Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a pretty average day in the Greater Smp. The sun was at its peak in the sky as midday came around. Though it was late in the day, very few activities were happening. Even for a young blonde demon and his companion, the goddess of chaos. The pair was sitting in the garden of Church Prime, seemingly having nonsensical conversation as they worked on the plants.

"Are you sure we can't add wither roses into the garden?" questioned Tommy, crossing his arms.

"I'm sure, this is supposed to be the 'Holy Land', right?" nodded Drista, as she handed the blonde boy a pot of lilies.

"Yeah, but the Church of Prime is supposed to represent the gods and wither roses are like iconic flowers of the goddess of death" remarked Tommy, as he took the pot.

"I doubt that she would care, plus she has a freaking forest in the Antarctic! Adding wither roses just might boost her ego even more" huffed Drista, spinning her halo.

"You said XD has a big ego too and Foolish built him a statue in his summer home even though he already has Church Prime" stated Tommy, lifting a brow.

"That's because Foolish is supposedly XD's 'pet' demigod. They have a weird relationship" proclaimed Drista.

"I guess but the goddess of death has a weird relationship with Philza, they're married!!" exclaimed Tommy, throwing his hands up.

"Not really, gods are known to have really close relationships with mortals. Philza isn't completely human but he's enough for his relationship with Kristen to be labeled God and Worshiper '' informed Drista, as she spun a shovel in her hand.

"What the hell kinda title is that?" questioned Tommy, furrowing his brows. 

"I don't know, it's something I heard the other gods say when they spoke of their relationships with beings on the mortal plane" shrugged Drista.

"I see. So Kristen and Phil have a god and worshiper relationship, what the hell does XD and Foolish have?" asked Tommy, as he lowered another flower into the ground.

"Um, Master and Unwilling Pet maybe" hummed Drista, resting her head on her hand.

"That's concerning if that's a title" stated Tommy.

"This is off the top of my head, bro! I can't remember all of these useless titles" exclaimed Drista, rolling her eyes.

"Bruh, fine then. Do we know anyone else who has a relationship with a god?" sighed Tommy, as he leaned against the tool box.

"Well, there is you & me, Foolish & XD, Philza & Kristen, Technoblade & the Blood God, Callahan & XD, Dream & XD, Badboyhalo & XD, George & XD-" listed Drista, counting on her hands.

"Geez, how many people does XD fool around with?" remarked Tommy, with a wide eyed look.

"A lot, he has a big ego and everyone has to know. He's also the god of mischief & creation" claimed Drista.

"Wow, and I haven't gotten to see him face to face, at least in the past few years" huffed Tommy, furrowing his brows.

"It's mostly likely because of Kristen" hummed Drista.

"What do you mean?" questioned Tommy, looking over at the light blonde deity.

"I mean, you grew up under the watchful eye of the Angel of Death who has a direct connection with the Goddess of Death after XD gave you up" proclaimed Drista, as she wandered over to a separate flowerbed.

"Gave me up? Drista, what are you implying?" asked Tommy, sitting up completely.

Light blonde girl paused before slowly turning toward the blonde boy. She lifted a brow before speaking again but slowly.

"Tommy, do you know who your parents are?" inquired Drista.

"I thought I did! Do you know who my real parents are?" exclaimed Tommy, very confused.

Drista lowered the pot she had in hand and floated over to Tommy, with a grin on her face. She then lifted the boy up by his arms and started to move to the front of the Church. 

"What the hell, Drista!?!" yelped Tommy, as he started to squirm.

"Give me a moment" she stated, as blew the front doors open with her magic.

She floated Tommy over to one of the pools of water and leaned him over so he could look into it.

"Look at your face" instructed Drista, pointing into the water.

"O-okay," stammered Tommy, confused.

"What do you see on your face?" asked Drista.

"My eyes, a scar, the white streaks in my hair, and my horns?" replied Tommy.

"What else?" questioned Drista.

I- my ears? What am I looking for exactly?" questioned Tommy, looking over at the light blonde goddess.

"Your small and unnoticeable features. For example, your ears have a red hue on them" spoke Drista, tugging on the boy’s pointed ears.

"Ouch, and that's because I'm an imp. That should be obvious!" hissed Tommy, pulling away.

"Fair but imps don't have white freckles all over their ears and face" sighed Drista, resting her hands on her hips.

I don't have white-" argued Tommy, but stopped as he looked back at his reflection.

Leaning closer and squinting, he could see a faint trace of light specks on his face that became more visible near his ears. How has he never noticed them before?

"Okay, so that's weird but that doesn't prove anything. It's just a facial feature I didn't pay attention to until now" huffed Tommy, crossing his arms.

"Does Philza have white freckles?" asked Drista

"Well, no-"muttered Tommy.

"Does Wilbur or Tubbo have white freckles?" asked Drista.

"Of course not but-" replied Tommy.

"Did anyone you were raised by have white freckles?" questioned Drista.

"NO! No one had white freckles except me. That doesnt give me any hints, Drista" shouted Tommy, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Good, which makes this more fun!" She exclaimed, before grabbing his arm.

Just like before, she snatched him up and dashed away. Drista flew upwards into the sky. Taken back by the heights they were traveling, Tommy gripped tightly to his deity friend's arm. He had no idea where the hell they were going and Drista's sly smile didn't make him any less concerned. He was aware that he wasn't the biological son of Philza since he had large black wings and Tommy didn’t. He kinda assumed it was a weird magic thing since the winged man was always experimenting with witchery when he and Tubbo were younger. Now though, with Drista's accusation of him being connected with her brother who was one of the greater gods, maybe it wasn’t that and something much deeper than he ever thought.

~~~

"We are here" sang Drista, as she began to dive back down.

They had been flying over the ocean for just about twenty minutes and finally reached their destination, a mushroom forest island. They were an uncommon thing to find but not unheard of. The duo slowly landed back on solid ground, though Tommy had a rough landing as he didnt catch his footing in time and fell face first into the soft dirt. He cursed to himself as he sat up. As he brushed the dirt off his face, something poked at him. Thinking it was Drista fooling around, he pushed it away. He was then poked again and he pushed it away. Suddenly he was shoved and ended up falling over once more.

"WHAT THE HELL!!" exclaimed Tommy.

"What?" shouted Drista, her voice coming from behind him.

He whipped his head around to look at the light blonde deity, who had a confused expression on her face. Tommy furrowed his brows before looking at what was in front of him. There stood a huge mushroom tree that had smaller mushrooms sticking out on the side. That was it, nothing sentient that could have shoved or poked him. 

"Did you shove me?" asked Tommy, looking over his shoulder once more.

"No? I was looking into the forest" replied Drista, pointing into the depth of the mushroom trees.

"I see, that was weird" muttered Tommy, as staggered to his feet.

"It could have been the mushroom, they are very reactive when it comes to their kin" remarked Drista, nonchalantly.

"But I'm not a mushroom?" stated Tommy, brushing his pants off.

Drista just smiled quietly and floated off into the woods. Tommy grumbled to himself, he disliked when she withheld information to be more cryptic. He followed after his deity friend as she seemed to be looking for something. As they wandered, Tommy kept getting weird vibrations from around him as if someone was talking. He couldn't hear voices but could feel the vibrations. He hated it since it was very unnatural to him. It didn't seem like Drista was being bothered by it but she always seemed unbothered. 

After a bit of walking, Drista cursed to herself as she lowered herself to the ground. She seemed to grumble about something to herself. Suddenly, she whipped around a point towards Tommy with a sharp finger.

"You figure it out" she stated.

"Huh?" exclaimed Tommy, tilting his head to the side.

"FInd a herd of mooshrooms on this island and I will tell you who your real parents are," declared Drista.

“How the hell am I supposed to do that? We are in the middle of a random forest and I have a shit sense of direction” remarked Tommy, throwing his hands up. 

“You’ll figure it out. Besides, you should be able to feel everything here” claimed Drista, resting her hands on her hips.

“So you have felt it! The weird vibes here!” called Tommy.

“Yes but not in the way you are feeling them” nodded Drista.

“What the hell is that supposed to me” shouted Tommy, furrowing his brows.

“I’ll tell you, when you find the mooshroom herd” proclaimed Drista.

Tommy narrowed his eyes at her before groaning loudly. This was stupid and this was all to probably for her Drista’s entertainment, watching him wander aimlessly in a mushroom forest. Unfortunately, he was gonna follow through since she was his only way back home. He closed his eyes as he shifted side to side. He really doesn’t know how but he’ll just rely on whatever the hell the weird “vibes” were. Standing very still, he tried to focus on the weird vibrations. They seemed a bit more intense this time and the voices seemed more like gurgled sounds than actual words. Though amongst the overwhelming feeling of unfamiliarity noises, he reconsigned one. The sound of a moo-ing cow. It was faint but it was there. Slowly, Tommy started walking towards the sound. He extended his arms to make sure he didn’t slam right into a tree and lose his contraction. As he continued on, the mooing became less and less faint to almost blaring. It was giving Tommy a horrible headache and he felt like fainting himself but had to push on. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his arm that caused him to stop walking. He blinked his eyes open and was greeted with an amazing sight. They seemed to have reached the end of the mushroom forest and in front of them was a field that had a giant herd of mooshroom cows, all various sizes and ages. Tommy hadn’t seen a herd this big before since most mainland mooshrooms came in a family of four or five. There seemed to be at least fifty cows here. The blonde was so starstruck with the amount of cows that he nearly forgot how he found them. He & Drista were just in the middle of the forest and now at the end of it. His sense of direction has never been this good, or even. He whipped around to face Drista, who was leaning against a mushroom tree with a smirk on her face.

“So, I’m part mushroom” retorted Tommy, not really knowing what they say.

“Close” replied Drista, as she tried to stifle a laugh.

“I found the fucking herd for you, do I get to know why the hell I can feel mushrooms and locate mooshrooms?” exclaimed Tommy, crossing his arms.

“Sure, why not?” shrugged Drista, as she stood up straight.

“We should head back though, you are gonna need some rest after this event” she stated, as she latched onto Tommy’s arms once more.

“I think I can agree with you on this one” sighed Tommy, feeling a little tired.

Drista ruffled his hair before lifting him into the air and flying off and away from the island.

~~~

When the duo finally returned to Church Prime, the sun was starting to set and both blondes were very tired. Tommy closed and locked the doors to the church before making his way to the altar table where Drista sat. She held two cups of what smelled of tea in her spare hands,passing one to Tommy as he took a seat on a nearby chair. 

“Are you ready for the ground breaking news of who your real parents are” sang Drista, as she kicked her feet.

“Yeah, and it better be worth it” huffed Tommy, taking a sip from his cup.

The light blonde deity gave another infamous smile before clearing her throat. 

“First, hello Tommy! I am your aunt Drista” stated Drista, holding up her cup.

“Second, your father is XD, the God of Creation & Mischief. Making you a demi-god” she added.

“Third, your other father is George, one of the Kings of Kinoko Kingdom. Making you a which means you have a strong connection with nature.” she included.

“And lastly, your fathers were forced to give you up since a falling out amoung the gods put you and George in danger” she finished, before taking a long sip from her tea.

While she drank, Tommy nearly choked on his tea. Not because it was hot but because of what a bomb the third peice of information was. Though he struggled to catch his breath, Tommy spoke out.

“What!?!” he exclaimed.

“Told you it was groundbreaking” chuckled Drista, slyly.

“What do you mean, George is one of my dads? Like, George NotFound Lore? The guy who is one of the founders of the Greater Smp and the muse of the currently most wanted criminal?” rambled Tommy.

“Yup” nodded Drista, popping the ‘p’. 

“How? Not only is that not biological but socially possible?” questioned Tommy, with a distressed tone.

“You see, Tommy, when two people love each other very much-” started Drista, but Tommy cut her off.

“Nope, nope, nope! I don’t need that talk, I’m good” yelped Tommy, as he covered his ears.

“Relax, kid, im not going torture.” laughed Drista, throwing her head back.

“And let me finish speaking,” she added.

“Everyone gets the baby talk at some point, but I’m gonna give you the demi-god baby talk. When a god loves a mortal, creating demi-god children can come in various ways. Most common way is the mortal route through intercourse. In your case though, George had a strong connection to nature, mushrooms and flowers to be exact. So he and XD did some really weird things and someone ended up with you. I wasn’t there for most of it but things happened and you popped out of a flower" explained Drista, as she stirred her tea.

“That made very little sense” muttered Tommy, with furrowed brows.

“Probably. Like I said, I wasn't there for most of it so you’ll half to ask someone who was” shrugged Drista, sipping from her cup.

“Like who? I don’t have a direct connection with XD and George wouldn’t want to see me after what happened with his house and Dream’s imprisonment” asked Tommy, slouching in his chair.

“Sapnap, Dream, Karl, or Callahan. They were with George during that time period of his life since it was when they left to be on their own” remarked Drista.

Sapnap, Dream, Karl, or Callahan. Those were his options. Literally the most strange array of people but it would be easy to choose who to go to. Dream was an immediate & obvious no and it would take forever to translate Callahan’s sign language for Tommy to understand him, Karl was quite diffcult to trackdown, meaning Sapnap was his best choice. It was going to be one weird conversation but Tommy was too curious to let this new information lie. He was gonna have to think of a way to bring up to him without making things weird too quickly. 

As he let his thoughts ponder and spiral so he could think of what to say tomorrow, Tommy felt himself drifting off to sleep. He kept trying to keep himself away by drinking from his cup but it only made him sleepier. Soon, the cup slipped out of his hand by Drista. She pulled him to his feet and led him over to the pew bench. He tried to argue with her but he was too tired to come up with coherent words. Instead, he just let himself rest on the cushioned seating on the bench as the dark blonde deity placed a satin pillow under his head. Almost as soon as he placed his head on it, he was knocked out. Quiet as she could be, Drista conjured up a blanket and placed it over the blonde. Seeing as he was somewhat at rest, she decided to rest herself. She sat down on the floor beside Tommy and shifted into her statue form, letting her mortal body come to a rest until the morning.

Chapter Text

The sound of echoing church bells rang out in the early morning, waking almost everyone near it. Especially Tommy, who was trying to cover up his ears. Maybe falling asleep in the church wasn’t the best idea since it had its own built-in alarm system. He just wanted a few more minutes of sleep or hour, give or take. Unfortunately though, he probably wasn’t going to get that time since something started to poke at his face. He tried to push it away but it was very persistent. Groaning sleepily, he slowly opened his eyes to look at the person. Seemingly floating above him, was Drista with an amused expression on her face. He glared at her before pulling the blanket over his head.

“What do you want, it’s too early for this” grumbled Tommy.

“Because, this little life mystery of yours has piqued my interest and I wanna see how it plays out” sang Drista, as she tugged on the blanket. 

“Well can you wait for like another few minutes, I’m still tired” muttered Tommy, as he tried to pull the blanket back.

“We do this almost everyday, Tommy. I’m not gonna leave you alone until you get out of bed,” remarked Drista, snatching the blanket completely.

“You such an arsehole” hissed Tommy, sitting up to reach for it.

“Maybe but I know you’ll eventually get up” claimed Drista, as snapped the blanket out of existence.

Tommy narrowed his eyes at the dark blonde girl, who held a very smug look on her face, before groaning loudly. He swung his legs off the bench and stretched out his limbs. He hated how right she was sometimes but he couldn’t lie. He wanted to get to the bottom of this weird mystery that has been kept from him for his entire life. Especially since George and him haven’t had the best relationship because of their different views and feelings towards everything.

George thrived from domestic things while Tommy lived for chaos and calamity.

George had hated L’manburg from the beginning while Tommy had loved it till its end.

George was once Dream’s muse while Tommy lived in fear of the masked man.

Things just didn’t line up to him. He was probably missing a lot of things but he wouldn’t know since the two of them had placed so much distance between them. Even when Tommy visited Kinoko Kingdom for the first time, Sapnap mentioned how George was one of the kings but he hadn’t seen a hair of the dark brunet. He didn’t really affect him at the time but with this new information, it kind of made him a little upset. Until he got the full story of things, he was just going to be sitting in the dark and ignorant to the true events that happened. 

