Things I Remember -SBI Family Dynamic-

History Lesson

Four months time had passed and the world was beginning to warm again. The snow had melted and the trees began growing lush green leaves again. Flowers of all varieties bloomed from the ground and birds sang sweet songs amongst the now bright blue skies.

Tubbo had fit right into their family becoming one of his own in no time. Phil had built another bed in Tommy's room for him to sleep on per his request.

Spring was Phil's favorite season because his crops always flourished. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold, setting the perfect temperature. Since the winter he'd planted carrots, potatoes, beats, and a large sum of wheat for baking and animal feed.

Wilbur sat at the table most of the time and worked on his schoolings and decoding his few books he'd gotten whilst in town. Meanwhile, Techno helped his father in the garden and spent what little time he had reading through the history book he'd found. Tommy and Tubbo would claim they'd help garden some days but most of the time they ended up getting in the way.

"Tommy you can't just eat the carrot after you pick them out of the ground." Techno said kneeling in the dirt next to his brother. Dirt was smeared on his face. "We have to wash them first."

"But why?" He said putting another carrot to his mouth. "Dirt is good for you, ya'know."

"No-" Techno sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay sure well why don't you take you're carrots and move over there." He pointed over to the wagon leaned against the house.

Tommy thought about it for a moment. "I like it right here though."

Techno's eyes narrowed as he plucked out a few more carrots. "If you don't move, I'll carry you there myself."

"Ooo! Could you carry me too?" Tubbo said running over and taking a seat next to Tommy.

Techno growled under his breath. "I hate kids." He mumbled continuing his work.

"How could you hate kids when you are one?" Tommy said.

Tubbo nodded and scratched his head. "Yeah, wouldn't that mean you hate yourself?"

Tommy laughed and pointed a carrot at him making his anger ignite from a small flame into a roaring fury. "No!" Techno shouted. "I don't hate myself. But what I do hate is when you get in my way and proceed to do nothing but annoy me. You're useless Tommy."

"Boys!" Their father shouted. "What's the problem here? All you had to do was harvest the carrots." Making his way over he sees the dirt covering Tommy and his clothes.

"Can you please tell them to go away. They aren't helping me at all." Techno asked as politely as he could in the moment.

Phil looked over to a nearby barrel full of water. It was later going to be used to soak the carrots and potatoes to get some of the dirt off. "I have another job for you two. See all these carrots here." He pointed to the several baskets Techno had filled. "All of these need to be washed in the barrel of water. Maybe you can wash yourselves too."

Tubbo and Tommy smiled while getting up and dashing over to the barrel. Techno stood and picked up the baskets to bring to them. Soon after he returned to his father side.

The boys splashed in the water whilst throwing carrots around making Phil chuckled to himself. "Problem solved." He mumbled.

Techno rolled his eyes with a smile. "Guess what I found out about in my history book this morning." He bent down on one knee and kept plucking more carrots. Phil raised a brown and hummed a reply. "Supposedly, the main produce of moms tribe was potatoes rather than carrots like the others. It was their main source of trade profits so they planted more of it each solstice."

Phil let out a sad laugh. "She used to tell me all about how their trade rates were significantly higher than the other sectors. I guess I know why now." He turned to head towards the barn.

"What happened to her?" Techno said with caution, making sure not to make eye contact. "I-I don't mean to upset you, but you never talk about her anymore."

Phil's head turned to the side. He took a deep breath and spoke softly. "She was taken, away."

Techno paused his labor. "Why?"

Phil sighed as he turned to face his son. His only remnant of his dear wife. "It's a long story."

Techno sat on the ground crisscrossed awaiting his explanation. "I've got all day."

A slight smile swiped across his fathers face as he went to grab a small box to sit on. With a sigh he began. "Five years ago, a year before Tommy was born, a war broke out between the villages and the capital. They claimed that what was left of the piglin society was too dangerous to be kept mixed amongst the people. They classify their species as hostile creatures and soon after made it a law that all piglins were to be sent into the nether regions like the rest. They threatened to seal all the portals if they didn't oblige."

"But that doesn't make any sense. You can't just randomly say that a certain group can't live here anymore." Techno protested.

"Yes exactly, but the capital has the authority and power to do and say whatever they wish. They passed a law stating that any citizens of piglin descent were to either be sent away for relocation or sent to the capital for labor distribution. The labor distribution camps were designed to look like the better option but they weren't. They claimed they would provide incomes to those who chose to work but after weeks of not hearing from some of the people we knew who were sent there, we knew it was a lie."

"So what did mom do? Is she in the nether?" Techno asked.

Phil's face looked sullen and hopeless. "I don't know." He mumbled staring into his son's confused eyes. "Your mother and I refused to allow a law to separate our family. I was willing to do whatever it took to protect her, and you. I wasn't just going to let them take you both away from me." He sighed. "We moved out of town in hopes no one would venture out here. For a while, it worked. A year had gone by and no one came. So we planned to just live in hiding forever or until the law was revoked. Tommy was born at the start of summer and another month went by peacefully. Then-" Phil looked away. "One night after we'd put you all to bed, I'd gone out to feed the chickens. It was a lovely quiet night and when I left, your mother was writing in her journal as usual. A few minutes later I heard the sound of our front door opening. It was loud and intrusive so I stopped and listened for a split second. Which was my first mistake. Soon after, yelling echoed through the walls and I dropped the bag of feed I was carrying and ran back towards the house. On my way I grabbed a pickaxe that I'd left out from a mining trip, willing to stick it between someone's teeth to save your mother. But when I got there it was too late."

"Was she dead?" Techno asked softly.

"No. She was being cuffed in chains. I raised my weapon but she stopped me. She willingly sacrificed herself to distracted from the fact that there could have been more of her kind in the household. I begged her to stay but she said it would be better for me if she went with them. Better for you. They let her take a single bag of things and just as soon as they broke in, they were gone. Kristen was-" He sighed into his hands. Techno placed a hand on his shoulder. "I still hear her voice from that night in my sleep. The last thing she said to me was, 'Keep them safe, for me.' Since then I've had to raise you all on my own. I hoped that one day when you boys are older I could go look for her, but I don't know if I could now. I don't know if I can control myself enough to not do terrible things to those people. That's why I keep teaching you boys that there's always a rational way to handle things. That's how she'd handle things meanwhile I'd result straight to violence. She taught me that violence isn't always the answer."

"I bet you taught her how to be strong and fight for what's right. She's still out there. I feel it." Techno said with hope in his voice. "I'll find her one day and bring her home."

Looking up at his son, his face sharing features of his mother. Phil smiled and pulled him in for a grand hug. "I know you will."