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It was hungry.
Many players rejected It, denying the offer of Nirvana with promises of pain or fear. It didn't understand. All It asked for was undying loyalty and the players would get anything they desired in return. All It asked for was to be fed.
The Boy was at fault. It had almost gotten rid of the Boy for good, the False One wished to see the Boy suffer, and if It influenced their actions to remove the Boy, it was no one's business but It's own. The Boy returned, and It was now in danger. The Boy had awakened, something It tried desperately to avoid, yet only to fail. It's followers were slipping. Failing. Leaving.
It would be abandoned. It was getting left behind.
It was hungry.
. . .
It was hungry for the Boy.
___
It called to him often.
It whispered promises of sanctuary, a fulfillment of anything and everything he desired in return for his support.
Sam didn't trust that egg as far as he could throw it. Which, wasn't that far at all because it was the size of a small cabin, so it was safe to say that Sam didn't trust it at all. Sam remembered once(months ago where he wasn't thought of as a heartless warden who let little boys die under his watch) that he used to be impassive towards the egg, not feeling particularly inebriated with it, nor a hatred. He remembered getting kidnapped and the sinking feeling of terror, trapped in a tiny container and brainwashed into dropping everything he owned(doesn't that sound familiar Sammy boy?) and the endless hunger until he ended up biting into himself.
Creeper tasted horrible, nevermind that Sam ate parts of himself until he was dragged to safety by Puffy and Tommy.
Tommy, oh primes Tommy. Sam didn't know where to begin to unravel the mess that was his feelings on the teen. Tommy was the youngest on the server first and foremost. A harbinger of chaos, a whirlwind of childish innocence and pranks and jokes. A boy who saw the world as his own oyster, and sought to make it his own. He was annoyingly and bold and brash and he irritated the hell out of Sam, but at the same time, it was why Sam wanted to become a stable figure in Tommy's life.
Sam found the united opinion on the boy's disks to be hypocritical. Unanimous agreements on 'the disks are worthless!' and 'they're just disks, Tommy!' rubbed his scales the wrong way because those disks were(are, Tommy finally has them back, remember?) his prized possessions that he held dear to himself. Sam didn't understand why Tommy got so much hate for fighting for something that mattered so much to him, when they all knew that they would do the same for something of theirs. Sam didn't doubt for a second that if it was something of theirs taken and dangled over their head that they would fight for it. Same knew he would, if it was Fran that was flaunted around just barely out of reach.
But Sam could work with that. He could help the traumatized boy who felt worthless and tossed aside and make him feel worthy again. Sam climbed those strongly built walls to find a boy so bright and giving that he couldn't even remember why he had disliked Tommy in the first place. Under all that brashness and chaos lied a caring and compassionate soul who gave unwaveringly loyalty.
And then Tommy went and got himself killed.
No...that wasn't right...
Sam didn't understand what had happened to destroy his and Tommy's relationship. Sure, it all began with a contract, a promise of protection bound by blood even though Sam would have given it freely. Tommy had been healing, had begun to smile more after what had happened to him during exile, an experience he kept tightly under lock and key. Sam agreed that confronting Dream would be a huge step in healing, would grant much needed closure to move on even if the masked manipulator left more questions than answers.
Sam tried. He really did. He followed the protocols to a T, making sure Tommy knew that he would be safe at all times and that Sam would be there no matter what. Sam had lied to Tommy, telling the child that nothing would go wrong and offering support because the teen looked two seconds from fleeing in terror.
Sam never found out who set off the TNT that locked the prison down.
It took two weeks. Two weeks of listening to Tommy's desperate pleas, of hearing a madman bragging about the power he had over him. And when Sam had finally found a way to override the lockdown system, in a cruel twist of fate Dream had murdered Tommy with Sam right outside the cell.
Tommy hated Sam, and rightfully so. Sam was a failure of a protector, a failure of a warden, and he had to pay the price of it. Tommy hated him, but it was needed if Sam was to make sure no one else died. Tommy became a liability to the prison, because the boy tried to break Dream out, and Ghostbur died because of it. Sam didn't understand what Dream had done to warrant the same boy he tormented to attempt to free him, but Sam made another promise that he hoped to break. If Tommy came near the prison again, Sam would take his final life.
Sam found himself outside the Big Innit Hotel, staring where Sam Nook used to stand. Sam had seen the video, he knew what had happened to the robot. And yet, Sam could not find it in himself to approach Tommy in order to fix it. That, and he wouldn't know where to begin to finding the boy. Tommy had become an oddity, coming and going without rhyme or rhythm. From what Sam could tell, the god boy tender to spend the majority of his time with Puffy, but the captain was just as unapproachable, taking care to make sure none of the children came to harm in her care
Sam didn't want to find himself becoming a target of Tommy. Sam may have had all of his lives, but he wasn't sure that he would keep them if he ended up on the receiving end of the boy's anger.
