Double update baby! This is the best one yet too so I hope yee enjoy!

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     Tommy cleaned up the kitchen as Dream slowly floated back his way, stopping to say hi to his cows. Tommy was definitely still stuck in his own head. He'd already decided to help Dream, but now he had to figure out how exactly. It took him days to travel all the way here, that was definitely a commute he didn't want in his daily life, it'd be impossible. He could probably make an ice or water highway, but this place was supposed to be a secret and people would definitely come check it out if he made it that obvious. Maybe Dream had a nether portal and Tommy could travel that way? He wasn't very fond of the idea, sure the shroomlight in his room was nice, but he still didn't like the nether. 

     Tommy's hand froze. His room. Hold on, that makes more sense than it should. It was literally themed around his favorite colors. Dream told him that no one else had ever been here, even Sapnap and George. Besides, George couldn't even see red, and Sapnap liked black and white. He put down the bag of seeds he'd been moving and went over to the cow pens to stand beside Dream. 

     "Why do I have a room in your house?" Dream blinked at him. 

     "Oh, do you like it? I mean, you can redecorate however you want but like I said I hoped you'd help me so if you're gonna spend a ton of time here you might as well have your own space ya know?"

     Dream almost played it off as no big deal, but his hand didn't connect with the cow's neck. 

   "Whatever you say Dream. And about that, I'll help you, but I don't know how I'm going to be able to travel from home to here so much." Dream wouldn't look at him, focusing back on the cow. 

    "You know, you could just live here. You don't have to go back."

     Tommy opened his mouth to say no. It was an obvious no. But nothing came out. Dream glanced at him, but Tommy was already hundreds of chunks away, back in snowchester with Tubbo, Ranboo, and Micheal. Were they even missing him? Tubbo knew he left, but did anyone else notice? Surly Puffy and Sam did, they were always worried about him. But Nikki and Jack were probably glad he was gone, and wasn't hanging around. Probably Techno and Philza too. Phil never really did care much if he went off for a few days without any warning. Really, what was he missing if he didn't go back? Silent nights alone? Seeing his best friend hang out with his replacement? See everyone else move on and pretend nothing happened? Like none of them abandoned him when he got exiled? 

     "No. I can't move here. Tubbo is back home, and that place is my home. I have to go back." 

     Dream nodded. Tommy didn't have much back home, but he had even less here. He had to go back, for the same reason he moved to Snowchester with Tubbo. The reason he started learning redstone from Sam, and sailing from Puffy. The same reason he tried to work with Nikki in the bakery, and he still goes over to annoy Techno and Phil no matter how much their eyes darken behind their smiles when they look at him. He had to try. His family might hate him, or replace him but he was going to fight to fix his relationship with them anyways, because if Wilbur taught him anything good, it was to follow his heart. 

     "Well, if you're sure you want to travel back and forth." Dream said floating over to the kitchen and gesturing for Tommy to follow. Dream stood beside a chair for a few moments before pulling it out with only a little bit of struggle. He turned it around and stepped back nodding to it. Tommy quirked a brow. 

     "You're gonna want to sit down for this, oh and face the counter." Tommy was hesitant but sat down, watching as Dream looked over a high bookshelf. He had to shoo Cherry out of his way so he could pull a thick volume down. He brought it over, thankfully not dropping it on Tommy's head. 

     "Avians: a MasterGuide to Bird Hybrids." Tommy read out, before looking up at Dream. "Dream, I know all kinds of shit about avians. Phil's a raven and Quackity is a duck." 

     "Hmm, maybe. But you don't know anything about being an avian."

     "Yeah well no shit, because I'm not." Tommy furrowed his brow at Dream's small smile, which he was obviously trying to keep from growing into a grin. "Dream, I'm pretty sure I would know if I had fucking wings dude."

     "Maybe." Is all Dream responded before pulling up a familiar green admin panel. Tommy's stomachs dropped right out of his shoes. 

     "Wait, you still have admin powers?!"

     "Yup. I'm an admin by blood, it has nothing to do with the blob's blessing so I can still do some things." Dream answered absentmindedly. He reached over with one hand to slide the book out of Tommy's reach while typing with the other. "Okay, this may hurt a bit, but just hang on to the chair and it'll be over quickly."