After a bit of wandering around the Church and freshening up, Tommy & Drista were off for the day. The young deity skipped along the prime path as the blonde boy dragged along behind her. It was a pretty sunny day so walking to the infamous fungi kingdom will hopefully fill Tommy with some kind of energy. He’d probably stop by one of the shops there to grab some breakfast since he was kind of hungry after yesterday’s activities. Plus, he still hadn’t thought of how to ask Sapnap about his origins so he was gonna have to eat something to get his brain cells to grind their thinking gears.        

~~~

“Bye Tommy!!” waved Tina, as the blonde exited her café.

Tommy waved in return as he stuck his sandwich into his mouth. Drista had suggested visiting Tina for breakfast since she was a pretty good chef, though Tommy could argue since he thought Niki was a pretty great chef. They argued about it on the way to the café but chose to agree to disagree. When they arrived, Drista shrunk into her mini form and tucked herself into Tommy’s bandana. Now though, as they made their way to a bench by the big sakura tree, she revealed herself and perched herself on the back of the bench. He pulled out a container that had a bunch of apple cinnamon muffins in it and handed one to the now tiny goddess. She accepted it and started eating it while Tommy started conversation.

“So, the plan from here is simple. We find Sapnap, beat around the bush for a bit, and then ask him about XD & George” proclaimed Tommy, gesturing with his hands. 

“Sounds easy, but do you know how to ‘beat around the bush’? ” remarked Drista, tilting her head to the side.

“Yes but also no” replied Tommy, proudly. 

“How do you plan to ask Sapnap about your parents?” asked Drista.

“I don’t exactly know, yet” stated Tommy, slightly slouching.

“Do you know where Sapnap is?” questioned Drista, with lifting a brow.

“Um…” hummed Tommy, furrowing his brows.

“Hopeless, you are hopeless” sighed Drista, taking a bite from her muffin.

“Am not! Besides, I could just text him” huffed Tommy, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

“Then do it, bet you wont” challenged Drista.

Tommy glared at the small deity before searching for his communicator in his bag. He fumbled a bit before pulling the battered but decorative device out and switching it on. It didn’t take too much scrolling for him to find Sapnap’s contact. Click on his tab and enter into the chat and  send a quick spam “hello” before waiting for a response. As he waited, he finished eating his sandwich and pulling a bottle of water. While doing so, his communicator pinged in his hand. He looked down at it, feeling Drista moving to peer over his shoulder.

Sapnap: “Hi Tommy!”

Tommy: “Sapnap!!!!”

Tommy: “Are you busy rn?”

Sapnap: “not really”

Sapnap: “Karl needed help with his library but disappeared”

Tommy: “he ditched you”

Sapnap: “i wouldn’t put it like that”

Sapnap: “probably went to go study in the basement”

Tommy: “Why in the basement?”

Sapnap: “idk, says it’s so he can be focus”

Tommy:  “weird”

Tommy: “every thought of going to check on him?”

Suddenly, the blonde felt a sharp tug on his ears causing him to hiss in pain. He whipped his head to look at Drista who had displeased expression.

“Quit being a pussy and stay focused” she whispered.

“Fuck off” grumbled Tommy, before turning back to his communicator.

Sapnap: “i’ve tried but the doors usually locked”

Sapnap: “he doesn’t really talk about what he studies”

Tommy: “that's rough”

Tommy: “But you are free rn?”

Sapnap: “pretty much”

Sapnap: “why?”

Tommy: “i'm bored and don’t have anyone to hangout with”

Sapnap: “What about Tubbo & Ranboo?”

Tommy: “idk where Ran is and Tubbs is working on nuke things”

Tommy: Pretty lonesome at the moment”

“What am I? A roach?” remarked Drista.

“With how much you bug me, yes” replied Tommy.

She huffed annoyedly and flicked his face, which got her temporarily swatted away. 

Sapnap: “Well where are you?”

Sapnap: “we can hangout”

Tommy: “i'm at the big pink tree in the middle of kinoko”

Tommy: “came to get breakfast from Tina”

Sapnap: “oh you aren’t that far”

Sapnap: “I’ll come get you”

Tommy: “see ya then, big man”

The conversation ended there and now it was time to wait again. Tommy just sighed and leaned back against the bench. 

“That wasn’t that bad” stated Tommy, looking over at Drista.

“Yeah but you still gotta talk to him face to face” shrugged Drista, picking up a new muffin from the container.

“I’m good with improv so I should be fine” assured Tommy, throwing his head back.

“Sure, sure. We’ll see” hummed Drista, rolling her eyes.

Tommy huffed and took a muffin so he could calm himself. He hoped this was all worth it and not a really weird prank that Drista was pulling. She is the goddess of chaos and has the ability to change reality around but only to an extent. He learned that she had gotten in trouble with XD when she started making farm animals float at random times and freaked out a bunch of people just a few months back. Unfortunately, he missed all the action since he started to sleep in more. She sure did have a story to tell him after her punishment was over. Another time where her skills were limited was time, since she hadn’t messed with such things. She could make illusions to make it look like time was different but her power would wear out very quickly so he doubted that she could mess around with things such as time periods & shit. Still though, this could highly be another one of her fucked up “pranks”. He’d just have to see what happened from here.

After a while, Tommy & Drista ended up finishing the entire container of muffins and started walking in circles around the tree. They shared banter about random things to keep themselves entertained. Soon, Tommy spotted a figure in a white cloak making their way towards them. He recognized them immediately.

“Sapnap!!” called Tommy, waving his hand.

Tommy!!” shouted Sapnap, excitedly.

The older demon hybrid through his arm of the blonde’s shoulder as they headbutted their horns together. 

“Sorry if it took a bit long. I was putting some books away” stated Sapnap.

“It’s fine, just glad we were able to hangout!” assured Tommy, lightly elbowing him.

“What have you been up to lately anyway?” asked Sapnap, tilting his head to the side.

“Oh, just simple big man activities. Was working on the garden at Church Prime yesterday” claimed Tommy, placing his hands into his pockets.

“Church Prime has a garden? I didn’t know that” remarked Sapnap, interested.

“Yeah, though it’s a more recent installment. Needed something to keep myself busy nowadays” nodded Tommy.

“I was trying to figure out what new flowers to add since tributes to other gods are being added too,” he added, as he kicked a nearby rock.

“Really? I thought it was just for Prime and XD” questioned Sapnap, lifting a brow.

“It still is but Phil suggested I should add more things to it. Currently, there are tributes to the goddess of death and the goddess of chaos that I set up” informed Tommy, gesturing about with his hands.

“I don’t know much about the goddess of death but I can say one thing about the goddess of chaos. Her ego will probably go through the roof if she finds about that” hummed Sapnap, shaking his head.

“I can confirm, it very much did and she hasn’t let me live it down” sighed Tommy, furrowing his brows.

“That’s because no one appreciates Chaos in a positively light,” huffed Drista, throwing her head back.

“They have a right so, do you know who you are Drista?” claimed Tommy, resting his hands on his hips.

“Oh it's fine when other gods cause fucked up things to happen but when it's chaotic and out of control, its Drista this or Drista that! Why don't ya'll take responsibility for your own chaos” exclaimed Drista, agitatedly.

“Awe, no hard feelings, Little D, at least you got a flower patch tribute” assured Sapnap, patting the small goddess on the head.

“Don’t patronize me” muttered Drista, as moved away.

“I’m not,” stated Sapnap, pulling his hand back. 

“Anyways, Tommy had to ask you about something so I need to go somewhere, okay bye” blurted Drista, stretching her wings out.

“What?!” exclaimed Tommy, but was too late to respond.

She laughed maniacally as she flew away, giving a small wave. Tommy grumbled under his breath as he was just thrown under the bus. He watched as she flew farther away before turning back to Sapnap, who had a confused yet curious expression. Tommy cleared his throat as he turned to completely face the demon hybrid.

“So,” hummed Tommy, fiddling with his fingers.

“So?” parroted Sapnap, lifting a brow.

“I have some questions but they are really dumb” claimed Tommy, as he looked down at the ground. 

“There is no such thing as a dumb question, there are naïve questions but no dumb ones” concurred Sapnap, as he crossed his arms.

“Right, right” nodded Tommy, as blew a strand of hair out of his face.

“So George, your best friend, you’ve known him for a very long time. Correct?” he remarked.

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since we were kids” affirmed Sapnap, nodding his head.

“That means you know everything about him up until now?” questioned Tommy, clasping his hands together.

“You could say so, yeah” agreed Sapnap.

“And I mean everything? His likes, dislikes, favorite items, favorite people, his past, his feelings-” rambled Tommy, swaying side to side.

“What are you trying to get at?” inquired Sapnap, lifting a brow.

“Um, something that’s dumb” muttered Tommy, his ears drooping.

“Tommy” stated Sapnap, furrowing his brows.

“Okay, okay! Does George know XD? Drista’s older brother? The God of Creation and Mischief? One of the big guys in the sky, or some shit” stammered Tommy, putting his hands up in defense. 

“I mean, yeah. Besides me and Tina, he spends a lot of time with XD. Which isn’t a big surprise to be honest” shrugged Sapnap, gesturing with one hand.

“So they know each other, for how long though?” asked Tommy, pressing his hands together.

Sapnap didn’t answer, at least not immediately. He just stared at Tommy silently. This seemed like a mistake now and Tommy thought it was best to back out now. This prank was probably going on for too long anyways.                  

“Nevermind, I should stop while I’m ahead. We can talk about something else-” sighed Tommy, as he tried to back away. 

“Tommy-” mumbled Sapnap.

“No, it’s fine. I shouldn’t be asking such personal questions. I was just being noisy” claimed Tommy, waving his hand in the air.

“Tommy-” repeated Sapnap, a bit louder.

“I promise you, I had no ill-intent when asking about-” assured Tommy, but was cut off.

“Tommy!” exclaimed Sapnap, as he cupped the blonde’s face in his hands.

The both froze as they stared at each other, Tommy a little shocked while Sapnap looked at him with a serious look in his eyes.

“Yes” replied Tommy, as his face was being smushed. 

“Did she tell you something?” asked Sapnap, with narrowed eyes.

“Drista? She tells me a lot of things” stated Tommy.

“Did she tell you something about George and XD?” inquired Sapnap.

“Maybe, but it sounded like bullshit” uttered Tommy, rolling his eyes.

Sapnap inhaled sharply before letting Tommy go as he exhaled. The blonde rubbed the sides of his face as the demon hybrid seemed to be composing himself. That was not the reaction he had expected, not at all.

“Okay, what did she tell you exactly?” questioned Sapnap, clasping his hands together.

“Well, me & her were talking about the gods yesterday while working on the Church’s garden and she brought up how I was given away as a child by XD. Then she took me on this weird hunt for mooshrooms on a mushroom island. When we got back from that, she said George had rolled in my ‘creation’ in a way” explained Tommy, nervously fiddling his fingers. 

“Do you know what that means?” remarked Sapnap, lifting a brow.

“I do but I don’t know if it’s true so she told me to come ask you about it” shrugged Tommy, throwing his hands up.

“Okay” muttered Sapnap, furrowing his brows.

“Come with me” he stated, as he extended a hand towards the blonde.

Tommy stared at him with a confused expression before taking his hand. He was then pulled along the stone path of the kingdom. He still wasn’t completely sure what was about to happen but Sapnap seemed pretty serious about it. So maybe Drista wasn’t lying about this whole thing. 

After a bit of walking, they arrived at what Tommy assumed was their destination. It was a large building that had decorated carvings into its exterior walls, along with vines crawling up the sides with flowers scattered across it. There was a small stairway leading up to the double doors and two signs. One was carved above the door that said “Library” and the other one was hanging in the window that said “Closed” with a list of hours of when the building was open.

“Karl must have left for the day” remarked Sapnap, as he tilted his head to the side.

“What do we do now?” asked Tommy, lifting a brow.

“We are still going in, Karl gave me the extra key for the library just in case he forgot his” stated Sapnap, as he started fumbling through his pocket.

“Why are we going into the library?” questioned Tommy, crossing his arms. 

“For two reasons. One, the library holds documentation of everything that has happened. Everything from me and Karl’s first adventures with the original gang to the recent prison break” claimed Sapnap, as he pulled a copper key from his pocket.

Tommy slightly stiffened at the mention of the prison but it mulled it the feeling as he heard the sound of a click as Sapnap pushed the library door open. He followed after him as he walked in as his voice caught in his throat at the interior. Everything was much bigger than it looked on the outside. The entrance was wide and welcoming but the shelves of books seemed to form a labyrinth everywhere else. Every wall seemed to be lined with novels and documents which held unknown yet known knowledge.

“The second reason is so we won’t be disturbed or bothered since the information you are asking for is supposed to be like super secret and no one was supposed to know, '' continued Sapnap, kicking the door closed.

“But you know?” claimed Tommy, with a confused look.

“Yeah because I was there with. So was Karl, Callahan, Drista, & Dream. We were the ones who were with George when everything happened with XD & him.” informed Sapnap, as he walked past the blonde.

“What- pause. So other people knew about this but never thought to say anything” stammered Tommy, furrowing his brows. 

“We couldn’t and weren’t allowed to at the time. I don’t know exactly why but it was originally Dream’s idea to avoid having more conflict when Wilbur showed up” shrugged Sapnap, as he headed towards a table. 

“I don’t know how you ended up with him or his family but it had to do with something that XD did. It’s been a few years since this topic has ever been brought up but I’ve forgotten the smaller details of the aftermath” he mumbled, as sat atop of the table. 

“Well, what about the beginning? That’s what I’m curious about since this whole thing doesn’t seem to make sense to me” inquired Tommy, leaning against a chair.

“You want the entire story?” questioned Sapnap, lifting a brow.

“Might as well get it that way” nodded Tommy, resting his head on his hand.

“Then I’ll get some snacks from the back, we are going to be here for a while” sighed Sapnap, as he pushed himself to his feet.

“Wait here, I won't be long” he assured, before walking off.

Tommy nodded as he watched the brunet demon disappear near the front desk. He let out a slow breath before looking around. There was a small cozy area where two lounge chairs sat against a wall behind a small coffee table. The young blonde made his way over to it and let himself sink into one of the lounge chairs. He might as well get comfortable because this was about to be one hell of a story. 

Chapter Text

“So how does this story start?”

“I guess, I could start when XD and George were courting?”

“Courting?”

“Just let me explain”  

~~~

The sun rays barely shone through the dense thicket of the forest. Which made it easy for its residence to sleep in when the glaring light wasn’t in their eyes. Especially a young mushroom man in a small house. He was still coddled up into his bed, curtains closed and dark blue blanket tucked up to his chin. He had little cares of what the outside work had for him since it hadn’t come to get him.

Not yet at least.

It was only when loud noises began to echo throughout the small home. Shouting voices carried through the walls as chaos occurred from outside the room. The mushroom man groaned slightly, as he was being forced to wake up by the loud noises and aggressive vibrations that he felt. He lifted his pillow to cover his ears to block out the sounds but nothing could stop the vibrations. Ten minutes went by before the mushroom man could no longer endure it and was fully awake, seeing no point in trying to fake it. Slowly sitting up, he slipped his blanket over his shoulders as steaded his footing. Once fully standing up, he sauntered towards the exit. Pushing past the door and entering into the hallway, the noise only got louder but it had gotten clearer. It was most definitely yelling and it was about something idiotic. Continuing down the hall, he entered into the main living space where his companions lounged. A dark blonde man seemed to be arguing with a brunet demon man in the kitchen while a light brunet sat at an island table scribbling into a notebook as a deer man watched over his shoulder. The mushroom man let out a yawn, making his presence noted. 

“Oh, good morning George” greeted the light brunet, looking up from his notebook.

“Morning Karl” breathed George, as another yawn escaped his mouth.

“Did you sleep alright?” asked Karl, as closed up his notebook.

“Pretty decent, I’m pretty beat after yesterday” breathed George, waltzing into the kitchen.

The deer man seemed to sign something into the conversation.

“I don’t know, Callahan, I think our raid of that nether fortress was pretty successful” remarked Karl, as he patted the deer man’s head.

“Successful enough to get out with our lives” scoffed George, as he made his way to the pantry. 

“Either way, we got a good haul of netherite and gold ingots, so I think today is just going to be a no exploration day” expressed Karl. 

“You sure, doesn’t sound like considering those two over there” remarked George, gesturing to his companions who were still bickering.

“Oh it’s not because Sapnap finished off all the eggs last night and Dream is upset about it since we were going to have some for breakfast,” chuckled Karl, as he rested his head on his hand.

Callahan signed something to add to the light brunet’s statement.

“Callahan is right, we are missing a lot of food stuff since we have been taking most of it on our adventures” nodded Karl. 

“Which means we have a trip to the market place to take” huffed George, as he exclaimed the barren pantry shelves. 

“Yeah” said Karl, nodding his head.     

George groaned loudly as he closed the cabinet. He wasn’t in the mood to go shopping but he was also very hungry so there was no other choice. Looking over to Sapnap and Dream, who seemed to be cooling off from their argument, George grabbed Karl’s pen and threw it at his dark blonde friend. It bounced off his pointed ears which caused him to flinch at the contact. 

“What the hell?” exclaimed Dream, turning towards the dark brunet. 

“We are out of food, we need to go out and get more” proclaimed George, clinging to a blanket around his shoulders.

“You don’t think I know that” huffed Dream, narrowing his eyes.

“Didn’t seem like it since you and Sapnap are bitching about the little things” remarked George, rolling his eyes. 

“Well I’m sorry, your highness, you weren’t here for when we came to the discovery of the lack of eggs of which are important” scoffed Dream, throwing his head back.

“Yeah yeah, just go get stuff for the house and stop making so much noise” hummed George, as he turned to exit the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” asked Dream, resting his hands on his hips. 

“Back to bed, it’s too early in the day for your shenanigans” muttered George.

“I don’t think so, young man” stated Dream, snapping his fingers.

Suddenly, George was no longer at the entrance of the hallway but sitting at the table with Karl and Callahan. He nearly fell out of the chair immediately if Callahan hadn’t held it up. Once steaded, George glared at Dream with an annoyed look.

“What the hell!” exclaimed George.

“Everyone in this house eats food. Which means everyone has to play a part in what goes in the house. We all are going to the market together and do our part to store this place up with food again.” explained Dream, crossing his arms.

“Seems like you are trying to abuse that power of yours” claimed George, slouching into the chair.

“I’m not and that’s not the point I’m making, George. We are all going shopping today at the market” sighed Dream, face palming.

“I’ll make a list of things we need while everyone gets ready and we will meet back here” he informed, moving to one of the drawers nearby. 

George huffed agitatedly but didn’t argue as he knew what Dream said was true. He stood up from the table, along with Karl & Callahan and headed back to his room to get ready. He tossed his blanket back into his bed and headed towards his chests. He switched out his sleeping attire for a white blouse top with a blue sweater over it and dark pants. Grabbed his belt satchel from the corner of his bed, he fixed the strap of it around his waist. As he finished with the clasp of it, he heard noise nearby. It wasn’t a loud one but very noticeable since he was the only one in the room. It came again, but he was able to locate its location. It was from his window. And at the window was a small figure with a green hood, twining halos on their head, and a small smile on their porcelain like face just hovering by it. They seemed to be tapping at the window with their halo. George’s brow lifted upwards before he walked over to the window. He unlatched the locks and lifted it upwards, letting the small figure float into his room. Swiftly though, it changed shape and grew into a much larger and intimidating form. They tower over George and look down at him as their smile turns a singular eye. 

“George!” greeted the figure, their voice deep and echoey but with a happy tone.

“XD? What are you doing here” hummed George, as he tried to rub sleep out of his eyes.

“Coming to see you. I was not able to accompany you in your slumber last evening so I am here to accompany you during the day” remarked XD.

“I’d like that but I’m not sure if you can since Dream is having everyone come on a trip to the market” stated George, resting his hands on his hips.

“That does not mean I can not accompany you. It’s only to the market” claimed XD, tilting his head to the side.

“I don’t know, maybe wait until we get back from the market. When I get back, we can do anything we want since the team doesn’t have any adventuring plans after a trip to the nether recently” shrugged George, walking over to grab his goggles.

“Is there a reason why I can not come with you, my dear?” asked XD, with a curious look.

George became slightly flustered for a moment at the nickname but calmed himself quickly. 

“Not necessarily, I’m just trying to get this market trip over with since I’m still tired after being in the nether for so long” shrugged George, slipping his goggles onto his head.

“I have extra hands, so I could provide help” stated XD, as various pairs of floating dismembered arms appeared on the outside of his cloak.

“We are going into a human marketplace, XD. I love you and your weirdly many limbs but I don't think anyone out there would appreciate them” said George, with a slightly appalled look.   

XD gave the brunet a confused look before shrugging his shoulders as his floating arms disappeared. George rolled his eyes before grabbing a short cloak from the end of his bed. He clasped the chain to the hook and fixed around himself. 

“If you wish to come with me so badly, you can chill in my pocket like usual” sighed George, as he gestured to the inside of the cloak.

“I see, well that's good enough for now” hummed XD, as if his eye didn’t light up with joy.  

The god slowly began to shrink back down to his previous form and floated over the mushroom man. He tucked himself into the cloak pocket, wriggling about before sitting comfortable in it. George gave him a small head pat before fixing back his cloak. Once fluffing up from under his goggles, George headed out the room and back into the main room. Standing by the door was Sapnap and Karl, who seemed to be conversing. Sapnap was the one to notice George’s present and waved at him. 

“George! Are you ready to head out? Dream & Callahan went to grab the wagon so we’ll just meet them out there if you are ready” stated Sapnap, resting his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, I guess I am” huffed George, as he stretched out his arms to get the last bit of sleep out of him.

“Let’s go then” claimed Karl, as grabbed both Sapnap and George’s hand.

The light brunet dragged the two out the front door, causing them to stumble a bit. As George caught his footing, he took in his surroundings. The house was just on a small hill in a forest and river so he could hear the rushing waters of it. At the bottom of the hill was a dirt road that led farther into the forest. On that road is where Dream and Callahan were, along with a horse that was hooked onto a wagon. The deer man waved towards them as they approached the wagon.

“Finally you guys are here, thought I’d have to come up and get you myself” remarked Dream, as he sat up straight. 

“We are big boys, we don’t need your help ‘dad’ “ scoffed Sapnap, crossing his arms. 

“Yeah, yeah. Just get your asses on here before everything is gone from the market” uttered Dream, rolling his eyes. 

“We still have daylight to spare” muttered Sapnap, as walking around the wagon. 

George and Karl exchanged glances before shrugging and climbing in. Sapnap took the passenger seat beside Dream while George and Karl took the back with Callahan. With a jolt of the horse’s reins, they were off. The horse circled around and headed down the road where the trees were more condensed, casting shadows over them. It was surprisingly comforting as they didn’t have to worry about the blazing heat shining down onto them. With just the sounds of nature around them, George felt like he could lull back to sleep if it weren’t for continued arguing between Sapnap and Dream. Instead he slowly let himself begin to space out as he stared up at the forest canopy, making a makeshift puzzle route with his eyes. A very odd thing it was but he had picked it up when he would go on night walks with XD. He couldn’t remember exactly what his godly companion had said since it was a very cryptic thing but it was about finding a path that was not on the ground. Really wasn’t useful for much, it kept his mind busy when didn’t have much else to do and made time go by a bit faster. Such as now when he noticed the trees  were starting to thin out and the wagon started to shake less as the road began to smooth out. The sounds of farm animals and chattering of crowds carried from up head as it seemingly drowned out his friends’ voices.The brunet sat up as to take in his more direct surroundings. The wagon pulled through gates of a large village and headed towards a set stable lot where other wagons were parked. Dream slowed the horse down to a full stop hopping out the front seat. Everyone followed after him as they slipped out the back. While the dark blonde tied the horse to a pole, he handed Sapnap a small notepad.

“We are going to divide and conquer the market place so we can get more things done today. I have placed the necessities on that notepad so you guys can decide which ones you guys can go looking for” informed Dream, looking over his shoulder at the group.

