"I can give you anything."
A cold shiver ran down his back as he looked at the red giant abomination they called the Egg. The entire room was filled with red vines, tiny scarlet particles floating through the air. It was hard to breathe, the room was too hot and the fact that they were underground made the man swallow. If things were to go terribly wrong he'd be stuck here. Stuck with the Egg, stuck with him.
"Anything?" His voice was small, barely a whisper.
The voice inside his head purred. "Anything your heart desires and more. You just have to stop fighting it and allow me to show you the true extent of my power."
And the voice, the Egg, was so convincing, he did. He stopped fighting and the sudden wave of what could only be described as magic brought him to his knees as a thousand different voices flooded his mind, screeching of betrayal and his moral code, but soon they got overpowered by static buzzing, leaving only the Egg's unnatural deep voice.
"Good, now tell me, little one, what is it your heart desires the most?"
He swallowed, taking a rasping breath as blood-red vines crawled up his arms and towards his head, filling his entire vision. Focus, the man told himself, you won't be able to do anything if you let this thing control you. (It already does.)
"I want my sister back."
How foolish of him, to believe he could truly fight the power of a being higher than him.
.
Wind rushed through his hair, cold enough to bite at his skin. It had snowed, painting the now barren trees in a soft and fluffy white layer, coating the grass of the back garden completely. It was nearly silent, the rustling of the trees in the wind and the occasional cawing of a crow being the only things to truly produce sound. The sun had just risen, the rays not yet strong enough to offer warmth which had him pulling the brown trench coat closer around his arms.
Tommy didn't know for how long he had been sitting on the roof, watching, listening. He hadn't been able to sleep, anxiety nagging in the back of his mind, thoughts circling and creating mental images he'd rather not see. It's been a couple days now that he had spent with SBI at their house, they had given him his own room on the second story, right next to Wilbur's room and opposite to Phil and Techno's. Initially, the winged hero had been against it, the instincts begging him to keep his fledgling in the nest, but after some arguing with Techno (the piglin having to bring both Phil and Wilbur to his senses, "I know the both of you'd prefer him in the nest, my instincts would also prefer him to be somewhere safe, but think about his privacy") they had shown him the spare guest bedroom.
Climbing the stairs had proven itself to be a difficult task, despite the crutches the three had gotten from...somewhere. He wasn't sure.
It took forever, having to take many breaks in between, but eventually, he had gotten upstairs. The room was, to put it lightly, boring. Cream walls and grey carpet, a simple four-poster bed in the corner of the room and a couple dressers. A large window sat on the opposite side of the door, leading to the canopy of the second-story balcony, the exact place where he was sitting.
"You guys do know I have a flat, right?" Tommy reminded him as Phil spoke about decorations and moving in with them.
"Oh, we're more than aware of that, but given the current situation and your overall condition you're not going back there anytime soon." Wilbur had shrugged. "Especially now that these blood vines were spotted at Logstedshire's border."
"It's only temporary," Phil had assured him, "if you choose to leave once all of this is handled you're free to do so. We won't stop you."
"Just making sure." the teen shrugged, "I'll have to get back there at some point during the next week, though. Rent is due."
"Don't worry, mate. We've already got it sorted."
"How?"
"We had a little help."
"I don't like how you guys just casually have access to private files."
"It's not like the files were truly protected," Techno had snorted, "they are now. Not even Tubbo should be able to get to them."
"What about the Syndicate? I'm sure they have some crazy hackers..."
"Who do you think helped us sort everything out?"
He felt uneasy knowing the villain organisation had seen his files, had now potentially even knowledge of his ability. The teen just hoped that the three heroes knew what they were doing.
"And this isn't your way of telling me you're preparing me for a permanent stay at Pandoras?"
"You're not going anywhere near that Prison, Tommy."
