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"EVERYONE STOP IT!" Puffy shouts at the top of her lungs, towering up a few blocks and looking down at all of them, eyes sharp. "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP FIGHTING! We're not going to get anything done if we keep yelling at each other - we need to make an actual plan."
"Who died and made you king of the mine rescue?" Sapnap growls from somewhere in the crowd.
"Do you have any ideas?" Puffy snaps in return, glaring at him.
" Yes , actually!" Sapnap scrambles up to the front of the crowd, surveying everyone. "Techno - are you a half-piglin or a full blooded piglin?"
"Full blooded, why?" Techno responds, not liking the way everyone is turning to look at him. He shifts his hooves nervously, self conscious.
Sapnap nods. "I'm a blaze hybrid - our lungs are more resistant to smoke than anyone else here. If you and I head inside we can pull people out while everyone else," He pauses, looking a little lost, when Sam cuts in.
"We need to seal the mine from the outside," He says. "All the ventilation holes and access points - if we starve the fire of oxygen it'll stop burning."
"But that would mean starving everyone in there of oxygen, too!" Hannah protests, holding up a hand.
"That's why Techno and I have to go inside," Sapnap butts in, nervously glancing at the fire. "And fast ."
"You only want to go inside there because Karl's inside the mine," Jack snaps, eyes shining. "You're just going to get him out and leave the rest of them in there to burn ."
"I will not ," Sapnap snarls, taking a single step toward him before Puffy claps her hands to cut off the fight before it starts.
" No fighting," She snaps at both of them, eyes gleaming. "Sapnap, you and Techno heading inside sounds like it'll work. Right?" She looks up at Techno.
Techno's brain is pretty much superglued to Ranboo right now, the fact that his student is trapped somewhere inside a burning mine making him want to scream and shout and fight someone right about now. He manages a nod, though, and Puffy nods back.
"In that case - Sapnap, Techno, both of you head inside and start pulling people out ," She looks at everyone else, too. "Foolish and I can work to divert the river into a reservoir nearby - we'll flush the mine with water once everyone's out. Sam, you and Bad are both really strong - we need people to pull survivors out of the mine when Techno and Sapnap bring them to the entrance - and we'll need an area with medicine set up, too."
"I can help with that," Ponk nods, and Phil does too. Ponk's face is set and determined. "I'm a doctor - if we get somewhere relatively sterile set up then we'll be alright - but I'll need health potions for burns-"
"I'll start growing melons," Hannah nods sharply, then looks at Techno and Sapnap with concerned eyes. "You two should drink fire resistance before heading in there, just in case."
"I don't have any on me," Sapnap shakes his head.
"Take some of mine," It's Niki, shouldering her way through the crowd to fling a splash potion at their feet. "Go."
Sapnap gives her a single nod before he turns and leads the way to the mine, Techno on his heels, taking a few deep inhales of fresh air to saturate his blood before heading into a low oxygen environment, both of them plunging into the blazing heat of the mineshaft and rushing into the earth, toward their trapped friends.
Back on the surface, everyone mobilizes without further argument - at least at first. Phil is giving orders on how best to set up a medical station with input from Ponk - Sam and Bad are waiting by the mine's entrance, giving one another dirty looks - and Foolish is already by the river, a shovel pulled out of his inventory and ready to start digging.
Everyone else is splitting up as well, moving to different places and parts of the plan.
"We still have to plug the ventilation shafts," Eret says, looking at everyone around them. "Uh - Callahan, Jack, Niki, and Ant - come with me?"
Ant and Niki glare at one another, because they were both at the Red Banquet where Niki was almost sacrificed to Ant's stupid Egg cult, and people don't forgive that easily, even when mind control is involved.
" Don't," Eret snaps at them both. "Stop glaring at each other and help - otherwise we're going to lose people!" They whirl, gesturing for them to follow, and Niki and Ant scramble after them, Jack and Callahan handing them enchanted pickaxes to collect materials with. Conner scurries after them a minute later, seemingly realizing that no one is going to tell him what to do so he ought to pick a way to help on his own.
