i'm starting to realize this is in a slightly different style of writing than what you guys are used to. i've been doing this script writing contest and i think i might have formatted this chapter the way i format scripts but I'm trying to fix it bear with me :')
⊱⊱ ── {◆✧◦ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ◦✧◆} ── ⊰⊰
When Wilbur brought Tommy back to the castle, he ran to his room and locked the door, heart racing.
Because holy crap, Tommy's never felt so weak before.
It was slowly dawning on him that Wilbur could control everything he did and didn't do, because of a stupid mistake he brought on himself.
Tommy could hear his heartbeat in his ears, and he slowly sat down on his bed, hugging his knees.
Wilbur was right, Dream would probably think Tommy was being so weak right now.
He had to prove himself.
In a fury, Tommy pushed himself off his bed and towards his closet.
If Wilbur wanted Phil to die in agony, then Tommy would make it the most painful death he could muster.
Wilbur said his jacket was washed and placed next to his bag.
Yet, when he walked to the place he hung his backpack, his face paled.
His backpack, and jacket, was gone.
Fuck.
In a panic, he left his room.
What if a servant... or Phil or Techno found his bag?
Or worse, what if Wilbur found his bag, and was going to kill Phil himself?
Tommy wiped his hands nervously on his pants.
In his hurry, he didn't even notice he walked right into Niki.
Both of them stumbled backward, and Niki grabbed Tommy's shoulders to balance them both.
"Hey there," she said with a kind smile. "Where are you heading?"
"Uh... the dining room. Yes, the dining room. I'm really hungry."
"Well then, go ahead, get something to eat. You know where it is, yeah?"
Tommy nodded and she smiled, ruffling his hair.
"Okay then, have a good breakfast Tommy, I got to go get something done for Wilbur."
Tommy only slightly flinched at the name, but before Niki could question it, he ran off, towards the dining room.
On cue, his stomach rumbled.
Maybe he would get a snack.
Upon walking into the dining hall, he realized it was fate because he made direct eye contact with a girl, around his age.
Wearing his jacket.
Tommy narrowed his eyes.
"That's my jacket."
The girl looked up at him, and Tommy raised an eyebrow at the mask she wore over her mouth and nose.
She stared straight through him.
"Is it? I don't think so."
She held Tommy's stare and he tensed up.
"Give me back my jacket."
The girl smirked at him, pulling the edges of the jacket closer together and putting her hands in the pockets.
"What do you even mean? This is my jacket."
Tommy stared at her, fear fading into annoyance.
"Are you for real right now?"
The girl didn't reply, only shrugged.
"Okay I could get you fired, you know." Tommy raised his voice. "If Wilbur finds out about you breaking into my room and taking my jacket you could get fired."
Technically that was a lie.
Tommy didn't know what terms Wilbur and him were on right now.
The girl rolled her eyes.
"You're the one trying to take my jacket."
Tommy gaped at her.
"That,"
Tommy pointed to the butterfly, taking a step closer.
"Is my butterfly badge. And those stars,"
Tommy pointed to the five-star patches taking another step closer.
"Are my ranking patches. And that smile on the sleeve?"
Tommy pointed to the smile, practically standing in front of the chef at this point.
"My brother sewed that on for me."
The girl's face blanched at his words, and Tommy couldn't help but feel a wave of satisfaction.
"Who?" She asked shakily. "Wilbur?"
Tommy blinked, before rapidly shaking his head.
"What? Oh no, no my... adoptive brother. Someone, like... it's hard to explain-"
Tommy cut himself off before he said something he regretted with a sigh.
"Just give me back my jacket."
The girl took one long look at the smile on the sleeve of the jacket, before taking a deep breath and taking it off in one go. She threw it at Tommy, who caught it with one hand, still watching her.
"I knew it. Take your fucking jacket."
Her voice was cold and dripping with hatred.
"I don't want it anyway."
Tommy smirked, putting on the jacket.
"Yeah. That's right. My jacket."
Tommy looked down at himself as he put his jacket properly on, but when he looked back up at the chef, his smirk dropped.
She looked like she was about to cry.
"Wait, wait wait are you crying?"
She glared, looking away from him and rubbing her eyes.
Tommy tried to apologize.
"I'm sorry that was harsh of me, I'm really sorry-"
She cut him off.
"It's whatever."
It was silent for a second, and Tommy took a step closer to her.
"No, I shouldn't have shouted. I just missed my brother and took the anger out on you. I'm so-"
She cut him off again, on the edge of hysterics.
Her fingers tightened into fists.
"I'm not upset you hurt my feelings. You're good. You can stop."
Tommy stared at her, confused.
"What?"
She ignored his question, looking back absently at the patch on his jacket.
A look of longing.
"Your brother sewed that on your jacket?"
Tommy followed her gaze to the patch, before smiling.
"I mean, I consider him my brother yeah."
The girl turned a full 180, facing away from Tommy and towards the door.
Her voice was cold.
"Great. Thank you. Good to know I was replaced."
The girl walked straight out of the dining area and towards the kitchen, slamming the door shut.
Tommy stood there, watching the door with wide eyes.
Without thinking, he followed her, opening the door to the kitchen. The chefs cooking stopped to stare at him, jaws dropped and eyes confused.
