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My baby, my baby
A shriek like wail escapes the torn and dry throat of a grieving father. Terror replaces Tommy’s previous early morning bliss. His baby is gone, his baby’s room a mess, reminiscent of a tornado trashing the pastel child’s room. Tears make his vision grow blurry, shrieks tearing themselves from Tommy’s throat.
His morning had been going well. And now, his baby is gone- missing, alone, probably terrified out of his mind. Tommy lets out a wail, chilling those within a miles radius’ bones. People rush to the father’s small home, and Tommy cannot make himself move to open the door for them.
His baby-
The bed has specs of blood on it. Tommy lets out a shriek, tears racing down his red puffy cheeks.
His baby-
There is a bang; the front door being forced open. Tommy can barely comprehend the group of people coming into his baby’s room. He can smell the burning pancakes in the kitchen- he’d been making Shroud pancakes for breakfast.
His baby-
Gasps ring out from his friends, but Tommy just gathers up his baby’s blankets and wails into them. Shroud must be so scared, hungry- Tommy lets out a sob. The bookshelf is tipped over, books- some of Shroud’s favorites- torn and broken and ripped. The window to Shroud’s room is busted, an obvious sign of a kidnapping.
His baby is-
Vaguely, Tommy registers being spoken to, asked questions. His coffee mug is broken in the doorway of his baby’s room, hot coffee staining the wood flooring.
”My baby is gone!” Tommy sobs, once again breaking into heart wrenching wails of a grieving father.
***
You're my baby, say it to me
After discovering his baby had been taken, Tommy went catatonic. No one could get a reaction out of him- not even tears. It’d seemed like he’d gone numb and dead inside. He just sat on the floor of a gone child’s bedroom and rocked back and forth, holding onto Shroud’s blanket so tight his knuckles were pure white.
Puffy and Connor, the resident therapists, had been sent in first. When both of them came back, both had their eyes bloodshot and they’d looked much more disheveled than they’d went in, both looking hopeless.
“He can’t be alone.” Puffy whispers to Niki, who speaks for her heart broken fiancee to the rest of the group. “He’s not moved. He hasn’t eaten, hasn’t slept, hasn’t even gone to the bathroom.” Puffy whimpers, a soft sob escaping her. It was obvious to the rest of them that Tommy was in the worst possible condition; the captain was not so easily shaken, but this seemed to have shook her to her core.
“Who will look after him?” Fundy asks, voice small. He holds Yogurt close to his chest, protective and worried. Shroud had been the most innocent being on the server- whoever would take such a guiltless child would surely take the rest of their children, if given the chance.
No one speaks, for just a moment, before a voice pipes up, confident and sure.
Technoblade.
“Phil and I will take him in. He needs to be with family right now.” Techno says, voice leaving no room for argument. Puffy glances at him, then to Phil, who stands right next to the Piglin hybrid. Both look sure in their decision, but underneath the confidence Puffy can see and identify the fear and worry for their brother/son, and nephew/grandson.
She nods, only once. Some start to disperse from the gathered group, all worried beyond belief. To take such an innocent child, one not even in double digits yet- it was unforgivable. It was scary.
Techno and Phil begin to walk forward, intent to go inside the broken father’s home.
Puffy stops them. She does not meet either of their eyes when she whispers, “Please. Be gentle with him. He has gone through so much.” Puffy pleads, voice breaking here and there with choked up tears.
Phil gives her a single nod, placing a gentle but wise hand on her shoulder. They are not close, not even really acquaintances, but he is kind when he whispers, “We will take care of him. Please do not be afraid.”
Despite his reassurance, Puffy is so fucking afraid.
***
Baby, my baby
“Shroud?” Tommy asks, but a mumble in his sleep. Techno swallows, his throat drying quickly. These types of situations were frequent, now.
What were these situations? Well…
Ever since Tommy had come to the tundra with his older brother and father, he’d had nightmares whenever he passed out due to exhaustion. During these nightmares were the only times Phil and Techno were able to hear his voice, as the boy seemed trapped in his mind whenever he was awake; unable to speak or do anything at all, really.
“Shroud? Come back, baby.” Tommy calls, eyes slipping tears between the closed lids. Techno turns away, unable to see his baby brother cry for his lost son. “Shroud, baby, Mimi needs you to come back home.” Tommy cries, voice broken and raspy from his nightly crying.
Techno bites his bottom lip harshly to avoid letting out his own cry. It’s so hard.
“Please,” Tommy sobs, there’s a rustling, and Techno knows he’s curling in on himself. “Please, I’ll be better, I need you, Shroud, baby, Mimi needs you to come home.” Tommy cries.
Techno tries to drown his brother’s cries out. Like every other night, it does not work.
