Chapter Text
Tommy had been hanging out with Ghostbur at Techno's house, the two busying themselves by beginning to build Tommy a house. Or rather, it was mostly Tommy begging Ghostbur to build his house for him, which the other refused to do. Instead, he merely gave the teen building tips on how to make his house look better.
After some time, Ghostbur had wandered off into the woods, calling out for his sheep. Philza had told him that his sheep who he named Friend, had infinite lives. So after Friend's death, he was now out in search of finding his Friend. The ghost passed by many sheep - knowing fully well when they weren't his sheep. Meanwhile, he was talking with Tommy over the communicator.
"Friend?! Friend! Where are you?" Tommy was outside working on his house as he heard Ghostbur call out on the radio. He heard a gasp from the ghost, followed by "Tommy! Dream found Friend!"
At the mention of Dream's name, Tommy visibly paled. "W-Wait, is Dream there?" he stammered, now looking all around him anxiously. "Ghostbur? Ghostbur, please answer me."
There were a few more moments of silence before Ghostbur came from the other end. "Yeah, he is! He's got Friend. Hold on, we're coming to the house!"
"W-Wait I need to hide, Dream can't find me!" he stammered, stumbling backwards. "How close are you?"
"Oh wait, that's right, Dream can't know you're here! Tommy, hide!" the older male gasped, "We're really close!"
Tommy didn't have to be told twice, he was instantly clambering back up the steps of Techno's house, heart hammering quickly in his chest. He kneeled on the floor in front of the window, watching outside through the cracks in the blinds. It wasn't long before Ghostbur and Dream exited the forest, Dream leading a blue sheep on a lead.
Tommy opened up a box in the corner of the room, the same one Techno had shoved him into the last time Dream had arrived unannounced. He pulled the door shut once he could hear the other's approaching voices right outside the house's door.
Tommy curled up tightly in the box, a hand over his mouth to stop him from making sounds on accident. Anxiety creeped up in his chest, eyes wide with fear as he saw Dream and Ghostbur step into the house. It was going to be fine, right? Dream came over once before when Techno was here, and Dream didn't find him then. He just needed to hope Ghostbur wouldn't say anything stupid.
The two wandered around the house, chatting. The topic of Tommy was brought up to Ghostbur by Dream, which was when Ghostbur's voice began to waver uneasily. Dream took notice, and began pressing harder on the Ghost, asking more questions.
"What are these signs for?" Dream asked, and Ghostbur replied immediately without thinking. "Oh, Tommy wrote it!"
Tommy's heart dropped in his chest, panicking now. Even Ghostbur knew he fucked up. "Oh... When?" the tone Dream's answer held was low and dangerous, almost threatening.
"I'm not sure, Tommy just showed me earlier." was Ghostbur's stupid reply again, nearly sending Tommy over the verge of a panic attack.
He pulled out his phone, quickly texting Techno with shaky hands.
"TECHNO, DREAM IS HERE AND HE KNOWS I'M IN THE HOUSE" he sent to his brother, tears welling up in his eyes as he heard the sound of Dream's heavy boots thumping around the house, clearly searching for him now.
"I know Tommy's here, Ghostbur." he heard Dream say.
Techno almost immediately replied to his text message. "FUCK, stay hidden. I'm on my way, be there in 10. Stay safe." Came Techno's reply. Hopefully Dream wouldn't find him. Tommy didn't reply, and turned his phone on mute to avoid giving away his location from any notifications. He slipped it into his pocket.
He heard Dream walking around the room he was in now, while Ghostbur desperately tried to distract him. "Dream! Have some blue!" he pleaded, but that didn't stop the masked man from continuing his search. Tears slipped down Tommy's cheeks as he held his hands over his mouth, trembling as he held his eyes shut tightly.
Minutes passed by and Dream fell silent. Not even Ghostbur spoke, which worried Tommy more. He shook in fear, pleading silently that he wouldn't be found. However, all those hopes went out the window when light suddenly filled the box, the lid being opened. Tommy barely had time to open his eyes and look up before the collar of his shirt was grabbed as he was roughly pulled up out of the box. A shriek of fear left the boy's lips as his eyes met Dream's mask in front of him, and Tommy thrashed and resisted the man with all his might.
"Dream! Leave him alone!" the ghost pleaded, reaching out to grab onto Tommy, forgetting he couldn't touch people as his hands phased through the boy. Tommy was in trouble and Ghostbur couldn't do anything to help.
"No. He's coming with me. He broke my rules for his exile, and betrayed me." Dream growled, and tears fell down the boy's cheeks as he continued resisting Dream before he was pushed down to the ground.
"D-Dream please, I'm sorry, don't do this." the teen pleaded, feeling Dream use the lead he was using on the sheep to bind his hands tightly behind his back.