Puffy pulls out a shovel and leaps down from her block tower to help Foolish dig a reservoir near the mine's entrance, throwing herself into the work, both of them breaking ground and shoveling away dirt as fast as they possibly can - lives depend on their digging.
There's a shout from the mine's entrance and Sapnap bursts from the entrance, Tina draped over his shoulders, unconscious. It's Bad who steps forward first, faster than Sam, taking Tina gently from Sapnap so he can jump back into rescuing people right away. He turns Tina heavy in his arms, her body limp and lifeless, but she's still here and there haven't been any communicator death messages yet, so she's still alive - if only barely.
He rushes toward the small medical tent Phil and Ponk constructed as fast as he can without jostling her too badly, and immediately crashes into Quackity.
"Watch where you're going!" Quackity snaps, stumbling backward.
"I wouldn't have to watch where I'm going if you would go and help someone instead of just standing there!" Bad barks in return, shoving past him to get to the medical tent and lay Tina down on one of the beds, Phil and Ponk instantly beside her with splash healing and bandages for her burns. Punz looks up from a nearby chest, pulling out more blaze powder as fast as he can just as Hannah reappears with an armful of melons.
George slips in around them, holding a large, unfamiliar mushroom, which he promptly crushes in his fist, letting the juice drip into her open mouth. "It's a sedative," He explains. "She won't want to be awake with burns like these."
Bad gives him a single nod before whirling toward the tent's door.
Quackity is glaring at him as he rushes back to the mine entrance, but before he can open his mouth to snap something arrogant and annoying Bad glares at him sharply. " Don't start with me, muffinhead, go help Puffy and Foolish dig."
"Dream's not doing anything to help!" Quackity argues, laughing and crossing his arms. "Go yell at him."
" STOP being PETULANT! " Bad whirls, glaring at him. "Either help someone with something or get out! "
He briefly considers smacking Quackity on the back of the head before realizing that will probably make things worse and scrambling back to the mine's entrance to wait. It's only after he gets to the entrance does he realize that his cloak is coated in Tina's blood.
Skeppy is still inside that mine - him and five other people. Fundy, Tommy, Tubbo, Ranboo, and Karl are all also trapped inside a burning hole in the ground and there's nothing else Bad can do except stand here and wait for Sapnap or Techno to drag someone else out.
Dream, for the record, is rushing through the woods collecting mushrooms for George, as far away as he can manage from the rest of the server. Quackity just stands there like a useless lump for a few minutes, but as soon as he gets his feet under him he's at the river with a shovel, digging into the ground to help with the water.
Techno is minorly panicking until he runs into Skeppy, who is somehow still conscious, gasping for breath and leaning heavily against a wall - the only part of the wall that's not covered in metal support beams, which are a searing shade of red-hot that makes Techno nervous even being near them.
"T- Techno-?" Skeppy manages, blinking at Techno with bleary eyes and choking on the smoke and carbon monoxide filling the mine.
"That's me," Techno tells him, leaning over to scoop him up in his arms. "Hang on, I'm gettin' you out of here."
"Bu-" Skeppy coughs heavily as he's held against Techno's chest - he's going to have to carry Skeppy bridal-style - if he tries to hold him like Sapnap can he'd scrape Skeppy's head against the ceiling of the mine because he's so tall.
"Save it," Techno tells him. "Just hang on."
"Fundy…" Skeppy manages. "And Ranboo… went… wrong direction…"
A frigid chill goes down Techno's spine but he ignores it, forcing himself to run for the exit instead of deeper into the mine. He needs a breath, too, a good clean gulp of air before jumping back into here. He holds Skeppy tighter as he runs, bursting out into warm sunshine and finding Sam as the only person with his arms empty.
