Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It wasn’t Wilbur’s fault that the cat in his passenger seat looked hungry.
It looked downright starved, but that was beside the point.
The point was that Wilbur couldn’t help himself when he saw a pitiful cat on the side of the road.
Its fur was brown, but there was so much dirt that it could be any color.
It’s eyes were blue, a shade of the color that was so sharp that it looked strange on a cat.
Wilbur had already checked for a collar, he figured that once the cat was better they could take it to the vet and look for a chip.
The cat was so cute, he hoped that he could get it back to its owners.
Rain was beating against his windows as he pulled up the driveway of the Sleepy Bois Incorporated HQ, a small house a couple minutes drive from town. Wilbur took out the keys and turned to the cat, who was pressed up against the door away from Wilbur. He winced at the way it’s claws poked the leather seats.
“Well, little kitty, I’m gonna need you to work with me on this, okay?”
The cat didn’t respond. If it wasn’t breathing heavily, he would have thought it was a statue.
Wilbur held his hands up so they were clearly visible, and slowly reached for the backseat. There was a blanket back there, maybe he could wrap the cat to pick it up? It’d save him and his sweater.
The cat eyed him warily, and didn’t move its gaze from the hand holding the blanket. He shh’d it. Why was he doing that? Did that actually work? They did it on the animal shows he watched with Phil, it had to work a little. The cat let out a sound from the back of its throat, and he stopped for a moment to let it calm down. When it ceased its demonic growling, he gently set the blanket in front of it. He patted the cloth. “Surely this blanket is more comfortable than the seat?” He kept his voice low and comforting. The cat seemed to actually calm down at this, so he softly smiled and kept murmuring comforts. The cat stepped onto the blanket, and let out a tiny purr. Wilbur did a little victory dance in his head. Him! Wimblur Scoot, just did that! All by himself!
He began to lift the blanket.
“It’s okay,” he soothed. “Just taking you inside. It’s nice and warm in there, and as many blankets as you want.” Wilbur knew that cats couldn’t understand English, but this one brightened up at the word ‘blankets’. He blinked. That was strange. Maybe it knew the word from a previous owner? “It’s okay, you’re okay, maybe want some food? You look very skinny.” He nodded slowly and began to exit the car with the cat held against his chest, all swaddled up in the soft pink blanket.
He opened the front door with one hand, and nudged it closed with his hip.
He came to the couch, and sat down. Both techno and Phil weren’t home yet, so he didn’t have to worry too much about introducing the cat to strangers. Once the blanket was on the couch, he pulled his hands out from under it. Wilbur let the cat sniff his fingers, before scratching the cats head softly. It leaned into his hand with a purr. His heart melted.
It was a little gross though, as dirt was literally coming off of the cat and onto his hand. He didn’t know where this cat had been. It could have been in the sewers!
He retracted his hand with a soft laugh.
“Would you be okay with me giving you a bath, little kitty? You’re very dirty, and I want to keep petting you.” The cat-oh sky gods- the cat actually nodded. Was he going insane? Hopefully not. That would be rain on his parade. Wilbur picked up the blanket again and went for the ground floor bathroom, which had the only bathtub in the house. He could use the shower, but that would probably result in an upset cat and a soaked Wilbur. The bath it was, then.
He opened the door and plopped the cat on the counter, before kneeling in front of the bath. He fiddled with the settings for a moment before the water was at a temperature he liked, and turned to pick up the cat.
It was gone.
Luckily the door was shut, so there were only so many places it could be-
Oh sky gods have mercy on him the door was open.
Wilbur ran a hand through his hair. Of all the stray cats he could’ve picked up, why did it have to be the one that nodded and opened doors?
He poked his head through the door.
“Kitty kitty? Where are you?”
The cat came trotting down the hallway, leaving behind little paw-prints of dirt. He sighed. “Come here, kitty.” He opened his arms. He didn’t expect the cat to actually jump up, as it had just met him, but as usual it kept surprising him. Now it sat in one of his arms while the other was looking under the cabinet for soap he could use on an animal. The cat stretched up its neck and nuzzled its face against the bottom of his chin, and he chuckled.
“Cute little thing,”
He found a very old cat soap from Phil’s old cat, daisy. Daisy had been dead for a long time, so he figured it wouldn’t offend her spirit if he used it.
He set the cat in the tub, and filled a cup with water to pour over it.
As he kept going, he saw that the cat was actually a sandy color, with a darker brown around its paws and muzzle. The cat, surprisingly, didn’t seem to mind the water.
He figured it was time he stopped calling it ‘The cat’ and ‘it’, so he lifted it up, much to the cats apparent dismay. Once he set him back down, he booped the cats nose.
“Well hello mr. kitty. What should I call you?” He pondered for a moment as he turned off the water and rubbed the cat dry with a towel. The cat meowed and pawed up at the pink blanket. Wilbur rolled his eyes and returned it to the cat, who picked it up in his mouth and happily trotted towards the living room. He followed the cat, and came to a decision.
“I’m going to call you tom. Like tomcat. Aren’t I clever?” If cats could roll their eyes, Wilbur was sure Tom would be doing so. “Well Tom, the rest of my family is coming home soon, so what do you think about some food?” Tom purred as Wilbur opened the fridge. “If we had any kind of fish I’d get you that, but everyone here hates fish.” Wilbur reached his arm in. If he was right, there should be some perfectly good- “found it!” He held the packaged chicken breast triumphantly. “Give me a little while and I’ll have it nice and cooked up for you.”
Tom jumped up onto the counter and flicked his tail. He was still purring, so Wilbur assumed he was content.
Thirty minutes later had him laying on the couch while he watched a movie, with Tom sitting on his chest. The cat was full, and therefore, much more open to affection. Occasionally he would reach up and scratch behind the cat’s ears, until Tom got annoyed and would paw at his face. Eventually he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