“Dibs on getting the meat!” exclaimed Sapnap, his eyes lighting up.

“Meats and vegetables, we can get those together” proclaimed Karl, resting a hand on the dark haired man’s arm. 

“Well then me and Callahan will get eggs and milk. Are you fine with getting fruits and bread on your own, George?” asked Dream, looking over at the dark brunet.

“Yeah, I’m good. What time are we going to come back?” nodded George, crossing his arms.

“Maybe around twelve or two. We come back here and grab some lunch before we head home” remarked Dream, looking towards the sun.

“Sounds good to me, see you guys then” stated Sapnap, before waltzing away. 

Karl called out to him as he pursued him. Dream shrugged his shoulders silently before walking away in the opposite direction with Callahan. This left George on his own by the wagon. Looking around to make sure they were out of sight, he lifted up his cloak to look at where XD still was. 

“They are gone,” he whispered.

The god nodded his head before floating out of the cloak pocket. He perched himself on the side of the wagon to face the mushroom man.

“We have to get fruits & bread. After that, if we have time left, we can fool around the marketplace since they want to meet back up for lunch” reported George, as he rested his hands on his hips.

“Must you purchase it? I could just provide you with some and we could spend more time together” claimed XD, tilting his head to the side.

“We are spending time together, you’d just have to stay in my pocket” assured George, though rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Or I could just walk with you,” said XD, rolling his head.   

“But-” started George, was quickly hushed by his partner’s hand.

“I am aware that mortals can’t see me in this way but I can just change” stated XD.

George lifted a brow in confusion. XD rolled his eyes before closing it. He started to glow a bright green and his halo started spinning crazily. The brunet shielded his eyes away since it was jarring to look at. Suddenly, a gust of  green smoke flew into his face and caused to go into a small coughing fit. He felt a hand placed on his back as he tried to calm himself. Once the smoke had cleared, George rubbed his eyes so that he could see who’s hand was on him. Standing in front of him was a tall man with golden hair and crystal blue eyes, who wore an open button green dress shirt with black pants & boots. What brought the entire attire together was an ender eye clasp around the collar of the shirt. Overall, this was a very beautiful and mystically man that George knew very well.

“Do you see what I mean, my dear” cooed XD, as a smile curled onto his lips.

“I do, it just slipped my mind that you can do that, '' stammered George, trying to catch his breath.

“My my, have I left you breathless from my beauty?” questioned XD, tilting his head to the side.

“N-no, your dumb magic smoke just made me loss breathe” scoffed George, turning away.

“Sure” chuckled XD, as he took George’s hand into his.

“Well, we must be off to grab those items” he stated, as he started to lead the brunet into the market.

“Y-yes, we should” stutterd George, taking the lead by force. 

XD just smiled fondly and let him take charge. It was quite enduring to him. 

Chapter Text

“So they were dating?” 

“In a way, yes. XD just used bigger and fancier terms for it”

“Sounds like things gods would do. So they were dating but how did they end up having me? Did they do the ‘thing’ ?”

“Honestly, I don’t know how the heck it happened. All I know is that there was giant sunflower involved and a two day trip that Karl & George went on”

~~~

The howling winds of the fall season had settled in and all the plants turned into orange & brown as they dried & died. 

Almost all the plants at least.  

Sitting inside a home was an unbloomed sunflower. It was different from any normal one that anyone has ever seen. It didn’t have a long stem and didn’t stretch upwards like those that would grow in an open field. It had a short stem but a much larger unbloomed head. It was so large that it had to be placed in a wide wooden barrel to support its size. It was very abnormal and assumed to have been infected by some kind of magic. What added onto this idea was who owned this strange sunflower, or should say attached to. 

None other than George. 

He happened to bring it home after an outing with XD, since the god had gifted it to him while on a private date. It was smaller back then but it only seemed to grow as the months came along. Not only that but George started acting weird. He couldn’t allow himself to leave the sunflower for too long as if out of instinct. The only time he would leave it was to get food but the flower had to be at least a few feet nearby. With food though, he seemed to be consuming much more than he regularly would. Not to shame though it was just very concerning since he would eat a lot and then go back to flower. All of his friends were worried and weren’t sure what to do. They couldn’t take him to a normal doctor since this situation was anything but. They wanted to ask XD about the flower’s origins but the god hadn’t appeared in a long while, mostly due to dealing with divine duties. The only temporary solution was probably to get George and the flower out the house and somewhere there was sunlight. He seemed more energized and could go a few hours without being with the flower directly. Though as mentioned, this solution was temporary as the problem was only solved when the sun was up and the weather wasn’t cold. It all returned back to normal and seemed to have only gotten worse once fall had settled in. Someone had to find the reasoning behind this and get some kind of answer before something dreadfully worse happens. 

“I have a plan” declared Karl, slamming his hand on the table.

“A plan? For what?” questioned Sapnap, jolting up from surprise.

“To figure out what is wrong with George” claimed Karl, gesturing to the dark brunet slumped on the couch. 

“I have a friend who knows all about plants and mystical phenomena in nature. She doesn’t live too far away from here but it will take some time. We could take him and the flower to get checked out in her home” he explained.

“How much time? They can’t really be outside for too long considering winter is approaching” asked Sapnap, resting his chin on his hand.

“At least a day or two if we take the wagon. One day to get there and one day to get back” stated Karl, as he pulled his notebook from his jacket pocket. 

“That’s not too bad but we have to prepare for winter ourselves. Can she not come to us for this situation” hummed Dream, as he leaned against the counter.

“I don't think so. This time of year is when she needs to be in her grove the most since the greenery is kind of dying due to the dropping of temperatures” replied Karl, shaking his head.

“We all don’t have to go though. You guys can stay here and finish working on everything while I take George to go see my friend” he assured, throwing his hands up.

“Are you sure? We can go visit her after all our winter preparations” suggested Sapnap, with a concerned look.

“I’m sure. We will only be away for forty-eight hours and hopefully have more answers than what we have now” nodded Karl, placing a hand on the demon’s shoulder. 

“When do you hope to leave?” inquired Dream, crossing his arms.

“Maybe, the day after tomorrow. We’ll tell George about the plan in the morning and give him some time to prepare for it” remarked Karl, as jotted something down into his notebook.

“Yeah, cause I doubt he’s gonna remember it if we tell him now” joked Sapnap, glancing over to where the couch.

"Yeah" chuckled Dream, somewhat dryly.

The trio began discussing things quietly amongst themselves. They had soon come up with a decent plan to get their friend the help he needed and figure out what the hell was going on with the flower. When the next day came around, they informed George about their idea about seeing Karl’s friend. Though a bit skeptical at first, he eventually agreed to it. With that out of the way, they set up things in the wagon. When the morning came for Karl & George to head out, the others were very on edge.

“Remember not to talk to any strangers on the road or stop to pet weird animals” stated Dream, as he handed George a blanket.

“Yeah yeah, we won’t” muttered George, rolling his eyes.

“Also don’t accept any weird looking foods from the person you are going to see, it could be diseased or poisoned” included Dream, fixing the horse’s saddle and reins.

“We understand,” uttered Karl, as he petted the wagon’s horse.

“Oh, and remember to stay by the plains since it will be getting darker soon-” started Dream, but was cut off when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

“Calm down, man. They are only going to be gone for a day” remarked Sapnap.

“I know, it’s just-” hummed Dream, but he cut himself off.

“We’ll be fine! We will be back in two shakes of a horse’s tail” assured Karl, hopping into the front seat of the wagon.

“Have fun doing boring chores,” said George, resting his chin on the side of the cart.  

The dark blonde furrowed his eyes into a disgruntled look but sighs out some of his attention. He took a few steps away from the wagon. As Karl tugged on the reins, the trio being left behind waved them farewell as they started moving down the hill. They started on the sheltering path through the forest. The sun was still climbing into the sky while its light seemed to bounce off the light mist in the air. George pulled the blanket he had over his shoulders and a bit around the flower barrel. He was still pretty sleepy since they hopped to get to their destination before nightfall, so they made him wake-up pretty early. It was very annoying but he wanted to get to the bottom of this odd situation as much as they did. He kind of just hopped to get a few more hours of sleep. Hopefully he will be able to catch up on those hours while on this trip. Moving just a bit around, he rested his head on his pack and pulled the blanket up to his chin, though keeping the flower tucked under it as well to prevent the cool air from causing too much harm to it. Comfortably settled, the dark brunet let the light shaking of the cart lull him back into slumber.

~~

Things seemed pretty peaceful when George eventually awakened again. Instead of being shaken away like what happened earlier in the day, sweet floral scents seemed to dance in the air and awakened him. It was pretty strange though since it was the middle of autumn and most flowers were bound for death in the bitter weather. He moved into a sitting position and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he tried to take in his surroundings. Though he was blinded by the rays of sun at first, they finally adjusted to the bright colors of what looked like a large garden. It seemed to go on for miles or until it met the large river that happened to be nearby. Amongst that garden were humming bees and mooing floral cattle as they provide some ambient sounds to the beautiful area.

Though all the things around him were very eye-catching, nothing caught his attention more than the bright colored cottage that the wagon was parked outside of. It wasn’t big in size but it was bold in color. The bright pink and white wasn’t an eye sore and somehow fit in the surroundings it was in. It was strange, especially since George has never seen a house like this before. He slowly stood to his feet, picking up the flower barrel, and made his way off the wagon. Realizing that Karl wasn’t around, he just assumed that his friend had gone into the house. He wandered over to the front door and pushed it open cautiously. 

The interior of the home had a very comfy vibe to it. The walls were a off-white as the floor was made of oak wood. Slowly moving through the house, though it wasn’t much of it, George could hear the sound of voices echoed through the home from the back. He recognized one of these voices belonging to Karl but the second voice was unknown. It sounded like the voice of a young woman who seemed in a hyper mood. Following the voices, he found himself standing in a kitchen that led out to what looked like a greenhouse. He entered through the glass doorway that led into it. Sitting on cushions amongst various plants was Karl and a strange woman. She had light brunette hair and dull green eyes. What made her strange was that a vine of red roses took up half of her body and she didn't seem to be very bothered by it. 

Though a little dumbfounded, George awkwardly cleared his throat so as to make his presence known. Karl and the woman looked up from the conversation to look at him.

“George, you're awake!” exclaimed Karl, with a closed eye smile.

“After you left me in the wagon” retorted George, furrowing his brows.

“I wanted you to get the rest you needed since we did wake up pretty early” claimed Karl, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You could have at least woken me up when we got here instead of letting wander like a fool” retaliated George, turning up his nose.

“I guess I could have, sorry about that” sighed Karl.

“Whatever. Is this who we are supposed to be seeing for our issues” huffed George.

“Yeah! This is Hannah. She is a pixie and the local magic botanist” nodded Karl, as sat up stretch. 

“Hello! You must be George” greeted Hannah, with a small wave.

“I am and hi, I guess” replied George, moving to sitting on an empty cushion.

“Karl has been telling you about your dilemma with a mysterious sunflower,” informed Hannah, handing the dark brunet a small plate of cut sandwiches.

“Ah, so you kind of understand what’s going on?” asked George, accepting the plate.

“Possible, it’s more of a theory right now but I needed to see the flower itself” she hummed, glancing over to the barrel beside him. 

“Well you are seeing it now” he stated, pushing the barrel towards her.

“Thank you, though I still would like to ask you some questions about yourself and how you acquired such large flora” smiled Hannah, leaning to over the barrel.

“Shoot” nodded George, taking a bite into a sandwich.

“Karl mentioned that you received the flower as a gift from someone close to you, presumably a romantic partner. Is this true?” she questioned, tracing her fingers alongside the close petals.

“Yes, it is,” affirmed George.

“Does your partner have any biological magic? Doesn’t matter if it’s weak or powerful, as long as they have been able to wield since birth” she asked.

“Yeah, you could say that they do,” assured George, with a slightly confused expression.

“Okay then. Now a question for you. Are you part of fae in some way?” remarked Hannah.

“A bit, yeah. Got most of my mother’s genes because I can do this” nodded George, resting his hand flat and letting two mushrooms appear on the back of it.

“Interesting” cooed Hannah, as she took George’s hand into hers.

“Well that leads into my next question. How long have you had this flower?” she inquired, glancing over to the plant.

“At least two and half months or so. I haven’t had it for too long but I'm more drained than usual since I’ve had it” shrugged George.   

“That’s because of these” proclaimed Hannah, as she pointed to something on the flower.

George gave her a confused look before following her finger. Squinting just a bit, he noticed very thin vein-like lines that were glowing blue & yellow neat the bottom of the unbloomed flower head. It was very faint but became more noticeable as he looked at them longer.

“What the hell are those?” muttered George.

“The energy you are feeding to the flower. It’s how it's been able to stay alive for so long” informed Hannah.

“It’s been draining the life out of him?” exclaimed Karl, worriedly.

“Oh no, nothing that severe. It’s just taking what George uses for energy to provide its own energy. It can get energy from sunlight too because it’s still a flower but it mostly relies on George” assured Hannah, waving her hands.  

“Oh, that explains his increase of fatigueness” breathed Karl, relieved.

“So, It’s been taking the energy I use to do daily things. When will it stop doing that?” asked George, crossing his arms.

“When it blooms, obviously” remarked Karl, jokingly.

“I know that but how long am I supposed to suffer through this?” grumbled George, elbowing his light brunet.

“Until the summer possibly if it goes by the human nine month terms” shrugged Hannah.

George paused at that statement. 

“Human nine month terms?” parroted Karl, as if reading George’s thoughts.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

There was a small moment of silence as the gears seemed to be turning in their heads

“Well, when some faes or any nature-based beings bear children, those children can be born from certain prospects of nature depending on something both of the parents are attached to. Meaning that when George's partner gifted him this sunflower when it was smaller, their strong compassion for each other along with their magic have accidentally manifested a being into it” explained Hannah, with a tone of nervousness.

“The flower is fucking pregnant which makes George pregnant” blurted Karl. causing the dark brunet to choke.

“Pretty much” agreed Hannah.

“WHAT!?” exclaimed George.

“Congratulations, you and your partner are going to be parents” cheered Hannah, clapping her hands softly.

George knew Hannah meant well but this was not at all what he expected to be his truth. His eyes wandered over to where the flower was. For two and half months, he had been unknowingly been a mother. It was weird to think about that and somewhat terrifying. He had some many thoughts and many more questions to ask but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He was just as dumbfounded as before.

“This might be a lot for you and that’s understandable since I'm assuming neither of you were expecting to have a child to come into your life” stated Hannah, as gently patted George’s head.

“That’s such an understatement, Hannah. All of our friends are going wild” proclaimed Karl.

“As expected but I do have some suggestions, like most doctors would give when finding out such information” she assured.

“Suggestions?” uttered George, find little words to say.

“Yes but very few can come with happy endings” nodded Hannah, before counting on her fingers.

“We could find a way to sever its ties to you but it would kill the flower and the life inside of it” she started, which both Karl and George cringed at immediately.

“Wait till the flower is bloomed and find someone to take care of the child, basically taking it to a orphanage or foster home” she added   

And lastly, just keeping it and raising it like a normal parent would” she finished, clasping her hands together. 

“They aren’t the most world-breaking solutions but they work either way” Hannah shrugged. 

“It's fine and thank you. What do you think, George?” questioned Karl, placing a hand on the dark brunet.

He quietly hummed to himself as he looked towards the sunflower. It seemed more focused on golden and blue lines that traveled across it, the visibility of flowing energy as it went from him and into it. He swore he could see a faint glow from the tightly shut petals but it could just be his eyes messing with him as he felt some big emotions bubbling in his chest. This was a jarring predicament he was in and never thought he would have to make such a  big choice. Yet this big choice might be the easiest one he’s ever gonna make, though he’ll deal with the consequences of it later. He reached over to the flower barrel and brought it close to his side.   

“I think…” 

“...I’ll keep it”  

Chapter Text

“So Hannah knew too!” 

“I think so but she never really said anything about it. Plus, she lost a bunch of her memories after she was able to get away from Egg’s influence. Atleast that’s what Tina said''

“I see, so she knew but forgot to due to the fucking Egg. That's fucked up, man”

“The Egg was always fucked up” 

“True true”

“Any who, Karl & George came back to the cabin with news and things were crazy for a bit. Thinking back on it, it was very laughable about how much we panicked” 

“I bet Dream was shitting bricks”

“Sure as hell he was”

“But what about XD? How did he take it?”

“As you would expect a person would when they find out they are having a child”

“Which is?”  

~~~

The sound of jingling bells and cheerful music echoed throughout the small house as the small friend group decorated for the winter holidays. The smell of warm sugary sweets carried from the kitchen into the lounge room, where a decently sized pine tree stood as it was being decorated. At least, there was an attempt to decorate the tree.

“Stop eating the fucking popcorn, Callahan” exclaimed Sapnap, as he tried to snatch the garland from the deer man.

He silently flipped off the brunet demon as he started running around the tree. Sapnap cursed to himself as he chased after him. Karl and George laughed at their shenanigans as they took a break from working on the gingerbread house on the island table. Though they weren’t any innocent in the food stealing as they attempted to hide the fact they sneaked a few of roasted potatoes that Dream made for dinner. Fortunately, he hadn’t caught on since they were able to play it off. Callahan, on the other hand, was a thief during the light of day. Sapnap tackled the deer man and was somewhat successful in getting the popcorn garland back but it was missing almost half of the kernels that were on it originally. The demon hybrid sighed defeatedly as he sat up.

“I guess we aren’t going to be able to have these this holiday” he muttered, as he started rolling the leftover garland up. 

“We can just hang up candy canes like we usually do” suggested Dream, as he placed a new pot on the kitchen table.

“We are out of those because someone was at them the other night” claimed Sapnap, narrowing his eyes at the deer man beside him.

“Really, Callahan? We bought those things just last week” scoffed Dream, resting his hands on his hips.

The deer man just shrugged his shoulders and stood to his feet to wander over to the counter. The dark blonde just sighed as he went to check on the turkey in the oven. 

“We can go out and get some more. The shops don’t close until midnight on Eve” stated Karl, picking up one of the gingerbread men.

“Yeah, it's just a quick run to town and back,” nodded George.

“We could but I rather it not be you guys since it looks like the snow will be picking up and could turn into a blizzard” remarked Sapnap, as he peeked out the window. 

“We could have Callahan come with us. It would keep him out of food and it faster with him controlling the sleigh” proclaimed George, as he stood to his feet.

“That's not what he meant, George” informed Dream, turning to face the group.

“What do you mean then?” questioned Karl, looking over his shoulder.

“We can go get more candy canes & popcorn, yes, but we would rather have you guys stay here in the cabin" stated Dream, glancing over to where Callahan had stood. 

“Especially since the weather isn’t good to bring your flower out in, George,” he added, swatting the deer man away from the food on the table.  

“Right, that’s right” muttered George, furrowing his brows as he sat back down.

“Then why don’t you and Sapnap go if you are so worried? You will probably be faster since it’ll only be you two on the sleigh” stated Karl, crossing his arms.

“But-” started Dream, but was interrupted.

“The food will be fine and we will be fine. There is nothing to worry about” assured Karl.

“He has a point. It’s just a quick run” shrugged Sapnap, resting his chin atop of the light brunette’s head.

“But-, ugh fine. We’ll head into town to grab some more items to decorate the tree” huffed Dream, giving up on trying to argue.

A small cheer rang out amongst them before they started moving about the house. Dream had turned the stove on low before head to get his jacket and boots, with Sapnap following close behind. Callahan slipped out the front door but not without stealing a handful of steamed potatoes from the table. Karl lingered into the living room while George wandered off to his room. He listened to the holiday music echo from the radio in the hallway as he entered into his chambers. He plopped himself on to his bed as he exhaled loudly. He wasn't upset with the fact he couldn't go with. It was more of just wanting to get out of the house, which was quite a surprising circumstance coming from him. He very much enjoyed being able to sleep in longer and just being able to be lazy with a proper excuse. Yet he still had a linger of wanderlust that started to grow. The sunflower seemed to have reached its peak of growth and it was much larger than it was a few months ago. So large that they needed at least two or three people to lift the barrel it was in. Even dragging it around was a hassle, so George just kept it in his room. Which basically grounded him to the house. It was such a pain since he was the only one who could provide for the thing. That was only because XD wasn’t with him.