     As Dream's words registered, Tommy felt a wave of terror, anger, and betrayal. Dream was about to just end his existence. It was all a game, a stupid stupid game to get his guard down. And he fell for it even after all this time. Before Tommy could yell, call Dream even a single name, white hot pain was flaring down his spine. It felt like someone had dipped a sword in lava and then stuck that sword to his back. All he could manage was a choked gasp, the pain spread and soon his whole body was just a white hot ball of flaring pain, cracking bones, and tearing skin. He couldn't breath, his lungs wouldn't work. His vision went white, and blood rushed and pounded in his ears. He barely registered the sound of ripping fabric as he fell out of the chair and crumpled to the ground in a painful ball. 

     And as quick as it came, it was gone. He gasped, choking on the cool air as it filled his aching lungs. Everything ached. His muscles and lungs burned like he'd just climbed a mountain, his bones ached like nothing he'd ever felt before. His eyes were burning so badly he couldn't even open them, hot tears flowing down his cheeks. He couldn't even scream, his lungs wouldn't work right. He was shaking like a leaf, and his shirt hung off of his chest in tatters. He was covered by a canopy of something soft. Something familiar. But he couldn't see what yet. 

     He wiped his cheeks with shaking hands trying to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was the floor. The grainy wooden floor. Every swirl and scratch in the wood was so crisp and in focus. Until it suddenly wasn't. His vision wavered strangely, from hyper focus to regular focus, it was hurting his head so he closed his eyes again. 

     "Wha da fuk 'id you do?" Tommy slurred, his voice was breathy and shaking, his own ears could barely understand him. Speaking of ears, his ears felt hotter and heavier? God was there anything that didn't hurt or feel funny? He felt heavier and lighter at the same time. There was that canopy above him, covering him in shadow and familiar warmth. The warmth was welcoming, but the small space was not, he felt trapped, but safe? Everything was like two things at once, and suddenly he was feeling nauseous on top of it all. Is this death? Was he dead? Dying? 

     Tommy pressed his forehead into the floor with a groan, trying to adjust to this new hell, or for it to go away. That would be nice. He still wasn't adjusted yet, and suddenly there was a  hand in his hair, and a voice in his ear. It was deep and quiet, breaking through all the pain, discomfort, easily. The fingers were cold, and tingly. But they were gentle, combing through his hair carefully. 

     "It'll pass. You're okay. Just breathe bub, in and out okay?" Tommy whimpered, feeling the softness above him shudder. 

     "It 'urts." Tommy gasped, trying to listen to the voice and breathe deeper. His lungs slowly stopped aching. 

     "I know, I know. But you're okay, you're not really hurt, bub." The voice soothed, petting his hair still. 

     It took a few minutes but eventually Tommy's breathing evened out and his body started to relax. The canopy fell, settling over his shoulders. Now that it was pressed against his bare back he could feel what it was, and why it felt familiar and safe. It was feathers. When he was little, back when Phil still pretended to care when he was scared or hurt he would pick him up and cover them with his wings, blocking out the world and making Tommy feel safe. 

     Tommy peeked open one eye, the first thing he saw this time was Dream. His transparent brow was creased in worry, but he gave Tommy a small smile. It was weird. He was transparent, but if Tommy focused he could see his pores, the individual hairs of scruff on his chin, and the flecks of gold and brown in his green eyes. Tommy figured out how to control the hyper focus, and he kind of zoned out going back and forth while studying Dream's face. It was so fucking weird. His eyesight was fine, but now it could be inhumanly better. As he did this Dream got worried again. 

     "Hey hey, okay, normal focus. I can see your pupils growing and shrinking so I know exactly what you're doing. Keep it up though and you're gonna give yourself a headache. We gotta get you up."

     "Already got a headache." Tommy muttered blinking rapidly and trying to pick a focus. It was hard because it kept sliding back and forth even when he wasn't trying. His eyes wanted to lock onto every shiny thing in his line of sight and flinch away from it. He flinched back from Dream's hand as well, before taking it and letting himself be pulled up. He fell forward against Dream, and then almost fell back again when he tried to correct himself. Dream helped him lean on the counter as he tried to adjust his balance. He looked over his shoulder to look at the reason for his now horrible balance. 