Truth be told, now that he had spent a couple days with them, he trusted that to be the truth. They had seen how uneasy he initially felt around them, especially now that they knew about Theseus, but just as Wilbur had said. Nothing changed. Or, well, something did change, but for the better. Phil constantly made sure he was fine with whatever treatment, reminding all of them to leave him some space if he needed it. That didn't mean the instinct-driven side of him did the same, though. If possible, the man had become even more of a mother hen, fighting a constant battle with his bird brain and losing more often than not (but Tommy would be a hypocrite if he claimed to not like the time spent with each of them in the nest).
Tommy appreciated the effort, it still felt weird for the teen to have someone care about him and sometimes it felt like Wilbur was suffocating him under all the doting and clinginess. And by the gods had he become clingy.
The teen let out a sigh, eyes drifting shut as another cold breeze hit his skin.
Ranboo had reached out to him just a couple hours earlier, an initial relief and he immediately sent Tubbo a screenshot of the message, not even realising that there was something off about it. Only after having hit send and reading through it again did he truly think about the message.
I'm fine, where are you right now? :)
Technically, it was a rather harmless message, nothing one would have to think about and it was easy to answer, but something about it just seemed off. Ranboo had answered his many questions about his well-being, but had completely ignored Tubbo and the group chat. And there was something else that made him narrow his eyes at the message.
Ranboo never texted with smileys, at least not when the messages before that were frantic or serious. And they had been, the dozens of Where are you? and Are you okay? Please message us back asap! Would've normally been enough for the vigilante to be serious. But that smiley. It set off every alarm bell in his body.
It didn't help his case that, upon asking where the vigilante had been, Tommy had only received a:
Was busy, are you with Toxic? :)
They never used hero or vigilante names during chats, ever careful of someone potentially getting access to them and exposing their identities. Something was wrong with Ranboo (and Tommy had the gut feeling that this wasn't even Ranboo texting), but he had yet to figure out what it was. Tubbo hadn't gotten a single reply to his questions, and even he agreed that something about this whole interaction had been odd. The young hero had instructed Tommy not to tell him that he was staying with SBI and to ignore the questions until they were able to meet him in person. That would still take some time, especially now that Charlie had gone through severe power overextension and was put on bed rest and Ponk being forced out of commission due to the same issue, meaning his injuries would have to either heal naturally or they'd have to bring Eret here for multiple healing sessions, not something the teen fancied.
Another breeze hit his face, strong enough to send blonde curls flying all over his head. He shivered, pulling the coat tighter around his shoulders. Why Wilbur had left the coat with him was still a mystery to Tommy, but he was glad he did now. Initially, he hadn't planned to climb out of the window, just opening it to get some fresh air after a night filled with racing thoughts and worries about XD and the Egg. But then his eyes landed on the beautiful scenery and he just had to get out of the room and one thing led to another and now he was sitting there on the canopy. Stuck, mind you, because getting down from there with a still healing twisted ankle and the crutches he had foolishly left next to the bed? Yea, he'd need help.
He cursed under his breath, the trench coat didn't do much to block out the cold and the fact that he was sitting on literal snow in wet trousers sent more shivers through his body, he really should've brought his blanket out with him. It must've been past eight already, hopefully, the others would get up soon and help him down, he really didn't want to have to yell for their help. That'd just be embarrassing.
Below him there was low shuffling, then the sound of a door opening and snow crunching. A couple crows immediately flew down from the trees they'd been sitting on as Phil stepped into the garden, snow crunching under his feet, whistling a low tune. The man had prepared much better than Tommy, wearing a thick hoodie and what seems to be a light blue cloak, his wings were nowhere to be seen. Narrowing his eyes, he leaned closer to the edge, trying to figure out where they had gone. Surely they must be hidden underneath that cloak, right? It's not like the man could've simply taken them off like some kind of hat.
One of the crows was now sitting on his shoulder, the man gently scratching the bird's head as he held out one arm for the other crows to sit on. A rather small crow decided the best place to sit was the man's head and the teen snorted as he watched Phil trying to get the crow out of his hair. Said bird had started pecking at his hair, flicking blonde strands in all directions and even going through it with small black talons.
If Tommy didn't know any better he'd say the bird was trying to build a nest in Phil's hair.
