Chapter Text
Tommy froze as the cold edge of a blade pressed against the side of his throat from behind. The steadily approaching red from the trees told him that Techno wasn’t here just yet, and Wilbur was still calmly approaching from the front, so this could only be one person.
“What did you do with my son?” Phil asked, deadly serious.
Tommy sucked in a breath as he tried to formulate a response, only to harshly flinch back as the blade was knocked away from him with a sharp clang. He almost tripped and landed himself flat on the ground, but caught himself at the last moment and whipped around to see what had happened.
Dream was at odds with Phil, the two men staring each other down, weapons at the ready but not yet in motion.
“Hear us out, Phil,” Dream began, firm. “You don’t want to do this, it isn’t what you think.”
Phil narrowed his eyes. Tommy noticed the unnatural glow of his blade, just like Dream’s axe, as it reflected in his emerald irises. His wings were folded regally behind him, feathers glossy and pristine. He was one of the most intimidating people Tommy had ever seen. “I think it’s pretty clear what happened. I’m not just going to let him walk away after what he did. Step away.”
Dream shook his head, shifting his grip on his axe into what Tommy recognized as a defensive position. “No, listen, we came here to–”
Tommy yelped as his brain sounded a now-familiar warning, shrieking for him to move and sending his body into motion before he could even think, legs practically giving out as he ducked down as quickly as possible. He experienced déjà vu as an identical blade to Phil’s arced over his head in a smooth motion, right where his neck had been. A panicked glance showed that Techno had arrived, and he was out for blood. His glare alone was almost enough to make Tommy freeze, completely at the mercy of the beast before him, but another mental alarm had him scrambling away as, lightning quick, Techno rotated the blade ever so slightly so that the sharp end was pointing at Tommy, then swung down. This one was even more narrowly evaded.
Just as Techno’s expression hardened, sword rising up for yet another blow, he was sent stumbling back as Dream rammed him with a huge, wooden shield, and Tommy didn’t even get to finish wondering where had that come from before they both sprung into action, trading blows faster than his eyes could follow. He crawled back as he noticed Phil stepping towards him again, but it seemed that Dream had somehow noticed as well, as he shifted to stand between the both of them and Tommy. How the masked man could keep track of anything outside of his battle with Techno was completely beyond him.
Phil didn’t seem to want to join the fight. He stared regretfully at Dream, but then seemed to remember why he was doing this as he steeled his shoulders and stepped into the fray anyway, his swing only intercepted by the blade of Dream’s axe as his other hand held off Techno with the shield. They closed in from both sides, knowing that Dream couldn’t keep them away forever if he was only going to play this defensively.
Tommy knew it, too. Sure, watching as Dream seamlessly shifted between blocking one blade with his shield and the other with his weapon was impressive, but he obviously had no intent to fight back, and his opponents weren’t pushovers. He would go down one way or another, and Tommy would be soon to follow. Unless he managed to convince them to stop, they were both thoroughly fucked.
Dream was well established as the better speaker between them, but he was a bit occupied. Tommy didn’t expect him to be giving any heartfelt speeches while also remaining focused on his opponents, so it was up to him to talk them out of this. Great.
He knew he didn’t have much time, but he had to put some thought into what he said, because bad things tended to happen when he spoke without thinking. How should he start? Maybe by mentioning that he hadn’t stolen Tubbo’s powers on purpose, since they seemed understandably upset about that and it did seem pretty bad–
“Hey.”
Tommy flinched at the cold, level voice that sounded from behind him. It took all of his willpower not to voice his momentary panic, but he managed to restrain it to just a shaky exhale. He then turned to see Wilbur smirking down at him. Once again, he was left reflecting on how much of an idiot he was, as the commotion had caused him to completely forget about Wilbur. He was literally the first person he saw at this house, how had he forgotten?
Tommy tried to scramble away from him, but Wilbur just kicked him back down and continued staring. He was smiling, but his eyes were icy and unforgiving.
“Fuck off!” Tommy spat, expressing his mounting panic through anger and harsh words. He couldn’t do anything else, after all, since he somehow hadn’t thought to bring his axe when he ran to this house, his excitement at the sight of it outweighing the plan that he and Dream had discussed beforehand. So, his only weapon was currently in Dream’s bag.
Wilbur only tilted his head. “You know…” he began, “I saw you coming, but I’m only just realizing how much of a little gremlin you are. There’s nothing like truly seeing someone in the flesh, after all.”
He punctuated that sentence by kicking Tommy, thus rolling him over, and then planting a foot on his ribs, pinning him down. Tommy, in spite of the apparent hopelessness of this situation, continued to stare up at him defiantly. A plan began to form in his mind, scrounged together from the few options that were available to him. He didn’t fight back.
