Ivory – xxxiv ; Eavesdrop
Created: 10.24.22
Finished: 10.25.22
Edited: 11.24.22
Published: 01.03.23
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Trigger Warning: bandaging, wound, blood, arguing, mentions of death, revival, torture
Word Count: 3023..just 23..23
A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I am late hahaha h e l p - I hyperfixated working on that chapter about Dream meeting Tommy..Can you believe it? 14000 words? It's not even the finale yet! It's unedited so hopefully it would get lessened once I fix it. But most likely, that chapter has to be cut into 5 parts..orr not- I can just separate it for a new chapter, but that also means I have to get rid of one..I'll figure it out.
I am proud you guys are still here, alive, breathing haha- I hope you guys stay around a little longer, I only have to like make 10 chapters more, and edit uhhh 16 more raw chapters, and publish them ahhh so many- I'll slow down once more since classes return this Wednesday, and I have to prepare for exams and all that..yep, as my mother says, "Back to reality."
I enjoyed the holidays, for some reason, I did. Usually, I find them melancholic or anticlimactic? But surprisingly I am..happy, that I am still here, battling another year. I hope you guys enjoyed your holidays too, let's deal 2023 together wooh!- I hope the book gives you comfort whenever you guys need it. The book is going to have 20 K reads soon like how? The votes close to a thousand?? Never have I expected my work has reached this far. It's all because of you guys, honestly..so thank you^^
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"So, let's discuss." Phil takes a sip and places down his cup of tea. Of course, it is perfectly brewed, he's been here for thousands of years to perfect that.
Techno sits beside him, his mask covering his agile eyes watching Quackity across a different seat.
Tubbo wraps another roll of gauze around the duck's arm, it's not much but it was a painful hit,
"After..Tubbo's done with that."
Quackity keeps his tongue, trying not to grunt in pain, "You shouldn't have let him touch your injury..your bandages came off." Tubbo murmurs, his stern voice holds worry,
"Techno I swear to god, you needn't worsen our relationships with them. We already held ties, don't cut it." The piglin only grumbles in silence, the voices difficult to tame.
He didn't hit Quackity cleanly, it wasn't enough, they weren't satiated enough,
"It was fair, Philza. It's alright." The injured speaks up, flinching once Tubbo pulls the bandage firmly to a knot,
"He did mention he's going to kill me if I ever do something bad to Tommy..and I suppose..he's not ready to meet me yet, neither am I." He admits, guilty that he caused his flashbacks and his panic attack,
"Techno had any right to barge in and hurt me. He followed the end of our agreement, I didn't."
Phil sighs exasperatedly, his face clear that he's tired of dealing with these children, "Aight aight- Still, Techno, refrain your blade. As for all of you, we need to work together. We may have different ideals, and quite honestly I'm not exactly fond of you three." He eyes Tubbo, Quackity and Sam,
"And you're close to joining them as well." He hits Techno by the head, he sounds stern, yet the other didn't hit back, "But this is for the betterment of the server I don't exactly give shit about, this is for the safety of us all. For Tommy."
Phil inhales, "Different ideals, but similar goals, similar purpose."
Tubbo narrows his eyes, "You make it sound like you have a plan, Philza."
That made the old man chuckle, "I've lived long to memorise thousands of tactics and battle strategies. We may be dealing with one man, but this is Dream, and he may be alone, but I'm aware he might have used a few strings to form temporary allies..not just us."
Quackity raises his brow, "He had a talk with you two?"
Phil nods, "He came to our cabin, unwelcomed. We agreed to have a deal: we'd support him in killing his redacted target in exchange of..in exchange of bringing Ranboo back."
Sam creases his brows and hunches his back more, at least his face is hidden from everyone,
"I see." Quackity nods, noticing Sam's discomfort, "Since he has the power of the revival book, he can bring anyone back he desires. He already did that hundreds of times to a certain someone." He hums, a thought forming in his head,
"Without limitations, he can basically bring anyone back from the dead..and use them against us."
Techno hardens his grip on his seat, "Disgusting. Utterly disrespectful. You can't use the dead for your personal benefit..Dead people that are already at peace."
Quackity scoffs, "You didn't exactly have issues in sending them there. Need a list of your body count?"
