Another week or so passed before Tommy was ready to step back into the home he had practically grown up in. Jack and Gab waited, but the three knew they couldn't wait forever. Now the couple along with the reunited twins stood at the front of the elegant house. Tommy could feel the shadow of it looming over him.

"Are you sure I can be here," Ranboo said, shifting from foot to foot.

"There's no reason you shouldn't," Jack said, unlocking the front door.

"Okay, thank you," Ranboo said.

"You're part of the family," Gab said, "whether as Ranboo or Aaron, you have as much right to be here as me or Tommy."

"Huh," Tommy said, only hearing his name.

"You ready for this," Jack said, looking back at him before opening the door.

"I don't know if I ever will be," He admitted, taking a shaking breath as Jack opened the door for what felt like years.

The other three went in, marveling at the elegance of the house. Tommy stood right outside, willing his feet to move. This had to happen at one point or another. Eventually he did move, following Jack inside the house. Tommy remained silent as he stepped through the door. He looked around, still seeing remnants of the last time he had been here. A pain seemed to spike up his arm as he remembered the fight, his desperation to escape. He rubbed the arm, soon noticing the pain wasn't actually there. Tommy found Gab and Jack in the doorway of his room. No. His closet. He knew what it really was now, a place to keep him trapped.

"He lived out of here," Gab said, a sadness in her voice.

"No wonder he wanted to keep a ton of my old things," Jack said, "There's barely anything in here."

"I wish we had found him sooner," She said.

"Maybe things would have been different if I had moved to Republic City with my sister," He said.

"Not much you can do now," Tommy said, making both of them jump.

"Where'd you come from, kid," Jack exclaimed, he just shrugged. "Don't scare me like that. How much did you hear?"

"Just a bit," He said, "Can I have the keys? Also there's a loose floorboard in there, feel free to check that for me."

"Yeah," Jack handed the pair of keys to him, "Are you okay? You seem to be doing a lot better than earlier."

"Who knows," Tommy said. He went back to the kitchen, pulling out the emergency flashlight they kept, then retraced the steps he took nearly a month ago. His hands started to tremble and he tightened his grip on the keys, feeling the cold metal press into his skin.

Tommy came upon the same room Clay had brought him to, he turned the knock to find it had never been locked, feeling a rush of heat when he opened it. The light switch proved faulty and he turned on the flashlight. His eyes widened. The room was tiny. It must have been at the far end of the house and contained a sleeping bag, a stack of books, and a large water heater. Had he been locked in here he would have suffered from not only claustrophobia but possible overheating.

"Hey," Tommy jumped as a hand touched his shoulder and he spun around ready to fight whoever it was. "Oh sorry." It was Ranboo.

"Don- don't do that," Tommy said, trying to catch his breath, "Wha-what did you want?"

"Just to see if you wanted me to check out some rooms with you," They said, "Jack told me you had the keys and many of the rooms I've tried have been locked."

"He could be a bit...paranoid," Tommy said, but he knew better. It was to keep him from finding out something he wasn't supposed to know.

"It seems like a lot more than paranoia," Ranboo said, trying to get him to laugh. "Uh, lead the way."

Tommy rolled his eyes and left the creepy room, Ranboo following. He had a few places in mind he wanted to check today. He went to the office that had once belonged to Clay. He tried several keys before the lock finally clicked and Tommy froze.

He shouldn't be going in here.

"Tommy," Ranboo said, "Are you okay?"

"I-I don't know," He whispered, "This feels wrong."

"Here," Ranboo grabbed the doorknob and opened it. "It just takes one step, I'm right behind you."

Taking a deep breath Tommy walked into Clay's office, Ranboo following and turning on the light behind them. Silently he powered up the computer, wanting to find the video he had stumbled upon last time he was here.

"What is all this," Ranboo asked, picking up the papers spread around and reading a few of them. "Did he go insane? Uh, sorry."

"It's fine, I don't know what they are," Tommy said, "Though they do look like crazy ramblings."

"What are you doing," Ranboo moved to stand behind him as he randomly clicked on different apps on the computer.

"Trying to find a video on here," He said.

"You won't find it just doing that," Ranboo said, taking the mouse and opening the files for the computer and pulling up a folder of videos. "They're always saved there, people don't usually bother moving them."

"Thanks," Tommy muttered. How much about this world did he not know? How much would he need to learn to have a normal life? He scrolled down in the folder, finding the oldest video from years ago. 7 years ago. He clicked on it and Clay's face popped up onto the screen.

"I don't even know why I'm doing this," Clay shook his head, softly laughing at himself, "Probably gonna look like an idiot in a few years. Future me or whoever may be watching this: weird things have been happening to me and I think it's tied to the kid I saved. His name is Tommy Innit, he's a good kid, reminds me of my sister. I've been blacking out around him, I'll suddenly be in a different place as if my body is moving without me. I don't know what's going on. Sapnap and George stopped calling me Dream, saying I was the one who told them to stop. Trying to look back on it, I don't even remember how I found Tommy. It might just be stress, maybe things will go back to normal in a few weeks. But I promise I will protect Tommy." The video shut off.

"Tommy," Ranboo started, trying to gauge his reaction, but the teen showed nothing as he clicked the next video, this one a few weeks after the first.

"The blackouts are happening more often," Clay, no, Dream said, he wore a shocked expression and barely looked into the camera. "I think I hurt Tommy today. I found these CD's in my safe labeled as his, I don't know why they're in there. He came into the kitchen and threw away a pile of...something. His hands were bloodied and he refused to look at me. I don't want to hurt him, but whatever is causing the blackouts is. I put some gauze and ointment outside his 'room', if you can even call it that. I need to remember to set up one of the bedrooms. It won't make things better, but it might be a nice surprise."

Ranboo eased the mouse from Tommy's hand and closed the video before it replayed. "Do you think that was after he took..."

"Maybe," Tommy whispered, "I miss him."

"What," Ranboo said.

"Everyone makes it seem like I shouldn't, but I miss him," Tommy's voice broke as he finally admitted what he'd been keeping inside since he found out. "I want my brother back. I know it wasn't good but I want things to go back to normal."

Ranboo didn't know what to say, but they didn't want to leave him stranded. "Oh."

"I'm sorry," Tommy said, "I didn't mean-"

"No, your entire life got flipped on its head," Ranboo said, "It makes sense you'd want a bit of normalcy back. You didn't say anything to hurt me."

"Maybe Jack's right," Tommy tried to laugh to himself, "maybe I do need one of those therapists."

"Maybe," Ranboo said, "Come on, let's get out of here before your brother's ghost decides to haunt us."

This made Tommy laugh. "Yeah, let's go. I have plenty of time to go through these rooms. You pick the next one to open."

One more chapter left. This has been crazy, for me and probably for you guys. Nearly two years in the works and this is almost done. But I'll save my long rant of thanks for the trivia chapter I'm going to do. The final chapter is written and will most likely come out next week.

Thank you all so much for reading. Peace out Minecrafters and benders from around the world!