A Faithful Memory

The Future Smiles Upon Us

Oddly enough, not much changed after Dream's decision. The two families continued to live as neighbors and friends, gradually becoming closer with each visit. Wilbur and Tommy were a somewhat notorious pair, causing mischief and pranking everyone around them. Lune, Ranboo and Kai were rarely seen apart, though they often included Technoblade in their group, despite his numerous attempts to withdraw and be alone. Philza and Sam somehow stayed friends while not seeing much of each other. They wrote letters and watched over their respective children and sometimes each others' too.

Years began to slip by like water in a stream. Christmases, birthdays, New Years, and various personal milestones for the children passed with celebrations and gifts. Sometimes they fought too, especially Wilbur and Tommy, though they always made up again in a few hours. As for the others, Kai grew less-self conscious around his friends and began to show off his flying skills. Ranboo was able to let loose every now and then too, his large mouth opened wide as he laughed and purple sparks zipping all around him as he practiced teleporting. He was still getting the hang of it. Lune, meantime, had sewn clothes for everyone in the family, including a new robe for Phil, and was making plans with Kai to set up some sort of cafe down in the village.

Except it wasn't a village anymore. Over time, the small gathering of buildings had grown, slowly advancing outwards bit by bit until by now it was a large town and visible from both the Minecraft's and their friends' houses. Children regularly came up the hill to gather flowers or to see the large houses whose owners they did not know.

One especially noteworthy group of kids, braver than the others, had actually come up and tried making friends. Wilbur and Tommy had been the most responsive, with Techno supervising from a distance. This group, mostly boys, came to be very well known around the Minecraft house. Their leader was Tubbo, a quirky-minded bumblebee of a boy who could crack a joke at anything and had a malicious streak not many people took that seriously.

Next was Quackity, a boy with fluffy yellow wings almost like an avian's, but he insisted he wasn't one. BadboyHalo had a mouthful of a name which hardly anybody used. They just called him Bad. He had skin black as coal, white eyes, two little horns and a long arrowhead-tipped tail. Skeppy was his best friend. He looked as though his skin was made entirely of diamond, but he was still able to move like everybody else. Jack Manifold was an android. Straight up an android. Who denied it and called himself human. Hannah Rose grew flowers, talked flowers, loved flowers. Foolish was a young man, the oldest of the group, who never spoke about his past, but intrigued everyone with his gold skin and jewel-like eyes. Karl was the shyest and always reading or writing in books that he kept in a large bag at his side. And the last one was Nihachu, known to everyone as Niki. She brought bread, pastries and cookies to the gang every time she was able to join them. She'd made them all herself, too.

Tommy and Wilbur loved hanging out with them. The chaotic, friendly, playful nature of the whole group drew the two boys like magnets. Every day they ran out the door when the gang came, waving goodbye to Phil as he looked after them, somewhat amused and a little surprised that they were leaving already. Every day Technoblade hurried out of his room, pulling his coat on and shouting irritably for the two kids to "Wait up!" He didn't want them walking among strangers alone.

Eventually, Phil called Techno back. "Let them play. They'll be fine, mate, they always are."

"Yeah. 'Cause I'm with 'em."

"Do you not like those kids, Techno?" Phil asked that day, looking up at the troubled expression of his eldest.

"Not really. Never will, I suppose." And Techno watched reluctantly as Wilbur and Tommy ran laughing to meet their friends.

Philza nodded and patted his friend's arm. "You have to let Wil and Tommy feel like you trust them to be responsible on their own. They're good kids, Techno. They'll do very well out there."