The Lives We Save

Home

Tommy ran into the room he, Tubbo, and Ranboo we're staying in. The two other boys jumped at the sudden intrusion.

"Um, hey Tommy." Tubbo said, "what's up boss man?"

Tommy smiled at his friends. He lifted a tablet and...

"Tubbo! Tubbo! Tubbo!" Tommy spammed a button on the device.

The shorter boy jumped up, "Yo what the fuck!?"

Tommy laughed, pressing the button again, "Tubbo! Ranboo!"

"What is this?" Ranboo asked, walking over with a smile.

Tommy tapped a few things on the tablet, "Talk. With. Tablet. Kristen. Gave."

"That's awesome!" Tubbo laughed.

Tommy's smile fell slightly. He fidgeted with the corner of the tablet before tapping a few buttons again.

"Want. Stay." Tommy typed, "Stay. Here."

"You want to stay here?" Ranboo asked.

Tommy nodded, "Like. Here. Please. Stay. With."

Tommy hugged the tablet as he looked up at his friends. Tubbo and Ranboo looked at each other.

"You... Want us to stay too?" Ranboo asked.

Tommy nodded, tears filling his eyes. Tubbo rushed to hug his friend.

"Don't cry! We're not going to leave you!" Tubbo told him, "we, um, we we're going to ask Phil if we could stay..."

Tommy's face lit up. He spammed the stay button on the tablet.

Tubbo laughed, "yeah, we're gonna stay."

"Is that so?"

Phil stood in the doorway, a small smile on his face. The boys shrunk back.

"I-I mean, if it's okay?" Tubbo asked.

Phil laughed lightly, "of course it's okay. We can go back to your old house later to gather the rest of your stuff."

"I-It's okay, we don't have much there..." Tubbo admitted.

"Really?" Phil's eyes furrowed in concern.

Tubbo shook his head, "I don't really have anything there that I'd want to take..."

"I've always lost anything I wanted to keep, so I just stopped holding on to things." Ranboo shrugged.

Tommy fiddled with the tablet. He didn't have anything at the old place either. Nothing he wanted to keep at least. Only blankets and food.

Phil nodded, "okay. Then tomorrow we're taking you three shopping."

"For what?" Tubbo asked.

"Clothes, fidgets, toys, decorations." Phil explained, "anything you'd want or need."

"Why would we need anything other than some clothes?" Ranboo asked.

Phil's expression softened, "life isn't just about what you need. You can have things that don't serve a purpose. Or some things that you don't know will help you, like Tommy's tablet."

Phil looked over the boys confused expression's, "have you never had a toy? Or a favorite blanket or something?"

The boys shook their heads. Phil blinked in surprise. How had these kids survived this long? The mental strain of being constantly on survival mode would have had serious mental and physical repercussions.

Phil sighed softly and gave them a small smile, "alright. Then we'll just have to fix that. You three just make yourselves comfortable. I believe the gardens are open around this time."

"Can we pick the flowers?" Tubbo asked excitedly.

"Sure." Phil chuckled, "just make sure not to pick all of them."

"Yes!" Tubbo laughed, grabbing Tommy's hand, "let's go!"

Phil smiled after the boys. The gardens were a good place to relax and reset. Hopefully it would help the boys settle in easier. Their trauma might make them anxious of calm places, expecting immediate danger around every corner.

Phil shook his head softly. They would be alright. There was a therapist in the castle. He supposed he should introduce them soon, especially with Tommy and Ranboo having their symptoms and stims. Phil wouldn't want them getting hurt because Ranboo switched, or because Tommy was stimming too much.

In the gardens, Tubbo and Tommy had found daisies. The two immediately started weaving the stems together. Ranboo smiled at his friends. They were so happy here, and he was too. He hoped it would last forever.

Ranboo blinked, and had a fully made flower crown in his lap. When had he made this? Fluffy alliums mixed with daisies clearly added by Tubbo, the shorter loved making chains of daisies. But he had no recollection of weaving in yellow rose buds, clearly his handiwork.

"Hey boss man, you back?" Tubbo asked, making Ranboo look up.

"Um, y-yeah." Ranboo blinked.

It had gotten significantly darker all of a sudden. The sun was low in the sky, almost an entire day gone.

Ranboo looked at his friend, "did I flip again?"

Tubbo nodded, "yeah. Ender. They just made flower crowns the whole day. We couldn't even get you up for lunch."

"Oh." Ranboo ducked his head, "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be boss man." Tubbo smiled, holding out a hand, "Phil told me to come get you for dinner. It's in about half an hour."

Ranboo took Tubbo's hand, letting himself be pulled up, "okay."

Tubbo frowned lightly, "are you sure you're okay?"

Ranboo nodded, "yeah, it's just weird. I haven't flipped for that long in a while."

Tubbo hummed, "alright. Well, Tommy's waiting for us."

"Okay." Ranboo followed Tubbo back inside.

The daisy chains layed softly against the sore of a rushing waterfall, wilted from the day. A singular daisy floated out to the middle of the pond. It stayed there, shimmering in the sunset waters. Not a breath disturbed it.

Slowly, the daisy sunk down with the sun, until it disappeared into the water. And it was gone.