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Despite waiting for months for this day to come, Tommy’s worries and nerves only grew as the days came closer. It would’ve been easier if they hadn’t agreed to do it separately but nevertheless, mindless worry wouldn’t do him any good.
Their visit had been chosen to take place during an early August morning, choosing to spread out across the land so as to not raise the worries of the possibility that the three minor gods had been possibly working together again, let alone an Angel of one of the major gods being in the mix of their affairs as well. They agreed for it to be a short visit. A visit to test the waters and see how much they could get away with while being under this province's rule. No one had truly known the ties the four shared between them, aside from that they had some connection to the Sky Gods that lived above.
No one outside of themselves had realized just how intertwined they were, and if all things went well, it’d continue to stay that way.
After months of waiting for the day to come, Tommy’s time was finally here.
Waking up to the sound of a buzzing com, he was met with the confirmation. Techno and Wilbur had been on track to start leaving now, Phil had already been gone for a few days in order to catch up with her before everyone else had shown up, and now it was his time to join them. Somehow, like always, Tommy was set to go last. They all agreed to be finished by 5 am at the latest, which gave Tommy about 45 minutes to go through with it.
Taking as much time as he could, Tommy slipped into his nicest casual clothes that he had lying around his base. He took the added time to fix up the damaged braids that had been left unkempt for weeks, and sorted through his chests full of miscellaneous items to find what he needed before heading out. The chests holding broken weapons, loose trinkets, and enchanting books that he had no use for held nothing of value to him, or to his search for his last needed items . He had finally struck gold and found his things laying deep within the depths of his enderchest.
Carefully he removed the three boxes he hadn’t touched since before he had arrived in the SMP. All of the meticulously crafted boxes were similar in design, soft hues of blue laced with traces of gold wrapped around each corner. As Tommy opened up the smallest of the three, he bore witness to the polished gold and emerald earrings that looked as perfect as the day when he first received them as a child. After stabbing his ears multiple times over, he’d finally worked the dangling emeralds into his ears-- earring holes grown over after years of disuse. The final box was one to be avoided, he never was one for embracing his technically royal status, so the crown inside remained in its casing.
He took one final look in the mirror, deeming his appearance to be suitable. He grabbed the black and gold box that lay beside his nightside table and slipped it into the bag filled with the rest of the items he’d need in order to complete the ritual, and began to head out of his shack.
Slipping into the background of the early morning sun, Tommy made his way to the edge of Snowchester. He moved to try and avoid as many people as he could, so as to not raise suspicions to his momentary disappearance from Eret’s kingdom.
The snow began to fall, and every step brough Tommy closer to the border. He neared closer, and his steps became heavier, his breath shakier. The cold air filling his lungs and the ice below his feet didn’t help his worried state either. Nevertheless he persisted onward, trying to find the best place to take his rest.
As the minutes ticked closer and closer to the deadline, Tommy took his rest within the deep forest, out of sight of the rest of the small commune.
He embraced the chilled air surrounding him and began clearing out a small circle, so that when he fell he wouldn’t be buried in snow. The rattles and coos of his father's crows echoed throughout the forest, filling the silence around him. It was nice to know even though his father wasn’t with him for his death, an extension of him was, and would keep his nerves calm.
It had taken a while to ensure that everything was perfect; He’d laid out five candles, arranged in the order in which the gods had been presented their titles. He then laid a small mat in the middle and quickly took his place in the center. Unlike his brothers, he’d probably taken the most time to properly prepare for his visit. With the twins, the process would’ve taken far less time on the account that they’d have each other to help make sure everything was prepared correctly, while Tommy had to go off of assumptions at best. Phil had been a different story already, never once had him or his brothers ever seen him perform the ritual unless he was assisting them when they were much younger.
“Dearest mother of the sky.” It had been awhile since he’d done the chant of the passage and even though it wasn’t quite necessary, it wouldn’t hurt to perform it in order to make sure everything went right, “I, Theseus, God of the Sun and Harbinger to the twin gods of Chaos bring out this dagger, laced with the golden dust of your magic and the emerald that bonds our family together. With this vow and this blade, I give up myself to you in order to join you in the realm of our homeworld.”
As he finished off the rest of the chant, the final part of the process had begun. He unclasped the larger box and was met with the glow of the netherite blade that was laced with the glow of the golden dust, the end of it holding an emerald encased in glass. The longer he held the dagger in his hand the more it seemed like it was starting to stare back at him. Looking at himself in the reflection one last time, he knew he couldn’t stall for any longer. The hardest part had always been following through and putting the blade to his skin. The action itself is what made him hold back for as long as he did.
