Child Soldier

Chapter 14; Checkmate

"Big Q!" Tubbo shouted from the stage, knees shaking as he caught another strike against his sword, he damn near fell back, but strengthened his legs and took the full force of the blow against his weapon.

He shouted for Quackity to commence with the execution.

Quackity wasn't far from Techno and rushed up the steps to the main stage, heading straight for the lever that would seal Techno's fate.

The man passed by Tommy and Tubbo on his way, and Tommy moved to strike him, meaning to catch Quackity before he could reach his destination.

Tommy leapt back from Tubbo, but before he could strike Quackity from behind, the young president thrust himself between them and caught the blade against his already cracked shield, the item nearly splitting in half by now from the sheer power of Tommy's weapon.

His sword was also beginning to wear against the superior materials Tommy was wielding.

"Move!" Tommy yelled angrily, his voice booming as he shouted at Tubbo and the boy flinched back, eyes opening wide.

Tubbo was frozen.

He knew that voice.

Tubbo had never had Tommy speak to him with such anger and aggression, but as foreign as that tone was to be directed at him, Tubbo still immediately knew.

He could never, ever, forget that voice.

"Tommy?" Tubbo's voice shook as he realized the one he'd been fighting this whole time was the boy he had been aching to see for so long, his closest friend, his brother. He had so many things he wanted to say, but everything stuck in his throat like a stone.

Tubbo's defense was slowly lowering at the realization.

"I said, move!" Tommy shouted and side swiped the boy, Tubbo's shield finally crumbling under the weight of the blade but he kept his body between Quackity and Tommy.

The plan had to go through, that was Tubbo's one objective.

"Kill him!"

Tommy heard Dream's voice blast across his communication lines, clear as day. He flinched in response, stalling for a moment. Tommy thought he'd maybe misheard Dream, but the command came through again, more demanding than the first.

"Kill him, Tommy! You have to stop Quackity!"

Fuck, fuck, fuck... Tommy's mind was panicking at the orders he was being given.

"Kill him! Now!"

Tommy willed his muscles to move, his body felt like it was a marionette being pulled by taught strings. Every move he made, he felt more distant from, his mind divorcing his physical form.

He'd need to be far away from his actions emotionally, in order to follow through on the command.

Tommy launched forward and hit at Tubbo's sword, the boy could barely hold him back with the furiousness that Tommy was coming at him with. It was relentless, one strike after another. Before long Tubbo was on the ground with Tommy above him.

Quackity was pulling the lever, and Tubbo was holding back the blade Tommy had aimed for his throat. The look in Tommy's eyes was unlike anything Tubbo had ever seen, it was like he was looking at an entirely different person.

Tubbo's blade began to bite into his skin, as it was pushed past his armored palm, the only thing keeping his throat from being slit was his death grip with both hands on his own sword.

"Tommy." Tubbo's lower lip quivered, as his friend's name escaped from his mouth in a whisper, his voice that of desperation, but it fell on deaf ears.