Phil cuts off Techno before he could fire something back, "Do not mention histories. It no longer matters."
Sam blinks at his words, surprised at what he said,
"We can't keep speculating about where we went wrong, what we can at least do is to deal with what is now, and change the future. If this keeps up, Dream can take over the server and ruin those who are against him, even the innocent. That puts you and Sam on the line. I won't be surprised if he's looking for you."
'It already happened.' Sam shifts in his seat, nodding numbly,
"And obviously, he's also looking for Tommy." Tubbo grits his teeth at Phil's words, "His life..whatever is left in him, is at risk. And if he dies again, we don't know if he's still gonna come back."
All of them frown at that, Tommy may be a brat, but he's young...he never deserves to cease existing, "If you guys notice, whenever someone loses their canon life, they come back as a ghost right? This is how it works on this crazy server?"
The other three nod as confirmation, "My son returned as a ghost, Ranboo as well, Tommy..Tommy never got one."
Quackity widens his eyes, "What?"
Phil nods, "Yep. We don't know when ghosts form, they don't seem to be instant the moment they die, but in the end, they'd exist once the person is gone. In the prison, Tommy only died in three days and came back through a revival, there wasn't enough time for a ghost to appear, was it?
"When Tommy was killed again and again, there was no ghost present. His case is different since Dream ensured that he has to be killed and revived in a short time interval..it's no surprise why Tommy's..like that."
Sam squints his eyes, "It's kind of funny.." He admits, quietly and everyone turns on him.
Tubbo glares, "What's funny about Tommy's situation?"
The anthropomorphic creeper shakes his head, "No, there's nothing funny about it. It's just..It's like, even though Tommy's alive right now, he looks like a ghost, a ghost that just..roams around here with unfinished business.
"He may be alive, but is he living, he may be breathing, but is he there?"
Tubbo's blood has gone cold from his questions. He fears that his assumptions could be true.
What if..Tommy's never there at all?
"Who knows? We can talk about Tommy's condition the whole night, but first, we have to deal with our plan in taking down Dream." Phil ends the silence before looking at Sam, "Sam, if you don't mind..explain the functions of the Pandora's Vault."
The other nods and opens his nearly mangled mouth to speak.
oOo
It took almost an hour for Tommy to completely get out of bed. He flinches at the pain of his legs and tries to rub it away.
His head is heavy, exhausted. The nausea hasn't really gone much and it's probably for the best if he stays down.
But still, he desires to get up and walk around and so did. The random room he's in is filled with nothing but a bed he lies on, the rest is empty..It makes him anxious.
It's funny..both tight and open rooms make him anxious, when can he ever feel comfortable?
A noise rings his ears as he backs off from the sound, he opens his eyes and stares at the figures that popped right in front of him,
"Hey Tommy! Nice to see you again." Stars tone seems pleasant, at the same time sickening, he doesn't need stars enthusiasm right now.
Ghostboo sneers as greeting and puts down Michael, the little piglin squeaks once he notices Tommy is around and hugs onto him.
Tommy doesn't know what to do with him, so he ends up giving him a pat,
"Hello, Tommy, good evening! Why are you in bed?" Ghostboo asks curiously. Tommy shrugs and ends up sitting on the bed,
"He probably just woke up- Or has a different sleep schedule from us.." Aimsey points out but Ghostboo frowns at that,
"I don't recall Tommy actually having a sleep schedule.." They murmur before tilting their head at Tommy, "Do you?"
Tommy shakes his head,
"Oh whatever, we should check out the meeting going on." Tommy blinks at their prompt,
"Meeting? What's that meeting all about if you don't mind me asking?" Aimsey asks cautiously, but Ghostboo only shrugs,
"It's just about taking someone down, killing this guy, making the server peaceful and for the better worse." When they mention killing someone, the shorter one's mood goes sour,
"Do they really have to kill this guy? For the better?" Star shakes stars head at the thought, "I'm sure they can talk this out with them right? Talking can work, it wouldn't hurt anyone."
