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Being exiled wasn't that bad as Tommy originally thought. The ravine that he and Wilbur now called home could never be up to par like his home in L'manburg, but it was doable in their situation.
He knew he had to keep his head up. Had to gather more supplies. Had to help make more space in the ravine. Had to think of ways to get back his nation from the dictator, Schlatt.
He couldn't slack off now. Not when Wilbur was working hard as well. He could depend on Wilbur to keep them going. And he had confidence that they could regain their land back as well.
The problem right now, was not the fact that he was a changed person. A person who can no longer be unaffected by the war that plagued the land they live in.
No, it was the fact that he could not stop coughing.
The coughs started small, sprinkling from his mouth as he worked in the ravine. Then, as time progressed, the coughs started becoming full on hacks. The noise echoing throughout the walls of their makeshift home.
The noise becoming so frequent that Wilbur, in his irritation, had kicked Tommy out of the ravine until he stopped.
The coughs had weirdly become more harsh after that.
So there Tommy sat, his back against a tree in the middle of the forest. His head slightly dizzy from all the heaving he was doing. It felt uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that Tommy didn't want to speak.
It felt like something was coming up his throat. The presence of an object slowly rising upwards as he kept coughing.
After a particular harsh heave, something splattered onto the grass before him.
As he opened his eyes- when had he closed them- there was a puddle of what seemed like blood. Blood and….
Flowers?
Picking up the scattered petals from the puddle, his curiosity overcoming his disgust, he realised the flower was called a Freesia. The memories of partially listening to Tubbo's rambles as they sat on their bench coming to mind. The mere thought caused a pang of something in Tommy's chest.
The flower he picked up was a soft yellow color, with small, slightly pointed petals. It vaguely reminded Tommy of the same soft yellow sweater his older brother used to wear before they created L'manburg.
Now that he thought about it, it's been a long while since he's seen that sweater.
But now that he knows he's coughing up flowers, he's scared. Deo's told him about this before. His mind reeling as to why and what did I do wrong- plaguing his mind.
How did everything change?
He keeps the flowers a secret, chokes on the coughs he feels coming up his throat. But sometimes, just sometimes- the flowers he tries so desperately to keep in blooms from his mouth, and he has to keep them in a hidden chest under his bed.
The coughs keep coming. And the petals keep blooming.
When Technoblade arrives, there's a blossoming hope in his chest at the sight of who he considers his second oldest brother. Although, he wasn't sure what to consider Wilbur now.
Wilbur, who hides away in his room or god knows where. Never coming out unless he feels the need to figure out what Tommy's been doing. And Tommy realises, that the man he considered brother, no longer trusted him as much as he did before.
The maniacal glee in Wilbur's face startles Tommy, when the man sees Techno. The reunion was short-lived, the two moving towards Wilbur's office to discuss plans.
Tommy feels a cough coming up his throat.
The next flower he coughs up are orange Alstroemerias. The flowers, wide and vibrant through the blood and spit Tommy hacks up with it.
In his cramped space, where he begs Wilbur and Techno to let him out. The redstone heavy on his back, the walls seemingly closing in on him the longer he stays.
It took them an hour and a half to let him out of that godforsaken hole . The entire hour he was blocked in, the darkness being his only friend. The next half hour was the loud hacking noises as he coughs up yet more petals. But now, as Tommy feels around for the flowers to shove them into his pockets, he's coughing up the stems as well.
He finds the meanings behind the orange flower he painfully throws up ironic.
If you asked Tommy if he saw this coming.
He would've said yes.
The flowers were already a dead giveaway to how he knew the two Pogtopian's felt. He knew that it could no longer go back to the same family that Tommy had stayed with when he was younger.
He knew it was over the moment Techno shot Tubbo on the podium. He knew it was over the moment Wilbur pressed that button. He knew it was over when Techno, the man he used to call brother, condemned him to his death.
He knew it was over the moment Wilbur was stabbed by the man he considered his father.
And as Philza flew away from the wreckage Tommy used to call home, following Techno into the wilderness, Tommy knew he was going to start coughing up a new flower soon.
Soon meant seconds.
The small white petals falling from his lips as he opens his mouth. Sudden pain wracking in his chest as petals kept falling. The petals of candytufts lay on the floor as Tommy shakily stands up from when he collapsed.
But when did he fall?
The urge to bend over and just keep coughing was something Tommy really wanted to do. But there was a nation to fix, and people to save. The words that Techno had said to him plaguing his mind with, "Do you think you're a hero, Tommy?"
