{Page 21}

Chapter 20
The past isn't always so bright

(Play music if ya want to! Enjoy!)

"How can you not trust your own father?"

"How come I can't make a decision?" Tommy spat out. Tubbo winced at his tone, however, Tommy has a point.
"It'll home to you eventually Tommy. Look, I think Phil has a plan." The two noticed the people gather around, Phil being in the middle. He looked very serious.

"Let's go, I think they might have a plan on what we'll do." Tubbo tugged the sleeve of Tommy's shirt and ran towards them,
Tommy lagging behind purposely.

He arrived, keeping his distance and standing beside Tubbo at the back.

"I do have a place where we can all stay but only for a short while." Philza explained, looking at the sky then at them.

"Well?" Fundy questioned, the others agreeing with him.

"Skyecrest. I have been..in contact with the Queen and King and I'm sure they'll allow us to stay for the time being, however, not forever. We must plan our actions now."
Tommy thought he was hearing things, Skyecrest? Bad and Skeppy are there, maybe sice Tommy and Tubbo had already visited him this could increase their chances on staying longer?

"Phil!" Tommy called out, the man and everyone turned their heads to Tommy. He gulped under the pressure.

"W-well. Me and Tubbo have visited there before so..." Tubbo nodded, backing up his story with the Royal Ball.

"And me." Wilbur raised his hand in the air smiling.

"Well I guess it's settled, Skyecrest it is?"

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered out, excited for this new adventure.

All but Wilbur.

Wilbur stood behind the cheering people, all talking merrily, excited to go to Skyecrest.
Yes Wilbur is also excited but they seemed to forget one thing and that really annoyed him to the bone.

Techno was the only one to notice his facial expressions, except Tommy, seems like as if Tommy was scared and wanted Techno to do the talking for him.
Heck, does Techno look like much of a talker?

"Oi." Techno approached Wilbur, trying to smile. It was scary.

"No need to do that Techno, that's scaring me." Wilbur playfully slapped Technos hand away when he was about to poke him. Techno huffed.
"I'm just trying to cheer you up, right now we're heading out soon. And there's a village nearby so we may stay there for the time being."

"But what about that., it's not like we're saving the world or anything!"
Wilbur groaned in annoyance. Techno raised an eyebrow, this isn't common for his brother to complain.

"We're taking our time Wil, pull it together. Besides, you're not angry just because visiting a village won't do anything good."
He caught him, Techno caught on to what Wilbur was hiding.

"If you care so damn much, can I go back?"

"Too dangerous." Techno said bluntly, watching a few of the others walk into the depths of the forest. Seems like they're going now.

"Then why mention it to me?! You know I'm trying to forget it!" Wilbur fought, not moving, but instead taking a step back.

"She's got this. Trust her. We'll get back up as soon as possible. We have to be the storm that'll strike first, a storm that nobody is ready for and will shock everybody to their final breath."
Techno had a dark expression on his face, Wilbur smirked at the thought.

"Well that got real dark real fast."

"Whatever..you're not the only one who thinks she's a little bit mad doing that, be we owe it to her and trust her with our lives."
Wilbur clapped his hands gently, praising the man.

"Congrats, for the first time in ages you actually said something inspiring that doesn't revolve around death."
Techno pulled Wilburs sleeve, encouraging him to go with them.