Ghostboo only chuckles, "I don't think this guy can be persuaded or dealt with through words, Aimsey. He talks through violence, so he'll receive that in the end-"
"But that's not right!-" Aimsey interjects, "It's not right to kill someone, I get that he may be a bad person, but his life shouldn't be taken- Talk him out of it, take him to the prison-"
"He was meant to be killed a long time ago, Aimsey..when you weren't here." They emphasise that last clause that shook Aimsey slightly with the fact that star truly doesn't know what's going on,
"He was spared since he has uses, and was in the prison for a year. And..he got out."
Aimsey frowns, "Oh."
Michael squeaks anxiously so Tommy takes him up, "So we're catching up with that meeting or not?" Star asks, trying to sound optimistic..or excited,
That made Ghostboo chuckle, "We're not invited, so we're doing this-" They grab hold of Aimsey's hand and Tommy's and disappear in a second.
The four end up in a spot below the meeting, presumably through the planks and under the mansion.
Aimsey was about to complain but Ghostbo covered stars mouth, even if their transparent hand passed through. They shush Michael as well, and raise their head up to hear what the meeting's all about,
"—I'm not going to do bait, I almost got killed by Technoblade earlier and oh boy I'd rather not have Dream's axe on my ass."
"If we're right, you're the next target of his hitlist so you're basically perfect for this plan-"
"I prefer the other plan honestly- Just take him somewhere and ambush him- Take him to another double date and assassinate him. Be done with it."
"Even though his death is certain, we can't kill him immediately. As much as we deny it, he's important and a border between the living and the dead. He can bring anyone back, the power should be preserved and used responsibly."
"I'd be nice and jog your brains a little bit, Sam, I don't think Dream's that kind to hand over his power to us and kill him. I already tried that enough. With or without his necromancy powers, he's dangerous as is and should be killed. At this point, I don't give a damn about the revival book. It fucked everything up. It should fuckin' burn-"
Aimsey peers through the cracks, trying to identify anyone, "The revival book..is that the thing you're supposed to use to bring people back like you?"
Tommy feels his head getting heavy, he does not like those two words...but he's sure that he heard it before,
"I guess so. I don't know." Ghostboo replies back, vaguely, seemingly interested to the meeting going on,
"No. No we're not going there-"
"As much as I hate to say it, Tommy can be of good use to thi-"
"We're not involving Tommy here!"
"Tubbo-"
"I'm not agreeing with this! I'm not going to let anyone use Tommy just to kill that bastard!"
Tommy can hear his voice..his voice..Tubbo.
He sounds mad..it's similar to that guy who was crossed with him earlier.
He finds it surprising how much Tubbo sounded like he cares about him, he thought he hated him.
"It's not completely thought out, Tubbo. It's just a possibility. And most likely, we're not using Tommy. He's been through a lot."
Tubbo plops down from his seat, and looks away with a furious glare.
Sam keeps his mouth shut and Quackity has had enough of arguing.
Phil refills the teapot, his calm aura is uncanny. Techno remains his cool, barely paying attention to the meeting, his mind elsewhere,
"To sum it all, most likely the bait would be Techno and I, or Quackity. If Dream plans to have another visit for our discussion, then us being baits would be the case. It would either be at the cabin, or the Pandora's Vault. If it would be in the prison, it would be an immediate gamble."
Sam nods, "Whether it's a meeting or a trap."
Phil snaps his fingers, "Precisely, you and Quackity should be ready anytime to intervene and deal with him together. I'm sure Techno's delighted to show his breakout plan."
Techno rolls his eyes and munches on another cookie, he doesn't want to think about it,
"If this won't do. Then you-" Phil points at Quackity whose glare remains constant, "-have no choice but to be the bait. Especially if we identify that you're the one Dream's looking for."
Crossing his arms, Quackity clicks his tongue, "If this kills me, you're dead. I want Dream gone. And I want you two-" his eyes dart on both Phil and Techno, "-out of my life. You hear me?"
"If you keep the deal then-"
"Someone's listening."
"Obviously someone's listening, you idio-"
"I'm serious. Someone's listening."
Ghostboo covers Michael's mouth, keeping him down. Aimsey holds onto Tommy and shushes him quietly, Tommy in return, gives star the look like 'bitch you think I can speak?'
