They Rely On Hope. What Do I Rely On? - Tommyinnit Adoption AU

Chapter 164

Tommy POV:

Tommy woke again in the hospital. He breathed hard, scrambling to sit up, his grip tight and terrified as he grasped at the hospital sheets. His eyes were wide as he scanned the room, seeing only two sleeping forms in chairs and a nurse, who was already moving towards him.

"Hey Tommy, what's the last thing you remember?" She asked, somehow knowing his name. At least she didn't call him Theseus... or Thomas... he hated both of those... could be worse though, he had always been one to collect names. They were never nice. The most common was "annoying brat" but Tommy... Tommy was nice. Nurses liked to call him that, although he supposed that was because Puffy did.

"Remember... The... the smiles... they came after me... then the Blood God... he found me... they found me... they know where I am! Oh fuck this is all a fake isn't it? You're not real, they are messing with my head. I can't. I won't. I will not fall for this! Not again! Get out of my head!"

"Tommy, Tommy you're ok, you're safe, they've been arrested, and found guilty. They are serving a life sentence. You're safe. You're in a hospital. You're safe."

"What happened to me? What happened to me? What happened to me?" The words spilled out of Tommy's mouth, his eyes still trying to search the room for the danger he knew was lurking, still trying to find something, anything, to help himself survive. Not safe. Not safe. Not safe.

For once, Tommy didn't care that he was asking questions, he didn't even notice it, the words just babbling out of him as his brain tried to find safety, only there was none.

"Tommy? Tommy? Hey kid, hey it's ok, you're ok. You're ok Toms, you're ok..." Puffy's voice surrounded Tommy the words repeating again and again, something warm resting on his hands. Tommy gripped it, feeling Puffy's hand squeeze back.

"You're ok, you're ok Tommy, you're ok."

"Is this real? Are you real?" Tommy mumbled, barely able to tell reality from dreams- from nightmares- it was too much. Too real. Too broken.

Puffy POV:

Puffy could feel her heart break at the terror and doubt and confusion on Tommy's face. He was so lost, so hurt, so afraid. She had to help him.

"I'm real Tommy. I'm real and I'm here, ok? I'm here. You can trust me, I promise you can trust me, ask me anything, ask any questions you have, and I'll tell you if it's real, ok? We'll play our game, ok? Real or not real?" Puffy repeated herself in phrases, making sure Tommy heard them through the panic he felt. He seemed to, as he nodded desperately.

"Masked smiles, real or not real?" Tommy mumbled.

"Real." Puffy replied, wishing they weren't, but not lying to Tommy. She had to be the epitome of truth here. He had to know he could trust her.

"Tubbo... Tubbo isn't coming back?..." Tommy's voice was shaky, and based on those words Puffy knew clearly that those monsters had done something relating to Tubbo. Something that caused Tommy to question it.

"Real," Puffy admitted sadly, wishing she could say 'no, you're 8 again, ur brother is alive, that whole thing was just a nightmare, look here Tubbo is right now!' But she couldn't, because his nightmare of a life had been real.

"They killed him Puffy, they killed him, 17 killed him, 17 killed him and laughed, he laughed! He laughed Puffy! I wanted to kill 17 so much! He should die! He had to die for what he did! He's a monster, his a killer! He killed Tubbo! He killed Tubbo! He killed him! He- k-killed him..." Tommy was sobbing, choking over his desperate words and Piffy wanted to take all that pain away, wanted to fix it all magically. But she couldn't.