"Quit that, Dave." The Elytrian muttered fondly as he swatted at the bird again, earning an offended squawk in return before the bird sat down on his still outstretched arm. "Yea yea I get it, you're a spoiled little shit."
Reaching into the pocket of his hoodie made the birds caw even louder and Tommy watched with an amused smile as more crows came swooping down from the trees, all settling on Phil's arm, picking the seeds the man held in his outstretched hand. One crow (which he figured was not Dave as that one was a little bigger and Dave was still busy bothering the man's hair) was especially demanding, fighting every other crow for the tiniest seed.
"Come on, Brian, let the others have some too. You've already put on weight." An offended squawk. "Don't come looking at me, mate. It's not my fault you keep eating all the seeds." Another squawk. "Oh okay, somebody woke up and chose violence today, I see. Little shit."
More birds surrounded the man, clawing and fighting each other for the seeds in his hands. Phil occasionally chirped something at them, like a disney princess, Tommy thought with a snort. One bird had noticed the teen, hopping off the man's arms and flying up to him, wings flapping violently. It landed on his knees, tiny talons digging into the fabric of his trousers and stared at him expectantly. Black beady eyes met blue.
Tommy blinked.
The crow blinked back.
He blinked again.
Caw!
Dave (who had taken residence in Phil's hair again) looked up.
Caw!
"You good?" Tommy asked the bird, carefully reaching forwards with a gloved hand. His hands were shaking, the cold sending shivers all over his body.
The crow cawed again and then hopped towards him, pecking at the bandaged hand. He yelped, swatting at the crow who just squawked before flying off again. Phil had stopped talking to the literal murder of crows surrounding him now and looked around, confusion written clearly on his face. Tommy watched as the man scanned over the entire back garden, spinning in a circle, it looked kind of funny.
"I could've sworn..." the man muttered to himself, now turning back to the house and looking at the door he had come from. He didn't spot him.
With his uninjured hand, Tommy scooped up a hand full of snow and piled it in front of him, then another scoop got added to a pile which he then carefully formed into a shape that somewhat resembled a ball. He then picked it up, eyes laser-focused on his target. Phil had gone back to feeding the birds, Dave's beady eyes never once leaving his own. The man was unsuspecting, the perfect prey. He wouldn't see it coming, wouldn't know what was about to hit him.
Tommy threw the snowball. It hit Phil on the back of his head, snow sent flying and Dave cawing violently as the bird tried to get out of the now snow-dripping hair. The Elytrian whirled around, crows sent flying from the sudden motion, eyes scanning all around the garden. His expression was priceless and the teen had to fight really hard not to burst out into laughter immediately.
Then the man looked up, his gaze meeting the young teen's, his eyes widened. The sight was hilarious. "Tommy!"
"Hi Phil," the blonde waved, hands still shaking from the cold.
A startled chirp, then the man ripped off the light blue cloak and the black wings materialised out of nowhere. He then leaped into the air, the wind created by the sudden motion strong enough to send the fresh layer of powdered snow flying. The canopy groaned slightly under the sudden new weight, a stressed-looking Phil now crouched right in front of him.
"What the fuck are you doing up here?" The man asked as he draped the surprisingly heavy cloak over the trench coat. It was still warm.
Tommy completely ignored his questions, eyes glued on the puffed-up wings and the hoodie the man wore. "How the fuck did you do that?"
"What?" The man all but spluttered.
"Your wings, they weren't there before. And you're wearing a hoodie!"
"They're- I can hide them at will but- Tommy how did you even get up there?!" The teen shrugged, "You're shivering!"
"'S cold, innit?"
Phil looked at him like he had just told him the worst joke known to man, sighing deeply he held out a hand which Tommy carefully took. He then hoisted Tommy to his feet, shuffling the teen so that he was already supported by his shoulders, one arm securely wrapped around his waist. The teen didn't even get the chance to speak before Phil jumped off the canopy, dragging him down with him, falling only slowed by the giant wings.
"Primes Phil, a warning!"