Techno hesitates, briefly, because Skeppy is his friend and Techno does not trust Sam and his warden antics, but Skeppy blinks his eyes once, twice, the lids fluttering weakly, before he completely passes out with a soft, strangled sigh, and Techno gives up and shoves Skeppy into Sam's awaiting arms.
"Do not hurt him," He warns sharply. "Or there will be consequences!"
Sam carries Skeppy carefully to the medical tent as carefully and as reverently as he can, but he does run into Bad on the way there, who stares at Skeppy with a strangled sobbing noise in his throat.
"'Geppy," He whimpers, reaching to touch Skeppy only for Sam to instinctually flinch away from his talons. Both of them stare, wide eyed, at one another, before Sam takes a deep breath and places Skeppy in Bad's arms.
"Send Punz out here," He instructs. "Keep an eye on him, I know you have to."
Bad nods gratefully, and when Sam heads back to the mine entrance to wait, Punz is rushing after him, feet pounding against the forest floor and fingers stained yellow with blaze powder, but ready to help nonetheless, arms open.
The mine is a chaotic, confusing maze, but Sapnap navigates it as best as he possibly can, inhaling smokey air and running through the shafts, his sharp blaze ears pricked to listen for heartbeats - it's a hybrid trait that he's gotten from his hostile mob side, but it's helpful in this circumstance, when-
There , to his right. He scrambles down a new passageway and nearly trips over a figure collapsed on the ground, choking on the poison air of the mine in surprise. His heart leaps, momentarily thinking it's Karl before realizing this is Fundy. Jack's accusation rings in his head and he scowls, leaning down to scoop Fundy up over his shoulders.
Fuck that guy - Sapnap can rescue anyone just as well as he can rescue Karl. Fundy is heavy on his shoulders, the weight of his life itself heavier than his physical body, and Sapnap runs because Fundy's life depends on it, even if they've been enemies before. He bursts from the tunnel and is instantly met with Punz, taking Fundy off his shoulders to run him to the medical tent.
Sapnap wants to shoot Jack a smug 'see I told you so' look, but he can't see him anywhere, instead grabbing a breath and racing back inside the mineshaft. Karl is still in here, as is Tubbo, Ranboo, and Tommy, if he remembers right, and he has to get them out , because he's one of the only two server members who can breathe air like this, and because- well, he doesn't know why, actually, just that he will .
On the surface, Ant shovels earth over a ventilation shaft, one emitting a particularly frightening amount of heat. He's worried. They're too far from anyone to know whether or not they're doing this right, or if they're just suffocating their trapped friends inside the mine, but he's got to do this anyway, because what else can he do? Stand there and look pretty while people are dying? He has to move and seal off the mine before the fire can spread.
"What if they're still in there?" Jack asks no one in particular as he packs earth around a large stone over another ventilation shaft. "What if we're just strangling them right now?"
"I don't know," Eret responds, shaking their head and helping him pack the earth in. "I guess… we just have to hope Techno and Sapnap are fast enough."
"Techno is," Niki adds from somewhere nearby. "He's probably pulled half of them out by now."
"Sapnap's fast too," Ant calls over his shoulder, feeling oddly defensive of Sapnap - probably because they knew each other when they were younger, but still. "And he went in first."
"Yeah, to save Karl and no one else," Jack snorts. "Watch him let Techno do all the work after that ."
"Will you shut up?" Ant growls, twisting to glare at him. "What's your issue with Sapnap?"
"He's a selfish bastard," Jack snaps. "Was during the Pet Wars, and he still is . Stuck up, too."
"Knock it off, Jack," Niki finally says, stomping right up to him. "You're being a dick right now."
"Oh, so you're suddenly Sapnap's biggest fan?" Jack demands, and Niki does the one thing the SMP never expected her to do: smack him across the face.
"Ow!?"
