Chapter Text
Dawn spread over Business Bay the morning after Tommy's rekindling party. Tommy, having just woken up, started to think over the Antarctic Empire problem. Pete really could not be left alone, not after the true scare, that was the position they found him in upon arriving back on SMPEarth. The list of players that were associated with the Empire was small and only 2 of them were ones that Tommy knew how to contact.
'That was going to be a conversation best had in person, though,' Thought Tommy as he readied to go down to either get or start preparing breakfast
........................................................................................30 Minutes Later.................................................................................................
The rest of the boys and Pete wandered down just as Tommy was placing breakfast on the table.
"Good Morning," Tommy said. "Good Morning," everyone else said back as they sat down to eat.
"So, I think I need to go have a serious talk with Phil and Techno about the Empire's future, and your health situation, Pete." Tommy stated as soon as everyone was nearly done eating.
"It's not right that you work yourself to death, especially if they and Calvin don't want to help or return one day."
"I can't fault you on making that decision, Tommy," Pete agreed. "I haven't spoken to any of them since they left, and if they don't want to pop in every so often to help. I am gonna have to consider trading away the Empire, as I must admit, I can no longer handle the workload on my own."
"I can't promise that I can convince them to come back, or even pop in to help, but I will do my best to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation," Tommy replied.
"Does that mean you're heading back to the Dream SMP, Tommy?" asked Deo.
"Yes, and unfortunately, the sooner the better, with a matter like this at hand, uncertainty is more dangerous for Pete's long-term health." Tommy stated.
"Then at least 1 of us is coming with you, Tommy." Luke said as the boys set about cleaning up after breakfast.
"I'd expect nothing less after these last 8 days." Tommy grinned."
"I think it is best if you stay here, Luke." Deo stated, "With Wisp over at the Empire rn, we need someone stationed here at the Bay to respond if he needs something and to make sure things here are running smoothly."
"I really want to accompany Tommy," Bitzel says. "I can't stand to be separated by servers so soon after we helped him get back to himself."
"I feel the same way, honestly." Deo agrees.
"Well then, that settles that." Tommy grins. "You both will accompany me back to the Dream SMP, though I do want to pop back in on Pigical on the way and reassure him I am alright."
"I will shoot a Message over to Pigical then before we leave to let him know we are stopping by." Stated Deo as he moved to head to his room to grab his communicator.
"I think we should leave in an hour," Tommy shouted after Deo to make sure he heard it before getting outta hearing range.
"Understood," Deo called back.
........................................................................................1 hour Later.................................................................................................
Pigical was waiting at the Hypixel worlds portal when they arrived, having already been briefed by Deo that they couldn't stay, but that Tommy had wanted to reassure him that he was all better.
"Tommy, I am happy you're doing so much better," Pigical said with a grin as he hugged Tommy.
"Glad to be doing better, Big P." Tommy replied as he returned the hug with just as much energy.
"Unfortunately, this is all the time we have to spare rn." Tommy stated as he finally ended the hug.
"I understand, go knock around Techno's head for me, he seems to have gotten too good to even come by Skyblock these days as well." Pigical said, half jokingly. Then, seriously, "Take care of yourself, you hear, I am fully prepared to march through that server just to help if needed."
"Thanks, Big P, I am sure we will be fine." Tommy said as the trio prepared to jump to the Dream SMP.
TimeDeo has joined the game.
Bitzel has joined the game.
TommyInnit has joined the game.
Tommy is nervous as they logged in, unsure of how Techno and Phil were gonna take the news about Pete and his health. "We got this," Deo said. Tommy nodded as he opened the private messaging tab of his communicator and created a chat with just Phil, Techno and himself.
TommyInnit: Hey, could we meet up? Deo, Bit, and I have something of serious importance to discuss with you.
Technoblade: Phil can bring you to my cabin. Meet him in New L'manburg.
TommyInnit: Thanks Techno.
"Looks like we are meeting Phil in New L'manburg before following him to Techno's cabin, good thing you decided to pack our snow gear, Deo, Techno, true to form, settled in a snow biome here as well." Tommy stated as the trio headed towards New L'manburg.
........................................................................................30 min Later.................................................................................................
Tommy grinned as he spotted Phil waiting for them just outside of town. "Hey Phil, long time no see, eh?." Tommy said as he moved to hug Phil. Phil looked down with tears in his eyes and hugged his son tightly before letting go. "Let's head on out to Techno's base, the fastest way is through the Nether," Phil stated as he started leading the way.
........................................................................................30 min Later.................................................................................................
Techno was waiting in his front yard when the Cabin came into sight. Tommy waved with a grin at Techno as they entered Techno's yard. "Good to see you healthier, Runt," Techno stated. "Oi, I am not a Runt..." Tommy started before Deo nudged his arm and stated, "May we go sit down somewhere? This is a conversation you're gonna want to be sitting down for."
Techno and Phil exchanged worried glances as they led the trio inside and sat down using furniture from both Techno's kitchen and living room.
"Now, what is this all about?" Phil asked, slightly dreading the answer, was Tommy hurt in more ways than his flame, as many potential things floated in his thoughts. Deo stated, "3 days ago, we arrived as SMPEarth to Wisp heading toward the Bay plane hangers, he told us... That he had lost contact with Pete an hour before we arrived. So all 5 of us headed to Pete's last known location and found him having a serious cardiac medical episode. The doctors at our hospital stated that if we hadn't gotten there when we did, Pete would be dead." Deo finished and gave Phil and Techno a moment to process the news. Techno looked horrified, and Phil was on the edge of sobbing. Techno then asked, "What was the cause of the episode?" Deo then said, "The Doctors said that the episode was caused by him being overworked and stressed out from running the Empire all by himself, currently he is staying in the Bay as the doctors want him there for observation before releasing him to return to the Empire, Wisp is running things in his place but Pete isn't doing all that well mentally either."
Phil was softly sobbing at this point, and Techno was racking his brain to try to figure out a solution to this problem, chat was of no help. Tommy then chimed in laying the situation out plainly, "I can tell you are trying to think of a solution to this, when it should be simple, you either need to trade the empire to another faction, or start stopping by regularly to help out, and see if Calvin can join in on that, Pete isn't gonna be able to run the empire by himself too much longer before it straight up kills him." Techno looked at Tommy and said, "You're right, we can't just lay this all on Pete as if we didn't help create this problem in the first place."
For the first time in years, Tommy could say he truly saw the Brother he used to have, not the stranger that showed up to Pogtopia. He walked over to Techno and hugged him, "I am sure you will come to a good solution, though I do think you should talk to Pete yourselves before settling on a decision." "When did you get so insightful, Tommy? "Techno stated as he looked at Tommy after the hug. "I just looked back at how things have happened over the years, the experiences and problems, and eventually we either have to grow from or be consumed by them."
Tommy then looked at Deo and Bitzel, and said, "We should probably go find a place to stay for the night, it's a little late to head back to spawn to get outta here today." "Stay?" Techno asked. "Sure," Tommy smiled. Techno nodded and pulled Phil into the kitchen to start making dinner. After dinner, Techno took Tommy and Phil to his den in his room for the night and set the boys up downstairs by the fireplace. "Goodnight," whispered Tommy. "Goodnight," whispered Phil and Techno.