"You almost gave me a heart attack and I'm the one who's supposed to give you a warning?" Phil asked with a fond yet exasperated tone while leading the teen inside the house through the backdoor, immediately nudging him towards the living room.
"Uh yea? You just bloody jumped off the roof!"
"Which you somehow climbed on, mind you!"
"That's literally not important."
"Not impor-"
"What's going on here?" Techno had walked into the living room as well, eyeing the two blondes arguing. He was in full gear, boar mask held firmly in his hand and Wilbur came down the stairs behind him, the mask already settled on his face.
"You guys do know that I know your identities, right?"
"Very funny, Theseus," Techno deadpanned, Tommy shot him the finger, "We got called into HQ, there's a security breach we need to take care of."
"Security breach?" Phil asked, eyes sharpening.
Wilbur hummed, voice modulator already hiding his true voice. "Someone tried to get into our personal documents. Niki thinks they might've tried to get the address for the house."
"Only ours?"
The brunette hummed affirmatively. "Dream's still missing, also. Nobody's able to contact him, not even 404 or Pyro. They want us to look into his last patrol route, check if he's somewhere hurt in a ditch."
"That's not like him," Phil muttered, "then again he was very clear about his stance when we talked about XD and the Egg at the meeting."
"Still doesn't explain why he's ignoring his best friends," Techno huffed, "he can be spiteful and not show up to patrols all he wants, as long the other's don't suffer from it he could be drunk somewhere beating the crap out of a wall for all I care. But if he's ignoring 404 something must be up."
"Do you need my help?"
"As if you'd leave Tommy alone," Techno snorted, now setting the mask on his face and clicking it into place.
"I was trying to be polite, you little shit."
"You guys know I'm capable of taking care of myself too, right?"
"I literally had to help you off the roof."
"The roof?" Wilbur screeched but was quickly cut off by Tommy.
"I could've gotten down there myself." He huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest as best as he possibly could without causing pain to his shoulder. The tight wrap only did so much for a broken collarbone after all.
"Brian didn't seem too convinced of that."
"Do you always speak to birds or is this an old person thing?"
"Excuse you!?"
"We'll get going now," Techno said, voice unnaturally deep as he grabbed Wilbur by the shoulder and nudged him towards the front door, "Tubbo might come over later today."
"Bit early for training, don't you think?"
"I can take it," Tommy said firmly, eyeing all three heroes who seemed less than convinced.
"We told him as much," Wilbur completely ignored the offended huff, "but it's Tubbo. And you know how he is, if he's got something in mind he'll push through with it."
"He puts the 'Tubbo' in stubborn." The younger blonde nodded.
"Just in ram-hybrid fashion," Techno snorted, Wilbur had now been shoved out the door towards the car already, "we should be back before eight."
"Chinese?"
"You got it, old man."
"Little shit-"
.
He panted heavily, feeling the sheer power flowing through his veins. His own ability hummed underneath his skin, small little needles pricking all over his wrist where the power suppressor kept his power from acting out. It hurt, the man -or god?- had forced so much of his own power into him, he could feel it whenever he moved. The pounding headache and burning sensation never left, the void eating him alive.
It's been- he didn't even know how long he's been in the room. His memory had been blurry, all he could truly remember was being dragged off the streets, blacking out upon one of those red-eyed fucks hitting him with a crowbar and then waking up in front of a man covered in even more corruption than himself. And then blinding green light and pain.
As he leaned his head against the wall he'd been sitting on he thought back to Tommy. This was unmistakably what he went through. This must've been XD and his lackeys, the dumb little speech the man held just hours prior more than enough evidence of that.
"I'm impressed by your willpower, it's been a while since someone survived the transfer of part of my power." The man had purred, hand firmly grabbed around his chin as he forced the boy to look into his eyes. "You're worthy. Don't disappoint me."
Whatever the hell that meant. He'd not comply. He'd rather die than do what that sick man wanted him to do.
Ranboo swallowed and closed his eyes. The beating he had received the day prior had left his marks, maybe he should've held his tongue and not asked questions. But it had been important, and he was a vigilante. He could handle a little pain (his ribs ached at the painful reminder of steel toe shoes kicking into his sides, the red eyed man enjoying every second of it, sick bastard).