"Focus, Jack, we're supposed to be working and you're being a jerk!" She whirls back around to find another ventilation shaft, signalling to Eret and Antfrost. "Over here!"
They rush after her, leaving a stunned Jack standing by himself. Callahan and Conner are dragging dirt and stones over to where Niki is standing to help block the hole in the earth. He stands there for only a few minutes before shaking her words off and rushing after them to help.
"You're right," He mutters. "Sorry."
Tubbo is heavy in Techno's arms, his body weak and limp but not lifeless , not yet. He's not too badly burned, too, just collapsed from the smoke. He wonders, briefly, if Dream would use the revival book on any of them, should they die here. He thinks so. Techno trusts Dream, and knows that in this circumstance, where all of them have to work to stop the fire, Dream could do something like that.
Even with his prickly exterior, Dream's got a good heart under there.
Techno gasps in a deep breath of fresh air as he exits. Sam takes Tubbo just as Punz reappears with blood smeared down his front - he was carrying someone with open wounds. Techno shudders briefly, then stares at him. "How many people have we brought out?"
"I think it's just Ranboo, Tommy, and Karl left," Punz answers, and Techno nods, taking another deep breath.
Punz tosses another fire resistance splash potion on him before he rushes back into the mine, listening to the voices to guide him to either of the three. He can find them - he's strong enough to carry all three of them at once, if he has to, though he knows Sapnap is also looking right now, focused entirely on Karl. The voices guide him downward, deeper, to somewhere darker than this, where the air is thicker.
He briefly imagines being trapped down here in the poisonous air, unable to breathe and hopelessly lost in the darkness of the smoke, and that thought makes him want to scream and cough and run for air. Instead he runs harder - because he needs to save whoever's trapped in here, he can't doom them to that fate, no matter who they are.
Punz's arms are open to catch Karl as Sapnap bursts from the mineshaft, tears streaming from his face. He's holding Karl in a bridal carry, not over the shoulder like the others, and his fiance's head lolls weakly against his chest, scarcely breathing.
"Take him," Sapnap sobs, shoving Karl into Punz's arms. "I- there's- Tommy and Ranboo are still in there, but I-" He looks at Karl again and makes a wounded sobbing noise. Punz gently tucks Karl against him, letting the man's head rest against his neck.
"I've got him. He'll be alright, Sapnap," Punz assures him. "Go get Tommy and Ranboo, I'll keep an eye on him."
Sapnap sniffles, then wipes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and throws himself back into the mine entrance, running into the smokey interior. Punz turns and rushes to the medical tent, Karl weakly breathing in his arms. He spots George taking mushrooms from Dream as he does so, and George's eyes widen in horror when he sees Karl's injured body.
Behind him, on the hill with the river, Quackity, Puffy, and Foolish are carefully working at the ditch, gently coaxing the water away from the river and into a small pond where they can use it to flood into the mine as soon as the rest of the trapped people are out. Quackity is careful as he digs, every strike of his shovel precise, and Puffy and Foolish are just as perfect, but none of them could've known that the rock between their pond and the mine's entrance is weak, porous stone just waiting for a little extra pressure to collapse.
"What the-?" Quackity starts, seeing small bubbles of air appear beneath his shovel as he digs into the pond. "Foolish? Puffy? Are you seeing these bub-"
He doesn't finish that sentence before Foolish's hand closes around his midsection and he's yanked backwards, against the demigod's chest beside Puffy while Foolish scrambles back. Quackity startles, freezing as he realizes he's been scruffed like a kitten, but the angle he's at allows him to see one, horrifying sight.
The side of their reservoir gives way into a massive sinkhole, dragging away the bank where he and Puffy were standing just moments before and pouring hundreds of liters of water directly into the mine's entrance.
Foolish doesn't release either of them, just stands there in horror until Quackity says what they're all thinking.
"Shit."