“Yeah, I thought I knew what you looked like, too,” Tommy replied. “You’re uglier than I imagined.”
Wilbur’s expression didn’t change, but the pressure on Tommy’s ribs increased, going from very uncomfortable to painful. He kept his wince internal for the sake of his pride.
“I didn’t think I’d get the chance to talk to you. They wanted to just get it over with and kill you as quickly as possible, which is well enough, I suppose, but I had a better idea. Phil just couldn’t get behind interrogating someone so young, even after what you did,” Wilbur explained.
Tommy’s blood went cold as Wilbur leaned down, closing some of the distance between their faces and giving Tommy a better look at the maddening apathy in his gaze.
“But now, the opportunity has presented itself, and why wouldn’t I take it? So…” Wilbur twisted his foot, grinding the heel of his boot into Tommy’s chest, and he couldn’t suppress the pained gasp that crawled up out of his throat.
“How did you do it, and why? No, actually, I know why. You told Schlatt, right? Used Tubbo’s power to spy on us and told him where we were so he could send one of his powered-up slaves after us. That’s what happened, isn’t it?”
Tommy just bared his teeth. He knew Wilbur wouldn’t listen if he denied it, not when he was in a position with so much power over him. He couldn’t do anything, he just had to wait. There would be a golden opportunity soon. There had to be.
Clang, clang, thud. Dream was still fending off Techno and Phil. Tommy couldn’t see them clearly because he refused to turn away from Wilbur, but he didn’t need to, anyways. He could probably figure out a way to get Dream’s attention based on just the sounds if he really tried, though that would be by far the hardest part of this whole thing.
“So, the better question is how? Hopefully that’s just something you can do on your own, because if Schlatt has found some way to steal anyone’s powers and give them to someone else, then, well, that’s not very good. You’ll tell me which one it is, won’t you?” Wilbur asked, feigning civility.
Tommy gritted his teeth. Please, he mentally pleaded. Whatever bullshit power I have, please do one more thing for me.
Wilbur ground his heel even harder. “Won’t you?”
A bell rang in Tommy’s mind as a louder thud than all of the others sounded, a sword impacting against a shield in a way that Tommy hoped meant that it was lodged in there. Wilbur turned to see what had made the sound. Choosing to seize what was probably the best opportunity that he would get to do anything, Tommy used the only real option available to him and shoved Wilbur off of him with a grunt of exertion, which incited a surprised, slightly panicked shout as he was knocked off balance and fell, just as Tommy had hoped. The sound caused everyone else to turn to them, attention caught by the sudden shout.
The fight stopped as Tommy suddenly darted away from all of them before they could react, laughing at the bewildered and enraged voices calling from behind him. He stopped laughing when he heard Phil’s wings start flapping, and when a crossbow bolt shot through the air by his head, grazing his ear and drawing a small amount of blood. Right, running didn’t exactly help when one guy could fly and the other apparently had a crossbow. After ending up in about the same situation when fleeing from Dream, Tommy really should have expected this.
The sound of Phil’s flying came closer, the time that it would take to reload the crossbow was running out, and Tommy had a feeling that neither of them would give him even the slightest leeway to escape. Unless Dream could come up with something within the next few seconds, it was over. All of this would’ve been for nothing.
As if on cue, Dream shouted, “Stop!”
When Tommy’s pursuers didn’t even pause, Dream continued. “Look at me! Don’t touch him, or Wilbur gets it!”
That was enough for them to pause, and Tommy turned in unison with the other two, grinning as he was greeted by the sight of Dream holding Wilbur with an axe to his throat. Wilbur, to his credit, didn’t seem particularly alarmed by this. Sure, he wasn’t smiling anymore, but his expression showed no trace of fear. He seemed… exasperated, almost. Impatient.
Techno, who had been steadily stepping after Tommy, turned to Dream with a venomous glare. He opened his mouth, probably to issue a threat, but Dream beat him to it.
“Okay,” Dream breathed, “Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s all just talk this out like adults before committing murder.”
Dream was out of breath, holding a battered shield with an abandoned sword stabbed straight through it, which somehow hadn’t hit him when it was lodged there. Tommy could hear the weariness in his voice when he spoke.
Tommy took advantage of the moment of stillness and backed away further, not intending to leave, but there was certainly no harm in putting some more distance between himself and the people who obviously wanted to kill him. Phil, who had since landed after closing half of the distance between them, shot him a warning look, which was enough to stop him in his tracks.
Techno scoffed. “Dream, I’m not sure what you’re hoping to achieve here,” he began, “but we both know how this is going to end. Stop trying to drag this out. Why would you want to help this kid anyways? Surely you know what he did, who he’s working for?”