When Phil came home, he wasn’t expecting to see a cat playing with the remote, actually managing to change channels until it landed on one with the movie Up playing. The cat seemed... content? And sat back onto his sleeping son’s chest. Gods, it was actually watching the movie. The cat heard him come in, and turned to look at him. Phil froze when the cat began to growl, and he put his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.
“Hey, uh, hello?”
The cat leapt at him and he screamed.

When techno came home, he hadn’t known he would find Phil looking like he’d been cornered in an alleyway by mice with swords while he tried to coerce a cat down from the top of the pantry, with his brother asleep on the couch.
Techno sighed. What else had he expected? A normal day in the Watson household? Surely not.

After what the family dubbed ‘the Incident’, Tom found himself unwillingly settling in.
He shouldn’t be here. It’d only been a few days, and he was already getting too used to things around the household.
Tom lashed his tail. While he didn’t like getting comfortable in new places, he had to admit he could use it.
He was forced to see how difficult it was sometimes to come up with the words for certain things. In simple terms, he’d been on the streets in cat form for so long he’d been forgetting.
Words like couch, and kitchen, and one that made him gag. Family.
Tom shuddered. To be honest, he’d be completely fine forgetting that one, if it came with forgetting his birth family. They were shit, the lot of em, and if he forgot what they put him through he’d celebrate.
Sadly, they always say bad memories are easier to remember than the good ones.
So, he decided he’d only be there for a few more days, but only to get free food and relearn a few words.

Tom stayed for much longer than he meant to.

So maybe staying two weeks was longer than he’d wanted, but the family was just so nice. That bath, even though he might not willingly do that again, was pretty cool. The tall one had even gotten that clump of dirt that had been stuck behind his ear. And he’d even learned their names, so he was inevitably beginning to get attached, as one does when they learn the name of a cute animal.
But the Watson family were not cute animals, they were a wild pack of little shits.
Wilbur was the tallest of the three, and he played music. Tom would often get shut out from Wilbur’s room when he played, as he would yowl along with the notes. He was mildly offended. He was just trying to sing along!
While Wilbur was the most refined, Wilbur was also a goblin, talking about eating sand and his hatred of anteaters. (When Wilbur had the talk with Phil about anteaters, tom couldn’t help but nod along to his points. Wilbur was entirely correct, and Phil was plain wrong.)
Techno was an introvert, to put it simply. The man spent a lot of time in his room, and when he did come out, he didn’t talk much.
He would also stare off into space a lot, like he always had something on his mind.
Techno had a dry sense of humor, and was quick to fire back with quips that made even Tom have to hold back laughter.
Of course, if he did laugh in cat form it would just sound like he had a hairball stuck in his throat, and that was embarrassing, so he refrained from laughing.
The pink-haired man also fenced. Tom hadn’t realized until he’d wandered into technos room and saw a few swords hanging on the wall.
Occasionally techno would fake spar with him, which was basically just techno holding out a foil at cat height and lettin Tom swat at it.
Phil was an enigma. He was so caring of his sons, but was also surprisingly chaotic.
The entire family played Minecraft, and Tommy watched at one point as Phil dunked someone in lava when they asked for food.
The caring side was more prominent, thankfully. While he might burn someone for asking for food in a video game, Tom had the man wrapped around his paw. One little mew with some wide eyes and he had a small handful of treats in his face.
He took advantage of this far too often.
They were all strange and chaotic in their own ways, and Tom admired them for it.
Didn’t stop him from being a little shit, though.