The rest of the server feels the tremor from the collapse and more people appear, staring in horror at the collapsed reservoir and the tidal wave of water racing into the mine where Sapnap, Techno, Tommy, and Ranboo are all currently trapped with no idea of the danger rushing toward them.
Techno's not that unaware, actually, because the voices start screeching something about water right about the time he finds Sapnap in the darkness, both of them running in the same direction toward one of the lower shafts. Sapnap's ears twitch and he shoots Techno a quick look.
"You hear that?" Sapnap asks softly.
"The water?" Techno responds.
"Yeah." Sapnap answers, then shakes himself off. "We need to get Ranboo out before the water hits us."
"You're-" Techno starts to protest as they turn a corner, skidding against the burning stone and narrowly avoiding tripping Sapnap on his tail.
"A blaze hybrid?" Sapnap asks. "Don't worry about it - I can take a little water. Ranboo can't, and I'm not big enough to keep them out of the water. I'll get Tommy."
"Heard," Techno snorts his response, and the two of them save their breath as they fight to the back of the mine.
Everything hurts so bad and it's hard to breathe.
Ranboo's not sure how they ended up deeper inside the mine while trying to find their way out but they're pretty sure they're trapped here, trapped until they either die or until Techno or Phil get here to rescue them. They weakly manage to pull out their communicator, lying on the ground and trying to take small breaths, to conserve the oxygen that's being pulled away by the fire.
Ranboo: help
Ranboo: lantern got knocked over. Fire in the mine.
Techno: on our way
Rereading that conversation makes them relax at least a little - Techno will be down here, or Phil will, whichever one of them makes it into the shaft first, and whoever it is will pull them out and carry them to safety. Somewhere it's easier to breathe, hopefully, because right now it feels like the air around them is filling with cotton and they're choking.
They're scared. More scared than they'd ever admit, but their comfort mostly comes from that message from Techno. Techno and Phil care about them - they'll come and get them from here, they'll save them. That makes the scared feeling less panic-filled, but they cling to each breath anyway, choking on every single one.
Distantly, there's the sound of hoofbeats and the thud of boots against stone and Ranboo feels relief wash over them, followed by instant clawing terror at the sound of water somewhere nearby as well. First fire, to suck out all the oxygen in the mines, then water to flush out the rest and to drown everyone still down here - not to mention eat through Ranboo like acid .
They feel sick. Horribly, horribly sick at the knowledge of the certain death that must be rushing toward them at this very moment. All they can do is lie here, breathe, and hope that death, when it comes for them, is fast .
Tommy is so badly burned that Sapnap initially mistakes him for Ranboo - before noticing that he's not tall enough and doesn't have a tail. He's crumpled by a collapsed passageway, one that has a small, crushed lantern right beside it, the oil burned away and the sides of the tunnel splattered with soot from an explosion. This must've been where the fire originated, then.
Sapnap spots another figure a few feet away as he drops to his knees beside Tommy - this time it's actually Ranboo, collapsed on the floor of the tunnel and scarcely breathing. Techno makes a strangled noise at the sight of them, dropping down to his knees to grab the enderman in his arms. He's there just in the nick of time, scooping Ranboo off the ground at the same moment a small trickle of water drips down from the passage, streaming toward them.
It won't stay a small trickle of water for long. They have to get out of here, and fast .
"Sorry, Tommy, this is going to hurt ," Sapnap mumbles, grabbing Tommy's less-injured arm and sliding himself halfway under the kid so he can hoist Tommy onto his shoulders. God, this kid is heavy - maybe it's the weight of his half-gone soul, maybe it's the effort of lifting him, maybe it's just that Sapnap's already carried two other people out of this mineshaft already - but he stumbles a bit and has to fight to keep himself upright.
The air down here is too thick. He's choking on it, he can't breathe , but he has to breathe, because if he collapses and dies down here then Tommy dies with him. They'll drown in the water pouring into the mine from up above.
