{A/N: Mmmm Bench Trio fusion pog. Anyways, time for a bit more ✨spicy character development ✨, AKA trauma! So TW for scenes of abuse, manipulative behavior, HEAVY gaslighting, and reminders of past trauma later in the chapter. As usual, credit to Toby_Lossed for the art and idea, and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! I'm gonna struggle writing this 😅}

Bold Italics: Tommy

Bold: Ranboo

Italics: Tubbo

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     A few hours after Ben's 'birth', the new fusion stretches their long arms after those hours were spent entertaining Michael and Shroud with a rousing game of tag, said fusion now tired and worn out from the energetic toddlers.

     "God damn, those two have a lot of energy... Michael's not normally this active... Must be because Shroud is here! It must be! Either that, or because of all the excitement around us fusing a lot. Probably... Shroud is never this hyper..." As the fused trio talk, the toddlers in question are running around each other, giggling and playfully pushing each other. Shroud grins at Michael before playfully pushing him and sprinting out of the front door, Michael chasing after him with an adorable squeal. The fusion doesn't notice at first, but when they do notice that the loud, gleeful sounds of two toddlers playing tag has all but disappeared, it immediately jumps up onto their feet, eyes already searching for the two.

     "Michael? Shroud?" The timid fusion calls out, eyes wide with slight fear as they frantically look around, it's fear only growing at the lack of sound from the two kids. "MICHAEL!!! SHROUD!!!" They shout as it starts frantically looking around, desperately trying to find the unfused trio's two sons. After a frantic search of the main areas of the mansion, they finally get to the front door, noticing the door slightly ajar and what are clearly fresh trotter and skinny spider leg tracks in the powdery snow outside the door. Ben pales slightly when their eyes wander down the trail... and sees that same trail heading straight for Las Nevadas. Ben's entire frame shakes slightly as it suddenly sprints out of the door, swiftly following the trail as fast as their long, lanky legs can carry them, adrenaline and parental protection fueling their movements forward.

Meanwhile, at Las Nevadas...

     "For the last fucking time, Wilbur, I'm NOT letting you live in Las Nevadas!!! I'm NOT having ANOTHER GODDAMN L'MANBERG!!!"

     "C'mon, Big Q! You and I can take Las Nevadas to even greater heights than it already has been! Think of all the people we'll help, the money we'll ma-" the tall, revived Brit is interrupted by the sounds of squealing and laughing, the arguing TNT Duo looking towards the noise and seeing Michael and Shroud, the two toddlers still gleefully playing tag and blissfully unaware of the danger they're about to stumble on. "Who the bloody fuck is that with Michael...?"

     "Why the hell is Michael outside his manor? And who the fuck is the spider with him?" The half duck and revived male look at each other with a snort, seeing as they had the same thought. Quackity returns his gaze to the two toddlers before a devious idea enters his mind, a wicked smirk making it's way onto his scarred face. "Heya Michael! C'mere and give Uncle Big Q a big hug!" At the unfamiliar voice calling his name, Michael's ears suddenly go flat to his head, all movements halting as his one eye starts slowly looking towards the voice with noticeable fear. Wilbur raises an eyebrow at Quackity's words and actions, but slowly catches on, a smirk on his face as he pulls out a cigarette and lights it, offering an unlit one to Big Q. The half duck takes the cigarette and accepts a light from Wilbur, the glow of the cigs casting eerie shadows on the pair's faces. Michael shakes like a leaf as he stares at the two strangers, frozen with fear while mentally crying out for his Boo and Bee to rescue him. Shroud steps in front of Michael protectively, one set of his spider legs crossed in a guarded manner as he slowly pulls out a wooden sword. Quackity snorts and laughs uproariously at the spider's brave attempts at protecting the frightened zombified piglin, an amused smirk making it's way onto Wilbur's scarred and stitched face.

     "Isn't that fuckin' cute, Wilbur? Michael's friend is being protective of him since that thing's 'parents' are nowhere to be found! I'm SO glad you wandered over here Michael... Now your bratty parents can FINALLY fess up what that outpost is for! Unless they wanna watch you die, that is..." A wickedly evil grin is on Quackity's face, Wilbur looking at the duck with a slightly concerned look.

     "That's... a bit extreme... don't you think, Big Q? I mean, I know I did some fucked up things to L'Manberg and it's citizens, but I never purposely killed a child..."

     "Sometimes, Wilbur... you gotta go to the extremes to get what you want... and I want that damn information. Hell, I might even be able to get the land from the outpost too! Or even all the land of Snowchester and that lovely mansion of theirs!! So... c'mere Michael!" The piglin in question stares at Quackity, still paralyzed in fear as Shroud protectively points his wooden sword at Quackity, shaking his head bravely. Quackity chuckles softly and slowly approaches the toddlers.