     Wings. He had wings. He lifted one arm and looked down past his hip to see that he also had long tail feathers that brushed the floor. He could feel them brushing the floor. He didn't like it, there was dirt on the floor, and it stuck to his feathers. His tail feathers lifted, actually correcting his balance a bit. He immediately felt better now that they weren't getting dusty, but they itched now. How do you wash these things? Can feathers get wet? How did Phil shower? How did he stand? 

     Tommy realized his wing had also moved to allow him to look at his tail feathers. He moved his arm up and down, watching as his wing followed. His tail feathers swayed subconsciously, keeping him balanced as he stared at his new appendage in awe. Dream chuckled and reached over, stopping his arm with gentle fingers. Tommy jumped, his wings tucking against his back, before shooting back out again at his demand. It threw him off balance so much that he fell barely caught himself from slamming his face into the counter. 

     He was pulled back down to earth by a familiar wheezing laugh. He gave a dream a look as the ghost laughed uncontrollably at his predicament. He couldn't be too bothered though, he had wings.

     "And you're just- oh my god- this is so fucking funny." Dream laughed, if he wasn't already dead Tommy would think he was dying. 

     "I have wings." Tommy said quietly, like it was secret. His eyes were wide, pupils wider as his vision slid into hyper focus again. 

     "Yeah, bub you do! And tail feathers, too." Dream said brightly, like he was talking to a child. At the mention of his tail feathers Tommy wiggled them side to side, which was weird because he could feel his whole center of gravity shift with each wiggle. He grinned and wiggled his tail faster, like an excited puppy, his grin slipped as he wobbled too much and almost fell again. 

     "Okay okay, calm down, don't hurt yourself. It'll be a lot easier for you to get hurt now, your bones aren't gonna be as strong anymore."

     Tommy tilted his head. But then he got sidetracked by the warmth on his ears, he lifted his hand, flinching as his fingertips brushed softness instead of fleshy ears. He ran a hand through his hair, but it was normal, there were just feathers on his ears. And cheekbones too, he discovered as he followed the softness. 

"Okay, you are not hearing a word of this are you?" Dream said, sounding absolutely delighted at this observation. 

     "I have feathers on my face." Tommy said pointedly. Like anything Dream could be saying could be more important then this little tid bit. 

     "Yes, you do." Dream smiled, talking in that same bright voice. Tommy frowned. 

     "Don't talk to me like that, I'm a big man, not a child."

     Dream smirked and floated over, he gave Tommy a small shove, and due to his horrible balance he was sent crashing to the ground in a flail of limbs and explosion of feathers. 

     "What the fuck?!" Tommy shrieked, getting back to wobbly his feet, still leaning heavily on the counter. 

     "You have the balance of a child." Dream chuckled. 

     "You're just loving this aren't you? But I have to live like this! Why the fuck did you give me wings?" Tommy said hotly, the awe was passing and now reality was setting in. Tommy could barely stand. Let alone walk, run, he could forget fighting. He couldn't go home now, he'd never make the first night let alone the two or three more it would take. Probably more then that with his new shit balance and extra weight.

    "How am I supposed to get home now?" Tommy wondered aloud, not noticing Dream's solemn expression. "I won't stand a chance against a fucking spider like this! And how am I supposed to explain this to Tubbo? To everyone! To them it looks like I just sprouted wings overnight!" 

     Dream opened his mouth, but Tommy cut him off. 

     "Oh you bastard, you did this on purpose! I never had a fucking choice did I? It doesn't matter that I agreed to help you, you were gonna keep me here anyways! And here I was, stupid enough to think you were different then Alive Dream. I'm an idiot!" Tommy almost sobbed, sinking to the floor and pulling his knees up. He was at least able to use his new wings to cover himself up and pretend Dream wasn't there. He could pretend he was seven years old again, these weren't his wings, they were Phil's. He was safe, he was loved. He wasn't trapped far from home with a psychopath. 

     "Tommy." Dream said softly, trying to run a hand through his hair again, but Tommy scooted away from the touch, trying to hide his frustrated tears. 

     "I gave them to you because I was the one who took them away." Dream said softly. Tommy didn't say anything, but he was listening. "They would have come in on their own around the same time Tubbo got his horns, but I blocked your code. I had to."