Sapnap's never quite envisioned losing his final life drowning in a hole and he sure as hell isn't going to help it happen . He fights the water, carrying Tommy on his shoulder, and limps along after Techno. The water below goes from a trickle to a stream to a pour to a torrent as they climb, slow-going in the mine but fighting anyway.
He and Techno fought once, during Doomsday - Sapnap nearly killed him - they're a pair of fighters, both of them, they're not the type to give up easily, and they're certainly not the type to drown in a hole for crying out loud. Sapnap slips, just slightly, and when he reaches out to catch himself Techno twists, Ranboo braced against his chest with one arm and the other outstretched toward Sapnap, grabbing his hand in his hoof.
Sapnap shoots him a nod as a silent 'thank you' and Techno nods back, both of them pulling their way up the slight incline and toward a more level section of the mine, where Sapnap pauses.
"Hang on," He says. "Just a moment, I-" He stays braced against Techno's hand and carefully slips his feet out of his boots and then his socks, flexing his back talons. He doesn't use them very often, because he doesn't like going barefoot, but they'll help him climb here, giving him an extra layer of grip.
Techno snorts and mumbles something that sounds like 'lucky' before he leads the way, both of them scrambling out as fast as possible, acutely aware of the oxygen slowly leaving the cavern with the water flushing it out. Sure, he and Techno can both survive the low oxygen environment, but Ranboo and Tommy can't - and they're both injured already, their bodies limp and weak in Techno's arms and across Sapnap's shoulders.
The torrent of water climbs up their legs as they walk, until they're at the main entrance tunnel, this one almost entirely extinguished but filled with so much water it's at Techno's waist and Sapnap's armpits, trying to pull them away, pull them under and drown them in this cold, distant, terrifying maze of burning tunnels.
"Did they divert an entire river into here?" Techno huffs as they both struggle forward, piglin hooves and blaze talons digging into the sharp, hard stone of the mine's floor as they pull themselves along.
Sapnap laughs breathlessly, holding Tommy's head above water with one hand while steadying the rest of him with the other. They make it out of the tunnel just as the water reaches Sapnap (and Tommy's) chins, Ranboo fully wrapped around Techno's shoulders like an awkward fur stole to keep their enderman skin out of the water.
There's shouting as they emerge from the entrance and then arms pulling them out, ropes being tossed around their bodies to pull them to safety on either side of the water, each to a different bank.
Sapnap stumbles out of the water onto one of the banks with Quackity, Jack, Niki, and… Dream.
He and Dream make eye contact, then look away, both of them not knowing what to do or what to say, everything between them's changed so much in the past few years that being beside one another like this is awkward and painful .
Tommy twitches weakly and Sapnap forces himself to focus. No relationship issues right now - Tommy needs urgent medical attention, especially for those burns, if they get infected they will kill him.
"Give me Tommy," Dream instructs, stepping forward.
"Absolutely not ," Quackity snarls, stepping toward him with his waterproof duck wings half-open. "After all you've done to him, you're going to torment him when he's half dead?! "
Dream stares at him, trying not to scowl but he can hardly fight it, not after seeing similar expressions on both Niki and Jack's faces. He sighs heavily, then looks back at Sapnap's tired eyes and trembling muscles. He's not wearing shoes, his blaze talons digging into the grass like he'll be swept away otherwise.
Tommy looks worse . Barely breathing, burns down almost the entire right side of his body, blood oozing from cracked scabs and coated in soot and dust. His lungs are probably singed, too, and those burns are at an incredibly high risk of infection, especially after being dragged through a torrent of river water.
"We're stuck," He gestures to the water around them, which is rushing past their small island between the river and the collapsed reservoir, broken only by the occasional boulder or tree stump. "I'm the only one big enough to carry him and parkour to safety at the same time."
