Chapter Text
Tommy frowned, quietly stepping closer to the bushes. Was that blood leaking from under the bush? Maybe the tribute was already dead? Though he hadn’t heard a cannon shot, so it couldn’t have been that… right? Tommy slowly moved some of the leaves aside, still gripping his knife as hard as he could, ready to defend himself. The closer he got, the clearer he could hear the heavy breathing. Whoever was in there, sounded like they were in quite a lot of pain.
Tommy pushed the last of the branches aside, his eyes widening in shock.
The first thing that he saw was blood.
So, so much blood.
There really was a tribute there, laying on the ground, as the grass around them turned more and more crimson. They were clutching their stomach, trying to cover the gaping hole in it. Their eyes were closed, their face was smeared with blood and contorted in pain, it looked like they had already given up on trying to save themselves, instead choosing to give up.
A shrill terror-filled scream, followed by a cannon shot rang through the forest, way closer to them than Tommy would’ve liked, almost making him drop his knife. Startled by the sound, the tribute in front of him flinched and opened their eyes, searching for the threat, spotting Tommy instead.
Her eyes widened in fear, before she recognized the avian in front of her.
Aimsey let her head fall back to the ground and closed her eyes again.
“Sup.”
Tommy stared at her dumbfounded, “I find you in some random bushes, bleeding out , and that’s the best you come up with?”
Aimsey shrugged, hissing in pain as she accidentally pulled on her wound.
“How are you not freaking out right now?” Tommy knelt next to her, trying to avoid the blood at first, but giving up soon after, he didn’t expect much of an answer, it looked like even speaking was taking a lot of energy out of her.
Aimsey opened her eyes again and frowned, “Eh, I’ve been laying here for around…” She coughed, her face twisted with pain, “...maybe…15 minutes, I’d say? I’ve come to terms with it.”
“You’ve been what now?”
Aimsey glanced at the blonde, she looked way paler than usual, a look which was even more exaggerated by the bright red blood coating her, “Well what else d’you want me to do? My stomach is sliced open, I can barely breathe.”
“I-,” Tommy did not know how to approach this situation at all, “How did this even happen?”
“Fought a dude with a heck of a battle axe,” Aimsey sighed, “and before you say anything, he’s gone, Left me to bleed out and went after some kid… my guess is that the scream from just now was his work.” Aimsey was wheezing, but managed to complete the sentence.
“...How are you still alive?” Tommy was staring at her.
“No clue,” the older’s breaths were becoming more and more labored.
One of his allies friends was bleeding out from taking an axe to their stomach right in front of him, and it looked like she wouldn’t stay alive for much longer. Tommy was rapidly trying to think of anything he could do to fix the situation at hand, when he remembered about his ability. Guess this was the perfect time to reveal his little secret! Hurray!
“Alright, hold on Aimsey, I think I can fix this.” He rolled up his sleeves and braced himself.
“Hm?” Aimsey frowned, confused.
“This might hurt,” He murmured and grimaced as his hands made contact with the wet, bloody wound. The rabbit hybrid’s eyes shot open and she gasped in pain, but Tommy tried to ignore her discomfort, just praying, hoping that his plan would work.
After a moment Tommy let out a sigh of relief as he felt his power activating. He watched as barely visible gold-colored light seeped into the wound from his palms, stitching the skin and flesh back together with what looked like a bunch of small threads until nothing more than a torn shirt and a bloody scar was left.
“Woah,” Aimsey was now much more alert, staring at the place where, just a few moments ago, her insides had been on full display. “You can just do that?” she turned to the avian.
“Apparently, yeah.” Tommy grimaced as his head started throbbing.
“Are you alright?” The older was now sitting up.
“It’s nothing,” Tommy shook his suddenly very dizzy head, “It’s just that… I’m gonna be honest, my head feels like it was just repeatedly smashed against some concrete.”
“Ouch. Could that be a side effect from whatever magic thingy you just used on me?” Aimsey asked.
“...Maybe?”
“Okay, uhh, do you have some kind of camp set up somewhere?” The rabbit hybrid stood up and peeked over the bushes, scanning the forest, now that she wasn’t dying, suddenly aware that they could be attacked at any moment.
“Yeah, yeah, Shroud is there, it’s by the river I think.” Tommy’s mind was getting all foggy and he was not the biggest fan of that.
“Okay, let’s try to get there, alright?” Aimsey ushered Tommy up and out of there. After a while of wandering around, turned out the avian was too tired to recall the path he took to get there, but Aimsey announced that she could hear the river, so they must be close. Tommy took that as permission to pass out.
