Chapter Text
A few months later…
Philza hears a knock on Techno’s door while he’s eating dinner with his friend and two sons. Ranboo and Techno laugh at something Ghostbur says and Phil excuses himself from the table as he goes to answer.
He opens the heavy, spruce door in one fluid motion, prepared to greet a friend with a smile or an enemy with the sword at his hip. Instead, there is nobody but the rapidly falling snow. His black wings shiver in the icy wind as he looks around before he glances down and finds a chest before him. With no visible postmark that he could see; he lugs it into the house and all three boys come in from the dining room.
Ghostbur gasps excitedly as they watch Phil open it. “A package!”
“Oh really?” Ranboo asks, pulling out his diary and a quill from the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
Techno crosses his arms as he leans against the door-frame. “Looks like it. Got any postmarks, Phil?”
Phil is silent as he stares wide-eyed at whatever is inside the chest. His hands begin to shake as he pushes it away from him, sending it careening across the freshly mopped floors.
“Phil…?”
Phil gulps and shakes his head.
“Wings,” he says, strangled and hoarse.
Techno strides over to the chest, Ranboo and Ghostbur hiding behind his looming frame. As the three peer inside, they realize what it was that set the avian into this state. The only things inside the chest are two fiery red wings caked with blood. A snow-stained piece of paper sits neatly on top of them. Techno pulls it out.
Hello, father dearest.
I don’t want these anymore. According to you, they were yours to begin with. Maybe you can give them to your new son, Ranboo. I’m sure he’ll be a great lad for you, just be careful with your sword around him, though! You know how much you enjoy hurting your kids :D
- Tommy
P.S. I never needed you. I’m finally free.
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Tommy sits alone at the top of the tower by Tubbo’s home. His feet dangle over the edge and he feels a sinking feeling in his chest as he remembers the familiar feeling of the air beneath him. His shoulder blades ache, muscles flexing painfully where his wings once were. He hears a noise to his left as Tubbo approaches him, red blanket in hand.
Tommy smiles as Tubbo opens it and gently drapes it across his shoulders before sitting down. Tommy tugs the other half of it around Tubbo’s shoulders as his friend leans into him. It’s not the familiar soft and airiness of his wings but it’s something better. Tubbo speaks first as they watch the moon slowly sink into the ocean, the sun rising behind them.
“So, what are you going to do?”
Tommy sighs, his breath materializing in the cold air. “I’m not going after Dream,” he says plainly.
Tubbo leans away and looks at him in surprise. Tommy glances over and laughs.
“You are worth more than the discs ever were, Tubbo. Watching L’manburg fall, shedding my past, losing my wings… I think I can stand to lose the discs too.”
Tubbo smiles as he gently knocks his head into Tommy’s shoulder. “Good.”
They sit in silence together for a moment more. They no longer tiptoe around each other, trying to fill the quiet with noise; they’ve learned and grown together. Tommy looks out across the deep blue sea.
“You know what, Tubbo?”
Tubbo hums.
“I think I’m starting to like Snowchester more than my old home. Do you mind if I stay here with you?”
Tubbo shakes his head. “I don’t mind at all, big man. As long as you don’t try jumping off any high places, you can stay with me as long as you’d like.”
Tommy laughs. The sun rises higher as the moon waves a tearful goodbye to the two boys. Tubbo waves back and he swears he can see a smile form in its craters.
“If I do decide to go for a leap, Tubbo,” Tommy says finally. “You’ll catch me, right?”
Tubbo smiles softly as he whispers.
“Always.”