He's right and he knows it. Dream's gained a lot of his strength back in the past few months, and because of his height he'll be able to keep his balance. Everyone else… Niki's not strong enough to carry Tommy, neither is Quackity, and while Jack and Sapnap can - Jack is built like a string bean and would probably end up tumbling into the water, dragging them both into the mine to drown - and Sapnap is exhausted - he needs to rest and get his breath before parkouring for himself , much less Tommy, who's four inches taller than him and the same weight.
"I won't hurt him," Dream assures gently, wanting to yank Tommy away before Sapnap's muscles give out and he collapses, but instead he opens his arms and waits, patiently. "Those burns need treatment, and fast."
Sapnap stares into his eyes for a long time, before he eventually sighs. "Fine, here." He slips his way out from under Tommy and lets Dream gently take him, lifting him onto his own shoulders easily and steadying him across his back. He shifts his shoulders, then looks between them all. "If any of you need to parkour across, then follow me now and step where I step. Sapnap, rest here for a minute until you've gotten your breath?"
"Okay," Sapnap mumbles back, eyes tired, and he sits down in a heap. Quackity sits with him, offering a wing, and a minute later Niki does too, taking one of his hands in hers.
"I'm coming with," Jack says, looking at Dream with nervous eyes. He's missing his bicolored glasses and looks endlessly anxious.
Dream nods once, sharply, then takes a deep breath and plans his route. "Alright, I've got it. Follow my lead, step where I step, and move fast ."
"Okay," Jack responds nervously.
Dream takes another deep breath, then leaps like lightning, moving so fast he hardly thinks. Tommy is deadweight around his shoulders but Dream's carried heavier things while parkouring, so he honestly doesn't even notice as he hops across a couple destroyed fences, a boulder here and there, and once, the branches of a mostly-submerged tree.
It goes smoothly - only one terrifying moment where Jack slips and almost falls into the river into the mine, only to catch himself on a submerged bush at the last second, pulling himself to safety.
They reach the other side of the river quickly, landing easily and running the rest of the way to the medical tent, which is in complete chaos as everyone scrambles about, working to heal their injured friends, neighbors, and enemies. Sam and Bad are clustered around Skeppy, gently pressing healing potions into his injuries, Punz is flitting between Tubbo and Tina, as are Hannah and George, who only looks up briefly to crush a mushroom into Tommy's mouth. Fundy is beside Eret, along with Callahan, and Karl is being fussed over by a very worried Foolish and a less worried but still anxious Puffy, who's mindlessly running her fingers through his hair when she’s not staring at Skeppy.
Jack scurries to Tubbo's side immediately, and Dream sees Techno and Phil on the other side of the tent, Techno gently holding Ranboo in one hoof while holding a healing potion to their lips with another - they must've run out of splash potions at some point. It's… oddly peaceful, the members of the SMP who'd all spent the past few years hating each other's guts held on through a disaster like this, working together for the first time in forever .
Eggpire and Pro-Omelette standing beside one another, Las Nevadas beside Kinoko Kingdom and the Greater SMP with Snowchester. There aren't any countries or borders in this tent, just people . People who care about each other, through their hatred for one another, who've all mobilized to help when a disaster struck.
Dream gently lowers Tommy onto a cot near Techno and Phil, after wandering through most of the tent. He's got first-aid knowledge, of course, but Ponk will have to take over at some point - they're currently occupied taking care of Fundy's cuts so Dream does what he can in the meantime.
Cutting off burned clothing to get to the burns themselves, holding rags down to stem the bleeding, being gentle with potential broken bones and fractures - one of Tommy's arms is dislocated at the elbow. He hopes Sapnap didn't lift him by this at some point, then he's glad George gave Tommy that mushroom - he's going to need to sleep through this.
"Hang on, dude," Dream whispers, gently taking Tommy's arm in his hands. "This is really going to hurt, even if you sleep through it."
He realigns the joints and Tommy whines at the movement, his entire body tensing with pain that he's feeling through the sedation.
"George!" Dream calls. "I need another mushroom!"