It had been seemingly forever since he’d had to do it out of his own volition, and even then, one of the last times he had done it was alongside his brothers. He had allowed them to be the ones to deal the fatal blow out of fear that he’d mess it up and instead of making his death quick and nearly painless, do the exact opposite and leave his body with wounds that wouldn’t properly heal over.
Though, he had been the one to suggest they went by means of doing it themselves this time, despite his reluctance to follow through. Tommy would much rather prefer not having to seem weak in front of his brothers. He wanted to prove he was strong enough to do it.
With a deep breath and a tremble he let the blade ram through his stomach. As he ripped the blade out, he let the adrenaline rush through his body as pain disbursed through. He watched as the blood soaked his shirt, and allowed himself to fall to his knees. His panic quickly lessened as his vision became hazier, and as he felt his consciousness begin to drift away. He took peace knowing he’d wake up soon enough.
Taking one last look at the falling snow, Tommy fell into the world of the undead for yet another time.
-
With a gentle shake and a calming whisper, Tommy came faster than he had expected.
“Toms, Tommy.” The voice had been familiar but in his state of rest it was difficult to make out who exactly it was supposed to be. “Come on Sol, we're running late. You need to wake up or Techno’s gonna carry you.”
“Like hell I will.” So that’s who the voices belonged to.
As Wilbur helped him get his bearings, he was met with the sight of Techno standing not too far in front of the pair. In the realm of limbo, everything now looked so much brighter than the last time he and Wilbur had stayed. Dark skies and grey, ankle deep waters had been replaced with never ending flower fields and skies mixed with hues of pinks, oranges, and purples. It had a near instant calming effect, any worry he’d have previously about crossing over had disappeared.
Even though nothing physically had changed from entering in, things had become much more prominent than before.
Dulled irises had been returned to their natural states, the white streaks of hair shared between the three; while Wilbur and Tommy’s had always been on display, Technos streaks shined brighter in this plane of existence. Even the most brutal of scars looked to be nothing more than small cuts.
Everything had been returned to a state of somewhat normalcy here, something none of them had seen in years.
“Well, should we get going?” Wilbur questioned as they sorted themselves out. With a nod from the other two, they made their way down the laid out path in front of them.
Though the difference in the passage of time greatly differed between the land of the living and the one of the dead. It still felt like an eternity to reach the midway meeting point. The path they had followed since the beginning hadn’t changed in the slightest, but the fields at least differed. They were met with flowers of all kinds, along with a mix of wheat and flax fields. Of course, this wasn’t all that lingered within the path. While on one side they were met with never ending flower fields, the other held lands they were never meant to visit. This land had been known as the land of the wandering souls. Their tales had been ones of mere legend when they were children, known only as people who had strayed from death's paths and found themselves forever lost. He’d never personally seen it before, but seeing it now had piqued his interest in what the afterlife held. It had been a bedtime story whispered faintly to them in hazed memories by their mother during times where the barrier between worlds had opened up just enough that they could visit without having to cross over to different worlds. That sort of thing had only happened a few times, but the memory of her stories in the night were one of the only ones he had remembered himself, without his father having to tell him about her.
“You’d think with the whole ‘both of them being divine beings’ thing that they could use some of that power to- Hm, maybe... I don’t know? Maybe not make us walk for hours on end to the Axis?” Tommy groaned, pulling the silent duo beside him back to focus.
Pulling him out of his complaints, Wilbur began to speak , “They didn’t even make us do this when we were younger, we were just brought right to them.”. Techno rolled his eyes at his brothers.
“They probably did this since you two haven’t visited her in years, and Dad thought it’d be hilarious to listen to you two complain when we got there.”
“You say that like you’re the perfect example of visitation.. Me and Tommy spent months in the castle before we were revived. Not that I remember much of it... ” He whispered towards the end. “You haven’t visited her since we were, like, 10! So you’re clearly not one to be talking about our ‘busy’ schedule.”
The oddest thing about the fact that they had visited before was the lack of memory of the visit shared between both him and Wilbur. He knew the basic details of what went down: He died, spent a day in limbo by himself before being yanked back into the home realm, and then suddenly as soon as his time there had started, he was woken back to seeing the man who had killed him. In Wilburs case, he’d also experienced a similar sort of phenomenon, he'd been dead for far longer than he had and yet he couldn’t seem to remember a single thing either.