Movement caught Sam's eye, a flicker of red at the bottom of the cliff the hotel sat on. Curiously, he moved to get a better look, only to freeze in his tracks. Members of the Eggpire moved below him, talking amongst themselves as red vines slowly curled around a figure crouched in the midst of the possessed players. A white clad figure shifted, Punz, revealing a red tipped wing. Sam dropped to the ground as red eyes flickered to the clifftop. Ant frowned, ears flicking before he turned back to Punz.
"We've got him. Coming back now," Ant said, seemingly talking into a communicator.
A reply too faint for Sam to hear, and then Punz, Ant, and Ponk lifted Tommy's limp figure, still wrapped in vines, and began marching towards the Eggpire. Sam waited until they had grown further away before rising to his feet. He was already moving before his brain caught up to him.
Sam was a lot of things, but he'd be damned if he failed to save Tommy a second time. He pulled out his own communicator, pulling up the contact of the one person he knew despised the egg, and would freeze hell over for Tommy.
You whispered to CaptainPuffy: puffy, the Eggpire has Tommy. Meet me at the spider spawner
CaptainPuffy whispered to you: otw
__
"Puffy!" Sam called, and the sheep hybrid paused, whirling around to Sam with a hand on her sword defensively before she relaxed slightly at the sight of Sam.
He jogged to meet her, the spider spawner entrance right in front of them as they both stood in silence to get their bearings.
"Did you see them go in?" The woman demanded, going straight to business.
Sam swallowed and nodded. "I had to keep distance from them to not get spotted, but it was Ponk, Punz, and Ant. I think Bad might be down there waiting for them."
Puffy nodded, chewing on her bottom lip before turning away from the spawner. "You've got those enchanted boots?"
Sam nodded, and Puffy began to head to the lone structure that rested directly above the egg.
"Let's crash this party then," she told the creeper hybrid.
Sam grabbed her shoulder, stopping her before she could get any further. "Wait a second Puffy, shouldn't we think about this? You don't even have any protection gear, it could get you as soon as you touch it!"
Sam recoiled at the glare Puffy leveled at him. In all his years of knowing the captain, he had never seen her so much as get angry at anyone. Puffy was pissed, an emotion he had never seen her wear besides the Red Banquet where her son had been sacrificed.
And oh, if Sam didn't understand. He released her shoulder, instead equipping his armor.
"Let's go save Tommy," he told her, and a small smile graced her lips as she nodded sharply.
"We'll give them hell."
Sam held an ender pearl out to Puffy, a second one gripped in his claws as they both hovered over the exposed pitfall in the center of the roundtable. Sam's skin crawled. There was red at the edge of his vision, whispers in the corners of his mind as terror began to claw at his heart because he was going back to it, it could hurt him again, it was going to trap him and never let go-
A hand grabbed his.
"You're safe," Puffy told him softly, sternly. "It can't hurt you, never again. I won't let it."
Once upon a time, Sam believed that Puffy disliked him. Never hated, Puffy was incapable of hating anyone, but the sheep never visited him, always turning away and heading in the opposite direction at the meer sight of him. When Puffy guided his face with cool hands, he saw the determination shining in her eyes. The words she was speaking, she would do anything to make sure that it would remain true.
"Okay," he muttered, throat still tight with lingering panic. "Let's go. . . let's go save Tommy."
The ground rumbled beneath their feet, and Puffy tackled Sam just as the tunnel errupted with blue flames. The heat was suffocating, and Sam lifted Puffy, throwing her over his shoulder as he threw himself out the egg-shapped building. Just in time, because the ground exploded, the building reduced to rubble and dirt as Sam shielded Puffy from the shrapnel with his armored body.
His instincts screamed at him to flee. Puffy let out a cheer from beneath him. Shakily, he pried himself away from Puffy. Everything was muffled. His ears were ringing, and he swore he felt something wet drip onto his neck as the ringing dulled slightly, giving way to what sounded like shrieking. Blue flames curled along the vines, the heat making Sam instantly sweaty as he fumbled for a health pot in his inventory.
A pop, and the shrieking became earsplitting as the potion healed his busted ears. It sounded weak, a dying animal's final cry, as the vines were reduced to ash and soot.
Just as sudden as it happened, it was over. It wasn't quiet, far from it actually with blue flames crackling among the rubble and burning grass. But, at the same time, the silence was deafening.