Techno gets off from his seat and scans around, "There's not just one pair of ears. Two..three..-"
"How can you even tell?" Sam asks, finding it sceptical.
Techno keeps his mouth shut, following his gut feeling,
Someone's indeed listening beside us." Phil believes his best friend and gets up from his seat.
Tubbo as well, "I better check Tommy then-"
There's a noise all of them find all too familiar. Techno's pig ears twitch and slam his sword against the planks
With a pull, the planks break and give way, widening his eyes to realise that there's passageways down there.
The goat joins him and blinks, "It's Ranboo's."
Quackity chuckles, still in his seat with his cup of tea, "Someone's a little chismoso."
oOo
"I may or may not have messed up-"
"You certainly have messed up. You teleported, noisily, Ran." Aimsey scolds them. The ghost only rolls their eyes, not making this as a big deal,
"Their anger does not fear me, I'm dead anyway." Their friend looks hurt at that remark and goes silent.
But honestly, they're right. They are dead.
Tommy sits down at the bed and looks down at Michael who pays attention to his green scarf. Noticing this, Tommy pulls his scarf off and lets the piglin play it. He has a feeling something bad might happen and it's now or never-
"Tommy! Tommy you there?! Ah, you're- Wh- What the fuck?! You!" The four turn at the door and see an agitated Tubbo.
Aimsey can already tell that star's not supposed to be here.
Crossed, Tubbo enters the room completely, "You're not welcome here, and Boo..I know it was you. You were the one listening to our meeting."
Shrugging, Ghostboo floats around, "I may or may not be listening. Besides, it seems a tad bit unfair that I'm not invited to this meeting."
Tubbo narrows his eyes, "You're not going to be involved with this, I don't trust you."
Ghostboo nods in understanding, "And whose problem is that? I could be of use in this uprising. With me being a ghost and able to teleport, I could be helpful-"
"No you won't- You're just going to stay here and take care of Michael! You're not messing with any of our plans! You're not meant to listen to the meeting! I told you to stay out of it!"
Aimsey furrows stars brows and stays close to Tommy.
Tommy only stares at the people in front of him, puzzled as to why they're fighting.
Michael plays the scarf still, he seems desensitised; unbothered whenever his parents fight,
"You still don't appreciate me, do you, Tubbo? You still don't want me around? You don't want Aimsey around?"
Tubbo ignores his questions, he'd rather not answer, "Get her out of here. And if you want to join her, then do so."
Scoffing, they float down and grab hold of Aimsey's wrist, "Gladly." And poof he and Aimsey's off and away before Tommy could even react.
Michael raises his head and frowns, realising his other father disappears from his sight once more.
As for Tubbo, he slumps on the free seat available to him, groaning in both annoyance and knowing well he fucked up again,
"And the fucking up of Tubbo in trying to stay as a sane person continues-" Techno mimics an announcer once his masked face is visible by the door.
His expression may as well be hidden, but his grin is clear and day,
"'Bout to continue if you don't keep your boar mouth shut-" Tubbo gets off from his seat and chases Techno off.
Phil sighs and gets inside the room where Tommy and Michael are in, "It seemed that the ghost has pried in our little meeting?"
Tommy didn't react to show whether he was telling the truth or a lie.
With that, Phil chuckles, "You're easier to read back then because of your voice and body, now..I don't see much but your stare."
Quackity and Sam are close to the door, witnessing another duel inside the mansion consisting of an anthropomorphic pig and goat,
"I swear sometimes I think this place is just a fever dream and I'd wake up from this nightmare fuel." Quackity randomly admits, his hand playing with a coin as he lets it flip over finger to finger.
Sam looks at him for a second before his gaze is upon the other two, getting each other's throats, "At least I'm not the only one's pondering that..really wished this is just all got something to do with Bad's apple juice."
That made Quackity laugh, "Christ that fucker's an alcoholic these days. He once asked me to take some of that- Shit it was actually sewer water-"
Sam blinks, "No wonder he's completely gone cuckoo..he prompted me to drink with him. Wonder how he's doing."
The duck raises his hand, "Raise to think that this is all just that egg-obsessive maniac's apple juice. We're blaming Bad's alcohol addiction right here and now."
Sam chuckles, raises his hand as well, "Call."