They were in the Badlands, that much the young vigilante had found out, the red sand on the sole of their shoes being more than enough proof of that. The man who had come in regularly to give him some food and water had an accent, the specific accent you only heard in the Badlands, something that the hero BadBoyHalo himself had as well. That narrowed the location of - whatever the hell it was they had put him in- down significantly.
This should've never happened. He had always been careful, always aware of his surroundings. It was so blatantly obvious that the anonymous call to District thirteen in Logstedshire was a trap, but he decided against listening to his own instincts. And now he was paying the price for it.
He'd never force a repeat of Pogtopia. And he'd definitely never lead him to Tommy. He'd rather endure the pain and constant sweating, his body rejecting the power slowly but steadily as the void within him grew, just like a black hole slowly swallowing everything beneath his skin.
A sigh, then the teen opened his eyes, now staring at the small glowing bracelet acting as a power suppressor. His ability was pounding underneath the magic, begging to be released and for him to reunite with the void in a less physically demanding way.
Ranboo narrowed his eyes, carefully flexing his hands and wincing at the pain and sheer energy he felt. Small little purple particles appeared at his fingertips for just a second before vanishing, the power suppressor heating up immediately, burning his skin.
He swallowed and then focused on his ability again, gritting his teeth as the suppressor burnt his skin. More particles. And then more and then the beginning of the void before a jolting pain shot through his entire body, the skin under the suppressor now wet and light smoke coming from it.
Usually, this wouldn't have happened. Ranboo was all too familiar with power suppressors, as someone carrying the burden of a lethal ability who had gone to a hero academy it hadn't been unusual for every supervisor there to demand him wearing one outside of training. Usually, it'd send you into a weak state, not being able to do much other than function as the bracelet was stripping you of something your body had grown accustomed to. Too weak to fight the magic as the suppressor drained you of all energy and only left you enough to mentally and bodily function without collapsing.
But XD made a mistake.
He had transferred too much of his own energy onto Ranboo.
A foolish move, truly.
He swallowed again and then forced his ability to surface in his fingertips, this time using the hand attached to the arm without a power suppressor. It still hurt, but less so than before and more purple particles surrounded him. Then the small yet stable opening of the void as his skin burnt some more.
A hoarse laugh, more sweating and panting. XD should've checked Pogtopia's records before acting.
What a truly naive man.
.
"You're doing it wrong."
"How the fuck am I doing it wrong?"
"You're supposed to focus on a single leaf, not all three of them."
"Well, it'd be nice if you told me how I'm supposed to do that."
"Just focus on the leaf bro, it's not that hard!"
"He says as if this isn't the, like, twentieth try."
Phil watched the two boys bickering in the garden with a fond smile. It's been two weeks since that meeting, one and a half since Dream's last communication attempt. It had gotten quiet, fewer attacks all over the city. They had managed to clean up the mess XD and the flood had left, and even managed to get a sample of these red vines that had started to show up all over L'Manberg.
It was unnerving to see the plants that close near HQ and they had yet to find something that could get rid of them. As of right now, the only way of fighting against their spreading was a vigilante from Manifoldland (how Jack had managed to found this city Phil didn't even know himself but he was glad he did, even if he felt a little anger at him for not rehearsing with the syndicate prior. It was a form of government after all, something they'd ultimately liked to get rid of) that went by the name Crumb. A truly interesting person, their suit consisting of nothing more than regular clothes and a literal cardboard box head. When they first met Phil had recoiled at their sight, Crumb was small, the voice modulator in their box masking their voice as something high pitched and squeaky. Still, it was undeniable that this vigilante was a child, if not for the height then their antics were proof enough.
Crumb's ability allowed them to control plants of all kinds and command them what to do to an extent. It took a lot of their strength and energy to command the vines to retreat at least a little and left the young vigilante panting and swaying. They had stopped them shortly after, Jack telling them to take a break and that they'd find an alternative way of getting rid of these vines without draining their energy.
