Child Soldier

Chapter 16; The Eye

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Tommy and Dream sat beneath a large oak tree, as they watched Tubbo being lowered into  grave dug out at the base of the L'mantree, the one remaining part from the previous destruction of L'manberg. The tree a symbolism for the resilience of their country and it only felt befitting that Tubbo be laid to rest there.

Nearly everyone showed up, all paying their respects, but most silently standing by with solemn expressions. None of them knew what to say. This had taken everyone by surprise and now the country was at a loss, leaderless, and afraid for what the future may hold.

Tommy sat in the grass, anxiously pulling at the blades and ripping them up from the earth small handfuls at a time. Dream sat beside him cross legged on the ground, while Techno checked in every now and then, but enough people were at the funeral that Phil's escape would be child's play.

Everyone had questions, but none appropriate to ask at the funeral.

What were they going to do next?

Why did this happen?

Who was responsible?

Was there going to be another war?

Instead they stayed in silence. The appropriate time would come but today was a day to mourn.

A slow drizzle began in small droplets that slowly grew more persistent.

How befitting. Quackity had thought, standing by the grave, he turned his palm up to feel the rain against his skin, eyes drifting up to the dark sky. He took a moment to appreciate the rain sprinkling against his face, before taking a slow deep breath and looking to his right. Quackity carefully grabbed one of the shovels that was planted in a mound of dirt they'd dug from the grave and took it firmly in both hands, spearing it down into the dirt again.

Using the shovel, he scooped the soil up and began tossing it down onto the casket below. Fundy walked from the front and joined beside him silently. The fox was then followed by Niki. Even Ranboo, who looked like the shell of someone he once was, managed to muster the strength and energy to help bury their dear friend.

"Let's go, Tommy," Dream whispered to the boy. Standing up, and dusting any residue from the ground off his pants.

Tommy stood slowly, not having noticed he was crying until he surprised himself with a sniffle, and rubbed the back of his hand across his face, feeling the tear that'd run down his cheek.

In the moment he'd killed Tubbo, Tommy had felt nothing, he only had one goal and that was to follow through on what Dream had told him to do. That's what he'd been taught. Listen to Dream and everything would be fine, that's how it was now, that's how it had been for long enough that he'd been sufficiently taught that lesson.

In the aftermath however, Tommy was still trying to cope with his actions, the only way he knew how to now was to rely on Dream to validate him. He needed the man to be his emotional crutch, and Dream was more than willing to support him as long as he needed. This wasn't exactly his intention when he told Tommy to kill Tubbo, but the result was more than ideal for the man.

In fact he'd honestly only told him to do so, to see if Tommy would.

As they walked away, Dream put his arm around Tommy's shoulders comfortingly, which the boy appreciated. Usually he'd flinch when Dream would reach toward him, expecting to be struck, but just as Tommy had reminded himself all along, Dream didn't strike him for no reason.