Chapter Text
The first thing that met Phil’s eyes was the back of Technoblade’s head. This was because the piglin hybrid had fallen back against him, clearly knocked out.
As the shorter man struggled under the weight of his old friend, he noticed a few things.
Number one, he wasn’t in his house in L’manburg anymore, but rather in a small hallway. There were multiple doorways branching off of it, and the whole thing felt like an old house, with a new family living in it. Rather dingy, somewhat tired, and the redstone doesn’t work properly, but a home nonetheless.
Number two, there was faint chattering coming from down the hallway. It sounded like a conversation, which was odd, as only one voice could be heard.
And number three, which was the realization that he and Techno weren’t alone. Far from it, in fact. There, on the carpet, and in various states of unconsciousness, lay the occupants of the dream smp.
Tommy, spread eagle, with his right arm and leg pushed under his slim body by the close proximity of the wall.
Tubbo, who was starting to sit up, looking more exhausted than Phil had ever seen him. He looked up, a mixture of pain, regret, guilt and fear flashed across his face upon seeing Tommy’s prone figure.
Dream, who was adjusting the mask from where it had slipped down his gelatinous face.
Bad, who had woken up and was checking on Skeppy, who was still out.
Quackety’s beanie had slid down over his eyes, but that didn’t seem to bother him much, judging by the snoring.
Phil wasn’t quite sure how long that would be going on though, as it looked like George had woken up, and was crawling over Sapnap towards Quackety, seemingly dead set on shutting him up. At least he wasn’t dead.
Ranboo was awkwardly curled up, his long limbs sprawling about his prone body.
Eret had jolted upright, and was checking on Niki, who had so far batted away every attempt to wake her, leaving Eret to pick her up by the leg, which resulted in her kicking him, and finally opening her eyes.
The kick sent Eret stumbling, and almost tripping over Fundy, who had curled up on the floor with his tail over his nose. When Eret knocked into him, he made an incredibly dignified squeak, and ended up smushed against the wall.
Ghostbur was floating around Phil and Techno, obviously worried. He seemed to have woken up completely, and was whispering worriedly in Phil’s ear.
“Is Techno going to be ok? Where are we? What happened?”
Phil sighed, quietly, so as not to wake Techno.
“I don’t know, Ghostbur. I don’t know.” He grunted, shifting the piglin hybrid in his arms.
“Hey, could you help me lower Techno onto the ground or something? I’m not sure how long I can carry him.”
Ghostbur obliged, helping to lower the tall man to the ground, where he promptly woke up. He groaned.
“Phil..? What happened? Where are we?”
Phil sighed.
“Techno, I really don’t know. I think-”
He was interrupted by Tommy waking up.
Tubbo’s eyes widened.
“T-Tommy?”
His voice was full of guilt, sadness and fear, although fear of what, Phil couldn’t quite place.
Tommy looked at him. “Tubbo?”
The small brunette’s eyes welled up with tears, and he broke down, sobbing out apologies, as he sat crumpled on the ground. He looked… broken, almost. Everyone was painfully reminded that this was a child that they had put in charge of a nation.
Tommy almost immediately launched himself at his oldest and best friend, ensnaring him in a bear hug, whispering words of affirmation in his ear. They were both crying now, and it honestly would have been hard to tell where one stopped and the other began, was it not for the very different clothes. A red and white T-shirt against a stiff suit. Two friends that had been broken and put back together too many times to count. Two children, forced to grow up too fast.
The moment was broken by someone laughing loudly from down the hall, reminding Phil, and everyone else, that they weren’t alone here.
The two boys separated, although they still remained close.
Unsurprisingly, Tommy spoke first.
“Ok, where the fuck are we? This doesn’t look like anything on the smp.”
Dream spoke next, causing Tommy to flinch and back away ever so slowly.
“Well you’re right there. I can’t say I know where we are, or what happened. I do know that I heard a voice coming from down this hallway, maybe that could be a good place to start?”
Techno smirked.
“They sounded like a kid. Easy enough to intimidate then.”
With that common goal in mind, the group headed down to see what awaited them at the end of the hall.
While they were going, Techno leaned down to Phil’s level.
“Phil. The voices are quiet.”
Phil blinked.
“Really? Just… nothing?”
Techno snorted.
“Yeah. It’s kinda weird to be honest.”
Phil smiled.
“Well, at least that’s one good thing.”
When they got to the door, they heard a girl’s voice.
“Bad. No, no, let me explain.”
Everyone whipped around to look at Bad, who mouthed “How does she know my name?”
The girl continued.
“Right, so everyone’s just staring at him, it’s like. ‘This is the last swear word on the server, make it count.’ And he just looks at his feet and, very quietly says ‘Crap.’”
Phil thought he heard Bad hiss “Language” under his breath.
The girl let out a laugh.
“Oh, he so would.”
Techno appeared to tire of waiting in the hall doing nothing, and, without further ado, roughly shoved the door open.