TW: Abuse, manipulation, and mentions of past trauma ahead!

     Quackity roughly pushes Shroud aside, the spider toddler squeaking as he hits the ground hard, a nasty scrape on his arm from the rough contact with the cobblestone as he helplessly watches the half duck roughly grab a now crying Michael by the arm. The piglin struggles to break free of Quackity's grip, which causes the adult to squeeze his grip almost deathly tight, causing Michael to squeal and almost shriek in pain.

     "Don't try to run away, you brat, or I WILL fucking make you regret that." Quackity growls softly at the child, the toddlet shirking away from the scary man and shaking in pure terror. In the nearby woods, Ben swiftly sprints through the dense brush, not caring for any possible injuries they maintain from the thick brush and the pointed branches. They emerge from the woods on the cobble path next to the Bee Duo's outpost and see Quackity aggressively holding a terrified Michael, Wilbur standing practically on top of Shroud and taking drags off of his cig without a care, his other hand that is not occupied with holding the cigarette in his trench coat pocket. Ben's eyes flicker between their normal different colors and a deep royal purple, a sign of Ranboo's angered Enderwalk state possibly triggering from the stress.

     "MICHAEL!!! SHROUD!!!" They shout with a growl to their voice, drawing Wilbur and Quackity's attention as they swiftly sprint towards the duo. Ben pulls out a Netherite axe and aggressively swings at Quackity, causing the startled half duck to let go of Michael in an attempt to dodge the aggressive attack, the zombie piglin immediately grabbing Shroud's hand and sprinting to a safe spot behind the fused trio, whose fists are trembling with pure rage, their eyes a deep purple. Quackity stares at Ben with genuine fear in his one good eye, Wilbur staring in surprise.

     "So... The three of you figured out how to fuse together... That's brilliant! But, once again, you're gonna need to unfuse so I can get Tommy by my side again. Or do I need to go through with my promises from earlier this week...?" Wilbur's expression darkens as his face grows serious. Ben growls softly and grips their axe tight, their purple eyes glaring daggers at the tall Brit.

     "You're not going to lay a FINGER on Tommy... EVER AGAIN!" Ben shouts as he aggressively swings the axe at Wilbur, whose eyes widen as he swiftly tries to sidestep the attack, a small tuft of his dark brown hair getting chopped off instead. The tall Brit's eyes are wide with shock at how close death was to taking him back into her cold, but caring clutches at the hands of the fused Bench Trio, but he quickly collects himself and stares at Ben with uncaring eyes. Wilbur swiftly pulls out a Netherite Sword and blocks Ben's next attack, a smirk slowly dancing it's way onto the scarred and revived man's face. After Ben's next wild attack, Wilbur bashes the hilt of his sword into the fusion's stomach, making the tall figure wheeze and curl up slightly, giving the Brit a chance to kick them to the ground and roughly dig his heel into its chest.

     "God, you three are so weak! Can't even properly fight me! I can't even IMAGINE how you three managed to take care of L'Manberg while that stupid ghost of me was out and about! I'm honestly GLAD Dream, Phil, and Techno blew it up for good! My unfinished symphony should have been left unfinished!!! JUST AS I WANTED IT TO BE!!! BUT YOU THREE INCOMPETENT IDIOTS JUST HAD TO REBUILD IT AND BRING BACK ALL THOSE HORRIBLE MEMORIES AND ALL THE TRAUMA IT CAUSED!!! L'Manberg's second destruction is all your faults... You brought it upon yourselves... All that abuse... Tommy's exile and the abuse he went through with Dream... Tubbo's execution... Ranboo being haunted by Dream himself... You three DESERVED. It. All..." As Wilbur speaks, he slowly digs his heel into Ben's chest, making it harder and harder for the fusion to breathe and maintain their form. As each of their traumas are brought up, their form shakes more and more, a triumphant grin working it's way onto Wilbur's face. Quackity sits in silence, just watching the whole scene with growing concern and underlying anger on his face.

     "You three are SO DAMN PATHETIC!!! CAN'T EVEN HANDLE ME BRINGING UP YOUR PASTS WITHOUT FALLING APART!!! YOU THREE ARE LUCKY I NEED TOMMY ALIVE, OR I WOULD FUCKING KILL ALL THREE OF YOU RIGHT FUCKING HERE!!!" A loud cackle leaves the Brit's lips, a crazed grin on his face as his heel digs harder, the fusion almost splitting right there. "COME ON!!! BREAK THE FUCK APART SO I CAN GET TOMMY!!!" With Wilbur's truely insane self revealed, Quackity finally pulls himself to his feet and kicks Wilbur off of the fusion, who is barely maintaining their form.

