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"Stop moving so much." Dream chuckled, leaning over Tommy who sat atop two chests stacked on top of one another, in Techno's home, his feet dangling down as he continued to flinch away from Dream's touch.
"Fuckin hurts, man..." Tommy complained, Dream rolling his eyes in response as he slowly brought the needle down again, pushing it through Tommy's skin while he sewed the huge gash in the boy's face closed.
"F-fuck." Tommy whined as the sharp point pierced through his skin. His nails dug into his pant legs as he tried not to scrunch his face or pull back in reaction to the pain.
"It's pretty nasty." Dream told him, keeping his movements precise as he did the best he could with the supplies he had, and amateur experience. It's not like Ponk was anywhere near with a proper first aid kit or his medical expertise.
Techno was pacing his cabin anxiously behind the two, one hand on his chin as he glared down at his floorboards, hooves tapping back and forth.
"Can you please." Dream sighed looking over his shoulder at the man. "You're distracting me, what's up?"
"Phil." Techno said, covering his mouth with his hand even further, his brows were furrowed in worry. "I have'ta get him, Dream."
Dream focused back on his work with Tommy, trying to get him fixed up as quickly as possible. They still needed to disinfect and wrap it so his wound wasn't exposed to the elements, the last thing Tommy needed was an infection.
Healing potions had helped of course, but they weren't a miracle cure, and while they clotted the blood enough to keep it from dripping down Tommy's face like a damn near waterfall, the gash was too deep for the skin to close. On top of that, Tommy could only consume so many before he'd become ill from them.
"We're gonna have to stay back." Dream told Techno. Not about to explain why, it was pretty evident, and a rescue mission for Phil wasn't exactly a high priority on Dream's list at the moment, nor did it require three people.
"That's fine." Techno said, looking between the two. "I gotta go, not much time before they do somethin' to him, especially since Tommy here killed their president."
Tommy flinched at that and Dream gave the boy a disapproving sound at his sudden movement.
Tommy hadn't had a single moment since having escaped L'manberg to even contemplate on his actions, and Techno's words caused a lump to form in his throat as he recalled stabbing Tubbo in the chest in enough detail to make him sick to his stomach. A tremble ran through him as he thought back on it.
"Kill him! Now!" Tommy could still hear the order ring through his ears and he took in a slow and shaky breath. Sure, Tommy had been pissed at Tubbo, he'd probably been the angriest he'd ever been in his life. Even angrier than he'd been when Eret had betrayed them.
He felt so wronged, so backstabbed, so abandoned. The worst betrayal he'd ever faced yet.
But to kill Tubbo...
Tommy's breath hitched.
He was lost in his thoughts for so long he hadn't noticed the cold gust of wind that rushed in when Techno had left.
"Tommy." Dream's voice brought him back and he blinked, eyes flicking up at Dream's emerald ones, piercing through him. As if Dream could tell exactly what he was thinking, the man offered him a calming praise. "I'm proud of you."
Those words felt like a tall glass of water after having wandered the desert for weeks, something Tommy had forgotten he needed, but once he received it, he desperately wanted more.
"You made a hard decision. But you did the right thing." Dream reassured him, and Tommy drank it up, replenishing his very soul with Dream's approval and words of validation. "And Tommy-"
Tommy swallowed, still maintaining eye contact. He didn't nod, as Dream was still sewing the wound across his face, but Dream was aware he had Tommy's full attention in that moment.
"He would've done exactly the same." Dream told him, without an ounce of doubt in his voice.
"Y-yeah." Tommy said, eyes flicking down as he nervously wet his tongue across his lower lip, tasting some dried blood. He hoped Dream was right, he had to believe he was right, or else he'd begin to split apart at the seams.
-
Quackity stood at Ranboo's side as he had his meltdown, watching over him. The man's eyes still unable to acknowledge their fallen friend, who's body by now had lost all warmth. His once warm complexion and cheery demeanor, had turned to an empty shell of what the boy had once been.
Ranboo was hugging Tubbo tightly, whispering his name as he begged for him to come back and for all of this to be fake. His dearest friend, his closest ally, no light was brighter in his life than Tubbo, and in just seconds it had been snuffed out.
Ranboo, overcome with the stress of his reality, began to enter his Enderwalk, eyes flashing lavender as he fought against it. Usually, negative memories like this he would push from his mind entirely, not voluntarily, but his mind felt the need to purge anything he found most difficult to process.
He had to remember though. Ranboo wanted desperately to remember this, and never forget. He had to remember who did this to Tubbo.
The boy tore away from Tubbo's body suddenly, on the cusp of his Enderwalk and barely staving it off. He slammed his hardcover journal against the wooden deck below him.
If he wanted to remember, then he had to write it down.
Quackity watched, staying silent as he saw Ranboo's shaking hand scrawl in giant letters across two full pages of his journal.
"TOMMY KILLED TUBBO."
The next pages Ranboo filled from top to bottom with that statement, over and over he wrote it, until his hands were shaking so violently that the letters were illegible and devolved into nothing more than frantic scribbles.