Actually, XD hadn’t shown up in awhile.

Last time George departed with his divine partner, He had said he had some issues to attend to with the other gods or something. He didn’t think it was that big of a deal at the time and he would eventually reappear. That was four months ago and the god still hadn’t shown his cryptic yet handsome face. He would usually have more patience with XD but the situation he was in felt like it should be shared with his other half. Especially since he was also the reason he was in this situation, besides George’s weird magical genetic flow. The only way he knew to contact the god was through divine prayer. He glanced over to his bookshelf where he could see the spin of a thick and dark covered book with its title scrawled out in golden ancient text.

He could wait a little bit longer, but he might not have another chance to tell him. Dream, Sapnap, or Karl have been close to his side ever since they found out the news and this was the first he was able to be on his own in a longer period of time. With a heavy sigh, the dark brunet rolled over on his bed to the other side of it to get closer to the bookshelf. He stretched out his arms and slipped the book off with the tip of his finger. The book fell on the floor with a thump before George picked it up. He placed it into his lap and began flipping through it. George wasn’t well versed with most of the text on the pages but he knew a bit of it. Specifically the only ender prayer that taught himself was the exact one he needed. He landed on a page that had been marked with pressed thistle. The text on the pages were written in dark green ink while swirling designs lined the end of tan parchment. A simplistic sketch of the blank featured god was placed on the bottom of the right page. He traced the sketch lightly before glancing over to the large sunflower in the corner of the room. Its yellow petals were tucked inwards as the thin veins of magic became more visible, especially the blue veins. George breathed in softly before turning his attention back to the book in hand. He began to recite the ancient language slowly, being careful to not stumble on his words too much. 

With every phrase he spoke, a small green light began to illuminate from the page. Not blinding enough but George had to squint a bit to attempt to finish the prayer. Once he was able to finish it, the green lights went away. The brunet rubbed his eyes to make the dark spots fade from his vision. Its surroundings were still the same as if nothing happened. He furrowed his brows as he looked back at the book.

Had he said something incorrectly?

He was just about to try and repeat but then he heard something. The sound of a bell ringing. George looked around his room quickly. The bell sounded close but he didn't have any bells in his room. That was until he heard the bell again. This time, he found the direction of the sound. It was coming from down the hall. He sighed dejected, thinking it was just Karl messing with the holiday decorations. He closed the book and slid off his bed. Might as well get some food into his system before trying again. He walked into the hall, closing his door behind him, and headed back towards the kitchen. As he reached the main living space, he was presented with a surprising sight. Standing in the front door was Karl and XD in his human form. The god was in casual winter attire and held a small array of boxes in his arms. The two made eye contact which seemed to stop the conversation the god was having with the light brunet.

"Hello George!" exclaimed XD, waving happily toward the mushroom man.

"XD, you are here…" uttered George, as he moved towards the god.

"Oh course! I was summoned, was I not?" nodded XD, as he handed the boxes to Karl.

"But you mortals have big winter celebrations that are quite entertaining and fun to indulge in," he added, as he looked at the hanging decorations.

"Oh yeah, Yule & Christmas is happening. Dream, Sapnap, & Callahan left to get some last minute decorations since Callahan ate them" stated Karl, carrying the boxes into the living room.

"Sounds like very normal behavior from him. He was quite a thief when it comes to banquets" proclaimed XD.

"You say that if you aren't a food thief yourself" remarked George, as he headed into the kitchen.

"It's not made from ones on creation. Like how you mortals say 'it be hitting different' "shrugged XD.

George physically cringed while Karl cackled from the living room. He shook his head dismissively as he moved around the kitchen, with XD following behind. 

"Please don't say that again, that was horrible" retorted George.

"Besides that, what's in the boxes?" He questioned, as he reached into a cabinet.

"I can not say until the day of gift exchanges. I’ve heard it's tradition for such things' ' stated XD, an innocent smile curled onto his lips.

“Right, right” muttered George, as he pulled a jar of dried fruit down from the shelves.

“Now I have a question for you, George,” claimed XD, as he grabbed a hold of the brunette’s free hand.

“Hm” hummed George, lifting a brow.

“Why did you summon it? I heard you pray, though I was already on my way here” questioned XD, pressing his face into the brunette’s hand.

George tensed up for a moment, growing just a bit nervous. He glanced over to where Karl entered into the kitchen. His friend gave him a concerned look before shrugging. The brunette sighed as he rubbed his divine partner’s face. 

“There was something I wanted to tell you and you hadn’t visited on your own in a long while. About four months in mortal time but I wanted to since I thought I could do it on my own. Besides the help of my friends” inform George.

“Oh my dear, you don’t have to struggle on your own. You could have called for me at any moment for anything” assured XD, with a soft look.

“I know, I just like to be independent still. I am no child” scoffed George, pulling his hand away as he tried to fan his flustered face.

“Such a big strong man, are you?” replied XD, jokingly.  

George narrowed his eyes at the god. He could hear Karl snicker from afar. Glaring at his friend before rolling his eyes and opening the dried fruit up. He began eating them as he exited the kitchen and headed back to his bedroom. XD followed after curiously, still awaiting for his question to be answered. He pushed the door open as he started eating from the jar. He sat himself at the head of his bed while XD sat at the foot of it. George handed one of the dried fruits to the god, which was accepted gladly.   

“The reason I called for you is actually very very important. So important that it might affect both of our lives. Probably mine than yours but that depends on how much you react to it” started George. 

“Have you fallen ill?” asked XD, with a concerned look.  

“No, not necessarily. I don’t feel as bad as I did a few months ago since I've adapted to what I'm going through since you weren’t here.” assured George, waving his hand.

“Has my absence caused something horrible to happen? It wouldn’t be the first but I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something happened to you that I could have prevented” inquired XD.

“Something did happen in your absence but it wasn’t horribly bad” hummed George, as looked down at the jar in his hand.

“I don’t understand,” stated XD.

“If you give me a chance to collect my thoughts, then I would be able to say it” exclaimed George, frustrated.  

XD grew quiet, probably out of consideration. Yet the brunette felt a bit bad for raising his voice at partner. 

“Sorry” he muttered, his ears wilting downwards.

“No I’m sorry, I should be a bit more patient since you seem to be very serious” proclaimed XD, placing a hand on George’s knee.

“That’s because it is. Let me begin” claimed George, placing his hand atop of XD’s.

“Last time you and I were together, you gave me an unbloomed sunflower. It was a very appreciated gift but I swore I was gonna end up killing. Instead, it grew but not in the way any of us expected. Not only that but I started to become more tired than usual and I started consuming more amounts of food than normal. I wasn’t sick but I couldn’t leave the house without the sunflower you gave me” he started, as he placed the jar down.

“It seemed like a weird effect of some kind of magic. So Karl and I traveled to see a friend of his who was well versed with plants and plant magic. Turns out, it wasn’t the flower’s fault but mine and yours” he stated, looking up at the god.

“Was it our fault?” questioned  XD, lifting a brow.

“My mother was a fae, which leaded to a lot of mess that I’ve dealt with over the years. At least that's what I thought until recently. The magic from being half fae has affected the sunflower which also happened to take some of your magic to create something.” explained George, as fiddled with the god’s spinning rings.  

“It created something?” parroted XD.

“Yes! I’m just gonna say it because this is killing me how long this is taking” spoke George, as he took a shaky sigh.

“Your magic and my magic infected the sunflower and now we are going to have a child based on the supernatural laws. It takes my energy and your energy when we are in possession of it but I’ve been the only one who’s energy it has been taking and I’m planning on keeping the child” he blurted. 

“...”

“....”

“Oh…” hummed XD, with wide eyes.

“That’s all?” remarked George, with furrowed brows. 

XD didn’t say anything. Instead his eyes traveled towards the large sunflower by George's chest. The blue veins were glowing but the golden veins seemed to be glowing much brighter than before XD showed up. 

“We are going to have a child” said the god, slowly.

“Yes” replied George, nervously.

“We are going to have a child” repeated XD.

George just nodded this time. Suddenly, his face was being squished as his divine partner brought his face forward to his own.

“WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A CHILD” exclaimed XD, excitedly. 

“Yes, yes we are '' agreed George, a bit taken aback.

“We are going to have a family. Our own little family. With our child! Oh time and space, this amazing” declared XD, his eyes becoming little stars.

“You aren’t upset?” questioned George.

“Why would I? This is the most extraordinary thing that has happened to me for as long as I have existed” expressed XD.

“Oh what are we going to name them? What shall they look like? Do you think they’ll have your eyes? Or my eyes? Maybe a mix of both? Time and space, this is exciting” he rambled.

As the god began to ramble somewhat mindlessly, George let out a sigh as he began to relax. He was a little worried XD wasn’t going to take it well but he was taking it much better than he expected. He lifted his hand to the back of his divine partner’s hand, getting his attention. The burst of excitement began to settle back down as the two just sat and looked at each other.

“Are you excited?” asked XD, softly.

“Yes, but also nervous. Being a parent hasn’t crossed my mind but I don’t think of it as a completely bad thing” replied George, as rubbed circles into the back of the god’s hand.

“Even so, I’ll try to be with you whenever you need me. I wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity to spend time with you. Especially with having our own family” cooed XD, as he pressed his forehead against the brunette’s.

A smile curled on George’s face as he pressed himself further into his partner’s touch. The two just sat very close together, just enjoying the silence as they thought about their future plans together.

Chapter Text

“So it was positive reaction"

"Yeah, obviously! Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know but at least they were happy. But what happened to me? Did I explode out of the flower like a bomb? Or was it like a freakish chicken alien hatching from an egg?"

"Gods, we would have thought you would have been the antichrist if it was that. But you kinda did come out of it with a bang, just less explosive than you are imagining” 

“So like a firework?”

“You could say so but a very small firework”

“Fireworks aren’t small. I’m also the biggest man around so it had to be huge.”

“Sure, sure.” 

~~~

The sound of crickets and frogs echoed throughout the forest, giving ambience to the night. Fireflies flickered as they floated about. A few critters scampered along the ground as they embraced the cool air that relieved them from the humid heat of the summer sun. It wasn’t just the animals that were enjoying themselves. In front of a cabin was a group of guys, messing & joking with each other. Dream and Sapnap were trying to see who could catch the most fireflies while Callahan wadded into the river to chase after the fish. Karl and George sat on the porch watching their friends entertain themselves. The light brunette was somewhat keeping to himself as he journaled down things into his book while the other brunette stared off into space. Things had been pretty peaceful since winter had ended and no new update came from the sunflower. It seemed to be at a stalemate and could possibly be blooming any day now since the nine months were up. Exciting yet nerving racking for all of them, especially George.

Hannah never really said what would happen when it bloomed, all she said was that it was gonna take alot of energy for it. Those words were the reason why the group had been enjoying the summer weather more. It meant that the flower could rely on the sun for energy than George. It seemed to be working since the brunette felt more energized compared to his time during winter. That was when he and XD had to constantly take turns, though the god wasn’t greatly affected by the drawing of energy like he was. He seemed to actually enjoy marveling over the giant flower. So much that he was quite saddened when he went off to do “divine duties”. George couldn’t blame him since whatever his god’s duties were, they seemed to be eating at him. Which was odd to see the god of creation stressed but it somewhat put him at ease when the two were together. He wasn’t clingy but he was slowly starting to miss XD since he hadn’t visited in a few weeks. Especially with the blooming of flowers so close.

A sigh escaped the brunette that turned into a yawn. He stretched out his limbs as he sat from the table. It was getting late and humid air was putting him to sleep. George rose to his feet before heading towards the front door.

“I’m heading in for the night, '' he proclaimed, as he walked past Karl.

“Alright, good night” waved the brunette, barely looking up from his notebook.

George nodded as he walked through the doorway. He headed straight towards his room, where his door was left slightly ajar. He kicked his shoes off as he reached his bedside before flopping onto it. It was too hot for blankets so he’ll just sleep atop of it. His glasses slid off as he placed them on the bedside table. As he moved around to get comfortable, he rolled onto his side so he could see the sunflower on the other side of the room. Through the dark he could see the blue and golden veins glowing brightly. Another yawned seemed to slip out of the brunette as the glowing got fainter as he closed his eyes.  

~~

A thumping footsteps seemed to echo in the hallway as Sapnap made his way through the darkness of the house. All the running around he did early made him tired but now he was thirsty. Reaching the open space of the kitchen, he reached into the cabinet and grabbed a drink glass before making way toward the ice box. He grabs the pitcher of water from the shelf and pours its contents into the glass. Some of the ice cubes fell into it, which gave the demon hybrid a slight chill up the arm, but didn’t stop him. He set the pitcher down before chugging down the water. The cool liquid relaxed him and countered the heat in his body. Quite refreshing somewhat satisfied his thirst. He then picked the pitcher back up and began to refill his glass. As he was doing so, he felt a bit more awake & aware. So much that he finally noticed something strange from the hallway. A sliver of light seemed shining from it, though it was pitch black. At first he assumed it was one of his friends going to the bathroom but realized it was too close for it to be that since the bathroom was at the end of the hallway. Curiously, Sapnap placed the pitcher and glass down to look for the source. He peeked into the hallway as he scanned the flower. His gaze slowly traveled from where he was standing to the cracked open door.

It was George’s door.

Sapnap felt his stomach drop for a moment before moving further into the hallway. He made his way over to his best friend’s door before slowly pushing it open fully. Just as he assumed, the light was coming from the sunflower. It was a bit blinding at first but he got used to it. Though instead he moved over to where George was sleeping. The hybrid was curled up atop of his bed, which wasn’t unusual. What did make it unusual was the shivering. It was the middle of summer and he was shivering. He reached his hand out and pressed it against the brunette’s forehead. 

He was cold.

Way too cold.

Almost immediately, Sapnap lifted George into a sitting position so he could pull his blanket over his shoulder. It was like trying to hold a large ragdoll because the brunette hadn’t woken up from the sudden movement. He let him lean against him as the demon tried to move the hybrid to a sitting position. Once he set some pillows up, he leaned George against the wall. He made sure he was stable and didn’t fall over before rushing out the room. 

It was happening, the flower was about to bloom.

And none of them were actually prepared for it.

Like they were counting the days for when it would happen and what to do. They would try to keep up with changes in the flower or with George’s behavior. They tried to find sources of energy that the flower could take for when it did bloom. Yet they couldn’t have planned enough because tonight was the night that was going to bloom and there was no sun to substitute energy for. George was completely knocked out and wasn’t waking up at all. Which was the opposite of everyone else at the moment. Along with the fact that they were freaking out of what to do. Only two things came into mind that they could agree on. That was to try to keep George warm and figure out how to get in contact with XD. Which was going to be difficult because how does one call in a god for help when you aren’t favored by him? 

Karl was already flipping through the many books that he had about summoning while Dream was trying to shake the information out of Callahan since the deer man was once a minor god. Sapnap couldn’t do much besides watch the chaos unfold since he was in charge of trying to warm George. They had wrapped the brunette in a few blankets and the demon was trying to control the fire in his body so he could transfer the heat between the two of them. It was quite taxing for himself since he was trying to keep his heat low since he didn’t want to set anything ablaze but it was difficult with how much was going on around him. Suddenly, the slam of a book caused everything to stop for a moment as Karl stood up.

“I might have figured it out,” he declared as he held up two books in his hands.

“So there are three ways we could call out to XD but there are two that are quite difficult” he stated.

“Spit out then” uttered Dream, as he still held the collar of Callahan’s shirt.

“One of them is the ritual of burning roses and lotus flowers but that can only be done at a sanctum, and the only ambiguous one is two towns over. Another is using a large golden bell with his sigil on it but we don’t have any since all the bells we have are silver” explained Karl, as he flipped through one of the books.   

“The final one is reciting this prayer written in ender but I don’t think it would be safe to do it inside the house. Especially since that thing looks like it could burst at any moment” he finished, as he gestured towards the flower.

“Last one seems like our only choice right now. Callahan, help me carry the barrel outside” proclaimed Dream.

The deer man gave him a thumbs up.

“Sapnap, do you think you can carry George outside?” he asked, looking over at the dark brunette.

“Sure can” nodded Sapnap, already lifting his sleeping friend.

The dark blonde nodded before moving over to the glowing flower. He held one side while Callahan held the other. The duo staggeringly began to move the barrel towards the doorway. Karl grabbed the other books he brought and followed after them. Sapnap had easily picked up George even though the blankets added an extra weight to carry. Eventually the group made their way out of the house. Dream & Callahan set the barrel down on the soft ground at the bottom of the stairs before letting out of breath. Sapnap set George onto the swinging chair on the porch before going to stand at Karl's side.

"So now what?" he asked, peeking over his partner’s shoulder.

"Now we just need to step back. I don't really know what will happen since we aren’t really well connected with XD like how George is" remarked Karl, as he set the bundle of books on the table.

“We also have never summoned a god before, at least me and you haven’t. So we don’t really know what to expect” he added.  

Sapnap nodded in agreement before going to sit down beside George. Karl shuffled through the books he placed down before picking up a dark colored book. He flipped it open and began looking through it until he landed on a page that had a thistle for a marker in it. His eyes scanned over it and silently read it. While he did that, Dream & Callahan had made their way to stand on the porch with the duo. The deer man took place on Karl’s shoulder while the dark blonde seated himself on the opposite side of George. After looking over the writing on the page, Karl to a shake breathe before reading the words aloud. They weren’t words in common but of what Sapnap assumed was the ancient language of ender.

 As the light brunette spoke, there seemed to be green light coming from words on the page. A small swirl of magic seemed to spout from it as well that illuminated the dark space around. The wind had fallen still & the crickets were silent. Which left the group standing in a moment of silence as they waited with baited breath. The atmosphere seemed to have become completely still. Yet just as everything had suddenly stopped, it returned quickly. A  violent gust of wind caught them by surprise. They barely caught each other as they tried to stay on their feet. The source of the unnatural gust was coming from a rift that began to split open in front of them. Green light showed through it as a large hooded figure emerged from the rift. Their face were covered in a shadow so they could see the features of the towering being. Just as it came, the rift closed back up and the wind calmed down to a shallow breeze. The ambience of the summer night returned but not the vibes. The vibes were tense and a bit fearful. Standing in front of their cabin was the infamously known god of creation & mischief, XD.

The cloaked god seemed to stand there in silence which caused the boys to slightly cower. They had met and spoken with the eldritch being but it didn't make him appear any less intimidating. At least since George wasn't conscious to help them out. So the group just somewhat awkwardly stares up at the god. He tilted his head to the side, possibly out of confusion. The first to speak was Karl since it was the light brunette had summoned. He cleared his throat as he lowered the book from his hands.

"Um, hi XD" greeted Karl, with a small wave.

"Hello?" replied XD, his voice being distorted.

"I do apologize for calling you out here so late at night but it's very important" stated Karl.

"I assume so since you are in possession of a book that was not given to you" uttered XD.

"It was the only way we could get a hold of you on such short notice since George is asleep and we could not wake him up" defended Karl, as he placed the book on the table.

The god seemed to perk up at the mention of his partner. A hand seemed to emerge from his cloak and pulled down his hood. Which revealed two twinning halos above his featureless face. Atleast it was until a large singular eye seemed to blink open. It squinted down at them before XD leaned forward to where he was eye level with Karl.

“What do you mean he’s not waking up?” questioned XD.

“Well, he went to sleep earlier than the rest of us since we’ve been busy doing stuff. When we checked on him, he didn’t react and his body temperature was lower than normal. He’s alive, we promise. We think it has something to do with the flower starting to bloom since it’s taking more energy than usual” explained Karl, as he took a step back.

XD tilted his head before turning his attention to the light radiating nearby. The large sunflower was still unbloomed but blue particles seeped from a  small gap at the top of it while a light emulated from it. The god slowly stood straight up as he moved over to the flower. His porcelain hand reached out for it before lightly tracing the petals. With just a gentle touch, golden particles began pouring out from the open gap alongside the blue ones. The god’s focus seemed to now be turned to the flower. Seeing there was a change in energy shift, Sapnap reached his hand over to feel George’s face. It was still cold but there seemed to be a little color returning to his face. Relief washed over the dark brunette as he looked back over to the others. They also seemed to see that the tension of the situation had died down. Now it was a waiting game. A wait to see how things will play out with the flower. Sapnap stood up from the bench to sit beside Karl on the stairs. The light brunette rested his head on the demon’s shoulder as a yawn escaped him. It took him a moment for his exhaustion to catch up with since it was still the middle of the night. Karl seemed to also share the feeling seeing as he was slowly dozing off, Sapnap wanted to as well but he also wanted to be awake for when the flower bloomed. So he just slouched against the stairs as he listened to the sounds around him.

The gently swaying of the leaves in the trees, the crickets chirping in grass nearby, the echo of frogs croaking in the distances, and the jingle of the blue-gold particles from the flower. It was quite an addition to the ambience but fitting for it. Relaxation had begun overcoming the group as they dozed out of consciousness. Tired from the day but excited for tonight's occasion. Some of the group had fallen asleep but others were trying to stay alert on the changes in sounds. Though they were consistent with the same atmosphere. 

Then a sharp whistle seemed to ring out. The first to notice was Sapnap, as he somewhat jolted up. He didn’t see anything. For a moment, he thought scared himself away in his dream. Then the whistle came again. This time he was able to see the source. Little star-like particles were shooting out of the flower. He watched as another one shot out with a whistle. He nudged Karl to wake him. The light brunette hummed as he was awakened. 

“Karl, look! It’s happening” whispered Sapnap, as he nudged his partner again.

He rubbed his eyes as he began to fully wake up. Now the duo’s attention was captured by the jumping stars. Though after a while, the small stars started growing and shooting up higher. They began to reach behind them to wake up Dream & Callahan. It didn’t take too long for the group to be awake once more. Their focus was not being enwrapped by the shooting stars. More started coming out and the flower slowly unfolding. XD’s porcelain hands cradled the unwrapping petals. Then suddenly, a large star shot out from the sunflower. It went up so far that it almost went past the trees. It then exploded as smaller stars began to rain down. They watched in awe as they reached for the tiny stars rain on them while the echo tinkling rang out. It was an extraordinary sight. Though things shifted as they took notice of the now bloomed sunflower. A few leftover particles seemed to pour out of it but it was what was laying in it that brought them the most curiosity. 

~~

A groan escaped George as he rolled over. He felt more exhausted than when he went to sleep. He tugged at his blanket as he tried to bury himself in his bed. Yet he couldn’t because of the commotion that seemed to be going on outside his room. He swore he closed his door last night but it was wide open now. He let out an annoyed sigh as he sat up. By the gods, he felt really tired that he didn’t want to get out of bed. Yet he was going to since decided everyone must know of his sour mood. He wrapped his blanket around his shoulders as he stood to his feet. He felt very unbalanced and a bit light-headed.

Was he sick? 

He felt perfectly fine when he went to bed so it couldn’t be. Probably just stood up too fast. He just shook it off before shuffling out of his room. He followed the sound of the loud chatter that led him into the living room. Peering in, he was greeted with a somewhat unexpected sight. Sitting on the floor was XD, in his god form, being surrounded by Karl & Sapnap. They seemed to fawn over something that the god was holding. George lifted a brow out of confusion before he heard footsteps behind him.

“Oh, good morning George” greeted Dream, as the brunette looked over his shoulder.

“Mornin’ “ grumbled George, as he fixed his blanket around his shoulder       

“We didn’t expect you to be awake so early today” remarked Dream, gently headbutting his friend.

“Well I can’t stay asleep with all this noise that's going on” retorted George.

“What is going on exactly?” he asked.

“Oh well, the flower in your room bloomed last night” reported Dream, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“What?” uttered George.

“Yeah, but we couldn't get you to wake up so we had to call in XD for help. But since the flower bloomed, he hasn’t let that baby go. We just switched him over into a onesie almost an hour or two ago but XD has yet to let anyone else hold him after that” affirmed Dream, as he crossed his arms.

“I see” replied George, as he turned back to the scene in the living room.

XD’s gaze seemed to be fixated on his hands which he assumed was holding their child. Filled with curiosity & spite, George made his way into the living room without saying much. Sapnap & Karl looked up at him and greeted him but his focus wasn’t on them. He tapped the top of XD’s head to get his attention. The god looked up at him, his eye just filled with affection. 

“Good morning, my love” addressed XD.

“Hello XD” replied George, as he lowered himself to sit in front of the god.

“Can I see him?” he asked, out stretching his arms. 

XD nodded happily before lowering his hands so George could hold him. As he looked down at their baby, he could see why his partner was reluctant to let anyone hold him. Their baby was so small and precious. His hair was curly & fluffy while his skin had a soft warm tone to it. Yet it was his eyes that took the cake. Bright blue eyes that could rival diamonds and sun at the same time. A small boy cooed softly as he reached up for the brunette.

“Why the fuck are you so cute?” muttered George, as he cradled his son to his chest.

Laughter seemed to erupt his friends. It was a ridiculous thing to say but that was all George could think to say at the moment. He was feeling more emotions than he has ever felt. Excitement, fear, happiness and confusion. Too many emotions over one tiny being who had barely arrived in this world. Either way, things were going to change but he was just happy to bring this child into the work.

“Welcome to world, Thomas” sighed George, as he gently squished the small blonde’s face.

Chapter Text

“So it was a big boom”

“Eh, If you could call it that”

“But I'm still confused. If things had gone so well, then how come I didn’t stay with you all?”

“That’s the part where things get messy. Things seemed to go to hell after a year of you being with us. And I mean that both literally and relationships wise. It was hard to manage or remember everything from that time”  

“What do you mean?”

Well, things began to descend into madness after the last time XD had been with us. He had to leave for some god known reason. He didn’t tell us since weren’t allowed to know, besides Callahan I think”

“So it had to do with the gods? What beef did they have with you guys?”

“We never figured it out, but let's just say that the summer after you were born had started off great but started going downhill quickly” 

