Never Whole Again (SBI royalty AU)

Chapter 32- Protect Tommy

Karl POV

Karl sighed, flipping through the pages of his journal. He studied every page that had something to do with the shadow, but the supposed solutions were few and far in between.

"Will you stop?" Sam groaned beside him.

"What?" Karl paused, glancing at him in confusion.

"Whenever you're nervous you just keep flipping pages." he commented. "You've already looked through that book three times, there's nothing else we can get from it."

"But maybe I missed-"

"You didn't." Sam told him. "We just need to wait for the king, then we'll make plans from there."

Suddenly footsteps came towards them, causing them to both look up. The king stood there, a sadness in his eyes that hadn't been there before. He looked so tired, like he could sleep for days without waking.

"Your Majesty." they both bowed respectfully.

Phil glanced at Karl, studying him for a moment. "Who are you? I don't believe we've met before."

"My name is Karl, I'm a good friend of Sam's." Karl introduced himself, bowing once more.

Phil raised an eyebrow, "Karl... as in Karl Jacobs?"

Karl chuckled nervously, "Yeah that's me." He could only hope the king didn't believe every rumor that surrounded him.

Phil smiled after a moment, "Any friend of Sam's, is a friend of mine. Besides, we can take all the help we can get." He paused, "Speaking of which... Niki!"

A maid appeared almost instantly. She was the most trusted maid in the castle, often overlooking things that the king assigned to her personally. "Yes, Your Majesty?" she bowed.

"Could you go get my sons as well as George and Sapnap?"

"Of course." she rushed out of the room, set on doing her task.

"Why George and Sapnap?" Sam questioned.

"They know Dream the best, perhaps they might help in having an idea of what he's planning for his next move." the king explained.

"But this isn't Dream... this is the shadow." Sam reminded him.

"Regardless, the shadow often uses its user's strategies. That's how we defeated Schlatt." 

Karl nodded, knowing the king knew what he was doing. A few minutes passed before more people entered the room. Some angrier than others.

"You still haven't found him!?" George exclaimed, having not heard the news. 

Sam sighed, "He's being possessed George-"

"You're joking, you have to be." George shook his head firmly. "Dream is too strong to be possessed-"

"It's true-" Karl began.

Sam interrupted, "Remember when Dream was acting weird? That wasn't Dream, that was the shadow slowly taking control of him." Karl could tell how hard it was for Sam to break the news. After all, how do you tell someone that their best friend is now their enemy?

George paled, realizing that he really wasn't lying. Sapnap stood beside him, rubbing his back slowly. 

"What can we do?"

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Phil POV

What had started as planning out battle plans had quickly turned into arguing. They couldn't come to an agreement as to how to protect the newly found Tommy.

"I will not be bringing my son into a battle and that is final!" Phil shouted, making everyone flinch. The king hardly ever raised his voice, not used to the power it held.

Sam sighed, "I know you want to keep him safe, but the castle might not be the safest place for him." He was trying his hardest to be polite, but the king was difficult to convince when he was set on protecting his family.

Wilbur thought for a moment, looking towards his father. "The shadow will come looking for him again."

"You don't know that." Techno scoffed. 

"Think about it, he was taken before for some reason. And whatever the reason, Tommy escaped before it could happen. Who's not to say that the shadow is just waiting for an opportunity to capture him again?" 

Phil didn't understand. "Why would he need Tommy?"

"That's what I don't understand." Sapnap added, "What good is taking Tommy? It's not like he really knows anything, since he's been kept in the shadows all his life." George sat beside him, his head in his lap. 

"How about one of us stays here? That way he's protected." Wilbur suggested. 

"Ranboo will be here, I can assign him as his personal guard for now." Techno nodded. 

Phil however, looked skeptical. "What can he do against the shadow? He's only a little older than Tommy." 

Techno rolled his eyes, "Trust me, he's a lot better than you give him credit for." He shook his head, "He was trained by me Phil."

Silence echoed for a moment, giving Phil a second to process what was happening. It was just so much all at once.

Suddenly a voice spoke up from the corner. There stood Kristen, much to Phil surprise. He figured she would want to get as far away from his as possible.

"He's not going to take this well, you know that right?"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked through gritted teeth.

"Tommy is not one to sit back and let everyone else do the work. He wants to help when he can." she explained. "Back on the boat, he hated sitting and watching everyone else work. Made him feel useless."

Wilbur and Techno exchanged glances, but Phil spoke first.

"Tommy is not joining this war, not if I can help it."

And that night they left, headed towards where their armies stood. Phil regretted not telling Tommy where they were going, but he knew Kristen was right.

Tommy would find some way to follow them, like he used to when he was younger.

And Phil was not about to let his son see a battle, not after everything he had been through.

He was going to keep him safe, like he should have in the first place.

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-Snowy