Smiling

It was a peaceful day. This wasn’t unusual, of course. Most days in this realm were quite peacefully boring, today was no exception at all. The relaxing peace which defined this realm was a pleasant, albeit less exciting, change from another realm not too unlike it at least when regarding inhabitants. That realm was far more chaotic, far more hectic. It was a bleeding and war-torn hell most unforgiving to those unfortunate enough to toil in its most troublesome of affairs, a realm sure to never recover from its wounds. Now we see those same inhabitants who waged wars and committed atrocities but in a much more calm state of living. We see them eating cake. Yes, this world is quite plentiful of quite pleasant peace.

Tubbo fluttered about the sky, his wings rapidly yet very quietly beating. They moved so fast that they appeared, to the eye of anyone at all looking, only as a static blur. With his little yet strong wings, Tubbo moved about the sky as if his own body forgot about gravity and didn’t even care either. With a grin so big that it stretched from one cheek to the other, Tubbo proudly held a large silver platter with a rather large lid. Tubbo firmly gripped the platter with both hands, he held it with such fear that one would think someone had just threatened to knock it right out of his hands. This delicate handling was quite strange from how Tubbo normally flew with the utmost freedom and carelessness.

Tubbo slowly set the platter down on a large, old stump of an even larger and older tree that had been cut down long ago, a length of time no one at all is even sure of for one reason or another. As Tubbo sat down on a smaller stump, his wings slowed down until eventually, they stopped. Tubbo took a great sigh now that his heart had been lifted of such a heavy weight.

Ranboo’s green eyes lit up when he saw the platter now carefully delivered to the safety of the stump. Ranboo slowly reached his long and slender hand out toward the platter, careful not to disturb something nonexistent. Ranboo, with a single finger, touched the platter’s large lid with a sharp fingernail. Suddenly, Ranboo retracted his finger from the lid almost as if it would bite him. Ranboo then, in a low voice began to say: “I-I’m sorry, Tubbo. I didn’t mean to be rude, I mean I should’ve waited, I should’ve asked first. Can I, can I open it?“.

Tubbo’s head perked up as he said: “Of course you can, Ranboo! You don’t have to ask, and you weren’t rude at all!“. Ranboo’s mouth curled into a tiny smile that reflected both gratitude for Tubbo and excitement for what treasure rested atop the platter. With eager fingers, Ranboo grabbed the top of the lid and lifted it up.

“Wow!“, Ranboo said as his eyes gazed upon the cake with a certain shine in them. The sponge resembling that of a soft and fluffy cloud, the icing seeming to fill the air with a strong scent of sweetness, and the strawberries enticing with a vibrant freshness. “It, It’s perfect!“, Ranboo exclaimed.

Tubbo’s mouth widened into a grin even bigger than his last one as he scratched his head, bashful over Ranboo’s praise. “Well, it isn’t gonna eat itself now is it?“. The both of them grabbed a fork and a knife and slowly inched them toward the cake. Before any utensil could reach its destination, Tommy seemed to appear above the cake. Tubbo and Ranboo looked up with confusion at the blonde boy falling down very slowly. “Oh, Hello!“, Tommy said to the both of them. The next thing that Tubbo and Ranboo saw was their cake crushed underneath Tommy. Time seemed to paused as Tubbo and Ranboo both silently took in what had just happened. The both of them looked in horror as they softly said, “Tommy... you-“.

Tommy looked down at the cake crushed underneath him and then looked back up. Tommy chuckled as he said, “Oh! Sorry about that. Guess I should watch where I fall sometimes, huh. Really sorry about the cake!“.

Tubbo and Ranboo stayed silent as they continued to stare at Tommy with fear and shock until Tubbo muttered, “Tommy, what have you done?“. Tommy, nervous of their reactions, looked around a bit until he decided to quietly say, “Well, I bet it still tastes good.“.

Tommy then grabbed a bit of cake that he hadn’t crushed and quickly stuffed it into his mouth. Tommy, with a mouthful of cake, said, “It is still good. You two should really try this.“.

