Winged TommyInnit Story

Chapter 2

Tommy was awoken by an intense pain. It felt like his back was getting stabbed over and over again. He bit into the pillow below him, trying his best not to cry. His breathing became labored. He felt helpless, and he hated it.

"Tommy, are you awake?" Shit. It's Dream. Why was he here so early? "Y-yeah." Tommy cursed himself for stuttering. He watched the masked man walk into the tent. He gasped as he ran to the teen's side. "What's wrong?" "I don't know. My back is worse." "Can I see what's wrong?" The younger blonde gave a small nod. He felt his shirt being lifted.

As Dream examined the teen's back, the first thing that stood out to him was the large, red, inflamed areas that ran down each side of the spine. Next, there was something by each shoulder blade that looked like it was trying to get out. Two open sores were leaking clear fluid. Dream tried to run a hand down one of the red areas, only for Tommy to let out a hiss in pain. The former quickly retracted his hand. "Sorry!" "Don't do that again," the younger stated while glaring at the other.

"So, what do you think is going on?" "I don't know. Can I check your file for a moment?" "If you think it'll help." Dream did just that. At first, everything was fine. But once he reached the line that said "species", something went wrong. There was a screeching sound, the screen froze, then the page crashed and rebooted. The two shared a confused look. Dream scrolled back down to the same area as before. Instead of saying "Species: Human," it said, "Species: ______".

Dream furrowed his eyebrows and let out a "hmm..." "What do you mean by 'hmm'? What's going on?" "Take a look for yourself." He allowed Tommy to see the admin panel. It didn't take long for the teen to see what was wrong. "Why is it blank?" "That's what I want to know."

The two shared a moment of silence until they heard a certain ghost outside."Hi, Tommy. We were supposed to hang out today- Woah! Are you alright?" "Hi, Ghostbur. No, I'm not. My back is bothering me." The dead man hurried to his brother's side. He saw something on the boy's back that caught his eye. He picked up a piece of yellow fluff. "Was that there before," Tommy asked. Dream simply shook his head no.

"I think Phil might know about this." Before the other two could protest, the ghost had pocketed the material and rushed to the Nether portal. The two shared a look before silently agreeing to wait for Ghostbur to return.

--Time skip. With Ghostbur--

Ghostbur stood in front of Philza's house. He knocked on the door, which the winged man promptly answered. "Oh, hey, Ghostbur. What's going on?" "I wanted to talk to you. It's important." "Okay, come on in." Phil stepped aside, allowing the brunette to make his way inside. Both of them sat down once the door was closed behind them.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" "It's about Tommy. Something's wrong." "Oh yeah? What's going on?" Ghostbur's mind went blank. "Wait, what was I saying?" Phil gave his son a patient smile. "You said you wanted to talk about Tommy. And that it was important." The spirit hummed absentmindedly and looked in his inventory. He noticed something that seemed to jog his memory. He pulled out the yellow fluff from earlier.

"Can I take a look at that?" "Yeah. I was hoping you'd know what this is." Ghostbur handed the material to the winged man, who held it with such care, you'd think he was holding a baby bird. "Where did you find this?" "I found this on Tommy's back." The brunette gasped in remembrance. "Tommy's hurt! That's why I came to get you!" Phil's eyes went wide. "Then we have no time to lose" Phil grabbed his hat, and the two of them left.

--Back with Dream and Tommy--

While the two of them were waiting for Ghostbur's return, Tommy kept trying to doze off. However, each time, a jolt of pain would keep him awake. Eventually, the masked man spoke up. "Tommy, how long has this been going on?" "What do you mean?" "Your back. How long has it been hurting?" The teen took a moment to recall the events of the past few months. "It started shortly after Wilbur died. But the pain wasn't this bad. I barely noticed it. I thought it would go away on its own. It did, but only for a while. It came back a few days ago. I'm sorry. I should've told you sooner." "Hey, it's okay. I'm not mad." "Really?" "Really. I'm a little disappointed, but not mad. After all, we're friends." Tommy smiled weakly. At least he had someone.