Dream shook his head. “You guys jumped to the wrong conclusion, which I don’t blame you for. From what I understand, the whole situation was pretty terrible and the timing of whatever happened between Tommy and Tubbo was even worse, but Tommy played no part in the kidnapping. He didn’t know any of this was going to happen, and I would know. I’ve been traveling with him for the past few weeks. He couldn’t have told Schlatt anything during that time.”
Phil narrowed his eyes. “And how do we know you’re not lying, or that Tommy didn’t use some other trick to communicate behind your back?”
“Why would I lie? We’re friends, I come here pretty often, and I hate Schlatt as much as you do. And I guess the only way for you to trust Tommy is to give him a chance. Trust me, I did the same thing you guys are doing when I first met him, and it was actually Tubbo who stopped me and told me to help him. Spend a few days with him and you’ll realize that he literally couldn’t do anything like that even if he wanted to.”
“Hey!” Tommy interjected, offended. He could do whatever he wanted!
The combined glares that immediately focused on him were enough to smother his defensiveness with embarrassment, and he flushed. Yeah, he was really doing a great job making himself seem like a good guy right now, huh?
Dream seamlessly picked up where he left off as if nothing had happened. “Seriously, let’s just calm down and take this inside. You can ask him whatever you want and see for yourselves if he seems like a spy or not before you kill him.”
Wilbur grinned for seemingly no reason, even with the axe still trained on his throat. What a creep. Dream didn’t seem to notice.
Techno did not seem placated in the slightest, as his finger was still idly running over the trigger of his crossbow, not aimed at Tommy but easily able to be shifted at a moment’s notice. It was pretty clear that, regardless of Dream’s words, he wanted blood, and would not settle until it had been spilled. Tommy noticed that he didn’t seem to have a sword anymore, which answered the question of the origin of the one stuck in Dream’s shield.
Phil was ultimately the deciding factor. His hardened expression had been wavering since Dream’s speech began, and he finally sighed and relaxed, sheathing his sword and nodding in resignation. “Alright,” he acquiesced. “I’m not really one for killing people who could be innocent, even if I have my doubts. Calm down, boys. Let’s take this inside.”
Techno bristled. “You can’t be serious! This is–”
Phil didn’t let him finish. “We don’t know what this is yet. Let’s figure it out before we spill this kid’s blood on our hands. And Tubbo liked him, remember? Let’s put a bit of faith in his judgement. Put the bow away, Techno,” he insisted, firm.
Tommy didn’t expect that to accomplish anything, since Phil suddenly seemed like a bit of a pushover and Techno was pissed. And yet, in spite of his obvious disagreement and lingering anger, Techno unloaded the bow, stuck the arrow back in the quiver at his hip, and tucked the weapon itself somewhere within his cloak. Huh. Why would he listen to Phil?
Dream released Wilbur, putting his axe away and stepping away from the man like it burned to touch him. Wilbur didn’t acknowledge this, instead using his freedom to immediately march to Techno. They looked at each other, and no words were exchanged but they seemed to communicate nonetheless, and they smiled at each other before casually walking to the house in peace, as if none of the shit that just took place had ever happened. What the fuck?
Phil gave a short laugh at their behavior, but didn’t offer an explanation. Maybe he didn’t know, either. He met Tommy’s eyes without bloodlust for the first time, and though he obviously still didn’t like or trust him, Phil still offered a weak grin before turning towards the house and gesturing for him to follow. Tommy didn’t buy it, but he still appreciated the gesture, and followed wordlessly. Dream inserted himself between them, as if he was some kind of dumb shield or something. Tommy would’ve rolled his eyes if Dream hadn’t just saved his ass a thousand times over.
The inside of the house was just as Tommy remembered. Phil led them to the same room where Tommy had overheard him and Techno talking about him, which made him even more uncomfortable with the situation, but he didn’t mention it. He doubted they expected him to be comfortable, anyway.
Wilbur and Techno were waiting for them. Apparently, something funny had just happened, as Techno was obviously suppressing a grin and Wilbur was openly chuckling. They both became serious once the rest of them arrived, though Wilbur was doing a poor job of it. Phil sat beside them, then gestured for Tommy and Dream to sit across from them, which they did without complaint. This was a couch! Tommy hadn’t sat on a couch in ages, of course he wasn’t going to complain.
Dream removed his mask and set it on a table beside him, probably so that they could read his expression and have a better idea of whether or not he was telling the truth. That was definitely a good idea.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem that Dream’s attempts to be more trustworthy would make much of a difference, as it soon became clear that their questions weren’t for him. Not a moment of peace persisted before Techno cleared his throat and fixed his gaze on Tommy, with everyone else soon to follow. Tommy shrunk under their scrutiny.
“So,” Techno began, grabbing the shield that Dream had set down on the floor and yanking his sword out with a crack, leaving a ragged hole in the wood. “You have some explaining to do, Tommy.”