The whispers were gone, Sam realized with a jolt. Ever since he had been trapped, his mind was never silent. Incoherent mumbling in the back of his mind, growing louder and stronger whenever he approached the vines or the egg itself. He had felt as if he was growing mad, the cackling of Dream and Tommy's screams echoed back to him, his failures rubbed into his face without mercy.
His communicator was buzzing angrily in his pocket, and he brushed a finger over it, drawing it into his inventory and effectively silencing it.
"Sam, are you okay? Did you get hurt?" Puffy was asking him, checking him over quickly.
"I'm fine," he told her, bursting her hands away and equipping a shield. "What was that?"
Puffy followed his gaze to the ruined land in front of them. "That, was our damsel in distress saving themself."
Despite the situation they were in, Sam couldn't help the grin that crossed his face. "I think Tommy would threaten to stab you for calling him a 'damsel in distress'."
Puffy only snorted before equipping a shield of her own. "Well? What are you waiting for? Creepers first."
Sam scoffed but stepped forward, crouching behind his shield and inching forward. He stopped at the edge of the crater, sparing Puffy a glance before sliding down the side and stopping at the ruined and expanded edge of the old tunnel.
"Hello?" He called down the hole.
There was no answer, and Sam readied an ender pearl to drop down when there was a crash, and then electric blue eyes boring holes into Sam's soul. A snarl crossed Tommy's face as his wings snapped open, and Sam scrambled back as the teen crouched before launching himself up the hole. Sam ducked behind his shield as the wind created sent dirt and rocks flying, his hair whipping him in the face and eyes wildly.
He tilted his head up, narrowing his eyes against the sun as brilliant wings spread wide, and Tommy dropped to the ground in front of Sam and Puffy. The scent of ash and blood rolling off the boy was like a punch to the face. There was blood staining his shirt, staining his hands and sword. Soot was smeared on his face, and Sam's stomach churned at the blood surrounding Tommy's mouth.
There was no recognition in Tommy's eyes as he swayed on his feet, wings twitching as his grip tightened on his sword. He tilted his head slightly, a strangled hiss escaping his lips.
"Tommy?" Puffy called, and he flinched as he took a step back.
A hand clamped around Sam's wrist.
"Whatever you do," she told him lowly, "don't make eye contact, and don't take off your armor."
Tommy took a step forward.
"What's going on?" Sam whispered just as quietly.
Tommy attacked with a shout, and Puffy pulled Sam behind her to meet Tommy head on.
"I trusted you!" Tommy shrieked as his sword slammed into Puffy's shield.
Puffy crashed into Sam from the force, hooven feet slipping from under her as Sam struggled to keep them both standing. The shield creaked in protest as Tommy slammed the blade into it once more.
"I'm not a hero!" Tommy continued to sob, the next swing weaker.
Tommy wasn't seeing them, Sam realized with a start. Tommy slumped into the shield, sword slipping from his fingers as he broke into sobs.
Puffy unequipped her shield, allowing Tommy to fall into her arms as she began to soothe the child. Sam averted his eyes to give them a sense of privacy even as Puffy remained sandwiched between him and Tommy, armor pinching his scales until he reluctantly removed it to ease the pain. Puffy's steady heartbeat washed over Sam's chest, and he swore he felt Tommy's gradually slowing down to match it.
Sam was a warden, he reminded himself. He was deemed cold and heartless, putting his job before anyone he's ever loved and cared for until he ended up pushing them away. He drove everyone to hate him, but at the end of the day the remained grateful because he locked the biggest monster they had ever seen away, the key never to be seen.
He failed at his job to never let Dream hurt anyone, because he let Tommy die. He broke his promise, and the child had to suffer due to his inability to keep him safe.
Sam was moving before he could stop himself. The arrow buried itself into the small of his back, Puffy and Tommy roughly shoved away to fall into the ground.
White hot pain blossomed, the sheer force weakening as his knees gave out and he crumbled to the ground. Puffy let out a cry, Tommy's eyes widening at the blood spreading across Sam's shirt as horror dawned on his face.
Another arrow found its way into Sam's exposed back, and the world slipped into darkness, a horrid scream echoing in his ears.
Awesamdude was shot by Punz
Sam woke with a start, the taste of blood in his throat and phantom pains racing down his spine. He was cold, sweat pouring from every pore in his body as he fought for every single breath. He was trapped, Tommy's scream peircing his ears, the egg whispering to him, threatening him, promising him pain if he didn't listen, trying to control him-
There was something cold wet pressing against his face, mixing with the salty tears he knew to be streaming down his cheeks. He flinched away and it followed, a warm mound forcing its way into his lap and under his hands. Fingers tightened instinctually into soft fur, and the mound trembled happily as the wetness returned full force.