Unfortunately, Crumb was just as stubborn as Tubbo and while they did take a break, they completely refused to stop their doing altogether. Even Phil's Dad voiceTM had no effect on them and they had to reluctantly agree to let them do their work.
Tubbo had come over that day, going over the next steps of Tommy's training and breaking the news to him that the three of them had tried to hide for just a little longer. They didn't want to burden him with the knowledge that he'd have to be the one to kill the wannabe god just yet, Tommy was still recovering after all, mentally and physically. The young hero quickly found out why they hadn't told him as Tommy promptly went into a panic attack, begging them to not force him to kill again, to not make him use his ability (please I never wanted to do it please- don't I can still see them, hear their screams, please not again Phil, Dad please-).
Suffice to say the planned training that day had been discarded completely as Tubbo and Phil guided the teen through the panic attack, gently reminding him that he'd have more than enough time to train and that he wouldn't have to step near that bastard until he was ready, they'd make sure of that. It took a while, Phil exaggerating his breathing and encouraging the teen to do the same while Tubbo gathered all the blankets he could find in the living room which he then draped around the teen's shoulder once he was back with them enough to truly feel the grounding weight.
Tommy had been quiet for the rest of the day, too caught up in his own thoughts to even realise that they were still present. Phil had talked to Tubbo sternly after that, the teen admitting that he thought Tommy would react better to it as they had found he hated things being kept from him. He hoped it would've sparked something else than utter fear in him, maybe rage and anger, something to motivate him and something that'd have made him focus on his training more.
"Mate, you of all people should know how hard emotions influence the control over lethal abilities."
"I just thought he'd react differently, he hates XD."
"He does, but he's also utterly terrified of him. Look, I know you want to protect him just as much as we do, but we cannot stress him right now. Not when his mental state is that unstable, not when he'll have to learn control over his ability as quickly as possible."
Tubbo had apologised after that, promised Tommy not to drop something like that on him again and to be more patient. He also explained his reasoning once the teen was completely back with them and capable of listening without zoning out. Tommy had just nodded and then refused to talk about it any further, instead asking for distractions, voice unusually small.
That quickly changed once Phil brought out the switch, the boisterous personality returned tenfold as Tubbo beat him in Mario Kart once again (though Phil could tell that he was still shaken up, the swearing and yelling did very little to conceal the fear in his eyes).
When Wilbur and Techno returned they had been surprised to find Schlatt behind them, the Ram hybrid nervously looking around until his eyes met Tubbo's as a black Limousine waited in their driveway. The Elytrian shot him an amused smile which was only met with a nervous one instead. He had not forgotten the initial meeting with Phil and Techno, had not forgotten what they threatened him with, had not forgotten the little deal they struck. Initially, Techno had been sceptical, asking if they shouldn't have just taken over through threats alone, but that would've just made them as bad as everyone else. Power corrupts after all.
Though, he seemed to have stuck to his part of the deal. No smell of alcohol hit them, his hair was washed and the suit looked fresh, Tubbo seemed happier as well, even if it was just a little and more often than not the heroes notice his absence at the tower. The brunette smiled at his father, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. Improvement nonetheless.
"President Schlatt?" Tommy had spluttered, more than just confused.
"I'm here to pick up Tubbo."
"Focus on one leaf, not all of them, you moron!"
"I'm fucking trying!"
"Boys!"
Wilbur walked out of the backdoor and leaned on the wooden pillar next to Phil, looking over at the still arguing teens.
"Better be careful, kids, Phil's about to pull out the belt again."
"NOT A KID" They yelled at the same, Tubbo immediately shooting a snickering Wilbur the finger before going back to arguing with Tommy. Then the familiar green particles appeared a little away from all of them as the brunette rather heatedly explained what the blonde did wrong. It fell on deaf ears.
"Eret's in the living room waiting," Wilbur then said, looking at his father.
"I thought we decided against asking them for help?"
"We did, doesn't mean they agree with our decision." The brunette snorted.