George is at his side in an instant, crushing another after using a hand to part Tommy's lips enough for him to press the juice inside. "What happened?"
"Had to re-locate his arm," Dream answers. "I think he could still feel it."
"That's not good," George sighs, staring at his small bag of mushrooms. "These are pretty potent, so I'm a bit surprised." He sighs again, then looks up when Techno calls for him, ears pinned in anxiety.
Ranboo's breathing is evening out, but that does not mean that Techno is taking his hoof off of the left side of Ranboo's chest where he can feel them breathe and their heart beat at the same time, knowing that they're still here. He almost lost them . Techno almost lost his student .
Actually, screw that, Techno almost lost Ranboo. Ranboo, his weird funny enderman friend. Ranboo, who came to live with them in the arctic after doomsday and gave Techno an axe as rent. Ranboo, Lethe the Syndicate member. Ranboo, who treats Techno like the person he is.
If they'd died then Techno would never have forgiven himself.
"They're still here, mate," Phil says gently, brushing Techno with one of his wings.
"They almost weren't ," Techno whispers. "What if we'd been late - what if I- what if I couldn't hold them above water, Phil, what if I'd slipped?"
"You didn't," Phil reminds him. "They're alright , Techno, look at them. Breathing, sleeping, safe and sound. We'll get some food in them when they're awake and take them home. The whole server helped save Ranboo, look at all of us."
Techno does. Techno looks at everyone, and something in his heart lifts, the heavy, anxious, guilty weight in his chest slowly releases itself from his body. He looks down at Ranboo and realizes that if he'd slipped in the mine, if he'd fallen, Sapnap would've fought to get him back up - he's a strong little beast for a pretty small blaze hybrid. If Ranboo had been burned by the water then Sam and Hannah would've been there with potions to help.
It's so… weird , suddenly relying on all these people that've hated him and that he's distrusted for so long, but it feels good , too. It feels a lot better than the fear and suspicion. A small part of Techno hopes, deep down, that it could maybe be like this again, that the server maybe can come together again, maybe there is hope for their rotten, ugly souls.
He smiles weakly, then drags a chair over and sits down, tired out of his mind. Distantly he registers Sapnap doing the same thing, dragging himself into the tent with Quackity and Niki to collapse at Karl's side, equally as exhausted as Techno. They did just spend a terrifying amount of time sprinting through a smokey mineshaft saving people and then dragging themselves through at least a mile of running water , both of them deserve a nap.
Niki comes to sit by Techno and Phil and Ranboo, too, and Techno drifts off with Phil's hand on his back and his hoof still on Ranboo's chest, assured they're alive and safe.
Healing goes slowly at first. Tommy needs the most care, being at the initial blast and being covered in burns, but all of them need help. Burn and cut injuries, oxygen deprivation, exhaustion, for all of them. The tent beside the now flooded mine becomes a small, safe part of the server, where there aren't borders and factions, just people . People who need each other, people who care about each other, people who want their fellow people to be safe and healed and alright.
When people eventually start drifting back to their houses, heading home once they're healed and less beat-up and feeling quite a bit kinder toward one another, there's a mutual sense of understanding across the entire server. Techno understands Dream's words, finally, the ones that were probably fake but he's never been able to fully confirm that, mostly because every time he asks Dream giggles at him and refuses to answer.
There's still old wounds. There's still pain. There's still border skirmishes and arguments over stupid nonsense and people being idiots, but there's something else, too. Something that flows between them all. Something that manifests every time someone lends a pickaxe or shares a potion, something that gets stronger as, block by block, the server begins to dismantle Pandora's Vault.
There's something here now, something that there wasn't before. Something that promises a better future for them all, that promises a warm, safe world and a land filled with happiness and comfort and maybe, finally, peace . Something that runs in their blood, that runs in their hearts, in their breaths, in the little things they do for one another and the warmth they begin to share once again.
And that something is hope .