Tubbo looked up and down at the cake and at Tommy. Tubbo waited a moment before he spoke his next words. “Get out”.

What? What was Tubbo talking about? Why was he saying this? My throat felt like it was closing up as I choked out my next words, “What? But, Tubbo, I’m your friend.“. Tubbo’s eyes seemed to stare straight past me as he said, “Tommy, you’re exiled.” I was exiled? No. No. No! I couldn’t be exiled. I couldn’t. Surely Tubbo wouldn’t exile me. Surely my best friend wouldn’t exile me.

“You heard him, you’re exiled, Tommy”, said a voice louder than everything else. No, I’m not! I’m not exiled. I’m not exiled. I’m not. I’m not. I’m not!

Strings seemed to tighten up around my limbs. They were tight. They were so tight. I could barely move. Something started to pull me back. I struggled to stay in place. It was forcing me out. Something was forcing me out. I stretched my hand out toward Tubbo. “TUBBO! PLEASE! PLEASE! GRAB MY HAND! TUBBO! GRAB MY HAND! PLEASE!“. No matter how I pleaded, Tubbo didn’t move a muscle. He stayed still as he watched me ripped out from the world I thought I knew.

Why? Why didn’t you save me Tubbo?

I felt the strings holding me up. It hurt. The strings, they hurt. They hurt so badly. I could feel them. Cutting, cutting, cutting. They cut into my skin. They cut into me. I couldn’t move. They hurt so bad. They held me up in the middle of nothing, an empty space of total darkness. I couldn’t see where the darkness ended. I couldn’t see anything but the darkness. The darkness. The darkness. The darkness. It was empty. It was nothing. Where was I? Where was I? I wanted to scream into the darkness. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t scream. Where was I? Where was I? WHERE WAS I?

Please. Please. Someone save me. Anyone. Please. Save me.

I looked at my strings. I looked up at who held them. There was a hand. The hand was bigger than me, far bigger than me, bigger than anything I could be. How big was it? I couldn’t comprehend it. I felt myself rise. No, I felt the strings pull me up. They turned me around. I could see who held me, I could see who pulled the strings.

His mask was giant. It was the only thing I could see now, the only thing at all. I could only see the mask. Only the mask was there, nothing else. Nothing else existed but the mask. The mask and its smile filled my world. It was the only thing there, it was the only thing there for me. It filled the darkness. The mask and its smile filled the darkness. It was there for me. It was the only thing there for me.

“You ruined everything, Tommy”.

What? No. no, I didn’t. I didn’t ruin everything.

“It’s your fault, Tommy”.

What? No. It couldn’t be my fault. It couldn’t be. Right?

“You caused this, Tommy”.

What? Did I cause this? Did I? It was me?

“You’re selfish, Tommy”.

I am? Maybe. Maybe, I am.

“You do nothing but cause problems, Tommy”.

I do? I do. I do. I do. I cause problems.

I RUINED IT. I RUINED EVERYTHING. I RUINED IT ALL. I RUINED IT FOR TUBBO. I RUINED IT FOR EVERYONE. I DID THIS. ME. ME. ME. I DID IT. I DID IT. I DID IT. I’M SELFISH. I’M SELFISH. I DO NOTHING BUT CAUSE PROBLEMS. IT’S MY FAULT. IT’S MINE. I RUINED IT.

I hate myself. I’m horrible. Tubbo hates me. He hates me. I don’t deserve Tubbo. I failed him. I ruined everything. I ruined what we had. He hates me. I’m sorry Tubbo. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

“I’M SORRY!“, I screamed as I woke up. Wind beat against the tent over my head, rustling and shaking the cloth which barely protected me from the elements. The harsh cold wind cut and scraped against my skin. Sweat trickled down my forehead. It felt hard to breathe. It felt hard for my heart to beat.

Was that all just a dream?

Where was I? Oh, I forgot. I was exiled. I was out in the wilderness completely alone. I was alone. No. No, I wasn’t alone. I had him.

“Good morning, Tommy”, said Dream smiling right at me.