***
Tell your baby that I'm your baby
Tommy has taken to calling Baba his baby. Even worse, however, was that Tommy has taken to sitting on the ground and sobbing into Baba’s fur, small cries escaping him for his real baby. He is not better, and he is definitely not allowed on his own.
A search has begun, led by Tubbo and Ranboo- the godfathers of Shroud while Tommy is practically still catatonic.
Every so often, Tubbo or Ranboo will come over. They don’t bring Michael, instead leaving their own son with Foolish, the god much more powerful than the two hybrids. Tommy seems to take this as them not trusting him with their son.
Tommy had sobbed, wailed, begged them to understand that he hadn’t meant for Shroud to be taken, he hadn’t wanted his baby to be gone from him. He begged the two to please forgive him for letting Shroud be taken in his home. Tubbo had burst into tears as soon as Tommy started sobbing about not wanting his baby to be taken.
The two had reassured Tommy that they hadn’t meant offense, that they just didn’t have time to look for Shroud and be with Michael, so he was at Foolish’s home.
Tommy had not been convinced, still softly crying for them to understand when they left.
***
I bet on losing dogs
Of course, Dream had immediately been checked on as soon as the news of Shroud’s disappearance spread to the whole server. Techno himself had marched into the man’s prison cell with a few dozen other server inhabitants. Only to find Dream by himself, looking confused as ever as to why they were there.
(Dream had been scared, too. Techno made a mental note to check on that as soon as Shroud was back safely in Tommy’s arms back at the cabin.)
Wilbur, too, had been investigated. The recently revived man was confused, too, and his eyes had darkened protectively when he’d been informed of the news. It was nice and reassuring to know that under all that crazy, Techno could still see some remnants of the old, not so batshit Wilbur.
Techno could feel something, thrumming under his skin. Like he was missing something. But he couldn’t place it, and neither could the voices. Any attempt the voices made at helping him were overrode by a simple [This comment has been deleted].
***
I know they're losing and I'll pay for my place
It’s like he’s not even there. Tommy is numb and barely there. He sits on the couch or at the table, and Techno practically has to drag him to his room when it’s night. “Tommy, please.” Phil begs, letting out a small, pitiful chirp. “Come back to us, baby.” Phil pleads. Tommy is sat on the couch, and Phil sits in front of him on the floor, old, aged hands holding Tommy’s tinier hands in his.
The nickname seems to spark something in Tommy, the thin, broken blond finally seeing for the first time in months. Watching it, Techno almost let out a sob of his own.
“My baby is gone. I need to find him.” Tommy says tonelessly, voice dead and broken. His throat is scratchy, and he sounds nothing like the happy new father he’d been last week. What could happen in a matter of moments, Techno thinks bitterly.
Phil nods, teary eyed. “Yes. We’re looking for him, son.” He assures. Tommy’s eyes fill with tears again, and he shakes his head.
“He’s gone. He’s dead. I failed him, my baby is gone, Papa, I failed him,” The seventeen year old sobs, burying his face in his arms and trembling violently. Tommy quickly dissolves into cries, babbling about Shroud and how terrible of a father he is, how he failed his baby.
Phil is quick to try to help, his heart dropping at the name- Tommy had rarely called him ‘papa’ unless he was truly in a vulnerable state- but it does little. “We don’t know if he’s dead, baby. We’re looking for him, you didn’t fail him, you didn’t.”
Despite his father’s kind words, Tommy doesn’t stop crying until he literally passes out from exhaustion. He’d stay up for days at a time, never wanting to sleep for fear that Shroud would come home and Tommy wouldn’t hear him. The crying mixed with the lack of sleep seemed to have knocked him out.
***
By the ring
They find a lead. And they don’t tell Tommy.
“Well what if we do end up finding Shroud and Tommy doesn’t even know anything about it? We just aren’t supposed to tell him anything?” Puffy had snapped during the meeting.
“What if the lead is nothing, and Tommy just goes catatonic again?” Ranboo had argued back, and Techno could find himself understanding the enderman hybrid’s point of view. He’d been one of the few people that truly saw how Shroud’s disappearance affected Tommy,
So they don’t tell Tommy. Any guilt Techno feels swell in his gut is immediately replaced by rage when he discovers the lead;
Quackity had been spotted making a base far, far away from the rest of the SMP. He’d been spotted the day before Shroud’s disappearance, but hadn’t been seen since.
It’s easy to start packing and gathering tools and weapons, but Techno also knows that if they do find Shroud, and he’s alive, they should take his blankets and a stuffed animal. The only problem?
Tommy has both of those.
***
Where I'll be looking in their eyes when they're down
The scream of pure, unfiltered panic that escapes Tommy once he discovers he cannot find the stuffed animal and blanket is one of the most painful things Techno has ever had to experience.
It’s terror, and fear, and he can hear Tommy wailing from his bedroom upstairs as he tries to pack quickly. Phil is staying here, as to keep Tommy from hurting himself (intentionally, or not.) Techno is trying to hurry, just because it hurts too much to stay for too long.