~~~

The sound of thunder echoed in the distance as rain began to roll in. Droplets soaking the earth and turning dry ground to mud. The animals and people retreated to their shelters away from the storm. This included a small group of friends as they ran into the house. Laughter was being exchanged as they stumbled into their home while being soaking wet. They had been resting in the field just at the edge of the forest when it started pouring. No one really expected it to rain so late in the morning but it was quite refreshing from the summer heat. They had gone off to change into dry clothes that were starting to cling to their body. Now they were just watching the storm. Karl & Dream had gone inside to make lunch while George and Sapnap sat on the porch with Thomas. The toddler cooed as he looked on in awe. The two brunettes just chuckled at the small blonde’s behavior since he always acted like it was his first time seeing everything. It was cute no less and it made the gray weather enjoyable. George balanced his son in his arms as he crouched down to show him the grass blades. They watched as the rain bounced off of them and rain down the side of the stalk. It was a sweet sight and the gentlest anyone had ever seen the mushroom man. 

Ever since Thomas had come into the world, George had become more gentle with things and fawned over the child. Though it wasn’t just him either. All of them had been fawning over the blonde boy. They bickered about who got to hold him, feed him, play with him, put him to sleep, and overall just take care of him. It was such a wonderful time. They were present for all of his firsts. George was the one who he crawled to first, he started to somewhat start standing around Sapnap & Karl, and he recently was getting the hang of walking with Dream. The kid’s first birthday was in just a few months and they were excited to celebrate. They just had to hope the storms would calm down by then and Callahan would return from his trip. 

Last time they saw their deer hybrid friend was basically the last time they saw XD, which was last month. He informed them that he had to “attend” a meeting, when in reality it was just him spying on the higher gods in their meetings. At least that's what XD claimed it was since minor gods weren’t usually needed for meetings. The group wasn’t well informed about the reason for the meaning but chose not to ask since it seemed like it was only between divine beings. They didn’t think much of its importance until storms started appearing more frequently. Dark gray clouds would start forming over the land during a perfectly clear day, which was quite unnatural. Such as the storm happening right now. Though they weren’t going to allow it to ruin their day completely.

At least they thought it wasn’t going to ruin. As George looked onward into the dark clouds that hung above the forest, something caught his eyes. It was a lightning strike, and looked like a normal one too. Yet it didn’t look normal to George. For just a moment he swore that the lightning was two different colors. Though it could also be his eyes playing tricks on him. His attention snapped back into the moment when the sound of whimpering caught his attention. Another echo of thunder rumbled across the sky that seemed to spook Thomas. The brunette began to console the boy as he rubbed small circles into his back. 

“Maybe it was time to head inside, things seemed to be picking up out here” uttered George, as he turned to face Sapnap.

The dark brunette nodded in agreement, as he stood up to his feet. The two of them made their way into the house and into the living room. They kicked their shoes off before settling to sit on the cushions on the floor. In the middle was a blanket with soft toys on it. George set Tommy down on it and let his son roam on it. He rolled around for a bit as he moved to grab a round pig plush that happened to be nearby. He began to nom onto it when footsteps could be heard coming into the living room. Looking up towards the doorway, Dream was holding a tray with George assumed to have food while Karl stood behind him with drinks in his hands.

“Good timing for you guys. We just finished making lunch” proclaimed Dream, as he walked over to sit down.

“Thank the gods, I’m starving” exclaimed Sapnap, scooting over to grab food. 

“I’d assume so, you’ve been running around and sparring with Dream all morning” remarked George.

“I needed to check if he hadn't gone too soft. Gotta keep the skills sharp if he wants to win against me” argued Sapnap.

“You just wanted to show off,” scoffed George.

“Of course, I gotta let Tommy know who's the superior uncle between me and him,” declared Sapnap, flexing his arms.

“Is that why I beat you then?” asked Dream, smugly.

“You didn’t beat me, we had to stop because it started raining. We can finish our duel when it stop” challenged Sapnap.

“So we can confirm that I beat you” claimed Dream, snarky.

“You wish” scoffed Sapnap before shoving food into his mouth.

“Anyways, what are we gonna do for the rest of the day?” asked George, as he nudged Sapnap with his elbow. “Everything we really had planned was mostly outside stuff”.

“We could play go fish again or start a new game of poker,” offered Karl.

“I don’t know, you are way too good at poker Karl” stated Sapnap. “And go fish gets boring after awhile”

“What about go fish biscuits” suggested Karl.

“Go fish biscuits?” parroted Dream.

“Yeah! Back when we used to live next to Tina, we would play Go Fish biscuits outside her house” stated Karl. “Basically you just get some fish shaped pastries, put them in a tin and when you play go fish, you pull the biscuits out when you have to go fishing”.

“It’s basically a loser wins game but the making biscuits part is pretty fun” added George, as he bit into his sandwich.

“We can start making some after lunch so we can play it” assured Karl,” if that’s alright with you guys?”.

“Sounds good to me” cheered Sapnap.

“I bet I can make better biscuits,” muttered Dream.

“Is that a challenge, Dream?” remarked Sapnap, lifting a brow.

“Maybe it is,” chuckled Dream, darkly.

Just as everything had calmed down, the chaos was picked back up again with Dream & Sapnap’s competitiveness. George and Karl watch from afar as the two banter between bits. As they were listening, George felt a touch on his leg. His attention was drawn to Thomas, who was leaning against his leg with the round pig toy in his mouth. He placed the sandwich he had in hand down so he could hold the blonde baby. The pig toy fell from his grasp but was quickly picked up as George held it up to his son.

“Here go” he stated, holding the toy up.

“Pa” babbled Thomas.

“Pig, it’s a pig” claimed George.

“Pa” repeated Thomas, patting the toy.

“Pa?” parroted George, with a confused look.

“Pa, pa” cooed Thomas, before putting the toy back in his mouth.

George sighed as he sat Thomas in his lap comfortably. He reached over for his sandwich but noticed his friends were looking at him with wide eyed expressions. 

“What?” questioned George.

“George,” said Karl “Did you not catch that?”

“Catch what?” asked the brunette.

“Tommy just said his first words” claimed Dream.

“Huh??” uttered George, sitting up for a moment.

“You idiot, he just said ‘papa’ ” retorted Sapnap.

George stared blankly before looking down at his son in his lap. The small blonde was nomming on the pig toy without a thought behind his eyes. He lifted him up and turned him around to look at him. The bright blue eyes connected with the heterochromia blue-brown ones. 

“Pa?” stated George.

“Pa, pa” parroted Thomas, as he reached out for the brunette’s face.

“Shit” muttered George, a bit dumbfounded.

Laughter erupted from his friends at the interaction. His son had said his first words and he didn’t even catch it the first time. Quite embarrassing but an exciting moment. After the laughter died down, conversation was picked back up.

“Well that’s another milestone check off,” proclaimed Karl, as he reached for his notebook.“Now we just gotta get the little guy walking”. 

“Yeah but that can wait, we still have a competition to start,” claimed Sapnap, as he stood up.

“Already ahead of you” replied Dream, shooting up from his seat and towards the kitchen.

Sapnap followed after him, leaving Karl and George in the living room. The light brunette sighs as he begins to stand up as well. 

“Gotta make sure those two don’t destroy too much in their competitiveness” he claimed.

“You coming?” asked Karl. 

“I’ll probably be able to hear it from here,” joked George, leaning back on the cushions. “But you have your fun.”

Karl shrugged his shoulders before heading off towards the kitchen. George let a sigh out as he rested on the floor. He went back to eating his sandwich while watching his son play with his toys. Though it wasn’t long before chaos could be heard unfolding from the kitchen. The sound of banging pots and loud bickering carried into the living room. The brunette rolled his eyes at his friends’ antics. Though it was strangely comforting that nothing had changed after Thomas was born. The only change was the visitations of XD but it was quickly normalized for the god to come by. So with the disappearance of the god for the moment made things feel a bit empty to George. It wasn’t the longest that XD had been gone but it felt different to the brunette. He didn’t know why but it just did. A sigh escaped him as he turned his attention towards the window. It was dark outside, even though it was just the afternoon. A strange feeling of ominousness passed through George. Suddenly, he felt himself inhale sharply when the flash of lightning appeared in the window. 

It wasn’t the only thing that he saw in the window. 

He thought he saw the silhouette of a tall figure standing just outside the window. A silhouette that he had never seen before. He sat up from his place quickly as the feeling of his heart jumped to his throat. Almost immediately as he did so, the lights in the living room flashed off. Now sitting in almost pitch black, George reached over to grab Thomas. The toddler squealed in surprise as the brunette tried to collect himself. He stood to his feet unsteadily as he felt the change of atmosphere caused him to tense up. The sound of footsteps and his name being called filled his ears as he turned around. Sapnap was standing in the doorway with a confused and concerned look on his face.

“Are you guys okay?” he asked.

“I-” started George, was quickly hushed by a knock.

The two of them froze at the sound. The knock came again but more urgently. It was coming from the front door. George and Sapnap peeked down towards the front door. Dream & Karl were now in the hallway. The dark blonde had what looked like a large pan in hand as he made his way towards the front door. He slowly reached for the handle before cracking it open. He stood there a moment, leaving the trio behind him tensely. The door swung open as a figure pushed past Dream. Their hood fell down and revealed spiraling horns and floppy dear ears on head as they leaned against the wall for support.

“Callahan??” exclaimed the group.

The deer man gave a weak wave as he tried to catch his breath. Dream closed the door behind him while Sapnap moved over to comfort him. As they tried to console and question him, George took in his appearance. Callahan’s cloak was soaking wet but also had some scattered rips on the edge and the hood. One of the tips of his horns had been broken off, making it shorter than the other one. The smell of wet fur filled the air but also the putrid scent of blood and death. It was sickened and unnerving. Once the deer man was able to calm down, he began to try to sign to them. 

“What is he saying?” questioned Karl. “Did something happen at the meeting?” 

Nothing was said for a moment as Sapnap and Dream tried to understand with erratic movement of Callahan’s hands. The demon man mimicked the movement while furrowing his brows.

“Danger, search, leave, That’s all I could get” claimed Sapnap.

“Danger, search, leave?” parroted Karl, as his brows knitted together.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” asked George.

“Are we supposed to search for something that’s dangerous?” inquired Dream, looking over at Callahan.

He shook his head before making more signs with his hands. He pointed towards the group before repeating the gesture that means danger and leave. 

“We are in danger and must leave,” uttered Sapnap.

“In danger of what?” asked Dream.

Callahan didn’t get a chance to respond when the rumbling of thundering echoed from above. Yet this time, the thunder caused the ground under them to tremble. The group reached out to each other and the walls around them for support. Though the trembles stopped after a brief moment, leaving the group shakened.   

“We’ll find out if we stay around here any longer” claimed Dream, “Go grab some necessities so we can head out”

“Callahan, can you grab the wagon from the barn?” he requested.

Callahan gave a thumbs up before turning towards the door. As he headed out, the rest of the group went to their rooms to pack some items. The day had taken a darker turn and not just because of the storm. George was completely tensed up now. No one had any idea what was going on besides Callahan and he seemed very spooked. It wasn’t often that the deer man was so expressive or urgent about things. Something was amiss and George guessed it had to do with unnaturally storm patterns. Either way, none of them were planning to stick around. As he finished packing up a pack, the brunette placed a hood and blanket over Thomas to protect him from the rain. The small blonde was being a bit whiny and clingy but it was understandable from the sudden trembles from moments ago. George slung his bag onto his back before picking up his son. The two of them made their way out of the room. The house was eerily quiet, with the doors to his friends’ rooms left open and vacant. He could feel the cold air coming from the front door that was swung open. For the first time, he didn’t feel safe in the cabin. He pulled his cloak hood over his head as he began heading out the house. Parked just at the bottom of the path was a wagon, with his friends already in it. The brunette hopped down the stairs and jogged over to them.

“Finally you made it,” stated Sapnap, as he reached over to hold George in. 

“I don’t want to be here as much as you guys do” scoffed George, rolling his eyes.

“It’s fine, as long as everyone is here, we should be good,” assured Dream.

“Is everyone ready?” he questioned, glancing over his shoulder.

Everyone nodded in affirmation as they settled in the wagon. Dream returned the nod before pulling against the horses’ reins. The wagon jolted forward as they began to head down the path. The ground was soaking and muddy as it continued to pour. The droplets pelted down against their hoods and blurred their vision through the forest. They didn’t really have much of a plan but all they knew is that they couldn’t stay in their cabin. As they continued forward, George’s gaze looked towards the forest. The gray clouds caused shadows to be casted through the forest and being too dark to see anything past the trees. Not a sign of life could be seen, not even a simple bird flying over head. They were probably scared off when the trembles happened. So George wouldn’t doubt that being the same reason for the absence of other creatures. Though that did make the brunette’s mind wander back to what he saw in the window. The shadow only appeared for a moment before everything fell apart but there was no doubt that the silhouette didn’t belong to an animal or Callahan. Which then brought the idea of some divine conflict that’s affecting the Overworld and it mostly had to do with XD. He was the god of creation AND mischief. Nothing seemed too out of bonds for him. Yet if it had to do with his partner’s magic, then why did the smell of blood and death linger on Callahan?

 If Callahan was back then where was XD? 

Why did the house start shaking when he arrived?

Who’s silhouette was standing outside the window?

Did it have to do with the two toned lightning that he saw earlier? 

So many questions passed through the brunette’s mind that he barely noticed the wagon leave the forest terrain. The cart pulled out into the fields that they had been spending their morning in. They were more exposed to the elements around them. Wet grass blades & chunks of mud clung to the tires, the pouring of rain struck them mercilessly, and the flashes of lightning and rumbling of thunder was more clear. The once blue sky was overcome with dark and heavy clouds that seemed to encase the horizon. With all the glum looking scenery, there wasn’t much to look at or do. George sank into his cloak and cradled Thomas to his chest. He tried to soothe his son’s crying to where he would fall asleep. He rubbed gentle circles into the small blonde’s back to calm him as he rocked back and forth. Everything was out of his control but the best he could do at the moment was be there for Thomas.