One of the chefs, most likely the head, turned to him with a bow.
"Prince, is there something you would like?"
Tommy looked around the kitchen for the girl, but he couldn't find her.
"Um, a girl came in here, do you know where she is? Like just now."
The head chef thought for a second before nodding, pointing towards the back.
"She is in the break room, your highness. If you must, you may see her."
Tommy thanked the man, before carefully walking towards the break room. He was trying his best to avoid the stares he was receiving.
Just as he expected, the girl was in the break room, sitting on a small bed. It was entirely empty, other than her. When she saw him, she glared daggers.
Yikes.
Tommy walked up to her carefully.
"What did you mean when you said replaced?"
The girl looked back down into her lap, before holding up a piece of paper for Tommy.
Tommy stared unsurely, before grabbing the paper carefully.
After further inspection, Tommy realized it wasn't just a piece of paper.
It was a picture.
And Tommy may not have known when or how or even what this picture was, but he recognized one person in the picture, standing directly in the middle without his mask, looking around Tommy's age, maybe even younger. With his arm wrapped around the girl standing in front of him.
Tommy's eyes widened.
"Dream?"
The girl nodded, before pulling back the picture.
"Look, it's whatever. I don't even care anymore."
Tommy was still so confused. He's been doing that a lot these days.
"Who are you?"
The girl flinched, but her face was passive, as if she was expecting it.
"He's never mentioned me before?"
Tommy thought back to everything. The pictures on the walls of the academy, the earlier days where just the two of them used to bunk, but no matter how hard he thought, he could not remember Dream mentioning a girl Tommy's age.
Tommy's gut twisted at the thought of Dream actually replacing a living person with him.
"Stop thinking that."
Tommy snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her.
"Thinking what?" he asked, unsurely.
"Dream isn't a bad guy. It's my fault. I messed up our relationship really bad, I should have expected it."
Tommy wanted to go bang his head against a wall and then go back to before the past three days because what the fuck, where were all these plot twists coming from?
It was like someone out there was trying to make his life harder and add plots to his storyline to make it more interesting and confusing or something.
Tommy sighed, turning to the girl.
"Look I'm really confused."
The girl shrugged her shoulders, nodding along.
"Same. Who even are you? How did you get that jacket? Why does Dream consider you a brother?"
Her tone held acid with each use of the word 'you', and Tommy couldn't help but feel offended.
"Says you. Dream never mentioned you. Ever. For all I know, you could be lying."
Tommy tried to reel back after he realized what he said, but it was too late.
He braced for yelling, or something, but he didn't expect the girl to just nod along solemnly.
"I'm his biological sister."
Tommy felt the breath knocked out of him.
Yikes.
This is rather awkward.
"I was separated from him long before he gained control of the academy, with my dad. My dad owned the academy first, but he turned over a new leaf or something and then he left, without explaining to me what was happening. At the time, I just thought we were a normal family."
Tommy nodded slowly.
"Then Dream and dad got in a fight because Dream didn't want to give up the academy and the friends he made there or something, and it got so bad that the next morning my dad took me and left the academy without even telling Dream. I remember him calling my dad that morning almost 50 times, freaking out, before my dad blocked him."
Tommy's eyes could not anatomically get bigger than they were right now.
Dream never spoke about his family before, so Tommy had just assumed he didn't have one or something.
"Then I found out about the academy and about all the killing for money stuff, and I was appalled. Like I couldn't believe my dad or my brother would do something like that willingly. So I got his number from my dad, and said some... rather harsh things."
The girl clutches the picture of her and Dream tighter.
"I regretted it, I didn't mean the things I said. I swear. But I never called back after that to apologize, because I was too scared. Now it's too late."
Tommy slowly analyzed the story, before deciding to speak up.
"It can't be too late, I know Dream, he's too forgiving. You know, I doxxed the location of the academy to the king of the entire empire, and he still forg-"
The girl interrupted Tommy before he could even finish.
"Thats the problem. "
"What problem?"
She stared at him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"He's moved on, to you. You said he considered you a brother, then that means I've messed up irreversibly."
Tommy rubbed his neck. "You know I'm going to be honest with you, I don't quite know what to say. Other than sorry."
The girl laughed.
"Yeah, sorry for trauma dumping on you like that."
It got silent for a couple of seconds.
"What's your name?" Tommy asked, not quite sure what to do.
"Drista," the girl smiled. "And you're prince Tommy."
"That is true, yes."
Tommy internally cringed at the awkward silence that followed.
"How about we make a deal then?"
She looked at him curiously.
"A deal?"
Tommy continued.
"I leave here in ten days, back to the academy. I need to kill the emperor to do it. You help me kill Phil, and I'll take you with me."
Drista looked unsure.
"Really?"
Tommy raised an eyeborw.
"Is that a yes?"
She paused for a second, looking back at the picture, before nodding.
"Sure then. It's a yes."
Tommy smiled.
"Pog."
The girl stared at him.
"What?"
"It's-" Tommy paused, before smiling. "Nevermind. Welcome to the team then, Drista."
⊱⊱ ── {◆✧◦ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ◦✧◆} ── ⊰⊰
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