Ranboo's movements gradually slowed as he was overtaken by his body's natural defense mechanism to the overwhelming stress consuming him. His shoulders slouched, and with blank lavender eyes, he stared dead ahead.
Ranboo scooped his journal up from the planks gently, the book disappearing in an array of particles, next followed by Ranboo as he flickered away, disappearing from sight.
Quackity let out a shaky breath, caught off guard when he heard Fundy's quiet voice from behind him, timid and uncertain.
"What do we do now?" Fundy asked.
Of course he'd ask Quackity, the man thought. It was now him who was in charge, the role of leader passed down to the next in line and Quackity knew that was him, just by the nature of his character, and position in the cabinet. It was expected of him.
Though he supposed he'd really been leading this from the beginning and maybe if he had never gone for Techno in the first place, their friend wouldn't be lying lifeless in front of them, and Fundy wouldn't be looking to him for guidance now.
"We get revenge, Fundy." Quackity said, willing himself to finally look at Tubbo's body. His heart ached in his chest, as though it were going to tear through his ribcage, and he wished he could do just that. Strip himself of the pain of loss. "But first, we have to bury him."
Quackity walked closer to Tubbo, crouching down slowly, and he scooped the shell of the boy up into his arms, handling him with the gentleness you'd offer a doll made of porcelain.
"Get started on the funeral preparations, Fundy." Quackity swallowed down a stone in his throat, attempting to remain stoic, but his voice had wavered and his breath shook. "Then we focus on our next plan of action."
Fundy said nothing in response, just nodding as he walked with Quackity from the deck, down the street of L'manberg with their young president lying cold and limp in Quackity's arms, eyes still open and lips still parted, lines of blood now dry, running down either side of his mouth.
"I'm so sorry, Tubbo." Quackity's voice broke as he whispered the words under his breath.
-
That night, Tommy and Dream had dug out a basement below Techno's home, the man didn't have enough room for the two of them upstairs, so they took it upon themselves to make some space.
It was big enough for some leg room and two beds, which was all they needed at the moment. They weren't planning on staying for too long likely, but Dream wanted to stay for at least a couple of days to remain on the downlow.
The man wasn't sure if they'd even noticed his presence, but Tommy certainly had a huge target on his back. If they were mad at Techno for his crimes against the country, they'd certainly be out for Tommy's head after he'd killed their president.
The boy in question, was lying in his bed on the opposite side of the room from Dream, staring up at the dirt ceiling above them.
He couldn't stop thinking about what he'd done. Every time he closed his eyes he could see Tubbo, his lips mouthing Tommy's name, the sound of his shaking voice. The way his face creased in anguish, the blood pooling up and pouring over the corners of his mouth, as the light faded from his eyes.
Tommy was no stranger to death, but watching it so close was different.
Tommy lifted a hand and placed it over one of his eyes, trying to take his mind off of it, but he couldn't.
In the silent darkness, he had nothing else that his restless thoughts could drift to but the sight of who had been his closest friend, dying by his own hand.
The images were carved into his brain.
Tommy let out a sigh and closed his eyes reluctantly.
Tubbo's face looked back at him, eyes wet with tears that weren't full enough to spill down his cheeks yet. They had so many words unspoken between them.
Tommy's eyes shot open again and he jerked up from his mattress, hand clutching his chest. His breathing was picking up, on the verge of a panic attack that he tried to will himself down from.
"You did the right thing." Dream had told him. But did he really? Was that the right thing?
"He would've done exactly the same" Would he?
Tommy looked over at Dream's sleeping form, his eyes adjusted enough to the dark that he could see the man's chest slowly rising and falling.
Tommy slid his legs slowly from his bed, bare feet touching the cold stone floor and he shuffled over to where Dream slept. It'd been so long since he'd done something like this, and it'd only ever been with Wilbur, when he was having horrible nightmares. The last time being in Pogtopia, after their exile.
Tommy reached out to Dream, and shook his shoulder gently. "Dr-!"
Tommy leapt back when Dream jerked awake with a start.
The man, without thought, instinctively grabbed onto Tommy by his shirt, pointing a crossbow at Tommy's chest that pressed hard up against the boy's ribs, and Tommy froze, standing completely still as his wide eyes watched Dream.
It took Dream a second before he was fully awake and realized his offender was just Tommy, and he quickly dropped the crossbow. Before it could clatter to the floor it flickered out of existence, back to Dream's inventory.
"Tommy." Dream said, voice rough from having been asleep.
"N-nevermind..." Tommy said quickly as he was released and he took a few steps away.
"No, no. What is it?" Dream asked over a deep inhale of air, rubbing at his face tiredly. After so many years of hunts, training, and running from assailants day and night, Dream was not only an extremely light sleeper, but dangerous to wake as well. He sleepily grumbled out a "Sorry."
"I-..." Tommy opened and then closed his mouth, not sure how to ask. But he needed Dream's presence, he needed the reassurance the man could offer him, or he'd begin to fall apart from the inside out. Tommy finally built up the nerve to ask timidly. "Can I sleep with you?"