A deep sigh was heard from Dream. "Tommy, I'm sorry but you are under arrest. You continuously break our rules even after we exiled you, and so we have no choice but to let the law decide what happens to you now."
Tommy shook his head, terrified to the bone of what was going to happen to him. Would they kill him? He trembled as Dream pulled him back up to his feet, now leading him out the door.
"Tommy!" Ghostbur cried out, following along.
"N-No, Ghostbur stay here. Please." Tommy begged, and the pleading look in his eyes was what made the ghost stop. Of course, someone had to be here to explain what happened when Techno got back.
Tears fell down the ghost's cheeks as he watched Tommy be hauled away. Dream brought his horse out, helping the restrained boy up onto the horse before sitting behind the teen on the saddle. With that, they were off, Tommy casting one last broken look at the house before they entered the forest, headed back to L'Manburg, where Tommy would likely have to face trial.
After a few minutes of silence, Tommy spoke up, sniffling, and shivering slightly from the cold. "Dream please, it doesn't have to be like this. I'm sorry, let me go, please!" he begged.
"Tommy, it wouldn't have ended up like this if you weren't continuously acting up and being an annoying pest. I gave you simple rules to stay in Logstedshire. You broke that rule, along with many other rules." the man said from behind him, resting a hand on the teen's shoulder. "...But I'm still your friend, and I still care about you. I have no choice but to do this. It's for your own good, you're too reckless."
When Tommy stayed silent, Dream continued. "Do you really think your brothers care about you? They didn't even visit you once while in exile. Me? I visited you almost every day, and brought you gifts as well, like the trident. You're being extremely ungrateful and I have been extremely patient with you. Why would you run away from me, your friend, to a group of people who couldn't give a shit about what happens to you? Techno said it himself, he wants you dead."
The words broke Tommy's heart as he began to cry again, tears silently slipping down his cheeks. Dream took his hands off the horse's reins for a moment, and the sound of him unclipping a button was heard before Tommy found Dream's cloak wrapped around his shoulders, shielding him from the cold.
There it was again, Dream was being nice to him, making him extremely confused about whether he should like him or not. "Dream, I'm really sorry I betrayed you. I was just... really unhappy, you know? I never should have doubted you. You are... my only friend." he murmured, shoulders slumped and head hung low. Tommy had given up.
A wicked smile ghosted itself across Dream's lips before it was gone again, replaced with a fake, concerned frown now. "I only want what's best for you, Tommy."
"I know." the teen mumbled, and then fell into silence. Neither of them spoke during the ride after that, and Tommy only looked up once they arrived at L'Manburg's gates. The reality of the situation he was in caused a deep fear to settle into the boy after they entered the walls.
Dream stopped his horse, first hopping off before helping Tommy get down after. Hands still bound behind his back, Tommy kept his head down in defeat as Dream walked him through the town. He could hear gasps and hushed whispers as he passed, citizens of L'Manburg gazing at him in awe as Dream paraded him through the town like he was some sort of trophy, a firm hand on his shoulder to guide him.
He did glance up once, briefly meeting none other than Ranboo's sad eyes before he looked away again. He didn't want to have to face all of the disappointment the others held against him. The broken teen was led right to the jail of the city was, rows upon rows of cold, inviting cells lying in wait for him.
It was there, where they met up with a few other people - Dream's right-hand men. Tommy refused to even look at any of them. That was, until a conversation started up about his brothers.
"Where did you find him?" came the voice of Sapnap.
"Techno has a house out in the antarctic, Tommy was hiding out there." Dream explained.
"Well, we can go back and arrest him later for hiding a fugitive." came Punz's cold voice, causing Tommy's head to snap up.
Riled up with anger, Tommy momentarily had his spirit back. He lunged at the man, snarling at him when Tommy was quickly grabbed and restrained by both Dream and Sapnap, holding each of his arms tightly. "You leave him the fuck alone, little bitch! He stays out of this! You wouldn't be able to capture him anyway, he's a lot more powerful than you guys are." he sneered.
"That's true." Dream spoke, and laughed as he tightened his grip on Tommy, pulling him backwards and opening a cell. He took off the boy's restraints before shoving him into the cell. Tommy hit the cold floor, barely having time to glance up at Dream before the iron bars were slammed shut and locked. Dream moved his mask up, allowing Tommy to see his face, which he had only seen a few times before. Tommy froze as he directly met Dream's cold, harsh eyes. A small, wicked smile formed on the dictator's lips. "But we have leverage now."
With that, Tommy was left alone in the dark, with nothing but his thoughts to disturb him. He curled up in the corner of the small cell, weeping silently in fear of what was ahead of him.