One week left and everyone was running on fumes.
Looking around, Tubbo guessed that no one had gotten more than 5 hours of sleep the previous night. He hadn't, that was for sure. Just remembering to eat was hard enough sometimes- there was so much to be done and they had so little time.
Philza, who stood at the head of the table, looked to be the worst of the group. He'd been struggling to coordinate everyone, keep track of progress, and train Tommy at the same time. He'd definitely taken the lead on the prepping, and his efforts had worked.
The group standing around the table was much more prepared than the group that had gone in to rescue Tommy. Everyone looked grim.
There wasn't even a need to gather everyone's attention- they were already silent. Tubbo actually jumped a bit as Phil began.
"Mates, we're at the time where there will be a constant chance an assault will be launched on Illosia." The thought sent shivers down Tubbo's spine. He'd only lived in the city for less than a year, but it had begun to feel like more of a home than his hometown. The concept of an assault being launched on the streets where he'd patrolled so many times, on the corner store where he and Tommy had stocked up for a winter storm, on his own apartment? It all felt so foreign, an idea that was difficult to hold onto for any given length of time. But it was also all he could think about
"We're going to keep constant watches. We've also put out a request for civilians to call in if they see any strange smoke." Tubbo was jolted out of his train of thought as Phil continued. "It's under the guise of a minor, poison smoke-based villain I faced off against once being at large again. If we get a lot of calls about smoke, we'll know what's happening."
Finn chimed in from his desk, "I've been watching the city's CCTV pretty carefully and I haven't seen suspicious activity anywhere. Even in the building where they held Tommy- No one's been in or out."
Dream nodded, "Our on-foot patrols have seen much of the same. It seems like they made threats then vanished off of the face of the earth."
"Damn..." Tubbo heard Tommy mutter. Everyone seemed a tad bit more dejected. Wilbur clenched his fists and looked down at his feet.
There was a second of silence, then a crash as the door to the meeting room was thrown open.
"We've done it." Aphmau stood there, a bit breathless, holding a clear vial in her hands. Wilbur's head shot back up.
"You... You made the antidote?" He said, an incredulous look on his face.
Aph nodded. "And... I hate to do this to you again, but at least this time you get the choice. Wilbur, will you be the test subject for this?"
Wilbur let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in and a grin slowly covered his face. "Yes, absolutely."
----------
The injection was the most difficult part. It brought up a lot of bad memories. Tommy stayed with him through it, holding his hand and talking about everything and nothing to keep Wilbur distracted.
"We're done!" Antfrost, who had given the injection, announced.
Wilbur looked away from Tommy, mild confusion on his face. "You injected it already?" Antfrost nodded. "Damn, Mute hurt a lot more than that did."
"I'm glad. I do have some bad news: the marks from where they added the dye in Mute to make it visible may be permanent." Antfrost said, apologetic.
"...I think I can deal with it. Battle scars and all."
----------
Wilbur's powers came back slowly. He could silence people by the end of that day. The only issue was that it seemed he was back at square one. He realized, with disdain, that he'd have to retrain his power from the beginning, just like Tommy. Luckily, Wilbur had written down some notes on his powers, so he had a bit more of a basis to start off on. By the second day of that week, he had his basic sound attacks and silencing abilities down.
Tommy watched most of Wilbur's training, often just sitting on the sides and making comments.
"Man, having basic power training must suuucck," Tommy said, drawing out the last word.
Wilbur, who was trying to make a sound barrier, laughed. His arms were shaking and there was a sheen of sweat. "You're..." He exhaled, the barrier becoming visible and solid, "You're one to talk."
"Do you want to join him, Tommy?" Philza asked from where he was sitting in the room. Tommy's eyes went wide and he shook his head quickly. Phil laughed.
"I did it!" Wilbur exclaimed, pulling his hand back. The barrier held for a second before fading.
"That's progress!" Phil said. He smiled at Wilbur. Wilbur looked at his hands, flexing them.
"It may be progress, but will it be enough? To fight?" Wilbur said. Tommy looked at Wilbur and for a second, he felt small. This was someone who he idolized, who he thought of as an older brother, who was on his level. Wilbur was never supposed to be like this, never supposed to be like him. It gave him a little pain in his chest to consider.