“I’ll have you know I was busy during that time, so it was a little hard. Plus I had planned to after we had gotten rid of Schlatt, but we all know how that turned out.” Techno replied, his temper was clearly dwindling the more they argued. The closer the two of them got, the closer to ripping out the others throats it seemed.
The bickering that carried on left Tommy with no other choice but to butt in. “Do you two ever shut up? Seriously, what does it matter? We’ll be here any minute, and I don’t think she’d appreciate seeing you two bickering when we arrive.”
“He’s right for once, you know,” A voice interrupted. “You should be glad I'm used to this by now, because if she hears this she’ll have all our heads,” The voice in front of them laughed.
With the slight turn of the head the boys were met with their father standing right before them. He looked the most different out of all of them. He exchanged his normal attire for ones that reminded them all of childhood, dressed in long black robes and fit with a crown that had looked reminiscent of the one Techno couldn’t be seen anywhere without. Asides from that, he easily looked more relaxed and at ease than any of them had seen him in the last few years. Usually this had been the effect after getting to see her again, but no doubt he’d be even more happy that they were all there for the first time in years.
“How long have you been waiting for us?” Techno asked, pulling back slightly from grabbing Wilbur.
“Not as long as I was expecting to be.” Phil admitted. “It seems you three found your way home faster than we both had expected.”
As the three of them came to focus, they soon realized the endless path they had just been on was replaced before their very eyes. Brightened white light began to illuminate their surroundings, the flowers and field amongst the path had been replaced with looming Ivory trees and seemingly never-ending streams of pond water. They were already standing in the midst of the castle grounds without even realizing it.
With a slight clearing of his throat, Phil began to speak. “If you're all done staring at the scenery, I think it’s time we go see her.”
Walking through empty halls, a wavering sense of comfort had begun to wash over all of them. It was a feeling that had been absent for quite some time, and none of the three had truly known how much they all missed it.
Portraits of events they all had forgotten had lined the high walls, birthdays, holidays, and family portraits covered the walls all the way to the ceiling. Hundreds of paintings taken in moments that seemed full of life, left hollow with emotion since all meaning and memories behind them had been forgotten. Pictures of the family in regal clothing throughout the years soon dissipated as the years went on. Candles melting down on birthday cakes counting up through the years suddenly stopped without another word. They were all used to faded memories, that happens when war and grief consumed all of their lives for far too long.
As the four descended further down the halls, they were finally brought to their destination. With a look to the door and a shared nod between the brothers, Phil pushed open the door and led them to the open garden that shined brightly under the light of the stars. As they came face to face with their mother for the first time in years, she met the boys with a smile.
“Prometheus, Orpheus, Theseus.”' She paused as she acknowledged all three boys as they all came close, with a loving smile, and outreached hands she pulled all three of them into her arms for a long overdue hug. “It’s lovely to see you boys again.” And within mere seconds, it’s like the years of separation had only been minutes and the feeling of love and security had run deep within his veins.
As soon as they disbanded from the embrace she quickly led them into their seats, after settling in they had all fallen into conversation like nothing had ever changed, like they hadn’t been separated for far too long.
-
After a while of chatting they had quickly split up, time had proven to move quicker in the castle of the undead than in the Overworld, so if they spent even hours within the castle. Days would’ve gone by back home. Wilbur, Techno and Phil had all gone off to collect trinkets from the castle in order to bring them home and Tommy and Kristen had made their way down the photo halls in silence. He knew his time would yet again be cut too short. So they took up just basking in each other's presences opposed to running out of conversations they both wanted to have. Despite not thinking he truly wanted answers about the painting surrounding them, Kristen began to answer the question that had been plaguing his thoughts.
“When crossing betweens the plains of the living and the dead, oftentimes your memories of the time spent together disappeared as soon as they were made. For me and your father, they remain a constant, but despite your godhood, you three grew up in the Overworld, thus making you much more mortal. In order to preserve your mind from constant stress from living and dying, you lose the memories of dying and your revival. Unfortunately that includes the ones you make during your time spent here.” She explained.
“How’d you know-” Tommy began to question before being cut off.
“Mothers intuition, dear. Plus, your father had let me know that all three of you were curious about the paintings in the halls. Thought you might like some insight,” she shrugged as he stepped closer, laying a hand on the large family portrait that looked like it had been taken nearly just before the family had split apart for the first and last time. It’s the happiest they had all looked in years, and despite that fact, the answer wasn’t satisfying.