Chapter Text

Tom knew something had happened.
In between being as annoying as possible, he listened in on conversations to learn more about the people he was staying with.
He’d decided that for now he’d stay, but it was on thin ice. He had to be skittish, it was the only thing that kept him alive.
Tom also knew that whatever had happened wasn’t good. The family didn’t talk about it much, but when they did it was dark words coated with humor. Some form of trauma, he guessed. Although Tom didn’t admit it often, he also used humor to cover some of the darker things that had happened to him. Of course there wasn’t anyone he actually said these things to, but it would occasionally get a chuckle out of him.

While Tom knew the family had been through something, it took a bit for himself to admit he’d been through some tough stuff, too.
It was hard to admit those things, at least, so he wasn’t too abnormal. As long as you rule out being a shapeshifter, he was as normal as any other person.
He hated sitting in the middle of rooms. No matter where he was, there was always something behind him he couldn’t see.
He stuck to corners after Wilbur had snuck up on him during the first few days of his stay.

Tom had been having a good day, and now he was laying over the top of the couch. Something inside of him screamed at having his back exposed, but the top of the couch was the only spot the sun shone on, and he was cold.
His priorities weren’t in the best order, but whatever.
He practically jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his back.
Tom stumbled off the couch and landed on the floor, skidding with frantic paws to the corner of the living room.
“Shit,” said a voice. Tom focused his eyes to see Wilbur staring down at him in concern. His chest heaved when Wilbur moved closer, and he let out a little growl. Wilbur stilled. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” The man held up his hands and Tom relaxed a little and forced himself to look around the room before focusing on Wilbur’s hands. No white walls, no tiles, no scalpels, no needles. He was safe, he just needed a moment to remind himself.

He stuck to corners, and he knows Wilbur had told the other members of the family, because they tended to give him a wide berth and announced themselves.
It helped, and forced him to remember that not everyone was cruel.
Well... his parents hadn’t been cruel, just scared, and lost-
Nope! Not thinking about that.
Tom stood up from his corner and trotted down the hall, nudging open Wilbur’s door. He needed a distraction.

A day later, he was sitting on his Prime Path (Tom had decided he had a favorite person when Phil screwed a bunch of boards high on the wall to make a path, even if that favoritism was quickly beat out by Wilbur getting him catnip) and waiting to do an air strike.
There was no need whatsoever to do air strikes, but it was fun to listen to the family squawk when he landed on their shoulders.

Wilbur came through the doorway and Tom prepared to drop down, until Wilbur let out a deep sigh. Something was wrong. The man flopped down on the couch and ran a hand down his face.
Tom tilted his head, and jumped down from the Prime Path to rub against wilburs legs.
Wilbur moved his fingers just enough to see Tom.
“Hey...” he whispered. “Where’ve you been?” Tom purred, trying to be comforting. Wilbur sighed again. “Fuck...”
Tom flattened his ears and trotted off down the hall towards Phil’s office. He didn’t fully trust the family yet, but he had the decency to make sure Wilbur was feeling okay.
He nudged the office door open and tugged on Phil’s pant leg with his teeth.
Phil looked down at him.
“Heya Tom. You hungry?” Tom shook his head aggressively as he pulled on the pant leg, not unlike a dog.
He let go of Phil’s pants and ran to the door, looking back over his shoulder to make sure the man was following him.
When they came back into the living room, Phil saw Wilbur and rushed forward.
“Wil! Are you okay?”
“Fundy’s gone missing.”
Tom had no idea who ‘Fundy’ was, but they were obviously important to Wilbur.
“Really?” Phil murmured. “Was he...” Wilbur nods.
“Taken.”
“Ah.”
They fell into silence, and Tom moved forward and butted his head into Wilbur’s leg. It’s okay. He still has his jumpy moments, but no one should go through that worry.
When he looked closer, he could see something more than just worry in their eyes. Tom ignored it, going to bat around one of his toys in the corner. Surely it was fine, it was probably just some human thing they were worried about. ‘Fundy’ would probably just pop up again like most missing humans.
It took him a moment to remember he was still human too.