~~          

The trip through the storm had lasted at least three days but they were able to make it to the next town over, where other villagers stayed to escape the harshness of the storm. They had heard that others had experienced the earth trembling and some assumed it had to with anger amongst the gods. They were even placing offerings down at the sanctum that Karl had spoken of to please them. George watched a group of worshippers leave it from the window. He let out a sigh that fogged up the window before turning away from it. They group had been staying in an inn for almost a week and until they could figure out what to do next. There was no way they could head back to their home but they didn’t have relatives or close friends to stay with that weren’t miles away. So they kinda were just stuck in their shared room. Karl and Sapnap were sitting on the floor together playing with Thomas while George sat on the bed alongside Callahan. Dream had headed off to do some shopping and do some investigating on his own. He had been doing some looking around every since they had arrived but hadn’t shared much of his findings. Probably because there haven't been any changes. Which is why everyone was staying inside. The dark brunette turned his attention towards his friends. They were trying to get the small blonde to walk. Sapnap held onto his small hands as he ushered him towards Karl. There it was slow progress but Thomas just went back to crawling as reached the light brunette. 

“You almost had it big man” uttered Karl, as lifted the boy up.

“A bit of practice could work,” offered Sapnap.

“Give it a rest you guys, he’ll start walking on his own time” retorted George, as he moved to sit on the floor.

“Yeah but practice makes perfect” claimed Sapnap, as he reached over for Thomas.

“And Tommy is quite perfect,” he added, holding up the small blonde.

“Right now, I bet he’ll be a menace when he’s older just like George” remarked Karl, smugly.

“I am not a menace” scoffed George.

“Yes you are, who else is able to bag a literal god as a baby daddy than a menace?” proclaimed Sapnap. 

“He’s got you there,” laughed Karl.

“Oh shut up, that doesn’t prove anything,” argued George, “Back me up here Callahan!” 

The deer man just shrugged. George glared at while Karl and Sapnap laughed at his dismay. He rolled his eyes and leaned against the bed frame.

“I still stand by what I said” uttered George. 

“Yeah yeah, believe what you want princess” teased Sapnap.

“Fuck off, I’m taking Tommy back” replied George.

“Nope, this is my nephew and he is staying with me” challenged Sapnap, lifting the child out of reach.  

“He is my son which means I can take him back” claimed George, as reaching over towards Sapnap.

The two started arguing over who should have Thomas. Sapnap placed the blonde down so that he would crawl out of reach. George tried to climb over the demon to reach his son but was then pinned down. Karl just laughed at their antics while Callahan and Thomas just watched. As the two wrestled on the floor, the sound of the door opening caught everyone’s attention. Standing there was Dream, with mud covered boots and solemn look. Though it contorted into a confused expression as he looked down at Sapnap and George on the floor. 

“Dream, welcome back” greeted Sapnap resting his elbow on George’s back. 

“Hi?” uttered Dream, tilting his head to the side, “What are you two doing?”

“Just chilling on the floor, right George” proclaimed Sapnap.

“Yeah right, he was trying to keep Tommy away from me” scoffed George, as he tried to swat at the dark brunette.

“I was not! I was just trying to spoil my nephew” argued Sapnap.

“You are terrible at lying,” argued George.

“I’m the best damn liar you’ll meet” claimed Sapnap. 

“That’s up for debate” mumbled George, before shoving the demon away.

“Anyways, where have you been, Dream?” he asked.

“I’ve been around, talking to some locals and visited the sanctum,” murmured Dream.

“But George there’s something I need-'' he started, but was cut off.

“Don’t move Dream” exclaimed Karl, holding his hand up.

“Heh?” hummed Dream.

“Just don’t move,” stated Karl.

The light brunette said this but his eyes weren’t on the dark blonde. They were on Thomas. All eyes were on the small blonde as he held onto the frame of the second bed. He was standing up and seemed to be slowly making his way to the other side. He was walking. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath in that moment, not wanting to disturb the small blonde’s efforts. When he reached the end of the bed, he let go and began to slowly waddle over in Dream’s direction. He was reaching his small hands towards the dark blonde, who looked at him wide eyed. Though the eye contact broke for just a moment as Thomas lost his balance. Before he could make contact with the floor, Dream crouched down to catch him. The small boy just laughed as he was lifted into the dark blonde’s arms. There was a split second of silence as Dream held Thomas in his arms before it was interrupted.

“We have been trying to get him to walk all evening but when you walk in, he suddenly can!!” exclaimed Sapnap, throwing his hands up.

“Heh, that’s why I’m the better uncle” proclaimed Dream, once he was able to find his voice.

“Bitch” scoffed Sapnap, crossing his arms.

“We have reached another milestone,”cheered Karl, “and so soon after he said his first word.”

“Time for another celebration” declared Sapnap.

There was a shared hooray as they gathered to head to the dining spot next to the inn. Dream passed Thomas over to Sapnap, allowing the dark haired demon to lead their little group down stairs. As they made their way, George tugged on Dream’s sleeves to get his attention.

“You were saying,” remarked George. 

“What?” asked Dream.

“You came in here saying you need something from me” stated George, “What was it?”

The dark blonde’s brows knitted together as looked away.

“It can wait, we have some time to spare” he uttered.

“We can talk about it tomorrow since tonight is now for Tommy,” he added.

George furrowed his brows in confusion but shrugged it off and continued following behind the others. Dream let out a sigh as he walked behind the brunette.

Chapter Text

Two days had passed since the group had settled in the inn and it seemed like the storm was moving over the town. It hadn't settled overhead but the dark clouds could be seen in the distance. The fear seemed to increase from everyone and some villagers were already on the move again. The group was tempted to follow along with them but Dream had other plans. He had been in and out of the sanctum but refused to tell of his finds. George still had no idea what the dark blonde wanted to ask him but he kept putting off. So instead of waiting for Dream to come to him, George was going to go to him. He waited until everyone had fallen asleep before making his move. He tucked Thomas beside Sapnap since the small blonde was very clingy when he was asleep. As quietly as he could, the brunette made his way out into the hallway. Moonlight lit his path as he found his way to the stairs. The front desk seemed vacant so he didn't have a witness to see him sneaking out. As he set his foot outside, his boots sank into the wet earth. It was raining lightly but it was obvious that it would only get worse. George pulled up the hood of his cloak before jogging across the path. The splashing of puddles echoed through the silence of the night as he ran. It didn't take long for him to reach the sanctum. It was sheltering from rain so he pulled off his hood. The silence was now being filled by dripping water. There were noticeable cracks and puddles in the across stone but that wasn't George’s focus. It was the faint light from further inside. Slowly, he made his way towards it but was careful to not disturb what was making it. He matched his steps with the dripping water to not be noticed. As he gained closer, the brighter the light seemed. It was until the source was in view. He hid behind a pillar to watch from afar. Just as suspected, there was Dream standing just at the altar. The glowing was coming from a bright burning candle sitting in the middle of the altar. It didn’t seem like any normal candle from how star-like particles came from it instead of smoke. It also talked to Dream. It sounded like a woman's voice but it was soft yet serious. And from Dream's tone, it didn't seem like a good conversation.

"Is there nothing you can do? You're the goddess of salvation!" proclaimed Dream.

"Yes, but not at the moment. Treachery slips from my tongue every moment we speak and we can't have another traitor amongst the divine" explained the voice.

"But you know this isn't fair! Not me or the others," exclaimed Dream.

"It's not my choice, all I can do is leave you with the quest as my champion" stated the voice.

"My Lady, please-" started Dream, but was swiftly cut off.

"This is your last chance, Champion. You have your quest but it is your will that shall foretell your end" declared the voice, sternly.

"Failing this shall lead to your descent and the shifting of your realm" she added.

Dream fell silently after that, only the echoes of rain filling the space. It wasn't long before the bright candle faded out. The altar fell into darkness with only the faintest of light from the moon. As he stood up, George stepped out from his place behind the pillar and stepped into a shallow puddle nearby. The dark blonde's posture straightened as he whipped around with his sword ready in hand. Though it was lowered once he realized it was the brunette. His expression softened but became riddled with what looked like guilt.

"George! How long have you been here??" stammered Dream, as he sheathed his sword.

"Not long enough I assume" proclaimed George.

"How much did you hear?" asked Dream.

"Enough to know you know more than you are letting on" uttered George, with furrowed brows.

Dream let out a sigh as he pulled down his hood.

"Do you know what's going on?" questioned George, as he stepped forward.

"Not in its entirety but enough as a champion of a god" claimed Dream.

"There was a serious falling out between the gods and things aren't the same. It involves XD because the gods are searching for us but mostly you. I have no idea why or what they are going to do but a sacrifice is needed" explained Dream.

"Sacrifice?" repeated George, his eyes growing wide, "You aren’t saying what I think you're saying?"

"I don't know! I was trying to pull more answers from Prime but she won't tell me anymore information and pushing towards exposing our location" uttered Dream, throwing up his hands.

"Which is why I didn't want to tell you or the others" he stated.

"Then what did you want to ask me the other day then?" inquired George.

"For the book, the one that XD gave you. I thought I could figure things out from it or atleast get in contact with him since he seems like the source of all this" confessed Dream, "But I was scared you would be upset about it"

"I'm upset now either way!!" spouted George, as he stomped over to the dark blonde.

"You were just gonna leave this situation in the dark and possibly risk our lives because of fear?" he exclaimed.

"I rather live a life of fear than see you worry for the worst" proclaimed Dream. "Everything was going so well that I didn't want to ruin things"

"Besides, XD is rarely around and he can't protect you like I can" he included.

"He's a fucking god! He could do a better job than all of us" uttered George.

"But he isn't here to protect you, I am!!" professed Dream.

"And you're doing a shit job of it!" declared George.

"It's better than nothing, neither Sapnap or Karl have the experience I have! But if you are so desperate for the person who can't stay at your side for long periods of time then be my guest!!" proclaimed Dream.

"Maybe I will!" proclaimed George, throwing up his hands.

The brunette shoved passed the dark blonde before placing his hands on the altar. It was warm to the touch from the candle but it didn't matter. He didn't need Dream's help or that stupid book to memorize the spell. It felt like it was ingrained into his brain after having to summon his divine partner for parental duties so the ancient words fell from his lips like a second language. More heat began to emit from the altar, causing George to lift his hands off of it and take a step back as his hands began to sting. Just as it always happened, the world seemed to freeze as the splitting portal broke into their realm. But something was different this time and it wasn’t just George who was seeing it. Instead of the green light that would seep through, it was a pitch black and white haze that poured out like fog. A cold breeze escaped the crack as a gold clawed hand emerged from the portal. Stepping out was a hooded being, seemingly dressed in black and gold. The only familiar thing of the emerging being was the twining halos and singular eye that snapped open. They floated just above the two men as the portal closed behind them. The silence felt deadly as they stood before a god they have never seen before. The being snapped its head to the side as it stared them down. George shifted a step back in response. This was definitely not XD. His brows furrowed as he looked up at the unknown god before he felt an arm placed in front of him. He looked over to see Dream had placed himself between George and the god, sword drawn once more. The unknown god’s gaze narrowed at the presence of him but their focus was on George. 

“George?” they asked, slowly raising their gloved hand towards him.

Their voice was distorted and glitchy, similar to XD's speech pattern, but it sounded like a younger and more feminine voice.   

“Who’s asking?” replied the brunette.

“I am?” uttered the god, with a confused tone.

“Who are you?” questioned George.

“That is none of your business at the moment” they claimed, “All you need to know is that I’m here to help.”

“I don’t need your help, I need to speak with XD” retorted George.

“The only contact you’ll get him is through me, atleast at this moment” declared the god.

“How do we know we can trust you?” challenged Dream, pointing his sword towards the god.

“I don’t think either of you have a choice at the moment” proclaimed the god, as they pushed the dark blonde’s sword downwards.

“I am here to keep the world from falling to calamity at the hands of my brother” they added. 

“Brother?” mumbled George.

“Oh my void, will you let me explain anything!!” exclaimed the god, their cloak bursting into flames.

The two men fell silent, mostly out of shock. The god’s narrowed their eye at them as the flame disappeared from the cloak. They then rested their hand on what they assumed to be its face. 

“You prized mortals drive me insane sometimes” they uttered, “If you want answers and a solution to the problem going on right now, then you’ll listen to me.”

“Is that understood?” inquired the unknown god.

George and Dream nodded slowly as they sank down to the floor into a sit position.

“Good” proclaimed the unknown god, “now listen up”

~~

A yawn escaped Sapnap as he stretched out his arms across the table. The beds at the inn weren’t the most comfortable but it gave everyone a place to sleep. Though that didn’t mean he didn’t miss his old one. It felt like he was sleeping on planks of wood, that’s how thin the mattress felt. He was willing to sleep in the mud outside if it meant his body would feel cushioned but he didn’t feel like getting soaked. He groaned as leaned back against his chair. If breakfast didn’t get to the table fast enough, he felt like he was going to fall back asleep. Fortunately the sound of glass clinking against the wood woke him up almost immediately. Now infront of him was a warm plate of freshly made pancakes and sizzling bacon with a glass of juice to accompany. No one had to ask him twice to start eating, though he thanked the worker first. As they walked away, Sapnap’s attention was on his food but also on Karl. The brunette had also started eating but he had an odd blank stare. The demon brunette tilted his head to the side before waving his hand in front of his friend’s face.

“Hello? Earth to Karl?” uttered Sapnap.

“Huh?” hummed Karl, snapping back into focus.

“You good do? You spaced out there” questioned Sapnap.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine, just couldn’t get proper rest last night” claimed Karl.

“Tell me about it! This inn has some great food, it’s just the beds aren’t cushioned enough” stated Sapnap.

“Heh, I guess they are but it wasn’t just that” chuckled Karl.

“Then what is it?” asked Sapnap, his brow quirking upwards.

“Well, Dream didn’t come back last night and George seems to have disappeared throughout the night” informed Karl, “I haven’t seen them since we left the room and I even asked the person at the desk if they saw anything.”

“I guess that is weird but I assumed George just went looking for Dream and they caught up in the rain last night” shrugged Sapnap.

 “Though I wished he warned me that he was leaving Tommy with us, I thought I was going to crush him by accident when I woke up” he remarked, gesturing over to the boy. 

The two looked over to where the small blonde was sitting. Callahan was feeding the boy some oats and smashed fruit. It was quite a messy experience since the deer man’s face was covered in flying food. 

“You need a napkin, Callahan?” Karl, with concern.

He gave the brunette a thumbs up before reaching for the paper cloth. As he whipped his face off, the sound of the inn's doorbell rang from the next door. The group perked up at the sound as two familiar figures entered into the eating hall; George and Dream. Sapnap waved his hand towards them to get their attention. As they approached, the two of them looked much more tired than Sapap felt. Dream sat down right next to him while George plotted right between Callahan and Karl. His head rested in his arms as he slumped against the table. Dream had turned away and just looked out the window they sat next to. An awkward silence began to accumulate. Sapnap and Karl shared a confused look before the brunette cleared his throat.

“Hey guys, how are you doing this morning?” he asked.

Silence.   

“Would you like us to order you two breakfast?” questioned Sapnap.

Silence.

“They have waffles if you don’t want pancakes” claimed Karl.

“Also french toast and oat, that’s what Callahan got and we gave Tommy the oats” added Sapnap.

Just as before silence.

There was definitely something wrong and it wasn’t just everyone being tired. Dream hadn’t even waved at them when they entered the dining hall and George hadn’t made snarky remarks to anyone. Another thing Sapnap noticed was that neither of them were making eye contact with anyone, including each other. 

“Did something happen while you guys were out last night?” inquired Sapnap.

He was silent but received just a glance from Dream. George hadn’t moved at all since he sat down. Callahan was poking at him, trying to get him to at least look at Thomas in his arms, yet it was to no avail. The demon brunette’s brows wilted in concern as he looked over at Karl. He just shrugged before finishing his food. Sapnap did the same since their conversation had been lost.The rest of their breakfast period was left in silence before they handed their plates back to the worker and headed back to their room. George and Dream walked behind them as they walked down the hall. Once they were all in their rooms, Sapnap shut the door behind them and stood in the middle.

“Okay, what the hell is going on with you two? You guys just disappeared during the night but suddenly showed up at breakfast without a hello or hi!!” exclaimed Sapnap, throwing up his arms.

“Where did you guys even go?” questioned Karl, as he settled on the bed.

There was silence, just as before, but Dream was the first to actually speak.

“We were at the sanctum just down the path all night” uttered Dream.

“Why were you guys there?” asked Sapnap, lifting a brow.

“I was there trying to get into contact with Prime to get answers from her again and George happened to follow me down there” informed Dream.

“I didn’t want to tell you all because I was still trying to convince Prime to help us out but she refused since it was already ‘treachery’ that I was talking to her but wasn't giving her the information that she wanted” he continued, fiddling with the edge of his cloak.

“What information?” inquired Karl.

“To reveal our location to her,” sighed Dream.

“What?!” blurted Sapnap & Karl.

“She went on about sacrifices and treason among the gods. She didn’t give anymore intel about what was needed but it was easy to assume that it was to do with XD since she started asking about George” explained Dream.

“Sacrifice? She would be the last god who I thought would ask for sacrifices” uttered Karl.

“Screw that, why the hell was she asking for George?” exclaimed Sapnap.

“Well-” started Dream, but cut himself.

“XD is paying the price for an incident that happened but some gods are looking for separate punishment,” finished George, speaking for the first time.

Everyone’s attention was quick to turn to the brunette. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, with his gaze fixated on the floor. Though his hands were outstretched forward. They paused as he kept his hands outwards as Thomas shakily waddled from where Callahan sat over to him. When the small blonde grasped his hands, the infant laughed happily. A smile flashed on George’s face as he picked up his son. Though it was quick to fade as he held him to his chest.

“He won’t be coming back for a while but he’s the reason why there have been storms for the past few weeks, it’s to obscure the vision of the other gods” he claimed, “But it isn’t going to last long so we needed a long term of security for us.”

“And we did find one,” proclaimed Dream.

“And it is?” inquired Sapnap, lifting a brow.

The question hung in the air, like a bait waiting for fish. It was nerve wracking but it felt like something that nobody wanted to hear.

“We are sending Tommy away” stated Dream.

What! Why!?” uttered Sapnap, his eyes growing wide.

“The gods don’t truly care for George but it’s Tommy they are after, he is the direct and only offspring of XD. They are only searching for him which is putting George and us in danger” explained Dream.

“He is a baby, we haven’t even celebrated his first birthday!!” blurted Sapnap.

“They don’t know that nor do they care, they can be very merciless beings” reminded Dream.

“But that doesn’t mean we would need to abandon him!!” argued Sapnap.

“We aren’t abandoning him,” assured Dream.

“Yes we are! He’s a part of this family and you just want to leave him behind!!” claimed Sapnap, smoke seeping from the corners of his mouth.

“It’s the only way to protect this family! Fighting against gods is a death wish for us” retorted Dream, standing to his feet.  

“But families should be willing to die to protect those who they love,” proclaimed Sapnap.

“Sacrifices are needed I know, but this sacrifice doesn’t have to lead to bloodshed” , retaliated Dream.

“Then what does the sacrifice lead to?” asked Sapnap,  

“I don’t know what it leads to, all I know is that she’ll be taking him somewhere safe,” sighed Dream.

“She? I thought you said Prime wasn’t going to help us?” questioned Sapnap, lifting a brow. 

“He isn’t talking about Prime” muttered George, coming up beside the dark brunette.

Sapnap gave him a look of confusion. George let out a sigh as he handed Thomas over to him, hoping to calm the demon down a bit. 

“We don’t have time for your bickering anymore, just get ready to head out” he instructed. 

“Heading out where exactly?” inquired Karl.

“Just get ready” uttered George, glaring at the light brunette. 

