Arcanus ❂ A Dream SMP Story

[22]

☆TW: slight mention of suicidal intentions and thoughts. stay safe :]

Tommy stumbled towards the small cabin, stacks of enderpearls piled in his arms. His cheeks and nose were bright red, his breath showing up in the air as a faint fog. He really hoped that this would be enough enderpearls, it had taken an extremely long time to gather this for Tenebris, who was back at the cabin, kicking back their feet and relaxing. Right as he was about to knock on the wooden door, it opened.

"Hello," Tenebris greeted him with a smile, "Come in, I'm sure it's cold out there." Tommy shivered, nodding his head and stepping into the warmth of the cabin. Tenebris carefully grabbed one of the glimmering green enderpearls out of Tommy's arms and studied the orb. He carelessly set down the stacks of enderpearls in the corner of the room, the pearls bouncing about around the room.

"Careful!" Tenebris scolding Tommy, lightly smacking his arm and frantically rushing around the room to pick up the pearls. Tommy shrugged in a half-apology, rubbing his sore arms.

"So is that enough?"

Techno leaned on the doorway, amused at the view in front of him. Tenebris paused, dozens of pearls piled into their arms. Tommy offered a nervous smile and tried to inch out of the room. It had taken a lot of persuasion on Tenebris's part to convince Techno to let Tommy reside in the cabin temporarily. Techno still hadn't fully agreed but with Tenebris here, he couldn't kick Tommy out without getting Tenebris mad. Techno didn't like angry Tenebris, they were scary.

"Should be," Tenebris placed another enderpearl under their chin, "We'll be leaving tonight and traveling by horse until we reach the next town then use the enderpearls overnight so we can arrive in the early morning."

"Woah, woah! I didn't agree to this!" Tommy glared at Tenebris, not happy that he would have to pull an all-nighter without any preparations. Techno snorted softly and chuckled on his way out of the room.

"Agree or disagree, get your stuff ready within 2 hours or I'm leaving without you." Tenebris carefully set down the enderpearls into a neat pile.

"Yeah well, you can just leave without me!" Tommy stuck out his tongue at Tenebris, blowing a raspberry.

"Mhm, yeah sure. So you can be holed up with the pig man? Who is itching to kick your ass out of his house, might I add? Dream is still looking for you, ya' know. If I were you, I'd wanna get outta here as soon as possible." Tenebris gave him a slight side-eye, pulling down the sleeves of her black turtleneck.

Tommy sighed in defeat and sagged his shoulders, "I'll be ready in an hour."

~~~

"The hell are you doing? Whatchu' got that huge bag for?" Tenebris looked over their shoulder at Tommy who was dragging a large sack of supplies behind him.

"You said pack my stuff! What's wrong?"

"The horses can't carry that and I'm not carrying it. Did you forget we're using pearls?" Tenebris tied up their small pack, placing it into the chest attached to Eggo's saddle. Tommy's mouth formed a small 'o' in realization and started to sort through his stuff, throwing unnecessary items to the side. Tenebris slung their bow and arrow over their torso, making sure there were arrows in their quiver. They didn't have much stuff, just a few potions and enough food to last 2 days. Tommy had quickly sorted out his stuff, his bag now just a bit larger than Tenebris's. They walked into the other stall next to Tommy's horse, and dragged out the sack of enderpearls. The majority of pearls had been placed into Tenebris's inventory while Tommy held the weapons and necessities in his inventory.

Tommy stared at Tenebris while they put the saddle onto his horse. He still didn't forgive them for what they did but he had a deal with them at the moment. It was more of an unspoken rule but while Tommy assisted Tenebris, they would protect Tommy in return. He never talked about, in fear that he would anger Tenebris. The most notable action Tenebris had done to protect him was picking a fight with Dream so he could flee the forest and head back to the cabin. Tommy remembered their expression when they came back, it was terrifying. It reminded him of when they had returned from the Red Festival, bloodied and broken. While Tommy had been accompanying Techno on a small trip, they had a short conversation about Tenebris. Tommy was curious about their past but Techno refused to reveal anything, saying that he would find out for himself.