"Shut up." Techno walked ahead, checking behind if Wilbur was following or not, he was.

~~~

It's been only an hour and the group is halfway there to the nearby village. Philza knew this because he had visited many times and the townspeople adored him for that.

Tommy followed behind the group, wanting to be alone. He wanted to admire and plan out on how to defeat the dragon.

He then remembered something, he hadn't done it in a while nor did it at all for a few weeks.

The group has finally stopped for a rest, taking this opportunity he grabbed something out his bag, a small hair bow from Aphmau.

He secretly took it, he didn't know how the girl didn't notice but he did it.
He got it from hugging Aph, he hugged all the legends, except Pat, Pat did scare him quite I bit.

Tommy gripped the bow tightly, did he really want to do this?
It could affect him a lot, possibly trauma but hey, the more you know the wiser you get. Is that a saying?

Tommy took a deep breath, he closed his eyes gently and felt the energy arise from his body and into the object, showing him pieces and bits of Aphmaus Past.

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"Aaron you're such a dork!" He saw Aphmau playfully pushing him aside, along with other unfamiliar people.

The guy looked very similar to Aphmau, only having brown eyes and part wolf. Many other wolves were alongside him, also laughing and picking on the poor guy.

•••

The scene changed to Aphmau talking to three girls, one orange haired, wearing an odd looking dark dress, he couldn't notice her eyes, however, she held many potions.

Another with fair bright blue hair, wearing shiny armour. She wielded a sword, that looked very familiar to Skeppys.

Then the last one turned to a girl with bright pink hair this time, eyes hazel and also wearing quite a big bow.
Her outfit wasn't flashy and looked as if she were just a servant.
That same girl though held two sharp daggers, a pink jewel carved in both of them.

Tommy couldn't make out on what they were talking about, but just by their facial expressions, he knew this was very bad.

•••

Tommy decided to have one last peek,

The scene was..bloody.
There were many bodies and a vast land that was burning. He flinched when he saw the Ender Dragon fly above, only to fall just behind him.

He saw heads of wither skulls which struck shivers on his body, and an unfamiliar man appeared, standing right in front of him.

Tommy saw Aph drew her bow at the man,
Her face showed various emotions, however, sadness and anger was very clear.
She tightened her grip on the bow and arrow as she glared at the man.
"LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!! YOULL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES, EVERYTHING!!"

She released her arrow, hitting the man on the shoulder.
She drew her bow and arrow again, anger overcoming her.

Tommy tried to scream, trying to warn that the unknown man has been hiding a dagger and is ready to throw it.

Too late.

He saw her eyes widen in shock, her face showing pain and the dagger pierced through her chest.
The man smirked and threw the dagger again at her, Tommy saw her screech out again.

Tommy wanted the scene to stop, he wanted this to end!!

The man strutted towards Aph, pulling her up with her collar, staring at her.
"I know what I did was wrong, but the next generation of me will prevail."

Tommy noticed a dagger was thrown right towards him, it going through him but hitting the boy he saw earlier with Aphmau.
His name was Aaron if he could remember.

Tommy didn't want to see anymore, he focused on himself, trying to release the energy he had been harnessing earlier. The last words he heard from the man were:

"My dear, the world isn't cruel, it's just you who's too weak to handle it."

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(Play the music now! 🎶)

Tommy felt a sense of dizziness, he groaned but his face was sweating like mad.

Tommy stared at the hair bow, Aphmaus bow.
He couldn't get the images off his head, it's was like a repeating cycle, Aph laughing, then talking to her teammates, then finally, her last and possibly, final breath.

Tommy swears he has a love-hate relationship with his power, he appreciates it but sometimes wishes he never had it at all.

He looked up to see surprisingly Eret looking down on him worried.
"You alright Tommy?"

Tommy took a moment to appreciate his surroundings.
He was in a tent, him in a sleeping bag and Eret sitting on a nearby stool.

The rain noises could not go unheard, it gave him some sort of relief.

Immediately, Eret stood up and grabbed a nearby cup, pouring what seemed to be tea into it.
"We've been worried sick Toms. Especially Tubbo."