Everyone went quiet as the brunette began grabbing his bag. Sapnap gave Dream a disapproving look before turning his attention to the child in his arms. Thomas gave him a confused look before trying to headbutt him. The dark brunette just smiled before giving a light headbutt in return. He knew demi-gods were very chaotic when they were children but gods seeking a sacrifice for an infant one was heinous. The small blonde wasn’t even old enough to speak or showed any signs of divine abilities. It confused and concerned the demon but still felt like they could protect him if they tried hard enough. Yet Dream was very persistent in trying to leave behind the child which felt unnaturally cruel for the person who he considered a brother. But no one else was arguing with him, not even George. This was literally his son and he was just willing to go with it?! It just didn’t sit right with Sapnap. Yet he didn't have anyone by his side, at least in the debate.

It didn't take long for them to make their gear up and head down stairs. Dream checked them out of the inn while the others headed outside. Stepping out, there was a noticeable change in atmosphere with knowledge they knew now. There was a gray blanket of clouds in the sky, the ground was muddy, few villagers lingered, and the wind and distant chimes filled the hushed ambience. It felt like a ghost town or the aftermath of a raid. Unnerving and eerily quiet. A shiver ran down Sapnap’s spine as he pulled his cloak around his shoulder. It was now understandable why it was time to leave the inn. He fixed his hold on Thomas as he looked over to George. The brunette’s gaze was fixate on the sky, eyes as cloudy as it. Sapnap held empathy for his friend. He reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. The brunette glanced over at the dark brunette.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this? You should be the one making calls here" questioned Sapnap.

The two stood in silence looking at each other. George’s brows furrowed as he shifted downwards, specifically to Thomas who was tucked in Sapnap’s arms. The small blonde had a cow plush in his small grasp while looking up at him. The brunette’s eyes became glossy as he pulled away from Sapnap’s touch.

"It's our only decision. Dream has rarely steered us wrong" uttered George.

"This isn't about him, it's about you and Tommy" proclaimed Sapnap.

"Well then it's best for him, as long as he's safe and we don't have to deal with whatever the hell is going on then it's fine" stated George, through clenched teeth.

"George," muttered Sapnap, but was interrupted by.

The echo of the large gold bell above the sanctum started blaring out into the silence of the village. The door to the inn opened and closed as Dream came jogging out to the group.

"It's time to go, come on" he ushered, as extended his hand.

The others nodded before following behind the dark blonde. George reached out and grasped Dream’s open hand as they walked. The two walked close to each other but in silence. Sapnap let out a sigh as he shifted closer to Karl and Callahan. They headed down the path towards the exit of the village, which led into a forest. Just outside the walls were three horses tied to a tree. They had left the wagon behind since it would be too much extra weight to worry about. Dream mounted the dark brown stallion with George, Sapnap balanced himself & Thomas on a black mare with Karl, and Callahan got a white mare to himself. Once properly saddled up, they began traveling through the brush. Dream still lead the way but to where they traveled further into the forest instead of going towards the plains. The trees around them began to cast shadows over them and block what little light they had. The sound of clicking horse hooves filled their ears, along with the wind rustling the leaves above them. 

A chill passed over them as they traversed further into the density underbrush. Sapnap tugged his cloak closer around him and Thomas. He felt Karl rest his head on his shoulder as he leaned into his back. He curled his tail around the light brunette’s leg in comfort, for both his friend and himself. It seemed like everything was closing in around them and everything was molding together. Every tree looked identical to the one before and after it. The clouded sky had disappeared among the leaves but the demon swore he could hear the repeated rumbling of distant thunder yet no flash of lightning. It felt like he was losing his mind slowly and he didn’t know why. He just let his clawed hands lightly sink into his horse’s soft skin to ground himself. 

A slow and echoey whistle began to ring out in the forest. All their heads seemed to perk up at it, a sign it wasn’t a part of Sapnap’s imagination. The trees were slowly thinning out until they emerged into a clearing. It wasn’t too big but it was mostly made of tall grass and rocks. The clearing seemed to go down a hill where a river could be heard. They brought their steeds to a full halt before dismounting. They let their horses stay at the top of the hill to graze. Dream and George had already begun heading down the hill, leaving the others just a few paces behind. Sapnap handed Thomas over to Karl so that he could pull out his sword. He used it to cut away the tall grass they got in their way. 

As they walked, the slow whistling from earlier returned but it sounded more clearer. It also mixed in with the sound of rushing water. When the river came into view, they spotted what was assumed to be the source of it. Sitting on a large rock in the river was a person. At least that’s what it looked like. They had long bright gold hair that was tied into a single braid, two straight long black horns sat atop of their head while twinning halos surrounded them, a long black and golden cloak stretched into the water. They couldn’t see their face because they were turned away from them but just their presents had an intimidating aura.

The group stood a few feet away from the river's edge, as if they were waiting for a response from the being. Dream cleared his throat to get the figure's attention. They sat up straight before their head swiveled around in the similar fashion of an owl. White wings covered their face as various eyes blinked at them. Though they ended up folding back and revealing their figure with a semi-normal human face.

 "You all arrived on time, quite surprisingly if I’m being honest” they uttered, as they slowly turned around.

“You said this meeting was urgent, so we came as soon as you heard the bells,” claimed Dream.

“I know that but I had my doubts” they shrugged, “But i'm not here to criticize you all.”

“I’m here for the child” the figure asked, lifting off the rock.

“And we have brought him,” proclaimed Dream, as he turned to gesture towards Sapnap and Karl.

The demon and shifter shared a side glance with each other. Karl was about to step forward but Sapnap had stretched his arm out to stop him.

“Wait!” he hissed, “How do we know we can trust this thing?”

“Sapnap” muttered Dream, challengingly. 

“This 'Thing' is a goddess, she’s the one who’ll be taking Tommy to a safe place” he stated.

“You didn’t tell us that, you just said she would take him somewhere safe! Do you even know where it is?” questioned Sapnap.

“It wouldn't be in your best interest that you all know, unless you want to put this entire plot in jeopardy ” proclaimed the goddess, as she approached them.

"She has a point there, Sapnap" muttered Karl.

"If that's the case, then we should at least know her name" argued Sapnap.

"I don't fully agree with this if I don't know who's taking my nephew," he added.

"He's as much as your nephew as mine, nether spawn" hissed the goddess.

"But if it's a name you ask for, I'm Drista but you shall not know my title" she claimed.

"Drista, huh" hummed Sapnap.

"Yes, are you satisfied now?" nodded Drista.

"Not completely" stated Sapnap.

"I don't think satisfaction matters right now, we need to hand Tommy to her" interrupted Dream.

"I don't think we have that right, it should be George's," declared Sapnap.

The brunette’s head seemed to perk up at his name. His eyes were a bit wide but seemed to soften as Karl approached him. Thomas was handed over to him. He cradled the small blonde in his arms with an unblinking gaze. He turned away from the group and towards Drista. The goddess looked down at him with her head cocked to the side. Sapnap couldn't see his friend's expression from where he stood. All he could see was the way his pointed ears tilted downwards and the sink of his shoulders. A moment of stillness seemed to occur. The songs of birds had stopped, the breeze had disappeared, and the sound of rushing water was muffled. It felt like an eternity was passing as George cradled his son for the very last time. Yet that eternity was only a minute before the brunette lifted the boy up towards the goddess. Drista extended two arms to hold the child. She stared down at him, fixing the blanket around him. She bowed her head towards George before turning away from the group. She extended a third arm and ripped a crack of a portal into the air above the rock she sat on. Before stepping through it, she looked over her shoulder a waved to the group.

"See you all later" she remarked, with was thought to be an innocent smile.

They returned to the goddess before watching her and Thomas disappeared through the portal. All the ambience around them had returned full force but there was silence. A few quiet glances were shared between each other. The only unmoving was George, who was staring aimlessly at the where the portal disappeared. Dream stepped forward to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. Just as his hand rested on the brunette’s shoulder, George sank down to the ground. 

"George, are you alright?" asked Sapnap, panicked.

There wasn't an immediate answer. George just sat on the ground. His eyes rested on the flowing water in front of him. Hesitantly, Dream sat down beside him. George rested his head on the dark blonde's shoulder in response to this action. Sapnap looked over at Callahan and Karl with a sympathetic look before walking over to the duo. He sat on the opposite side of George and placed a hand on his friend’s arm.

"George," uttered Sapnap, softly.

"I am," mumbled George,

"So tired" 

Chapter Text

A shallow thump echoed through the vacant library as Sapnap placed a book back on the shelf. He returned it to its place on a secret shelf before returning to the sitting area, where he left Tommy. The young blonde had a distant look in his eyes as his brows were furrowed. The dark brunette cleared his throat to get his attention. 

"You alright, Tom?" He asked.

"I-" started Tommy, but cut himself off.

In all honesty, he didn't know how to feel. He had half the story that answered his questions yet he still felt left in the dark. Sapnap only knew so much and Karl’s journals were told from a one person perspective. There had to be more people who knew besides. He was given to Drista, then she took him to someone under XD request, yet he ended up being taken in by Phil but was mostly raised by Wilbur. A sudden question seemed to appear in Tommy’s mind that snapped him out of his thoughts for just a moment.

"Did you guys know it was me when I first came to this place? As in, when Wilbur arrived with the van years ago when it was just us with Tubbo & Fundy?" he questioned.

"Well, we had our suspicions since it felt like a coincidence" stated Sapnap, as he scratched behind his head, “But George was very sure of it whenever Dream and him met up with you all the first few times”

“Though because of that, we swore ourselves to secrecy about it since things hadn’t started off on the most positive foot with you all’s arrival, our ties with anything divine had been cut long ago so the sudden appearances of you all placed a imbalance on everything” he explained.

“I guess that makes sense but everything afterwards doesn’t, especially with Dream and George since they seemed to have hated me ever since L’manburg had been established” remarked Tommy, as he leaned back in the chair.

“I think it was because Prime took Dream’s gifted powers and George felt ostracized by XD due to events yet to be explained, even when XD did return to Overworld” shrugged Sapnap.

“Dream felt he needed to be in control over everything and George just hated being reminded of what he lost or was forced to lose” he included.

With that statement left in the air, the two fell into silence. Sapnap gaze was fixed towards the window nearby while Tommy pulled his knees to his chest. There was so much to think about now that he felt unsteady. Everything he thought he knew about himself was basically a lie. It hurt him but it caused more pain when he really thought of how his life had played out up until this point. Which led back to something he remembered someone told him, or should he say yelled at him. How everything was his fault and how he made everything worse with his actions. He would admit some things he did were wrong but had his entire existence caused a chain of bad events to happen? 

Has everything always been his fault?     

He felt a drop in his chest as he breathed grew faint and shaky. He lowered his legs back to the floor as he tried to catch his breath from the sudden lack of air. It took him by surprise from the sudden attack, his grip tightening on his chest. His surroundings seemed blurry yet they felt like they were closing in around him. Which almost kicked in his fight or flight since he was claustrophobic. It was only when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder that he didn’t start fully panicking. It was a gentle touch but firm enough to where he didn’t feel alone. For just a moment, things cleared but only seemed to be a singular state of everything closing and opening. All he knew is that the person’s hand he felt was definitely Sapnap’s, since it was warm and he was the only one with him. He could sense the vibrations of the demon’s voice but couldn’t understand what he was saying. Tommy wanted to ask what he said but his throat felt too dry to speak. The only thing that came out was weak exhales. Sapnap was still talking but seemed to move his hand to help the young blonde to his feet. Tommy shakily stood up and clinged to the dark brunette for support. There was a tone of assurances from him as he began to guide him somewhere. 

Each step that Tommy took was uncertain but paced enough to keep up with Sapnap. They seemed to slow down for a second before light began to flood the blonde’s vision. It was blinding even through his blurred gaze but he moved towards. As he was engulfed in it, he didn’t feel as trapped as he did sitting in the library. His eyes grew somewhat used to the light and realized he was standing just outside of the library. His breathing was shaky but he felt it becoming regular. He felt Sapnap’s hand on his shoulder once more as he gently pushed to sit on the stairs. The demon seemed to be speaking slowly but started to mimic the gesture of breathing. Tommy copied him as he tried to slow his breathing. He copied him until his vision cleared and his breath was coming at a steady pass. A calm exhale came from him as eyes were fixated on the ground. 

“Tommy” uttered Sapnap.

“Hm” hummed Tommy.

“Are you okay?” asked Sapnap.

“I think so, now at least” muttered Tommy, his throat still feeling dry.

“Okay then” breathed Sapnap, “You had me worried there”   

“Sorry if this was all such a dump of information, it’s a lot to take in and probably overwhelming since you had no idea about everything” he apologized.

“It’s fine, I just didn’t really prepare for-” started Tommy, but cut himself off.

“You are rarely prepared for anything” claimed a new voice, catching the duo by surprise.

Floating just a few inches in front of them was the familiar face of Drista. She was in her full human-looking form with two sticks of what looked like fried mushrooms in her hands. Her signature smile was plastered on her face but faded into a confused expression. Sapnap glared at her with annoyed expression while Tommy had a tired look. She looked between them before pointing the fried food in their direction.

“You want mushrooms?” she offered.

“Not the time” stated Sapnap.

“Suit yourself” shrugged the goddess, before taking a bite, “So how did things go?”

“It’s a lot,” sighed Tommy, as he rested his head on his hands.

“Well you still have a lot more to discovered about your life” proclaimed Drista

“Maybe hold it off for a bit, Drista, I think Tommy is gonna need to to take in what he just learned” interrupted Sapnap, as he stood up.

“Really? But there is so much more for him to know, isn’t that what you mortals are about?” uttered Drista.

“Yes but ‘mortals’ as you call us need breaks after taking in some much information” informed Sapnap.

“Tommy is going to be staying with me for a bit since this is a lot, you can come back for him in a few days” he declared.

“Really?” mumbled Tommy, looking up at the dark brunette.

“Well yeah, I feel Drista is going to drive you to insanity if I leave you in her hands after this” nodded Sapnap, as he helped the young blonde.

“That’s not fair, I haven’t driven anyone insane for months” scoffed Drista, crossing her arms.

“Well go do that to someone else, give Tommy some time to relax” sighed Sapnap.

The goddess pouted before her eyes grew wide, as if an idea popped in her head. 

“I think I will and I know exactly who” she remarked, a smile curling on her lips.

And just as before, she flew off and into what could only be mischief. Sapnap and Tommy watched her until she was out of sight. A worried sigh escaped the dark brunette as he rubbed his forehead.

“I don’t think that’s going to end well” muttered Tommy.

“Not at all but that’s for us to worry about later” stated Sapnap, “Let’s head back to my place”

“You are really going to let me stay here?” inquired Tommy, lifting a brow.

“Well yeah, I can’t leave you on your own if Drista isn’t around to protect you” claimed Sapnap.

“I can protect myself without Drista, I'm a big man who can overpower anyone” proclaimed Tommy, puffing out his chest.

Sapnap just looked at him with an unfazed look with one brow arched upwards. The blonde cleared his throat as he hunched back over.

“But I shall accept your hospitality,” uttered Tommy.

Sapnap just shook his head and chuckled before moving down the path. Tommy followed after him and hooked his tail with dark brunette’s so he wouldn’t fall behind. Sapnap just ruffled his hair as he threw an arm across Tommy’s shoulder. It was a comforting gesture and brought some ease after his sudden panic. Though that didn’t mean his worrisome thoughts didn’t linger. 

Has everything been his fault, even as a child?

It was a heavy thought but he realized he only had one part of the story to his past. Maybe it had nothing to do with something that someone else did. Karl’s journal mentioned George speaking of XD being troubled with some divine incidents and consequences. There was no explanation for that but maybe that incident was the cause of everything and not Tommy. At least that's what he hoped it was. Until said otherwise, he was going to stick with that so he won’t spiral into a full panic. He sighed as his gaze wandered up to the sky. A few clouds traveled across it though they seemed to get darker near the horizon. There was definitely going to be a storm coming during the night. Fortunately, he didn’t have to suffer through it on his own

Chapter Text

The flash of lighting appeared outside of the window that Tommy sat at. He counted the moments in between until the thunder came. It was a strange act he did every time there was a thunderstorm. The only reason he did it was because it was something someone suggested to him to help overcome his fear of it. Counting the seconds before each rumble of thunder told how far off the lightning was. Though he didn’t have to worry about getting struck by it since he was inside Sapnap’s home. The house was pretty big since it was originally for four people, at least that was what Sapnap said. Karl and George used to stay with him before taking refuge in other places around the kingdom but he didn’t say who the fourth person was.

Though he didn’t question Sapnap about it since he felt he questioned the demon enough for a while. He was kind enough to allow Tommy to stay under his care so he didn’t want to push too much. So he just sat in the window seat as he waited for the rain to come. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled among the dark clouds but there wasn’t any drop of rain. Tommy liked to watch the rain whenever he just wanted to space out and not worry about anything so he was a bit disappointed. He slouched against the pillow he held in arms as a sigh escaped him. Besides the thunder outside, it was very quiet in Sapnap’s home. Almost to the point where Tommy felt like he could hear his own heart beat. It was unnerving but it left him to dwell into his thoughts to distract him. Though that only made him think about his remaining questions about the “missing” part of his life.

Drista always spoke about how big the ego of the gods were, especially the God of Mischief and the Goddess of Death. He never knew if she was being serious about Death’s ego because he always had a motherly view of her. Though that was mostly due to being raised by the goddess’s “Angel”. Phil never had anything ill to say about her ever. Which then made Tommy start wondering if Phil ever knew about everything. It wouldn’t be the first time the winged man has hidden important things from him but this was an entire chapter of his childhood just left unknown. It was understandable that Wilbur probably didn’t know but Phil? It seemed basically impossible with his status. He wanted to demand answers from the older blonde but he wanted to figure out everything else he needed to know here in Kinoko Kingdom. Sapnap had told him everything that he knew and what he could find in Karl’s journals from that time period, yet only three accounts were left counted for. Which was George’s, Callahan’s, and XD’s.

It felt like George should be Tommy’s first priority but he wanted to save him for later. At least until he’s able to find the guts to actually go up to the brunette. The two of them hadn’t actually talked in a very very long time. The only memory Tommy had of speaking to the mushroom man somewhat properly for the last time was when before he was exiled. It was a very cloudy period of time of anger, annoyance, and betrayal. Tommy’s focus at the time was trying to clear his case about the destruction caused and how unfair the punishment was. He felt betrayal by everyone in the situation and especially by Tubbo. Yet now he had someone else to feel betrayed by. George had never been on Tommy’s side and he never saw him as anything more than an annoyance. With this new knowledge about his true origin, it was like a phantom pain in Tommy’s heart.

The young blonde squeezed the pillow in his hands as he felt his breath hitch. There was no reason to be crying at all but that’s all Tommy wanted to do. He just wanted to curl into a ball and cry as more questions builded in his mind. Each one seemed more sadder and confused than the last. Tommy buried his face into the pillow to keep tears from spilling. Every little thing seemed to be overwhelming and he felt so pathetic. He didn’t want to feel like a crybaby. “The Great Tommy Danger Kraken Innit” was no crybaby, at least that’s what he told himself.

As he tried to even out his breathing, his ears perked up as he heard the opening and closing of a hatchet. He glanced up to see Sapnap coming up from a ladder that led up to the second floor. The brunette demon seemed to have switched into more homely & comfy clothes and was holding a medium box on his hip. He had his way over to the window where Tommy was. He sat across from the blonde as he placed the box in between them.

“This box holds things that the boys and I carried during the early days of our adventures before we left our cabin. It’s not everything but I was able to salvage some things during that time since we had gone back after handing you over to Drista” explains Sapnap, as he opens the box.

Tommy lifted a brow as he leaned forward to peer into the box. The most normal contents were old charms, a small photo album and very shiny stones. The other contents were a bit interesting. There was a pair of tiny red boots tied together by their laces, a plastic ball with a star figure in it, a paper with a small hand print inked on it, and a small round plush pig. They were items that would belong to a baby, when Tommy was a baby. These were things that once belonged to him at one point. He picked the paper with his hand print on it and compared it to his own.

“Me and Dream had to convince George to get that since Bad had gotten a copy of our handprints when we were children” remarks Sapnap.

Tommy ran his thumb across it gently. It was much much smaller but also seemed smoother. The young blonde’s hands were now calloused and covered in scars. His brows wilted as he held it. An innocence that he barely remembered but it was probably a good time. He placed the hand print back in the box before he picked up the plastic ball. The star inside of it let out the softest and heavenly bell chime as small sparkles danced around in it.