"We'll just have to see, Wil. You've grown a lot." Phil said, walking over and patting Wilbur on the back.
"Re-grown. I used to be able to do this stuff easily." Wil scoffed.
Tommy looked down at his hands. Technically, the fact that Wilbur was in this situation tied back to him, didn't it? It was his blood that had gone into the final version of Mute that had wiped out Wilbur's power for good. If he hadn't freaked out, if he hadn't let Minx grab him, it would all be ok. It was his fault, wasn't it? How could he have done this, to Wilbur, to everyone? Tommy's vision began to blur with tears. He was a monster, wasn't he? He should just go-
"Tommy? Are you... crying?" Wilbur's voice was tinged with concern. Tommy didn't want to look up at him.
"N-" Tommy sniffled "No."
There was a moment of silence, and Tommy saw Wilbur's hands encase his own. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's fine." Tommy tried
There was some shuffling, and the door opened and closed. Wilbur stayed with Tommy. Tommy took one of his hands back, sniffled, and wiped his eyes. It didn't help.
"...Toms, please, what's up?" Wilbur said. Tommy looked up at his face. Genuine concern covered his face.
"I'm... I'm just... I'm so sorry." The floodgates opened and tears began to roll down Tommy's face. "I'm so sorry for so much like making everyone come and get me and having a stupid power and stupid blood and-" Tommy sobbed, gasping for air in between his rambles and tears.
"Hey, hey, it's ok! None of this has been your fault, ok? You tried as hard as you could, all of those times. And you have no control over your power. It's a power I think is quite cool, actually."
"Bu-but I... My blood made Mute. My blood took away your power. It- it was my fault."
"Tommy, Toms, none of that was your fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's Fundy's. He gave me the injection. You did nothing. Ok?"
Tommy stayed silent. Wilbur pulled him in for a hug. The sweater he was wearing was soft against Tommy's cheek.
"Yeah..." Tommy breathed out, relaxing a bit. "Ok."
Phil came back in a few minutes later, finding the two boys still entangled in the hug. He smiled and set the two glasses of water he'd brought down next to them. Maybe, he thought, maybe these kids will be alright.
----------
Things were oddly quiet, considering the threat hanging above everyone's head. The last few days of the week came and went, and everyone was left hanging. Nothing happened.
The Guardians met back up in the Hub anyways, all feeling a bit dejected. Dream made some pizza for them to eat for lunch and the group sat around a table in a meeting room.
It was dead silent.
No one knew how to feel or what to think. Things were supposed to have happened by now. Everything felt kind of stagnant.
It was dead silent, which made the blaring alarm all the more startling.
"REPORTS OF THICK BLACK SMOKE ARE COMING IN... ON ROSILA STREET!" Finn's voice rang over the intercom. "GEAR UP AND MOBILIZE IMMEDIATELY."
The screech of chairs getting pushed back filled the room. Everyone ran off to wherever they'd stored their armor.
---------
Tubbo and Tommy ended up in the same room. Tubbo grinned at Tommy as he shrugged on his cloak. "I guess this means revenge? And it's in the same spot as where this all started." Tubbo said.
"Oh, yeah, it is," Tommy said, adjusting his new bandana and picking up his baseball bat. "It's kind of ironic, isn't it? We, as the people we are now, getting to have this big fight in the place where it all started."
Tubbo nodded, picking up his staff. A small smile covered his face. "I guess it could be a chance to say goodbye to who we were, and hello to whatever comes next."
Tommy paused, contemplating the idea. "Whatever, man. I'm too cool for sappy things like that." He said, grinning. Even though he dismissed Tubbo's idea, he thought it would actually be nice to get to say both hello and goodbye to himself.
The Clingys headed to the lobby to get sent out to battle, just like the first time.
---------
"The last time we were on that street, nothing good happened." Skeppy said. Bad looked up.
"It wasn't all bad. I mean, we got to meet all of these people. We got to be vigilantes."
"Yeah, after I got fucking-"
"Language!"
"Freaking choked to death!" Skeppy said.