Tommy had been sleeping with the stuffed animal and blanket for the past few days, and it was no wonder that the blond was panicking. Techno fought the urge to go return the sentimental items- they were going to go find Shroud, and the toddler deserved to have his blankets and stuffed animal when they brought him home.
“Techno!” Tommy screams from upstairs, and Techno lets out a small sob as he hears the teen fall to his knees. “Techno! They- They’re gone! Techno! Papa!” Tommy shrieks, obviously hysterical.
The door bursts open, and Phil shoots him a disapproving look before he runs upstairs- he’d been one of those in support of informing Tommy of the lead. Techno cannot meet his eyes as he hurries out of the house.
He’s going to find Shroud, Techno doesn’t think Tommy will miss the blankets and stuffie much when he has his child in his arms.
***
I'll be there on their side
Puffy, Sam, Ranboo, Tubbo, Foolish, and Techno enchant a compass to find Quackity, and then they set out. Far, far away from the SMP is much further than Techno had assumed it was. “God, I’m going to fucking kill this duck bitch.” Tubbo snarls under his breath an hour into the ‘trip.’
Now, Techno was never one to agree with Mr. Child Government, but he could agree about that. If he was to find Shroud with Quackity, that duck hybrid would have to wish for the sweet release of fucking death.
It grows hot, as the plains and tundra biomes of the SMP began to trail into a desert.
The group sweats under their armor, and they grow tired. But they continue, because Quackity has their friend’s child, and they won’t rest ‘till Shroud is safe and Tommy has his child back.
Compass held in his tight grip, Techno swallows thickly through a dry throat, and treks through the desert.
***
I'm losing by their side
Phil is a good source of distraction, but even then Tommy is struggling to keep himself happy and lively for his father. (He does not realize that he is the one Phil is struggling to keep happy for.)
Tommy started down at his hands, his fingers trembling and twitching every so often. “Hey, Toms?” Phil asks softly, looking back to the other. Tommy slowly looks up as father, tilting his head a little bit, “Yeah, Papa?”
The name that once made Phil’s heart swell with warmth just makes his stomach do a flip in nervousness. “Do you want to help me make some bread?” Phil offers, giving the teen a soft smile.
After a moment of consideration, Tommy nods. “Yes, please. Shroud likes bread, he’ll want some when he comes back.” Tommy agrees, talking gently and eagerly.
Phil feels his heart drop.
“When he comes back?” Phil inquires, keeping his tone calm and not accusatory or too rude.
Tommy just gives him a smile, nodding, “Of course. He’ll need food, the baby’s going to be hungry.” He says, standing and walking into the kitchen. Tommy gives him another smile, “Where’s the ingredients, Papa? We better hurry!”
***
Will you let me, baby, lose
Tommy sits the fresh baked bread on the counter, looking at the steam from the pan. Shroud was going to be back soon, he best start slicing the loaf into individual slices. Phil watches carefully as Tommy cuts the bread.
“We need… um, butter. The sweet kind, Sugar Butter, please, Papa. Shroud likes Sugar Butter on his toast.” Tommy babbles, taking two slices- because Shroud always asked for more if he only gave him one- of bread and placing them on a plate that he’d grabbed from the cabinet.
Phil hesitates for a moment, and Tommy looks over at him, “Go on, he should be here soon, Papa.”
His father nods slowly, and Phil goes to the fridge and grabs a small cartoon of sweet butter. Tommy takes it thankfully when it’s offered to him.
“Thank you.” He says slowly, smiling gently at the older blond. He grabs the cutting knife again and gently spread the sweet butter on the fresh baked bread.
Such a good Mimi, making food for your baby, Tommy’s thoughts whisper to him, sounding nothing like his own, but making him smile shakily to himself despite it. He wasn’t a bad Mimi, Shroud was just gone for right now, and Tommy was a good Mimi that prepared his baby a snack before he even got home.
“Now we just wait!” Tommy says, sitting down at the table, the plate sat untouched in front of him. Phil stares at the blond, who looks so small.
“Tommy?” He starts. “What do you do when Shroud isn’t home with you?” Phil asks, feeling his stomach begin to swell with nervousness at the thought of the answer. Tommy giggles, as if Phil had asked a stupid question.
“I sit and wait, obviously! Some times I sew or fix up Shroud’s clothes, or I make snacks for when he gets back.” Tommy says, confirming Phil’s suspicions. It makes the avian’s heart shatter even more than it’d already done. Tommy had based his whole life around his child, and now that child was no longer with him. Phil can relate (twice it’d happened to him. Phil thinks he’s dying as he realizes just how much Tommy had forced his life to bend for his baby.)