     "Why?" Tommy asked peeking out from behind his wings. "Why. . . Everything?" He didn't just mean the wings. 

     "We didn't have time. I couldn't mess up again, your wings could have gotta in the way of everything." Dream said, with a sigh. He settled down in front of a Tommy and brought up his hood. 

     "Ever since that cycle, where you were my son, I've tried to protect you from the blob. And everytime I failed. It would always kill you, or worse. And it would threaten the others if I didn't let it have you. I could never protect everyone. The cycles got messed up, so it stopped asking for you when it usually did, and started asking for you later on in your life."

     "That gave me time at least. To find a way to kill it, to protect you. But the only thing the blob feared or cared about was you. So every cycle I train you, make you ready. And everytime without fail you've won. Because you're so much better than you think you are."

     Tommy's tears dried up, replaced with confusion. 

     "I won?"

     "Yeah. You did, you do. But everytime it's time to kill it you hesitate, you don't go through with it. Because you always figure out that if you kill the blob it would kill me, because you're smart. And I've always trained you without hurting you, so you would never have it in you to kill me because we would bond. And you'd lose at the last second. Later on the blob would just make me fight you instead, so you stopped having any chance at all."

     Dream stopped, tugging more on his hood and taking a shaky breath. 

     "I to make you hate me. Make everyone hate me, so that they wouldn't stop you. So if you did find out, maybe that would just make you want to kill it even more."

     They sat in silence for a while, but Tommy still had questions. 

     "Okay, why? What do you get out of it? You lose everything now, you die, you can't keep doing your whole keeping people safe gig. I don't get it." 

     Dream looked up at Tommy with a smile. 

     "For you. I told you, I love George and Sap. Hell, I'm pretty sure George is my soulmate. I love my family. I love protecting everyone. But I love you more then all of that. You're more important to me, Tommy. You're my son. It doesn't matter what time it is, if it's not by blood, if you mess up. I love you unconditionally. That means that there's no conditions to it. I love you more then anything, no matter what happens. And I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you are safe. It's my job. Now, and in any future life you have."

     Dream could have had more, he probably did, but Tommy was hugging him and he had to focus on being solid. 

     "I still hate you, old man." Tommy sniffled. Dream smiled, running his hand over his son's hair. 

     "Hey, I'm not old!" Dream protested, nudging Tommy back again. "Turn around little magpie, I'ma teach you to preen these things okay?" Tommy sat with his back to Dream and wiped his face clean. 

     "Magpie? It that my bird?" Tommy asked. His voice was scratchy. He was getting really tired of crying all the time. 

     "Yup. You can tell because of the colors." Dream said, beginning to straighten out Tommy's feathers and brush out the dust from his multiple rough meetings with the floor. "These brown patches right here are going to turn white when you get older. And the green and blue sheen on your black feathers is going to just get shinier too."

     Tommy hummed, the itchy feeling was more noticeable, but it was all bring brushed away under Dream's fingers. 

     "You've seen Philza do this right?"

     "Yeah, and I've seen Karl and Sapnap helping Quackity." 

     "That's good. If you're still set on going back you'll have plenty of people around you to help then."

     Tommy hummed again, and they sat in silence again. This time it was comfortable though, and Tommy felt himself relax as the itchiness was gently brushed away. He jumped when Dream plucked a feather free. 

     "Hey, ouch! Watch it back there!"

     "I'm sorry!" Dream laughed easily. "It was loose, you gotta pull the loose ones out."

     "Really?"

     "Yeah, you've seen like, Techno and Niki brush out their hair right? And some hair gets pulled out so they gotta clean their brush? It's kind of like that." Dream explained, he leaned forward and dropped the loose feather into Tommy's lap. The new avian picked it up and twirled it in his fingers. It was cool how it caught the light of the lanterns, almost metallic. 

     "What do I do with it?" Tommy asked, feeling too attached to it to just throw it away. 

     "That's up to you. Some throw them away, some collect them to make into quills, pillows, or art stuff. Some gift them to their loved ones." 

     "I'll give it to Tubbo. I think he'll like that. He likes birds."