“XD was the one to give that to you. He said it was very special for you but we never figured out why it was so we kept it in case we figured it out” claimed Sapnap.

“Can I keep it?” asked Tommy.

“Of course, it’s yours anyways” nodded Sapnap.

Tommy gave a soft smile as he placed the ball next to the box as he continued going through it. He picked up the two boots and held them up. They were very small and clunky looking.

“Callahan had gotten those for whenever you had learned to walk. We only ever used them once or twice though” stated Sapnap, supporting the boots on the bottom.

“They are very well made for some baby boots” scoffs Tommy, “Think he’d get me a pair of these for me now?”

“Maybe, I’ll ask him if I can find him,” shrugged Sapnap.

Tommy nodded happily as he placed the shoes back in the box. He reached for the last object that belonged to him, a small pig plush. It was very round and almost fit perfectly in his hands. He slowly squeezed it in his hands. The plush made a wheeze of squeak, taking the blonde and brunette by surprise.

“Woah! Didn’t know it did that” chuckled Sapnap.

“It’s like a dog toy” uttered Tommy, as he squeaked the toy again.

“That would be on brand George ” uttered Sapnap, jokingly.

"That's just gross man" groaned Tommy, setting the toy down.

As peeked into the box again, he pulled out the small photo album. It had quite a plain blue cover but there was a name written in black ink on it. It was Tommy’s name, at least his actual name; "Thomas". The blonde began to flip through the pages. There were a bunch of pictures of him as a baby with the others. Most of the pictures were of him solo doing a bunch of random stuff like laying on the floor or sitting in a high chair. The other ones were a bit more interesting since they seemed to hold on-told stories about them. There was one with Sapnap holding him over a shallow creek, both wearing swim shorts, one of Dream sleeping on the floor with Tommy also sleeping on his back, and one of Callahan and Karl covered in what looked like baby food with him laughing. Though there were two that caught the blonde’s eye. One was of George holding him on his hip but there was an entity standing over him with a singular eye, similar to Drista in her god form. The other picture was a person that Tommy hadn't seen before, at least to his memory. It was a picture of a blonde man holding Tommy as a baby in his hands. The man’s hair was a brighter blonde than his and his eyes seemed very green. Though he had a sad look on his face.

“Who are they?” he asked, showing the two photos to Sapnap.

“That’s XD, he has many forms so both of those figures are him” informs Sapnap, as he holds the photo album.

“I think this was the last picture we ever took of you and him together, before he disappeared” he states.

“Did he ever explain why?” questioned Tommy, his ears perking up.

“No, though we didn’t ask him, we really didn’t want anything to do with him when he returned,” remarked Sapnap, as he closed the photo album.

“The only person who kinda kept him around was George but he seems to just exploit him for his divine magic and status” he claimed.

“Really? But, they used to be really close, I am literally the embodiment of their closeness” uttered Tommy, with confusion.

“I don’t fully understand either, to be honest, my best guess is that George felt abandoned by XD and only guilts him out to get what he wants” shrugs Sapnap.

“Like, child support?” question, with furrowed brows.

“Yes but technically without the child since you were being raised by someone else” nodded Sapnap.

“I see” hummed Tommy, as his gaze shifted back to the box.

He looked down at the photo album in Sapnap’s hands. Questions continued to grow but he didn’t wish to dabble on them anymore at the moment. He just picked up the star ball from earlier and gently shook it. The sound of bells rang again as the sparkles inside the ball twinkled around inside. It was quite a unique sound to Tommy. The bell sound reminded him of a distance church bell but also the gently clinking of glass. Strangely calming to listen to. Though another sound filled the growing silence. The blonde looked out the window just as it started to rain. Drops slide down the glass of the window while others bounce off the leaves of trees and blades off grass. The sky was completely cloudy as it poured down. He could see a few birds flying into the branches of trees for shelter. Some of them in the evening tuck themselves into nests or beside their partners. It brought an emotion of melancholy to the young blonde as he watched everything outside become damp. He heard Sapnap shift beside him as the brunette demon moved the box onto the floor before leaning against the pillow behind him. Tommy gave a slight glance at him before resting his face against the window. It was cool to the touch, sending a slight shiver through his body but he didn’t pull away. Instead, he shifted closer to the glass to watch the rain. As many questions as he had at the moment, he’ll save them for another day. Just allowing the sound of rain to wash away his busy mind.

Chapter Text

This one might be one of the few fics that hurts the most to discontinue. I had some much planned for this fanfic/AU but I just can't stand to write for the Dream Team. They were a main part of this AU. Dream wouldn't have shown up really but XD's image is attached to him and the whole thing that happened with George two years ago doesn't help either. Sapnap had his stuff going on as well but I'm not writing this to complain about drama or bring old stuff up that has already been talked about to death . I'm writing the ending of a story that I had originally made as a joke that turned into one of my top fics.

So, Chaos Amoungst the Shrooms would have been a longer fic. Almost similar to what I had planned for "Tiny, Innit" and "Seabirds" but a little shorter. There would be a few small arcs before coming to an opening ending. Tommy and Sapnap would have spent some time together before Tommy goes off to search for XD himself with directions given to him by Sapnap. Callahan would have shown up as well to give Tommy direct guidance. These directions being to lay down in a sunflower field and recite the incantation alluded to throughout the flashbacks but it works differently now as it would take Tommy to a dream-like realm. This is where he would find XD. This dream realm is where George resided when he was in his comatose-like sleeps. XD expected to see George, even though he and his former partner were no longer speaking currently. Though XD was shocked to see Tommy, not knowing what to do as he never expected to see the young blonde. The two stare at each other awkwardly for a moment before Tommy is like "um, hi dad?". Which causes XD to freak out like "what? how did you find out?". Tommy goes on a tangent about how Drista told him and then Sapnap gave him the main beats of backstory. XD is a little annoyed about that fact as he doesn't like Sapnap a lot yet tolerates him but calms down to a somber state when he realizes he can actually just spend time with Tommy. Spending time with his son without it being a big ordeal. Quickly reclaiming Tommy has his. His son. Tommy would ask if that would mean that George would be reclaiming him, which he felt weird asking since he and a mushroom man had obviously never had a good relationship after he was given up to Phil. XD was quick to tell him no and that his romantic relationship with George had been renounced long ago (most likely just before Dream escaped prison). The reason for this renouncement is because George had grown to become greedy, selfish, and was taking advantage of XD's affection and blessings. The corrupted party of the god had realized this and wanted nothing to do with his lover. He wouldn't fall for the manipulation of George, especially when George planned to run back to Dream's side, an already long renounced follower of XD and Prime (which I'll explain in a bit). This then leads into a question from Tommy, asking about his side of the fall out. What had happened on his side of the story and the reason for him being given up. Which is how we lead into the Drista and XD's arc.

This arc starts off with XD explaining why Tommy was forcefully separated from his first family. The reason for it is because of XD's neglect of his sister, Drista. XD is the god of mischief and creation while Drista is the goddess of chaos and luck. She was considered a minor god compared to XD, who was among the top three most powerful gods of the universe (the other two being Kristen [Mumza] and the Blood God). She sought for his affection and to be appreciated just as much as he was. He claimed to do the best he could because he had other affairs to handle. Leaving Drista to live in his shadow for eternity. It was only when she was swayed into a plot by HD (the fandom god version of George but in this au he is the god of destruction and misfortune) to take down their higher ranks to become the most powerful in the universe. Seeing this as a chance to prove herself, she joined forces with him. Leading to the downfall of everything to come. An all out fallout occurred amongst the gods. XD tried to talk Drista out of siding with HD but she felt like he had never truly given her the affection she desired from him. Leaving her to her own devices under the guise of protection. XD does show remorse for letting his sister’s negativity fester for so long without notice until it was too late. Even when the fight broke out, he attempted to reason with her as he clashed with HD. It was only within the violent banter that HD had purposefully connected and twisted Drista’s mind to intertwine with his own jealous desire that he felt for XD. Her pain was being amplified by HD’s hatred. So in the middle of the fight, when Drista was about to land a earth shattering blow, XD again tried to talk her down. Expressing how he hadn’t known the pain of isolation she felt and that he wanted to fix things, to be better by her but he couldn’t do so if she allowed her mind to be clouded by hatred that wasn’t hers. Which was where Drista hesitated and left her exposed to attack by the Blood God. While Gods can’t die like mortals can, they can be shattered into stars (almost like the gems in Steven Universe) and slowly put themselves back together. Within the timeline, Drista would have been “shattered” right just a little while before Tommy was born. Explaining why XD was very clingy when Tommy was first born. He just witnessed the “death” of his sister and was now celebrating the birth of his son.

When Drista is properly reformed, she is expected to face trial alongside HD for punishment, the Blood God and Mumza leading as the judges. But XD steps up and chooses to bear the heavy weight of Drista’s half of the punishment as it was his own negligence that led to her downfall. Which was a shock to the judges but allowed him to do so as XD rarely took responsibility for anything. The Blood God landed a harsh blow to XD, which is how he receives the X like cracks on his face. Taking some of his power away and marking him as a traitor before exiling him to the End for a decade while Lady Prime took XD’s place as the trio of gods. Drista was still punished but not as severely as she took on some of XD’s smaller roles while having some of her own powers stripped away. HD was punished as well but he evaded exile and fled the court, unable to be located for years to come. Which becomes important because HD’s jealousy isn’t quelled even after Drista and XD’s punishments. The case comes to a close but with only one thing being left up in the air, Tommy. Having a demigod of a traitorous god roam the world was anything but good so the Blood God and Lady Prime sought to handle this affair on their own and without consideration. XD was only able to catch a small bit of that conversation before he was tossed into the void like realm and used the influence he still held in the overworld to create a large and long standing storm. Lasting long enough until he was able to figure out how to keep his mortal family safe without being there himself. He ended up sending Drista as she was now capable of being summoned in his place. Which is why she takes Tommy. Cutting back to the modern day, Tommy is overwhelmed with all this divine lore that was going on while he was barely able to walk. He then asks how he ended up Philza’s family, which XD isn’t sure of. That was something Drista had done on her own without his permission. Leaving the question in the air of what happened between her time taking care of infant Tommy to being adopted by the Minecraft’s.

Which is where the POV to Drista. Crazy and random, I know but it’s important for the next arc of the plot which gets a little crazy compared to all the flashbacks. Drista had found a letter left at Tommy’s hut from Phil who wanted to check up on him and suggested he should come over. Curious but also noisy, Drista went in Tommy's place, shapeshifting to look just like him and sound like him. Though she is a bit more exaggerated and uncanny in some ways but doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. Except for Tubbo. Even if he and Tommy hadn’t spent the past few days seeing each other because they had been busy doing separate things, he could tell something was off about “Tommy”. He didn’t point it out directly but tried to get “Tommy” to slip up in front of the others. Which somewhat worked but it was chalked up to Tommy being Tommy. A few minor shenanigans would have happened before “Tommy” was outed as Drista in disguise. But the main one being a surprise return and attack from HD. Taking place by the portal near Philza and Technoblade's base. HD is mainly just antagonizing the Minecrafts to scare Drista (Who is still in her Tommy disguise at that point) before fully attacking. He has been watching from a distance and has the idea that if the truth of Tommy comes out publicly, the energy misfortune and despair would be like aged wine to him. The only thing he didn't plan for was Kristen (Mumza). Even if they were beyond her domain of trees around the base, she was still much more powerful than he was. Shattering him the same way Drista had been shattered all those years ago.

Everyone is rightfully confused about why a random god had come to attack them and why Drista had been pretending to be Tommy. She explained that Tommy was busy doing something extremely important and that he was learning about his past. Tubbo assumed it was therapy with Puffy again but Drista had to clarify his history before Puffy, before L’manburg, and before the Minecrafts. Which is when Mumza steps in to explain. Which is how we get the second part of Tommy’s origins. Drista had been the sole caretaker of Tommy during XD's exile for nearly a year in order to protect him from the Blood God and Lady Prime but HD had come at her head on. Threatening to expose Tommy's location to the other two gods if she didn't give him her share of the power she still held. She refused of course and evaded him as she had been doing with the others. But she knew it wouldn't last long because HD didn't follow the divine code anymore. So in a desperate attempt, she turned Tommy over to the only one of the top three gods she knew who wouldn't bring harm to him, which was Mumza. Which is why she placed Tommy into Philza’s care without telling him of his origins, it was for his safety. Drista, on the other hand, didn't get away so free. HD was frustrated with Drista betraying him and took a portion of her power by force. Which had diminishing her to only being a lower rank god alongside Callahan. Which is why she resided among mortals to get their support directly. Drista apologizes to Kristen for accidentally bringing her family to harm, though she doesn’t regret messing with them because that’s her nature as the goddess of chaos. Kristen is very forgiving to Drista and actually returns some of her powers back to her to show for this forgiveness. Bring a close to this arc for Drista and Tommy’s origins before getting to the very last arc.

Which is the part that would be left with an open ending. The story would have switched back to Tommy’s point of view as he is waking up from the dream realm after two days, being covered in sunflower roots, flower petals, and vines. They slowly peel away from his body as they had been protecting him in his sleep (I headcanon that something similar happens with George in his sleep but with mushrooms). XD is there to greet him in the real world as he is now very protective of his son. Acting more like an “aggressively doting version of Drista” Tommy would claim but he doesn’t mind. The only thing he has on his mind is finding the last person he needed to speak to about this entire ordeal, which is George. As much as he didn’t want to because he had a feeling that the mushroom man was most likely searching for Dream or in his own part of the dream realm. He would just have to go ask around to find him and heads off to Kinoko Kingdom to start with Sapnap and Tina. But his search really doesn’t last long as he finds Sapnap following and scolding an annoyed looking George. The argument comes to a pause when Tommy approaches them and asks what they are arguing about. The pair glare at each other and George is about to walk away before Sapnap grabs his arm. Saying that “he deserves an explanation from you and you don’t get to escape this”. George pulls away from him and says “we agreed to never explain anything the first day they arrived,” which Sapnap hits back with a “there is no we anymore, George, so it doesn’t matter anymore”. Referring to the group that first founded the Smp.

Tommy buts in by asking what he means by that. Which is when the third biggest secret is revealed. Dream, Sapnap, George, and Karl had known who Tommy was when Wilbur and the other founders of L’manburg first arrived in their hotdog van. But they had sworn themselves to secrecy because of the immediate fallout between the two groups. Which shocked Tommy at first before asking them why. Even if it weren't for the fallout, he was still George’s son and he had to have felt remorseful in some way during those early days. To which George begrudgingly agreed. He had felt remorseful in not being able to be with him and raise him. Even feeling angry with Dream that he made George keep shut about his own kid. But as the years went on, that feeling began to fade and turn into annoyance and hatred. He no longer saw Tommy as his own but as his opponent. An enemy who made feel things he didn’t want to. The final strike at that feeling before George went completely numb to his feelings about Tommy was when he was exiled. He stopped caring about anything related to Tommy, even when XD returned. XD had appeared to George just after Tommy’s exile and didn’t want him to focus on how he had wronged their son for years. Holding onto XD’s fixation on him for as long as he could so he wouldn’t go off looking or caring for Tommy. George won’t admit it but he had become greedy of XD’s attention and care that he started manipulating their relationship to fit his twisted desires. It was no longer love but a lust for power. Which is what Tommy quickly realized after George tried to rationalize why he did what he did. That nothing was his fault (which was true to an extent) and that he was only doing it to avoid any future conflict while also creating conflict. Tommy didn’t know what to say but looked down at XD (who had been in his cardigan chest pocket the entire time) before asking “do you think there is anything we could do?”. Meaning if there was anything they could do to possibly have a better relationship now that all the skeletons are out of the closet. George glares at him before scoffing, “I don’t want anything to do with you, you’re not important to me,” as he walks away. As much as it hurt, Tommy expected that from him. Sapnap pats Tommy’s shoulder to comfort him, for that he appreciates. He has a heavy heart but he isn’t clouded with lies and illusions. He just had to move on now, just like he always did. Keeping his head up and looking for the positives in his life. Most likely going to search for Drista or Tubbo to explain everything he just found out about and to fool around. To take the edge off and ease into whatever chaos this new chapter of his life holds.
And that’s how “Chaos Amoungst the Shrooms” would end. :D

Silly fic prompts becoming moody soap opera like drama is weirdly my brand in a way but that just me being equally silly. I’ll probably post a small song inspiration chapter because a good portion of this fanfic was inspired by music and I made a whole playlist for this au. I don’t know if you who have stuck around would care to have that or not but I’ll just work on the song inspo chapter if you don’t care for a playlist.

Chapter Text

Before we get into the songs, I just want to say the vibes I was looking to portray Chaos Amoungst the Shrooms are different types of parents. Like the saying goes, “not all parents deserve children, but all children deserve parents”. XD was supposed to be a parent who wasn’t good but is trying to get better while George was a parent who refuses to become better. Both of them had their struggles throughout their life and changed as people. But XD was trying to be better. Even though Drista was his sister, he was the only positive paternal figure she had beyond Mumza. He had loved her but also neglected her, giving the bare minimum because they were gods. When seeing the consequences of doing so, he is punished but also tries to be a good parent to Tommy even if he wasn’t there for most of his life. He was protective of him when he was an infant & when he was older when they reconnected, kept him safe from being found by the Blood God & Lady Prime, and taught him how to use his demi-god powers (even if that was an off screen moment). George on the other hand was technically always there, at least when the hotdog van arrived at the Smp. While he did swear himself to never tell Tommy the truth, he was active in his life but in the worst way possible. They had their good moments but those good moments could not outweigh the bad. He was always siding with Dream, who soon became Tommy’s abuser. He belittled him and outright rejected any chance of redemption in Tommy’s life. Pushing him away completely even when offered a chance to fix things. He is a selfish person and truly can’t be considered a parent, even if he did technically have him. Blood may be thicker than water but bad blood can’t heal you. If that makes any sense.

Anyways, rant over, time for songs :D

This is not in any particular order. Just something I thought I would put here because a lot of parts of this fic/au were inspired by music.

“Lullaby of a Princess” by Ponyphonic
XD’s point of view of his downfall with Drista. I do think this part of their lives is heavily Celestia & Luna coded if that makes sense.

“Shiny” cover by Jonathan Young
HD’s attack on the Minecrafts and Drista, with part relating to Maui being connected with Drista.

“Strange Sight Reprise” by KT Tunstall
Basically the end of chapter 9 with Drista coming to take Tommy from the Dream Team.

“Never Love an Anchor” by The Crane Wives
How I’d imagine the Dream Team watching Tommy being raised by the Minecrafts and growing up during L’manburg. Living with the secret that they swore never to talk about.

“Little Soldiers” by The Crane Wives
A big part of XD’s downfall and small amount of growth. The “I swear that I loved you” is about Drista. The “I swear that you loved me” is about George. The “I’ll swear that I loved you” is about Tommy.

“This Comes From Inside” by The Living Tombstone
HD’s manipulative voice getting at Drista. She is recovering from her shattering and watching her brother take the fall for her mistakes. The part just after “You’re losing it all” is HD hunting down Drista while she has baby Tommy.

“Creature” by half alive
Tommy spending time with XD in the dream realm and learning his demi-god powers. Which I keep pretty vague. I do imagine these powers include manipulating the growth of plants, traveling through sources of natural light (almost like Peter Pan’s shadow but in reverse), having connection to mushroom hiveminds, and deep connections with animals.

“Blame” by Air Traffic Controller
Drista’s life after her shattering and having to take on some of XD’s work after he was exiled. The low part of the song (the second “ ‘cause you tried as hard as hell” ) being about having her powers stolen by HD before her high being able to live among mortals and around the Smp. I only added this because I said Drista was the goddess of chaos AND luck.

“Almost (Sweet Music)” by Hoizer
Pretty much a montage of Tommy’s first almost year of life. All his first with the Dream Team and XD but mostly from XD’s point of view as he dotes on his son and lover.

This is all I got so far
:)