Chapter Text

He was minding his business: he’d just finished his last cover-up of the day, and was ready to leave and crash in his room. He walked through the halls, absentmindedly counting today’s earnings.
A few pieces of what had previously been a chain-link fence, a couple bottle caps, some pebbles, and his favorite so far, sea glass.
With the facility’s layout, he had to take so many turns he had to check he hadn’t gone in a circle.
He sighed as he reached his door, and moved to open it until he heard the rattling of a cart. Looks like they’d caught another one. He wondered if they had anything valuable on them.
He turned to see something he did not expect.
“Fundy?” He asked. Fundy had escaped years back, what was he doing here again? Fundy knew how to not be caught, what happened?
The fox had a muzzle over his mouth, and couldn’t respond in anything more than small yips.
He watched as the cart passed his door, and he sighed. Just another day at the facility, he supposed. Maybe if Fundy had some bottle caps or something he could help the fox escape.
Of course, he’d give a discount. He held Fundy close to his heart, as he’d been the one to teach the suddenly sentient fox English.
He pushed his glasses further up his nose. He’d get Fundy out. Even if he had to do a job for free.

Chapter Text

Wilbur floated through his tank, letting the sand flow down his fingers. Gods it was boring in here. He kicked his legs so that he was at the top of the tank, and lay his arms over the edge. It was a tease at freedom, having his arms out there, but even if he managed to haul himself over the edge, he wouldn’t be able to walk properly and would probably be shot within a few moments.
All in all, it wasn’t worth it. He’d rather keep his life, even if that meant he was stuck in a tank that wasn’t nearly big enough for him.
Wilbur let a few clicks out, just to pass the time. He wished he could chirp, could trill, could sing. He wasn’t allowed to sing, because when he did the blinking lights didn’t come back for a few days. The blinking lights meant food.
He wanted food. He was hungry.
Yesterday the only thing he’d gotten was a strange painful injection that had made him bounce off the walls for a few hours.
The blinking lights turned on, and Wilbur let himself dive back into the tank to do a few loops and spins. He popped his lips a couple of times.
He fell still when a man wearing a white coat entered the room. The people who brought food never wore white coats.
The man climbed up a ladder and tipped over a bucket, and Wilbur watched as a armful of strange flakes fell out. They hit the water silently and floated down in front of him.
Wilbur tilted his head. Were they playing a game with him? They blinked the lights and then dumped flakes in his tank?
He stuck his head forward and sniffed the flakes. They smelled like food... but when he swiped some into his mouth, they had no substance. No chew. Just... flakes. They didn’t even taste good. He chirped quietly and stared at the man on the other side of the glass. The man turned and left, and the blinking lights returned to normal.
Wilbur didn’t eat any more of the flakes that day, too confused to have a proper appetite.

The next day he ate the flakes, if only out of sheer desperation.

The day after that he had sunk to the bottom of his tank. He watched idly as someone outside his cell talked with another creatures, and Wilbur watched with astonishment as the person outside the cell pulled something out of their side to hand to the creatures.
And no, not out of a side pocket, out of the side of his body.
Wilbur watched, and he learned.

He learned that the man would come once a week, and the creatures in the cells on the other side of the hall would hand the man strange metal or junk, and the man would give something in return.
Sometimes the man would even open the doors, and the creatures would run.
He wished he could run.