     Dream ran a hand over his wing and got up with a cheerful, done! Tommy rolled his shoulders and shook out his wings. As he stood up and stretched he realized his tail feathers were still itching, so he shook those out to before running his fingers through them himself. Dream nodded from beside him. 

     "There you go you're a natural. Now come on, we got stuff to do today."

     Tommy rolled his eyes but followed after Dream. They stopped by his room first, so he could change into more avian friendly clothes. Dream promised to give him some emeralds so he could get some better fitting stuff later. For now Dream just told him where to cut the slits and how big so he could put his wings through. 

     They continued on and Tommy had to open the doors himself because Dream kind of gave up after the first two and just walked through them. Dream led him deeper into the base, back towards the library. After a while they actually passed the library door and Dream placed a level from his inventory on a seemingly random block. Dream flicked it and then backed up, nudging Tommy with him. Tommy had expected the wall to open, but instead a stair case was pushed out. 

     "How many secrets to you have, old man?" Dream just chuckled and floated straight up into the ceiling. Tommy rolled his eyes and followed him taking the stairs. It was hard to keep his balance on the narrow steps but he didn't fall so that was nice. 

     The sun was blinding when Tommy surfaced. He lifted his hand and rubbed his eyes a little. There was a click and Dream had closed up the hole he'd come up from. Tommy barely caught the lever Dream tossed him. Wordlessly Dream knocked the side of his foot against the foot of a spruce tree. The bottom log was stripped and a little obvious. Tommy nodded and slipped the lever into his inventory. 

     "So, why are we outside now?" Tommy asked, putting his hands and on his hips. He was glad the little walk had seemed to be all he needed to reset his balance so he didn't even wobble now. Dream just put one hand in his hoodie pocket and swirled the other in a 'turn around motion'. Tommy dropped his hands and turned, his eyes flew open. He jogged forward out of the treeline and up to the cliffs edge. They were on a sheer cliff overlooking a plains biome, and in the distance an oak forest. Off to the left Tommy could see the blurry colors of a flower field. He slipped into hyper focus, and almost forgot how to breathe. It was amazing, he could see bees flying around, and sheep grazing in the distance. Through the oak leaves way in front of him, he could barely make out a large scar in the earth. 

     "There's the ravine! Which means home is straight back that way right?" Tommy said, pointing aad turning towards Dream. 

     "Yup. I see you've gotten the hang of your new eyesight."

     "Yeah, I'm gonna be the best damn bird in all of the SMP!"

     "Well, if that's your claim to fame, you should probably learn to fly first." Dream laughed. Tommy nodded. 

     "Yeah you're probably right."

     "Here." Dream said, tossing him some dirt blocks from his inventory. "Build out a little bit, but be careful."

     Tommy nodded, not sure what Dream was planning, but he decided to trust him anyways. He built out over the open air, keeping all his feathery bits tucked tightly to him so the wind wouldn't knock him off balance. 

     "Okay, good. You're doing great, now open your wings." Tommy looked at Dream like 'fuck no'. "Trust, me bub. Just go slow, use those tail feathers, and you won't fall." 

     Tommy took a deep breath but didn't trust his tongue so he stayed quiet. He balanced on his little dirt runway and slowly opened his wings. He was immediately wobbly so he snapped his wings back closed again. 

     "Try closing your eyes, just breath. You've got this Tommy."

     "Why the fuck am I even listening to you?" Tommy snapped. Dream laughed. 

     "I don't know. Maybe because I'm old and wise, and I know better then you."

     Tommy glared. Never one to back down from an obvious challenge he snapped his eyes closed, he steeled his nerves, prepared for death, and then snapped his wings open. For three seconds, three horrible terrifying, absolutely awful seconds he was unbalanced. And then his tail fanned out and he was fine. More then fine he was amazing. The cold wind rushed around him, running through his feathers. His new loose cotton clothes were thin, and snapped in the wind with his hair. Tommy felt weightless. 

     "Don't die." 

     Tommy barely had time to register Dream's words before he was being body slammed off of the safety of his dirt runway. A scream tore free from his throat as he was sent free falling towards the ground. 

TommyInnit hit the ground too hard while escaping ⌇ꖎɾǁ
Lives: ❤ 🖤 🖤

The price for a double update, sadly is a cliff hanger. 😈