Such a strange tone to come from Tommy, Dream had rarely heard him ask for something with so much vulnerability behind the request.
"Um, y-yeah. Sure." Dream had to think for a moment, but he figured if Tommy was asking for such a request, then the boy just needed to be close to someone right now. Tommy was always a very social creature, he thrived best when around others and loneliness ate him alive like a disease, Dream having witnessed first hand from the boy's exile. "You alright, bud?"
Tommy meekly lifted the blanket and slowly laid down on his side next to Dream, setting his head on his second pillow, facing Dream. The man scooted over, closer to the wall, still lying on his back as he gave Tommy some room.
"Y-yeah, just... Ya know, Tubbo and stuff." Tommy told him, voice still low and expression solemn as he spoke honestly, pulling the blanket up to cover the lower half of his face.
"Yeah." Dream responded, understanding in his voice. "It's okay to regret it, Tommy. It's only natural, but in reality, you had to."
"Did I?" Tommy asked, feeling odd about questioning Dream, but maybe he was just trying to coax more reassuring words from him.
"Did he try to strike you, Tommy?" Dream looked over at the boy, having been staring up at the ceiling until then, his arms crossed over each other on his abdomen comfortably.
"Yeah." Tommy spoke quieter, not sure what Dream was getting at.
"That's proof he'd have done the same, it was you or him. If he had no intentions to hurt you, he would have stood down." Dream told him, looking back up at the ceiling, and Tommy thought to himself. The room fell silent, but it was a comfortable silence, not stifling or thick.
"You're right." Tommy finally responded, shutting his eyes and holding Dream's words close. "It still hurts though." He whispered under his breath.
"I know, Tommy." Dream told him, closing his eyes himself and taking in a deep, calming breath. "You'll be okay."
-
Techno had returned that morning from visiting Phil, the man was distraught about Tubbo's death but otherwise was still being treated fairly, since Quackity had his sights set on Tommy now, and was busy planning for the president's funeral.
"The funeral should be in a few days." Techno told Dream as they all hung out in the living room, Tommy attempting to reapply the bandage to his face after having just cleaned the wound and applied more antibacterial ointment. It hurt badly still but he tried to ignore that.
Dream watched the boy struggling and approached him, taking the gauze from his hands gently and Tommy reluctantly offered it up to the man.
"Ay, I had it ya know. I'm not a kid." Tommy frowned, annoyed but appreciative when Dream began to bandage him up. The entire right side of his face being wrapped in gauze, the cut ran from above Tommy's left eye, down across the bridge of his nose and stopped at his cheekbone on the right.
It'd certainly leave behind a gruesome scar.
"Yeah, yeah, sure, big man." Dream snorted in response, bringing the roll of gauze up and around his head, then down to cross over his jaw.
"Just a few days?" Tommy looked over at Techno when he'd realized what the man had said, and Dream gently took Tommy's chin in his hand, guiding Tommy to look forward again so he could better bandage him.
Techno gave a nod in response.
"I'm gonna sneak in while they're distracted." Techno told them. "And after I get Phil back, I'm gonna start plannin' for my revenge." Techno said with a dark chuckle, already certain of what his plans would be.
"Revenge?" Tommy asked next and Techno looked over to him, Dream also tuning in to the conversation now. Revenge sounded like fun, and Dream was always down for some chaos. The man thrived off of it, and if it was a plan to strike against L'manberg then Dream was doubly interested.
"They tried to execute me." Techno reminded, with a touch of anger in his voice. "And they hurt Phil... I was retired, Tommy, I put my violent ways behind me. They forced my hand, and now? Now they're gonna regret it."
"I'm in. Whatever you have planned, that is." Dream turned toward Techno, after having secured the bandage to Tommy's face.
"I want to go to Tubbo's funeral." Tommy said, catching them both off guard.
"Tommy, what?" Dream almost laughed, an amused look on his face that was crossed with confusion. "You can't go to L'ma-"
"I know. I'll take some invisibility potions, yeah? I'll stay hidden. I just." Tommy looked at the floor, biting his bottom lip. "I want to see him one last time."
Dream looked a little nervous, not certain if it was safe for Tommy to attempt such a thing.
It was strange for him, to have originally seen Tommy as nothing more than a puppet, and now after everything they'd been through, he felt more and more attached to the boy. Assuming the role of big brother, not only in Tommy's eyes, but in his own as well.
"I'll go with. Just to make sure you're safe." Dream told him and Tommy let out a 'tch'.
"I don't need a babysitter, Dream." Tommy complained and Dream rolled his eyes, amused again by Tommy's response.
"I'm not babysitting you." Dream scoffed with a chuckle and ruffled Tommy's hair. "I just don't think you could win a one versus twenty if they see you."
Tommy huffed in response to that, knowing Dream was right but not wanting to admit it.
"Great, you two can keep an ear out for me then." Techno smirked over at them and Dream returned the gesture with a firm nod.
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A/N Hope u enjoyed the chapter! Lotsa character development and just kinda chillin vibes, a little on the heavy side but lil bit of that /comfort too lol