Wilbur had lost track of the days, but he waited until the flakes had come and gone, and waited until the strange half and half man came back to the cell across from his.
Once the man was preparing to leave, Wilbur knocked against the glass. The man turned, and started speaking at him. Wilbur couldn’t understand the words, but he was very good at sensing tone. The man seemed nice, and didn’t have any underlying tones of malice in his voice.
Wilbur hauled the top half of his body over the edge of the tank and gestured to the man, and then to himself in an eating motion.
The man nodded, and held out a hand.
Ah, Wilbur remembered this. He needed to give the man something as payment.
He floated down to the bottom of the tank and swiped up a handful of sea glass.
He reached over the edge and dropped the shards into the man’s palm, watching as the man seemed very happy with the payment.
The man reached into the white side of his body and pulled out a-
Okay, maybe Wilbur had been expecting some food, nothing special, but he almost shrieked in delight when the man pulled out an entire cooked bird! If a handful of sea glass could get him food like this, he’d eat like a king!
Wilbur reached over the edge and grabbed the bird, pulling it close and devouring it in a few short bites, his sharp teeth making quick work of it.
The man seemed shocked at how fast he’d eaten it, but held his hand to his forehead in a strange gesture and walked away down the hall.

He continued to have these exchanges with the man until the Nice Man broke him out.
The Nice Man didn’t have a proper name yet, but Wilbur was trying to learn their language.
The Nice Man had rushed past his tank with another child under his arm, probably not too much younger that Wilbur was. The boy had a snout! He looked like one of those strange creatures that would come by the beach every now and then, back when he’d lived in the ocean.
Wilbur perked up when he saw the man, and chirped out. They looked free, and even if they were caught again he couldn’t help but long for a few minutes out of his tank.
The man had huge, gray and white things poking out of his back, like a bird. Wilbur could only assume they were wings.
The Nice Man looked up at him, and tilted his head.
Wilbur hauled himself up over the edge of the tank, and reached out a hand, hoping to be pulled out. Of course, the man would have to open the door to get to him... but Wilbur could hope!
He smiled brightly when the man pulled a strange disc out of his pocket. Wilbur knew what these were! The men in the coats used those to open doors!
The Nice Man opened the door and grabbed his hand, pulling him over the top of the tank. Wilbur stumbled, and fell into the man. His legs were great at swimming, but he hadn’t gotten the hang of walking yet, despite the coated’s best efforts.
The Nice man seemed to notice this, and found a way to pull Wilbur up and over his shoulder.
As the man began to run, Wilbur reached forward and brushed his hand against the wings, feeling the feathers beneath his webbed fingers.
He clicked his tongue a few times. The feathers were very soft, and dry, unlike anything in his tank.
Wilbur froze when the Nice man clicked his tongue in response.
It sounded like something the man was made to do, unlike when the white coats tried to replicate the noise. The white coats attempts sounded strange and forced, but when the nice man did it they sounded like he’d been doing them his whole life.
Wilbur trilled softly. He knew they weren’t the same, but they were close enough. He wasn’t alone.
He had to shut his eyes when they seemingly left the building, because the sun was hurting his eyes. It’d been so long since he’d seen anything that bright, not counting the lights the white coats used.
He pushed aside the fear of being punished and trilled loudly. The Nice man laughed, and repeated with a similar noise.
Wilbur smiled. He was free.

Chapter Text

Wilbur had to forcibly tug his hand away from his mouth. He kept chewing on his nails, a bad habit that he’d gotten rid of years back. He was sitting in his room, ear frills out and open for the world to see. Wilbur wasn’t self conscious of them, per say, they just reminded him of his past, and he didn’t really like thinking about it. He slid a black silicone ring off his right middle finger to fidget with, and it did its job of keeping his hands away from his mouth. He could feel his gills flaring out, and forced himself to take a few deep breaths through his mouth, letting the gills shut. If he wasn’t careful, he’d need to spend a few hours in the bathtub, and that was never fun for anybody. Last time it had happened, it ended with a soaked Techno and a pissed off phil.
A few hours later and a long time of scrolling through Twitter, Wilbur was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. He reached over to his bed-side table and tugged his beanie over his ear frills, and pulled hair down to curl around them just enough to make sure they were fully hidden.