Phil sighed, why does everyone in this city have to be that stubborn? But he couldn't complain, Eret's ability may not be enough to heal Tommy fully, but it'd at least get rid of minor injuries or significantly speed up the healing process of the broken collar bone. The stitches Techno had done were thankfully healing well, how his son had managed to master the art of stitching injuries within as little as a single night was still a mystery to him, though he did have a suspicion.
The piglin had left the house after a couple hours of shutting himself in his room and the morning after a report of a now taken down fighting ring had come in. The leaders were cut up and beaten, though some large cuts had gotten stitched up, the stitching progress apparently improving from person to person. While it would've been nice for Techno to at least tell him what he planned to do Phil couldn't complain, Tommy's stitches had turned out great and with Wilbur's mind control even as painless as possible. No infection either.
"Hopefully they know not to tell anyone our location."
"They know, don't wo-"
Wilbur cut off abruptly, eyes locked on the boys in the garden. They had also stopped arguing, eyes focused on the few purple particles hovering in the air. Phil narrowed his eyes as the brunette immediately pushed himself away from the pillar and walked towards the teens.
"Get back," he then quickly said as he grabbed them both by the shoulder, pulling them behind him and nudging them towards the house. Something felt wrong.
"Wil it's fine-" Tommy tried to speak, but the brunette didn't let him.
"We don't know what that is or where it came from, get away from it."
More particles appeared floating in the air. The sky darkened. No. Not the sky. Their surroundings.
Wilbur recognised it immediately and so did Phil, the brunette pushing them towards the patio where the Elytrian already stood, ready to hide them behind his wings.
"Wilbur stop-"
More purple particles, now pretty much everywhere. Then darkness. Pure darkness. Wilbur still had a firm grip on the two teenagers, leading them back towards the patio, or where he hoped the patio was. They couldn't see, couldn't hear, just like it always was when the void closed around them (just like he remembered before excruciating pain had hit him and he was sent to that godforsaken train platform for the very first time). He just hoped he'd get to Phil soon. This was the void that killed him, but it felt different so the person responsible for it had seemingly not trapped them inside. (Could it be them? Or was this another person with the exact same ability?)
Just as quickly as it had come, the darkness vanished, leaving only the purple particles and a clear view of the empty back garden.
Or rather, the supposedly empty back garden.
In the middle of the grass, a tall teenager stood. Split-dyed hair, bruises all over his pale face, bloodshot heterochromatic eyes meeting his own. They wore white clothes, or what would've been white clothes if it wasn't for the half-dried blood coating it, the source being their right arm and various other injuries hidden underneath the fabric. Wilbur had frozen completely, staring at the person he had thought to be dead.
Tommy and Tubbo had not frozen, however. Neither had Phil. The teens immediately hurried towards the person, their eyes rolling back into their skull as they collapsed. Phil ran after them, grabbing the brunette by the shoulder and pushing him behind himself, wings flared out completely as he tried to reach the two teenagers. Trying to stop them from stepping near the injured unconscious kid.
"Boys don't-"
"Ranboo!" Tubbo's voice was laced in panic as he fell to the ground and immediately checked the teen's pulse.
The name of the teammate and friend Wilbur had picked up during the phone call a couple weeks ago. The vigilante who was apparently helping his brother train his lethal ability. The vigilante called Void.
"Get the medkit!" Tommy yelled, voice shaking.
Of course it was them. It made sense.
"Tommy-"
"Now!"
They never knew his name. The academy protected the hero's name and not even Wilbur had access to them. The brunette had only seen his face once, by pure accident as he was led through the academy. He wasn't supposed to be in the cafeteria at that time as he was supposed to train with one of the professionals. But as Phil left his side to grab the medkit, leaving him with the clear sight of the collapsed teenager in front of him, Wilbur just knew who that was.
The person who killed his city. Who killed him.
Ender.
And as Eret rushed past them and fell down to the ground next to the unconscious teen, hands already glowing as he tried to heal the teen the best he could he couldn't help but wonder.
How had they not caught him earlier?