[over the palisade]

chapter six

tw// arguing

Some many minutes were spent checking over Tommy and Tubbo, with Deo insisting he was fine. Once Techno had given Phil a nod, signaling they were both in fair enough condition, Phil beckoned Tommy over to the tent that he and Tubbo shared.

Tommy knew what was coming when he limped over to Phil who led him back behind the tent. Phil placed the torch in the ground and let out a long, disappointing sign. "Well," he started.

Tommy tried to fight back against saying anything, he really did, but alas, he is Tommy, "You're a bitch, I hope you're aware of that," Tommy hissed, crossing his arms and rocking from his heels to his toes.

"Tommy... I- well I'm glad you're alright. But what the hell are you doing out here? How did you even make it this far? How do you-"

"Well, Phil'Za, I'm not an idiot, contrary to popular belief," Tommy held himself back as he heard his father scoff, "I hoped that you wouldn't use your weird-ass spooky brainwashing magic, but look what happened. Kristin gave me some kind of magical rock thing that protects me from that," Tommy explained, rolling his sleeve up to show his dad the cuff.

"I'm a great liar when I need to be, what can I say," Tommy said, giving his father a boastful sneer. "So you know, I did some snooping, got some anonymous sources, gathered Tubbo, and set off. Do you think I would want to miss something like this? No!"

"Tommy- I... I don't even know where to start with how thoughtless and irresponsible that entire thing is. Do you even pause to think there was a reason I didn't want you coming along, Tommy?" Phil exclaimed.

"Oh, whatever! It's always "oh Tommy you're so young and fragile! Don't you see how big and scary the world is? You aren't ready!" When Techno was literally leading wars at my age. I'm so tired of you and all the others in the fae thinking so much lesser of me because I'm a fuckin' mortal. I get it! I get it I get it I get it! You don't have to tell me because I am reminded literally every single day I spend on this godforsaken plane!" Tommy yelled, his voice broke under the pressure but he held it all together the best he could.

"What are you going to do? Huh? Fucken send me right back home with that fucken mindless shit? Just assign me to be like the rest of them, forever stuck inside their own mind? Yeah, I'm sure you would love to."

Phil took a step back, surprised by his son's sudden outburst. He let the silence resonate while Tommy caught his breath before he spoke, "Tommy, is that why you're doing this? Because you feel like you need to prove yourself-"

"God, you finally figured it out, congratulations!" Tommy snarled, "Everyone keeps telling me some ominous fuckin shit about this and that and how "Oh you're destined for so much!" just to keep me locked up in some pretty little palace in the middle of nowhere!"

Phil reached out his arm and pressed down on Tommy's shoulder, "Tommy," He said stoically. Tommy didn't meet his eyes but he didn't start yelling again either, that was good enough, "I'm sorry."

"Oh yeah? Oh, I'm sooo so-" Phil cut his son off before he could rant any further.

"Tommy, please calm down. I'm sorry about what I did and I'm sorry that you feel like that," Phil let out a little sigh before continuing, "I know you've heard me say it before, but I only wanted you to stay because I wanted to keep you safe," Phil told him.

"I have no plans to send you back as long as you behave, Tommy. As long as you and Tubbo don't slow us down, then I don't see why you can't stay with us. You just have to listen for once in your life," Phil explained.

Tommy narrowed his eyes, "Well to be fair-" he started but Phil cut him off again.

"Will you behave, Tommy? that's all I need to know," Phil stated stoically.

Tommy quieted down for a minute, looking around on the ground and giving his dad a small nod, "Yeah... I will," he mumbled.

"Alright," Phil said, pulling Tommy into a side hug and patting him on the back. "Just... try for me. I believe in you."

Tommy rolled his eyes, "Whatever," he mumbled, pulling himself away from Phil.

Phil walked back from around the tent and Tommy followed suit. "Well, since your little campsite is well... compromised, I think you should pick up your stuff and horses and what not and head over to our site," Phil suggested to the group.

Tommy scurried over to Tubbo, and they nodded, "That sounds like a good idea if all of you are alright with that," Tubbo responded cheerfully, looking between Phil, Wilbur, and Techno.

Phil nodded and Wilbur shrugged. Techno seemed hesitant but shrugged and shifted his attention to something else, "That's fine and all, but what about him?" Techno asked, looking over to Deo who was wrapping a cut on his arm.

Deo looked up from his arm and towards the group and gave them a small wave before going back to fixing himself up.

"I mean he just saved us, I think he should stick around," Tommy suggested, waving back at Deo. "You guys should have seen it, he came from the trees and shit. And fire."

Deo sat in silence while Phil and Wilbur nodded to one another. "Sure, that seems like a fair assumption. I mean he was saying how he had been following you guys since the beginning so however he has keeping up, it's working," Wilbur explained, looking over at Deo for a response.

"Oh uh, yeah, I have a horse. And a little campsite. Pretty quaint, nothing much," Deo explained, looking over the hill to the side of the site. "You guys don't owe me anything, you don't have to keep me around."

Phil shook his head, "No no, we really owe it to you if you are interested in sticking around. I mean we're close to halfway, so it's your call whether you would like to turn back."

Deo thought for a moment, nodding to himself as he weighed his options. He looked between Tommy and Tubbo, and then the rest of the group, then back to Tommy and Tubbo before looking back at Phil and giving him a nod, "Sure, I don't know why I wouldn't stick around."

Tommy and Tubbo quietly high fived each other and Phil gave him a smile, "Wonderful, we need all the capable hands we can get."

Deo laughed and stood up from where he was sitting, "Well, you guys said we were heading over to your site? The sun won't be up for five or six more hours I would bet so we might all be able to get some more sleep."

They all nodded, Techno looked across the group, "Alright, uhh Deo? Deo, I think you said your name was, you go get your stuff while we help these two," He said, pointing at the younger duo, "Get all packed up, then we'll head over. And it might be a smart idea to have someone stand watch, but we can decide that once we all get situated."

The group nodded and dispersed. Deo must have been telling the truth when he said he packed light as he was back within half an hour with a bag or two and a satchel packed onto his steed. When he returned, Phil asked him to gather the duo's horses as well as they got the tents packed up.

It didn't take too much longer for Wilbur and Phil to be leading the group back to their original site. Tommy and Tubbo scuffled with each other, Tommy avoiding Phil like the plague for most of it, their previous argument still rustling around in his mind. Meanwhile, Techno and Deo walked behind the rest in silence, simply leading the horses and listening for anything else unusual.

The rest of the night passed with ease. They quickly set up Tommy and Tubbo's tent and gave them an extra blanket or two, not bothering to unpack their stuff. Deo revealed he didn't even have a tent, just a hammock and a tarp which he could set up in minutes, and Techno took it upon himself to stand guard for the rest of the night.

And so, night passed. Dark hours fell into those of warm light and birds started chirping all about. Techno sighed as he looked at their mishmash of a group and couldn't help but laugh a little. Maybe Tommy wouldn't be such a bad addition anyway.

Either way, a few parties had some explaining to do. How Tommy managed to anger an entire clan of goblins, they would all like to find out, or how Deo knew their plans... there was a lot to find out, but for now, Techno just had to trust... something he was never very good at.