A man was sitting at the kitchen table, looking over the tunnel layout map they’d acquired earlier. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, before glancing over at the clock on the wall. It was getting really late now, he was starting to get worried.
Suddenly he heard keys turning and someone yanked open the door. Immediately, he stood up and hurried to check who it was. Upon seeing a familiar silhouette the man let out a sigh of relief.
“Oh thank god you’re back.”
The other just walked past him and slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs. The first man followed.
“At least take off your shoes before stomping all over the kitchen.”
The second groaned, “I cannot believe you right now. Trust me when I say that shoes are the least of my problems.”
The older walked over to the counter to turn the kettle on, “So?”
The second man took his mask off and threw it onto the table, “Still nothing. I would’ve kept searching, but I feel like I’m about to pass out, not to even mention the fact that you would’ve murdered me if I didn’t come home soon.”
The first one chuckled, “You’re right about that one.”
After a moment of silence, the younger spoke up again.
“What if they really are dead?”
“They’re not.”
“No, think about it. It’s been a month, and no one has seen them or knows anything about what happened or where they are. I know I should hope for the best, but I can’t keep going on like this anymore. It feels like I’m doing all of this for nothing !” He wiped his eyes, “...sorry, I just-”
The older walked over to his son, “Look at me.” The younger obliged, “You have been non-stop searching for them for weeks now, you have nothing to be sorry about. Tomorrow I’m not letting you out of the house unless you sleep for at least eight hours, though,” He put his hand on the younger’s shoulder, “ You’re not the only one capable of doing something useful. We’ll find them, I promise.”
When Tommy woke up it was dark outside. He recognized his surroundings, realizing that he was back at the camp and Shroud was curled up asleep next to him.
The teen got up, careful to let his brother sleep, and wandered closer to the river, where he saw Aimsey sitting, watching the sky.
“Hey.”
The older looked behind her, “Oh, hi!” she smiled.
Tommy sat down next to her, “How long was I out for?”
“A few hours,” Aimsey shrugged, “Shroud thought that I killed you when we got back.” She chuckled, “Took some convincing to get him to trust me.”
Tommy smiled, “You couldn’t kill me even if you tried.”
The brunette scoffed, “Excuse me? I could totally take you in a fight.”
“No, you couldn’t.”
“Yes, I could.”
“...”
“...”
The two stared at each other.
Aimsey cracked a smile and soon they were both laughing.
“We’re gonna need so much therapy after this.” the rabbit hybrid wiped her eyes.
Tommy nodded, chuckling.
“On a more serious note, are you alright now?” Aimsey turned to the blonde.
“Yeah… still feeling a bit dizzy, but I think I’m good now.”
“That’s good…” The girl looked back at the sky, “Y’know what? I don’t think I remember the last time I saw the stars.”
The avian glanced up at the tiny specks of light littering the night sky. He hadn’t paid much attention to them during the games, but now he noticed how magical they truly looked. “Me neither.”
Tommy examined the sky and realized that despite everything, he almost felt… peaceful.
Aimsey broke the silence with a soft laugh. "You know, my mom used to say that each star in the sky is a soul watching over us, guiding us through life."
Tommy smiled at the thought. "That sounds nice…"
He didn’t remember his parents. The blonde had some vague memories from before the facility, but he didn’t remember much. Sometimes Tommy wondered what his life was like back then, did he have any friends? Was he happy? What was it like outside?
Outside.
He didn’t know much about it, only what the others or the facility had told him. With the escape coming closer and closer, Tommy was growing more and more anxious. What if it’s not like they imagined? What if the outside world is not worth fighting for…
No.
it couldn’t be.
Tommy couldn’t give in to his doubts now. The outside will be just like they imagined and Shroud will finally have the chance to live a normal childhood, or well, as normal as possible.
“Do you… Do you remember the world outside?” Tommy asked.
Aimsey thought for a moment, “...I don’t remember much, only some glimpses of my family.”
“That’s something most of us have in common.” Tommy chuckled.
“ I remember my mom… Actually, there was another figure, someone close to me, but I can’t remember anything about them.” She sighed, “I think I lived in a small village at first though.”
“At first?”
“Yeah, I remember a lot of smoke and my mom telling us that it’ll be alright and we’ll find a new home soon.”
“Your mom sounds kind.”
“I’d like to think she was.”
