PHOENIX

Chapter Twenty Nine: Preparations

It was now only five days until the big "Manberg Masquerade Festival", and Eret's castle was in chaos. Despite the fact that this was Schlatt's festival, he was nowhere to be found. Not surprising. Tubbo and Fundy were there, supposedly in charge of decorating, but it seemed like Tubbo had more of an eye for the job. I had been watching from afar the entire time, staying closer to Eret's side. I wasn't sure if I wanted Tubbo or Fundy to see me yet, unsure of how they would react, seeing me living in the SMP territory.

"How are you feeling about hosting the festival at your castle?" I ask Eret, who was sitting with me in a hidden balcony of the castle, snacking on some watermelons.

"Eh. I never really do anything in here, and I think it will be really fun. The only problem I have is that it's Schlatt's festival" Eret's nose scrunched up in disgust.

Believe it or not, I've grown to be friends with Eret again. I really do think he was sorry for what he had done, and I started to see why Niki bonded with him so quickly.

"Agreed, as much as Schaltt may preach it, it's HIS festival, not L'Manberg's. Also if you ever catch me calling it Manberg, I genuinely want you to stab me with your sword" I take another bite of watermelon while Eret laughs at my hatred of the new name.

Our time was cut short when I heard the sound of Tubbo's voice calling out for Eret.

"Do you want to hide?" Eret asked me quickly.

"No...I think I should talk to him now anyways" I sigh, not excited for the conversation.

"Eret-Oh! There you are! I was looking for....you" Tubbo walked into the balcony, and then stopped talking when he saw me.

"Hey" I gave a weak wave.

"Nix! Where have you been?" Tubbo exclaimed, tackling me in a hug.

I smiled and hugged him back, getting a case of homesickness already.

"I actually wanted to talk about that, I've been living here, in the SMP territory" I say cautiously.

Tubbo's smile changes to a frown of confusion.

"I'll wait for you guys inside" Eret patted Tubbo's shoulder, and basically ran inside.

"Wait, living here? But you've always hated the SMP territory" Tubbo's frown deepens.

Letting out a dry laugh, my "hatred" for the SMP seems so silly now that I've been living here for a while.

"True, but people change. I've come to really like it here, but that's not what I want to talk about" I sigh, sitting criss-cross. "I don't know if you know this yet, but Wilbur is planning on blowing up L'Manberg after the festival"

Tubbo blinks a few times, and I wait for some kind of shocked response.

"Oh, I know"

It's me who has the shocked expression, not Tubbo.

"You knew? Who else knows?"

"Well Tommy told me, so only him I reckon"
Tubbo shrugged, not fazed at all by the words coming from my mouth.

"Is Tommy...Is Tommy helping him?" I struggle to get my sentence out, fearing that both of my brothers were lost to me.

"Tommy is trying to persuade Wilbur not to go through with it. Last time I spoke with him, he was really shaken up over Wilbur, apparently Wilbur's gone batshit crazy" Tubbo stated.

I let a sigh of relief leave my body, glad to hear that Tommy wasn't following in Wilbur's footsteps for once. But immediately after the relief, I felt guilt for not being by Tommy's side to help him with Wilbur. It's hard, but I know that it would be better for me to be here, developing fighting skills and planning for Wilbur's destruction, instead of being in that dark, musty cave system.