blown up."
"No shit, Sherlock," Lavender deadpanned.
Mellohi snapped her tail, almost like a whip, quieting the voices and alerting Technoblade and Tommy. Phil stayed back at the cabin.
She crept forward, taking her brothers' hands. She pulled them along, stealthily dodging the mass of people arguing in the ruins. They snuck closer in an attempt to hear what was being said over the mass murmuring.
They noticed Dream at the center of attention, with Tubbo next to him. The Avengers, along with Ghostbur and many other members of the SMP, were perched on wildly-placed platforms that remained.
"Argh!" Dream growled, pacing angrily on what little of the floor remained. "Tommy, that little prick! How dare he blow up the oldest building on the server!"
Tommy's hand clenched as tight as it would go, forcing a stifled squeak of pain from Mellohi.
"No!" Tommy shouted, unable to keep his mouth shut any longer. "No, that isn't true!"
"Wha—Tommy!?" Dream sputtered. Tommy threw on his armor to be seen, because he was still invisible.
"Tommy, what are you doing here?" Tubbo muttered.
"I came here because I need to clear this up," he snarled, the invis wearing off. "I didn't blow up the community house!"
"Oh, really?" Tubbo retorted, gesturing to the ruins. "Cause it sure as hell doesn't look like it!"
"You know what?! I don't need you to believe me. You exiled me for no reason, you never once visited me in exile, and you don't seem to care that I'm back!"
"I thought you were dead!" Tubbo cried. "And I exiled you for the safety of L'Manburg! Those discs have clouded your mind, Tommy!"
"Speaking of the discs," Dream interrupted, "as far as I know, you have the other one, Tubbo. So why don't you hand it over?"
"Don't you fucking do it, Tubbo," Tommy snarled.
Tubbo placed down his enderchest. Tommy's breath hitched.
"What have the discs ever done for us?" the ram wearily asked. "All they've ever caused is pain and war."
"Tubbo."
He pulled Mellohi out of the chest. The Enderman's eyes widened in worry, and she clung tighter to Techno.
"You know what?!" Tommy shouted, coming out of his shocked trance. "Fuck you, Tubbo! Fuck you!"
"Tommy, I'm doing what I need to do to save L'Manburg!" Tubbo raised his voice to Tommy's level. "The discs don't matter! I only want what's best for—"
"THE DISCS, TUBBO!" Tommy screamed, finally hitting his breaking point. "THE DISCS WERE WORTH MORE THAN YOU EVER WERE!!"
Silence. Everything was bathed in silence. Mellohi began to choke on it. She saw Tommy's eyes widen in realization, and Tubbo's in hurt and betrayal, but it was far too late to take it back. With a shaky sigh, Tommy hung his head in defeat.
"Give him the disc."
"But—"
"Give him the disc, Tubbo," he snapped.
The ram solemnly nodded his head, and handed the precious music disc to Dream. He laughed maniacally.
"You idiot," he howled. "You just gave me the one thing that I need to destroy L'Manburg! I never cared about you! I never cared about anyone! All I cared about was getting the disc, so I could destroy L'Manburg!"
He turned to Techno and Mellohi, who's invis had completely worn off. The little Enderman shrunk behind her brother in fear, despite having had help from Dream in the past. She didn't like this side of him.
"Techno," he said.
"Yeah?" The Blade replied warily.
"Got any Withers?"
Realization dawned on his Piglin features. "Oh, Dream. I got a few Withers."
"Blood for the Blood God," chanted the voices. They were in a trance, something Mellohi was beginning to fear.
Dream cackled wildly. "Tomorrow at three. L'Manburg is going down! This will be it's final stand! Wilbur's forever unfinished symphony!"
And with that, he was gone.
Techno stood awkwardly in the center of what once was the community house. Everyone was staring at him angrily.
"Welp, I'm out!" he said eccentrically. "There's, like, thirty people here!"
He launched an ender pearl with all his might toward the portal, leaving Mellohi in the dust.
"Techno!" she cried. Now she was the center of attention. Tommy and Tubbo were staring at her with caution.
"So, Mellohi," Tommy asked. "Are you with me, or The Blade?"
The little Enderman's heart sped up. She didn't think this far ahead.
"Uh," she stammered.
She had to choose between her best friend, who she promised never to leave, and Techno and Phil, who were the kindest to her when no one else was there.
Mellohi clutched her head in her hands, as if it would stop it from spinning. "I-I don't know..."
"Well, which is it?" asked someone in the crowd. "L'Manburg or The Blade?"
Tears began to prick at the edges of her sensitive eyes. She didn't want to choose. She couldn't choose.
"Blood."
"Blood."
"Blood."
"SHUT UP!" she cried, trying desperately to clear her head. Someone came up from behind her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she flinched away. She screeched, her voice warbled. The tears were burning, burning so bad she had to press her blindfold into her eyes.
"Mellohi?" came a muffled voice. "Are you alright?"
"I don't know!" she cried. Her body began to split, trying to get away, to teleport somewhere, anywhere. It couldn't decide, causing the poor child to cry out in agony.
Finally, finally, her body came to it's senses and focused on a certain place. The world spawn.
It seemed to be the ruins of a building, but judging by the mess of materials smashed together, one could only assume it was someone messing around.
Mellohi found a good place to crash, and crash she did. She collapsed against a wall, and let all of her anxiety and worry and fear and confusion spill out into the quiet woods around her. Her sobs were woeful, and her tears were fat and ugly. But she didn't care. The pain of her tears only made her cry harder, but again, she didn't care. Never in her life had she wept as much as she was now, not even when the water was dumped upon her. Aside from the burning on her skin, crying felt....good. Refreshing.
She ripped off her blindfold to keep it from getting soaked with tears, and when she glanced up through the blur, a ghostly figure was hovering awkwardly beside a pine tree.
Mellohi knew his name. Her friend. The only one she could trust at the moment. Even though she couldn't speak, he knew she wanted him next to her. The precious phantom softly plopped down next to his little Enderman companion and wrapped her in a ghostly hug. He wept his vivid blue tears along with her as she struggled to make the hardest decision of her ten-year-old life.
"What do I do?" Mellohi wailed. "What do I do, Ghostbur? How can I possibly choose between a promise I made to my best friend and an unspoken alliance with Techno? I love them both too much, but if I choose a side, I'll lose one of them!"
Ghostbur was rubbing cold, calming circles on her back. He handed her some blue, which she took gratefully.
"Mellohi, I think you should do what your heart tells you to do," he replied soothingly.
"But what if it's the wrong thing to do?" Mellohi sniffled, her tears finally calming down. "What if I make everything worse?!"
"Well," the phantom pondered, "I'm not sure what to do about that. But what I can say is that you shouldn't focus on the 'what if's', because it will only make you more stressed. Perhaps you should go over the pros and cons of every situation. Then, choose the best option!"
Mellohi giggled. "What would I ever do without you, Ghostbur?"
"I'm not sure."
The little Enderman laughed again, and leaned in closer to her ghostly friend. He summoned a guitar and began to strum a soothing tune. Mellohi wiped the rest of her tears away as he sung a song about a girl named Vienna. She tied her blindfold back on, and closed her weary eyes as the calming melody slowly lulled her to sleep.