He continues to question, even though he knows the answer. “What do you do for yourself, dear?” Phil asks, voice choked up with unshed tears. Tommy hesitates, and bites his lip in thought. He no longer looks excited and eager like he had been, now looking anxious and nervous to answer the question.
Tommy tilts his head, just a little, “Um… I don’t-? I don’t do anything, Papa. Shroud is important, I have to… do a lot for him. Because I’m a g-good-?” He breaks off, tears filling his blue eyes that look so dull, so different than his normal, happy bright blue.
“I-I’m a good -?” Tommy broke his sentence off again, letting out a small sob, bringing a trembling hand to his mouth to muffle the loud cry. Phil rushes over to his youngest son, wrapping his arms and wings around the small blond and tightly hugging him.
“You’re good, baby. You’re so good.” Phil whispers.
***
On losing dogs
When Techno sees Shroud, his heart bursts with love and warmth and relief. It is pure, and unadulterated. The next emotion to overtake him, however, is rage
Outrage, fury, whatever you’d wish to call it, he felt it in that moment.
Quackity had taken this little boy, taken his nephew, had made his little brother fucking broken.
Puffy had already forced Quackity on his knees, Sam quick to cuff the duck hybrid. Foolish forced the gate open with admin magic, as it had been forced closed with some sort of spell. Techno hurries to get the toddler’s blanket and stuffed animal out of his bag.
“Tech’o!” Shroud wails, running into his arms. Techno covers the child with his blanket and hands him his stuffed animal. “Uncle Tech’o! Where Mimi?” Shroud asks tearfully, sniffling loudly.
Swallowing, Techno tucks the little boy into his armored chest. “He’s at home, waiting for you, kiddo. Let’s go give you back, yeah?”
He feels Shroud nod against his chest, and Shroud hisses, “Want Quacky gone! He hurt Mimi!” He angrily says, sounding as pissed off as a toddler can.
Techno huffs a small laugh, but nods, taking the boy out of the dark, dungeon like base. “Don’t worry, bud. He’s gonna be gone for a long, long time.”
It is not a threat. It is a promise.
***
I know they're losing and I'll pay for my place
The trek back to the main SMP is hard, and seemed longer than before. Quackity had been violent, so he’d been knocked out every time he’d woken up. It was more fun than Techno would like to admit to hit the hybrid so hard he immediately passed out.
Shroud snuggles into his chest mostly the entire way, alternating between sleeping in Techno’s arms and running around the six warriors’ legs and giggling. “Shroud, stay close, please.”
Looking over at Ranboo, Shroud gives his uncle a grin, “I will, Uncle Boo! Don’t worry!” He says happily, “I just wanna run around, there wasn’t a lot of room in that cage!” Shroud says, oblivious to the pain that his words caused all six of his rescuers.
“I know, bud. Just don’t get too far ahead, okay?” Ranboo says, a sad, aching smile on his lips.
Giggling loudly, Shroud saluted the older teen, and continued to bounce and skip around the legs of his rescue team. The scene is sweet, despite the circumstances of the situation they’re all in. It is gentle and soft, especially as Techno scoops the small spider hybrid up when he gets sleepy again.
“Thank you for findin’ me, Uncle Tech’o.” Shroud whispers to him, blinking all six of his eyes slowly, tired, sleepy.
Techno holds him tighter, “Of course, kiddo. I looked for you for days, and I’ve been so excited to bring you home to your Mimi.” Techno says.
***
By the ring
“Gentle, bubs. Your Mimi is a bit weak right now, he didn’t take care of himself because he was worried for you.” Techno says as they finally stumble into the Tundra biome. He is explaining to Shroud how Tommy had become while he was gone.
Shroud nods seriously (or as serious as he could be when the toddler was snuggling a stuffed animal to his chest.
For a moment, Shroud seems to think. When he finally speaks, Techno feels his heart become warm and fluffy. “It’s okay, Uncle Tech’o. I’ll be sure to be gentle. Mimi is fragile.” He says, nodding a little.
God, Techno loves this little child, who is so kind and gentle and loving. “Exactly, bubs.” Techno agrees.
***
Where I'll be looking in their eyes when they're down
“...Shroud?” Tommy asks, voice thick and broken. He has fallen on his knees, and Tommy stares at his tiny little boy with wide, teary eyes. “Baby?”
Shroud grins at him excitedly, running into his arms. “Mimi! I miss you so much!” Shroud giggles, snuggling into his chest. Tommy tightens his arms around the small, black haired hybrid.
His friends and family stand before the father and son, viewing the scene with soft, relieved eyes. “I missed you so much, baby. Your Mimi missed you so fucking much.” Tommy cries, burying his face in Shroud’s hair and letting out a cry.
“It’s all gonna be okay Mimi! Baby’s here now!” Shroud assures, giggling as he feels Tommy laugh wetly into his hair.