They stood looking at the portraits in silence yet again, Tommy’s mind raising trying to remember any of the times these memories had taken place.
“Is there any way to remember? Can’t you, y’know, cast a spell to bring them back? I mean, you are a god,” he asked quietly as he took a look back.
“That kind of power is out of my jurisdiction dear. Lady V is only doing this for you and your brother's safety.” She tried to bargain with him but it wasn’t enough.
“Who cares about our safety!” Tommy shouted,“I just want to remember something, anything other than pain and suffering. I just want some semblance of what normalcy within our family could be, don’t you want that for us too? Wouldn’t you rather us remember you all the time rather than having to relearn our whole lives from dad everytime we go home. Don’t you want to be remembered?”
“Theseus, let me tell a tale that’s never been shared before. One that will hopefully clear up all the questions you have about why this just can’t happen. Shall we?” She asked as she pointed to the chairs facing each other across the room. Nodding his head he took a seat, and as he adjusted, she began to speak.
“Like many gods confined to their home realms, the goddesses of the End and Void were lonely. Despite having each other, they yearned for another to care for. After years of praying to Lord ExDe , their wish was granted with the arrival of their son. Now the years went by normal he grew up and life for the three of them was great. The difference between you three and him, is that you would have all been given the choice when you turned 14 to start leaving the home realm and travelling to the realm below and explore what it had to offer. He was the only one who actually was able to take this opportunity to go try life out in the mortal realm. Like many of the differences between you boys and him, the issues with memory retention soon became prevalent when he started his travels. With you boys, Lady V made sure you lost your memories of this period of time spent in the void and before death and revival, but she never did that with her son. The goddess was under the belief that because the boy was made of the magic of both the goddesses combined, he’d be able to keep his memories. It became clear though the more and more he travelled back and forth, the more he forgot. In a panicked attempt to restore his memories and bring back what was lost, the boy had lost all his memories and became stranded in the Southern Moon Province with no memory and no way to return back home. If we tried to do this to you boys you’d end up just like him, and I’d rather you and your brothers forget the time we spent together here than forget me forever. Do you understand it now?” She asked, finally finishing her story.
Tommy nodded as she reached out and brought him into her embrace yet again. While getting lost within the hug, Tommy began to think. It made sense she only wanted to protect them and he was glad for that. Though he couldn’t help but be heavily reminded of Ranboo. Too many things had lined up with the Ender hybrid back home for it not to be him, but he had a feeling it’d be better to not admit he knew this info. He could only hope that he somehow remembered when he was sent home.
With a call from the now opened door, Wilbur let the pair know that he and Techno had finished collecting what they had wanted from around the castle and that they were ready to be sent home. With a look down to the boy below her, the pair let go of their embrace and began to walk towards the exit to join his brothers in the room with the glass roof.
Entering in alongside Kristen, he was greeted to the sight of Techno already in position and Wilbur settling himself into it as well. Surrounding the middle of the room was a pillar that held up the roof, divided by glass panes and portraits of their interpreted godly forms, and around that pillar was 3 mats, Techno and Wilbur had taken up kneeling on two of the mats and Tommy was left to take the final one.
The process in being revived by the Goddess of Death was quite different compared to the Book the world held. With the book, you were forcibly ripped apart to nothing but molecules while in the limbo state. Then, slowly and painfully rebuilt in the overworld.. While being revived by the Goddess herself, there was a similar process of chants, but included the dagger used previously to be put through their spines opposed to their backs. Though this time around the process was painless because of their powers being heightened and pain only being limited to their forms down in the overworld.
As goodbyes and promises to visit again soon were exchanged, the ritual of departure had begun.
Tommy had taken the choice to go first, the spell was soon cast over his body as he began to fall to rest, just before he had laid his eyes closed, the knife was slid into his back and the deed had been done. The whole experience had been quite painless but it was still odd to see his body dissolving into golden dust right before his eyes. With the lingering words of goodbyes and ‘I love you’’s, he began to fade back to the Overworld. He sat back to watch as Techno had soon begun to fade as well. The only person left to partake in the sealing steps was Wilbur.
With a sharp gasp and a forgetfulness pertaining to what happened to himself during the few hours in his sleep, he woke up to find himself in the upstairs room of their fathers cabin. He rolled over to find a note laid beside him.
“Meet us downstairs when you wake up, we might have found a way to remember.”