     "THAT IS ENOUGH, WILBUR!!! IF I HAD KNOWN YOU WERE THIS SICK AND TWISTED IN THE FUCKING HEAD, I NEVER WOULD HAVE LET TOMMY STAY WITH YOU!!! GOD, YOU'RE FUCKING INSANE!!!" Quackity turns his gaze to the wheezing fusion, seeing how their form is quaking heavily. "I dunno what the fuck is going on with you guys, but get out of here. I'll take care of Wilbur, you... three? get Michael and that spider kid to safety."

     "YOU'RE JUST AS FUCKING BAD, QUACKITY!!! YOU WERE GONNA USE MICHAEL TO EXTORT INFORMATION OUT OF TUBBO AND RANBOO!!! YOU EVEN THREATENED TO KILL THE KID!!"

     "UNLIKE YOU, WILBUR, I WAS FUCKING BLUFFING!!! I KNOW DAMN WELL THAT KILLING MICHAEL IS A DEATH SENTENCE FOR THE WHOLE DAMN SERVER SINCE TUBBO HAS FUCKING NUKES!!! IF YOU FUCKING KILL TUBBO, TOMMY, OR RANBOO, YOU WILL HAVE SO MANY FUCKING PEOPLE ON YOUR ASS!!!" While the TNT Duo continue their argument, Ben shakily stands up and weakly runs to Michael and Shroud, picking them up before running back to Snowchester, their whole form still shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm. The fusion barely makes it back to the mansion before they start to break apart and unfuse, swiftly setting Michael and Shroud down as the now three young teens are all breathing heavily, their faces pale and their expressions clearly showing how much of an impact Wilbur's words had on them.

     "I was fucking executed for betraying Schlatt... Techno even fucking apologized heavily for it the next time we saw each other... Even if that was on Doomsday..."

     "How the heck did he find out about Dream being in my head...? I didn't tell anyone that..."

     "I didn't fucking ASK for Dream to torment me during exile!!! How in the bloody fuck is that my fucking fault?!?! I didn't fuckin' ASK to be tortured!!!" The three teens look at each other, all of them seeming a LOT more tired than before. Michael and Shroud glance at each other before clinging to their respective parents, giving an adorable hug to try and cheer up the teens. Tommy snorts and gently rubs his hand through Shroud's hair, Tubbo and Ranboo tightly hugging Michael together. When Tommy goes to hug Shroud, the little spider toddler squeaks in pain and gingerly holds his scraped arm, stepping away from Tommy momentarily. The blond teen notices the scrapes and a dark look enters his eyes, slowly drawing his sword and turning towards the door when Tubbo grabs his arm.

     "It's not worth it, mate. Quackity will take care of Wilbur. That duck may be a greedy arsehole, but he at least has some kind of moral code." Tommy growls softly and shakes Tubbo's grip off of him.

     "Except it was Quackity who threw down Shroud and hurt Michael... Not Wilbur... Him covering our asses is NOT going to make up for him hurting our kids..." Shroud frowns and tightly hugs Tommy's leg, making the angered blond meet his gaze as he swiftly shakes his head. Tommy sighs and runs a hand through his adopted son's hair, putting his sword away. "Alright, Shroud... I won't go."

TW over.

     "We all need to recover... Let's stay here for a few days to recuperate... ok?" Ranboo suggests, gently cradling Michael and assessing his injuries, which was a minor bruise on his arm from Quackity's strong grip and a few tiny scratches from branches. Tommy undoes his clean bandanna and goes outside, collecting some snow into the red fabric and bringing it back. He takes the snow and balls it up inside the bandanna, gently patting the slowly melting snow on Shroud's injury. The spiderling hisses lightly at the pain, but Tommy runs a hand through the child's hair and softly shushes to help soothe the toddler.

     "Once we're all rested up... I want fucking revenge on those two... They hurt our damn kids..." Tommy mutters softly, an enraged, but determined look in his eyes.

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{A/N: Whew! After getting a HUGE case of writer's block, I FINALLY finished this chapter! About damn time haha. I wanted to wait to publish the first part until this part was done so I could post them both for y'all's reading enjoyment! Not gonna lie, I wanna deck C!Wilbur this chapter XD Anyways, here's my rundown of Ben!

Name: Ben (Derived from Bench Trio)

Height: 15'4" (Fucking tall boi :0)

Sexuality: Bi-Curious

Pronouns: They/Them/It

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of 'What's Fusion?'! I sure enjoyed writing this! Hope you all have an amazing day/evening/night!

EDIT: I forgot to put this in the OG publishing LOL. So I'm changing the upload schedule with this story! I will not be publishing chapters until the main fusion chapter AND the Aftermath chapters are both written. So it'll be a bit longer between chapter posts, but you get double the content! Anyways, have a great day/evening/night!}

{Work Count: 2553}