"But we're stronger now. It's like a redemption arc! We can prove we're stronger than we were." Bad pulled his hood up and put on the new gas mask Shubble had made for him.
"Yeah, yeah, I like that. Maybe this time will be better." Skeppy fixed his hair and put on his mask as well. The pair walked down to meet up with the rest.
----------
Wilbur grabbed his guitar, picking it up and looking at it for a second before slowly setting it back down. He grabbed his staff instead. It felt uncomfortable in his hands, especially compared to the familiar weight of his guitar. He sighed, but finished suiting up anyways. He'd get it all back to normal, both his powers and the circumstances.
Yeah, Wilbur promised himself, staring at his reflection in the staff. I'll do whatever it takes to bring it all back to normal.
At that moment, Techno ran down the hall, towards the stairs. He stuck his head in the room Wil was in.
"Stop... staring at your metal stick and come meet up with us." Techno said, before dashing off.
Wilbur took a deep breath and followed behind Techno.
---------
The Dream Team were all silent in their gear room. Dream looked carefully at the ground as he changed his mask, putting on the one more suited to fighting. George did the same with his glasses, and Sapnap put his gas mask on a bit too tight, just in case. Other than their breathing and the noises of gear being moved, the room seemed to swallow sound.
Dream put his hands to his side, where the scar from his stitches were. A pale reminder of the past, of what had gotten him here.
He looked up at his friends and they were looking back at him. A single nod from each of them communicated all that they needed to say.
Let's get this battle won, for each other.
----------
All Niki felt was guilt, as she put on her voice modifying mask. She was betraying some of her first friends. Niki watched the other former villains geared up.
"Are you... sorry?" she asked, breaking the silence.
"What do you mean?" Minx said, looking up.
"For... for Fundy and for Tommy and for everyone who we hurt. Do you feel... sorry, to them?"
Minx looked confused for a second, but soon nodded. Eret remained silent.
His crown felt a bit heavier on his head. "Every second," they stated quietly, Niki barely hearing them.
With that, they finished suiting up and headed down, ready to battle. Parially to soothe their guilt, partially to convince their allies they were trustworthy, but all for themselves.
----------
Philza looked out over the city, watching smoke fill the streets. He folded his hands and took a breath.
Phil had let one city crumble, under his leadership. He had let a city crumble when he cared for no one there, when he wanted only fame and fun. At least, when he thought that was all.
This time, he couldn't. He had let the love of his life fall in the ruins of a prototype city. He wouldn't let his new family suffer the same fate. He couldn't.
He had to be a leader, he had to be ready to give things up. He had to be ready to give everything to save a handful of people.
He didn't know if he could ever really be ready, but he was going to try.
Phil picked up his hat, rubbing the heart charm that was once gifted to him for good luck before putting the hat on.
He headed down the stairs to meet with the rest.
---------
The lobby was crowded, five minutes after everyone had been sent to gear up. The heroes were pulling up masks, preparing for what felt like the final combat. They could see smoke filling the streets, getting close to the Hub.
Philza stood up on a chair, spreading his wings and gathering the attention of the gathered.
"Well, mates. This is it. Do your best. We can do this."
And with that, Tommy let out a yell, pulled up his bandana mask, and ran out into the street, Tubbo right behind him.
The ones who started last leading the final battle.
The Dream Team marched out as a powerful trio. The former villains walked out carefully, cautious. Techno and Wilbur nodded at each other before marching out with the swagger of many battles won.
Philza watched them leave. He took one last moment to himself, to take in all that he'd done to get him this far, to reminisce and to celebrate and to mourn.
And then he left it all behind him, gliding out into the streets.
Time was up. The battle was beginning. The dice had been tossed and it was up to fate to see how they would land.
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A/N
We're here, at the end, nearly a year later. I'm almost kind of sad that I have to let this story go- that's partially why i ended up taking a hiatus.
I know this fic isn't half as big as it used to be, but I figured I should give you, the readers, a chance to shape this. Well, somewhat-
Choose a letter and comment it. You'll find out what it means after, but this is both up to you all and fate. Best of luck with your choices!
(The letter choices are just A, B, and C, by the way! Both Wattpad and AO3 votes will be counted.)