Fran. His mind supplied helpfully. He took a breath, a shiver running down his spine as he tried to match his breathing to the steady heartbeat resting on his chest. Slowly, his heart stopped attempting to leap out of his chest, the dark encroaching his vision fading to reveal his messy room, smoky grey fur filling his vision as round black eyes peered joyfully at him. Fran gave Sam a wolfish grin, releasing a hot breath in his face before dragging her tongue across his cheek. Sam couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled out of his chest, wiping away the spit and salty remains of tears.
"What would I do without you, girl," he told the wolf dog, and she only tilted her head before leaping off the bed and darting to the door.
She pawed at the door before turning bright eyes to him, and his communicator buzzed loudly. Shit, shit, shit!
Sam scrambled out of the bed, untangling blankets from his limbs before digging the object out of his pocket. His inventory was empty as expected from a respawn, but his communicator had reappeared on his person even after the loss of his first life.
Unread messages had quickly piled in both the general chat and his private messages, but the robotic message of tripped alarms caught his attention. Someone was approaching his base. He grabbed a stack of golden apples from his emergency stash, shoving one of the magical fruits into his mouth and grabbing his fallen gas mask before darting out of the room, Fran hot on his heels.
He turned to the wolf, raising a finger before pointing down sharply. Fran instantly complied, dropping to her haunches with a lolling tongue as she eagerly complied to the command.
"Stay," he told her sternly. "You have to stay safe Fran."
The main entrance to the hidden base shuttered, the hum of activated pistons sounding as Sam grabbed a spare set of armor, weapons, throwing them on in preparation to defend himself. A figure was forcing themself into the partially opened door, and Sam caught a flash of red feathers before he was tackled in a blur.
Tommy could fly, Sam thought as they both went tumbling, the teen crossing the distance in a blink of an eye at impossible speeds.
"Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam!" Tommy was pleading, clawed fingers ripping at his shirt and creating shallow cuts along his chest. "I'm sorry, Sam, I don't hate you and you shouldn't have lost a life for that shit and I'm sorry about the prison and about the hotel and Sam Nook and, and, and. . ."
Sam wrapped his arms around Tommy in a hug, and the teen shuttered as sobs wracked his form, tears ruining Sam's shirt further, but he could find it in himself to be upset as wings curled around the both of them.
The memory of three boys approaching him on Tommy's seventeenth birthday, smiles on their faces even as distrust shone in their eyes, bargaining for ridiculous amounts of TNT and bombs. Sam pulled Tommy closer.
"I'm so sorry, Tommy," Sam whispered to the boy. "If I could, I'd go back in time and punch myself for being an idiot but I swear, I'll be here for you, I'll protect you this time or so help me that Prime strikes me down where I stand."
Tommy let out a wet laugh. "She wouldn't be able to if I stab you first."
They remained on the ground, curled around each other as Sam ran a hand up and down Tommy's back, careful to avoid his claws on the young god's wings. Puffy silently watched the exchange, giving Sam a sharp nod and a smile when their eyes met before heading into his kitchen.
Sam was the warden. He was a redstone genius, his heart colder than his creations. He was the jailer of a monster, a failure of a father, irredeemable, irresponsible. He became a monster in his quest to protect everyone he'd ever cared about.
But maybe, he could have a second chance. Maybe, with a steady rumble in his chest and shaky coos echoing with them, he had a chance at redemption. The shimmering phoenix on his chest pulsed in tune with the gunpowder coursing though his veins.
He and Tommy had a lot to talk about, they hadn't even scratched the surface of the shit storm their relationship had become, but maybe there could be hope yet. He knew what Tommy was trying to accomplish, the entire server knew.
Sam wouldn't mind having two new kids.
Tommy grumbled. "S'rry for ruining your shirt."
Sam glanced at the shredded material, at the now normal fingers wrapped in the remains of the fabric.
"It's okay, Tommy," Sam replied with a hum. "How about we go see what Puffy's cooking, hm?"
A feathered limb smacked into Sam's face as Tommy scrambled to his feet, darting off into the kitchen with a loud screech of 'Puffy!'. Sam sat on the floor a moment longer, picking up a discarded, long red and gold feather and twirling it in his claws. The object seemed to smoke for a moment, flames tracing the edge of the feather before it dissolved into ash.
"Sam! Puffy made hot chocolate!" Tommy called from the kitchen.
Sam grinned and whistled, and Fran bounded to his side.
"Coming!" He replied, a new purpose burning in his soul.