Tommy pouted when he heard the name, he's a grown teenager, he can handle himself!
"I'm perfectly capable by myself thank you!"

"We'll look where we are, who's in the better scenario."
Tommy frowned and looked away, he knows the answer but he's not going to shame his pride like that!

Eret hummed at Tommys expression, understanding the boy, he then offered the cup of tea to Tommy.
Tommy took it, muttering a quiet thank you.

Eret watched carefully, making sure he's drinking it. Eret every once in a while looked outside the tent then at Tommy.
"We're staying here for the night, the nearby village is just a few hours away but Phil decided we should rest."

"Why does that old man decide what we should do?!" Tommy protested, nearly throwing away the cup in anger.

"Hey...don't talk sh** about him. He's helping all of us after all."
As soon as Eret said that, The tent opened slightly and similar orange fox tail and ears appeared.
Fundy wore a small cloak over him, trying to prevent getting wet, though he failed to protect his tail as it was soaking wet.

"Hey Tommy, you ok?" Tommy glared at Fundy as he tried to approach him in a brotherly way.
"Ah I guess you don't...oh Eret! It's now Techno, Wilbur and Philzas turn to visit Tommy!"

Tommy grunted in annoyance.
"What am I now some f***ing display case now?!"

"No it's not like that Tommy, since there's too many of us we can't just crowd you all of a sudden. We take turn to visit you. You were out for what..3 hours?"
Tommy nearly jumped off the sleeping bag he was in, 3 hours?!

"What?!!"

"Eret you didn't tell him?!"
Eret looked to the side, quite embarrassed.

"I forgot about that part, plus I was busy thinking about you."
Nice save.

"S-shaddup!! We're going now Tommy, I'll inform them that they can see you now!"
Fundy strutted out, pulling Eret out of the tent who was smiling and waving a farewell to Tommy. He couldn't help but chuckle.

But now there's a new problem, his so called family is now visiting him.
Heck, this is all way too confusing for his small brain! No he's big brain, this is all...

"Tommy!!"
His train of thoughts stopped when the three familiar faces appeared, Wil, Techno and finally Phil. However, another face appeared after the rest, Tubbo.

The group had the same idea as Fundy, but much drier and not felt the wrath of the hard, hammering rain outside.

"Tommy are you ok?!" Tubbo ran towards him, a worried look on his face. Wilbur and Techno stood behind Tubbo, also checking if he's alright. Philza stood at the far back, knowing that Tommy isn't so comfortable with him at the moment, he gained Tommy's respect for that.
Tommy thought they're all overreacting, this does usually happen anyways so why care now exactly?

Tommy smiled and nodded,
"Oh please! I'm fine, this happens all the time so-"

"But it never happened when Dream offered his sword to you! Or at all for that matter! You never collapse when you use your powers and only stay dizzy when so! This is the first time Tommy!"
Since when did Tubbo act as if he knew everything about him?
This is definitely a surprise to him.

"Sorry...I was just, worried." Tubbo sighed, he sat down on a chair in frustration looking at Tommy.

"Tommy...why did you decide to do that all of a sudden?"
Wilbur asked Tommy, trying to lighten the mood.

"Why, is it illegal to use my own powers?"
Tommy snapped back, making Wilbur raise his eyes in surprise. This isn't the Tommy he knew.

"Answer the damn question."
Techno snapped back, annoyed by his brother.

"...Look, all I wanted to do was to see the past of an old..friend..of mine?"

"You don't sound so confident there Tommy."
Wilbur answered, frowning.

"Well that's all I could say."
Tommy cuddled into his sleeping back and turned away from the group.

Tommy listened carefully, hearing their footsteps as it grew distant, knowing they left. That was all until he turned back around and Philza was still standing there.
It spooked him out quite a bit.
"...just go."

"I may have not known you that much, but judging by them this isn't the real you."

"Tch, do you know how it is to wear a mask on your face, acting like everything is fine, but wanting to just sit down and have a peaceful life. Yeah, that's my exact feeling so just go!" Tommy yelled, he hadn't realised the volume in his voice and the sadness on Phils face.

Tommy turned around, his back facing Phil. Guilt arises in Tommy, but he feels too tired and upset to apologise straight away.

He heard the footsteps walk out, though Tommy didn't feel a sense of guilt, well maybe a little.

Instead, he felt very empty and cold.

Only him and the rain were the only ones either a great grief and guilt, or peace.