So he fought to control his urge to release the pain in his chest, and instead set to once again, rebuild L'manburg.
If Tommy kept coughing as everyone set to rebuild their home, no one noticed.
The first person to catch Tommy coughing up blood and flowers was unsurprisingly, Tubbo.
Tubbo, who in his horror, stood at the doorway of Tommy's bedroom before hastily making his way over to him.
"Y-you're coughing up flowers!" He exclaimed, moving to grasp Tommy's hands. Hands that had moved to cover his mouth for the, no doubt, petals that are going to fall.
Tommy doesn't say anything. His throat hurts too much to speak and he's too tired from trying to keep his coughs quiet.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Tubbo asks, his face one of pure pain as he watched his best friend continue to heave up flowers that represents something that Tommy has lost.
It was stupid of Tubbo to ask, he knew Tommy couldn't answer.
And as the coughing slowly dies down. The petals and blood on the floor making a mess of Tommy's carpet. Tubbo decides to do the one thing that he knows will help his friend get at least a little bit better.
And so he lifts Tommy's exhausted body from his bed, opens the front door of their small makeshift home, and proceeds to quickly usher his friend to the one person he knows has potions on the go.
He knocks for what seems like minutes that were only seconds. Tommy limp at his side, blood staining his shirt and trousers from his coughing fit.
At the mere sight of Tubbo's distraught face and Tommy's condition, Bad immediately let's them in.
"Put him on the bed," Bad instructs as he moves to open a chest full of regeneration potions.
Tubbo does as he's told, before moving to sit beside the bed. He keeps quiet as Bad approaches and tips the vial of liquid into Tommy's mouth.
It's after Tommy falls asleep, that Tubbo finally speaks for the first time after entering Bad's home.
"He's coughing up flowers, Bad. He's coughing up these big petals and I don't even know how long he's been doing it-," Tubbo doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to make it better other than being there.
At the mention of flowers, Bad freezes. He stops rummaging through his chest and turns to look at Tubbo.
The look of pure horror on his face makes Tubbo want to cry.
But he can't, because just then Tommy shifts in the bed. Tubbo watches as Tommy tries to lift himself upright before moving to assist him.
And as Tommy realises the situation he's in, the sad look in Bad's and the heartbroken one in Tubbo's, he realised that they've discovered his secret.
"Why'd you hide it for so long?" Tubbo asks, his voice barely a whisper as moves to hug his friend.
"There was never a time to talk about it, Big T. We just had a war after all." Tommy knew that wasn't true. There had been plenty of times he could've approached the topic. But what was he supposed to say? Oh yeah, just letting you know that I'm coughing up flowers and you guys are the cause of it.
Thanks but no thanks.
And by the look Bad was giving him, they all knew that he wasn't going to last. The mere thought of leaving Tubbo because of his condition brought a bitter taste to his mouth.
The things that happened after the quiet solemness in the small medical wing was a blur to Tommy. With the time now ticking for him, Tubbo told him it was best to try and make some more memories. They didn't dare bring up that word. The word that they all know will happen sooner or later.
Breaking the news was hard. Tommy refused to tell anyone what was happening to him. The only reason Fundy, Niki, Eret and Quackity had found out about Tommy was because he had ended up in a coughing fit outside of Niki's bakery.
Tommy couldn't stand to look at the heartbroken looks of his friends any longer.
He hasn't seen Dream since the 16th of November, and Tommy knows that Dream knows. And if Dream knows, George and Sapnap do as well.
He spent most of his days reminiscing. Baking with Niki, farming with Quackity, mining with Eret and Sam. Listening to Mellohi and Cat. He feels like it'll end up hurting them more than him in the end.
And Tubbo. Sweet Tubbo, who was his best friend and brother all the same. He had to leave Tubbo behind when he left.
So months later, after Tommy had continuously coughed up Candytufts and Alstroemerias, had been laid to rest by the bench he valued along with his discs and jukebox.
And as Tubbo sat on the bench listening to Cat and watching the sun set, alone, he heard the tapping of feet approaching him.
"Phil."
"Tubbo? Do you know where Tommy is?"
And even though Tubbo feels resentment for the man who- after months of disappearance- had left his youngest son alone, he no longer had the fight in him to spit back with the fury he knew Tommy would've had.
"He's gone, Philza."
Tubbo gestures to the stone slab beside him, the tree hiding it from the man's sight.
The realization in his eyes makes a sense of glee fill in Tubbo's chest, before he starts coughing violently.
The flowers that fall from his mouth are large yellow petals.