“Who is it?” The door opened slowly to reveal techno. Wilbur caught the look on his pseudo brothers face. While Wilbur knew techno and Fundy had never been close, he knew that seeing someone else like them taken was causing techno anxiety. He patted the spot next to him as techno came in the room. “You okay, tech?” He asked. Techno sighed, but didn’t answer. Wilbur hummed. “That bad, huh?” Techno nodded. Wilbur wrapped an arm around the others’ shoulder and pulled him close. “It’ll be okay, you know.” He could feel techno shifting to his more pig-like form. “We’ll find Fundy, and we’ll be careful to make sure none of us get hurt while we do it.” Techno let out a quick breath.

“How’d you even hear about Fundy? S’ not like he can text.” Wilbur snorted.

“He’s been staying with Niki and Eret, remember? They called me.” Techno nodded and Wilbur could feel his brother falling asleep. Wilbur let out a series of soft clicks and trills from the back of his throat, hoping to make his brother relax more. They were still in Wilbur’s room, but the siren gently pushed techno until he was laying back. “I know you haven’t been sleeping, tech.” Wilbur stood up and moved to the door. “Get some sleep, I’ll wake you up before dinner.”

An hour later, techno woke up slowly. He sighed at himself. He didn’t know Fundy very well, but he knew niki. The girl must be distraught, as Niki and Fundy had been close friends. Well, as close as a literal fox and a glow stick could be. Techno got up and moved downstairs, ready to mindlessly munch on some grass. Hey, don’t judge him. It’s relaxing. He entered the living room to see Phil folding laundry and Tom stuck under a laundry basket, held down by Phil using it as a footrest. Tom was trying to swipe at Phil through the gaps to no avail. Techno snorted. “What’d he do now?” Phil looked up with a smile.

“He’s been imprisoned for swiping at my ankles while I sort clothes.” Techno nodded thoughtfully right as Wilbur came into the room and let out a cry at seeing his cat in jail. Techno hummed.

“I feel no sympathy for this prisoner.” Wilbur cried out again.

“No! Poor baby!” Techno nudged the basket with his foot.
“Bastard.” Wilbur’s hands met his beanie as the man flopped onto the floor.

“No! Don’t be mean.” Phil didn’t look up from sorting socks when he spoke.

“Naughty boy. Brat cat.”

Wilbur sounded like he would strangle somebody for Tom. “No!”

Everything seemed blurry. “Mom?” “Go back to your room, honey.” His mother was on the armchair, with three strange men on the couch. One of them was wearing a green striped suit like that evil guy from the Lorax movie. He would not go back to his room, not until he knew what was happening. He hid around the wall. “We know you’re scared, and you don’t know what’s happening. We understand, and we want you to know that we can help.” His mother nodded. “Thank you. It’s... it’s so strange! What’s happening to him?” The suited man hummed softly, and clasped his hands together on his lap. “We have a few cases similar to his, back at our facility. If you would let us take him there, he could stay with us for a few months, and then he’ll come right back home! We can do a few tests, and see what we come back with.” He watched as his mother nodded. He pouted from around the corner. He didn’t want to leave his mom. “I would really appreciate that. I just want to make sure he can live a normal life, and that he isn’t a danger to himself or others.” The man chuckled. “He will live the most normal life possible, after we can figure out what exactly is wrong.” The man leaned his neck to look out the window. “In fact, we have a van outside right now. We could take him today? Only if that’s okay with you, of course?” He watched with shock as his mother nodded again. She was just letting him go with these strange people? “Thank you so much, Doctor. I’ll go get him now.” He scampered back to his room, sitting on the floor and playing with his truck in an effort to look normal. His mother opened the door. “Honey, you’re gonna need to pack a few things, you’re going on a trip. They’re going to help figure out what’s happening to you, okay?” He shook his head. “No!” His mother frowned. “Come on. It’s only gonna be for a little bit.” The man came down the hall and crouched down so they were eye level. “Heya. I know it’s scary, but we just want to help you.” He watched as the man’s face distorted and he repeated the same words over and over. “We just want to help you. We just want to help you. We just want to-“

Tom jolted awake when something touched the top of his head. He jumped out of his cat bed, and stared at Phil, who’s hand was outstretched to him. “Poor guy.” Phil frowned. Wilbur called out from across the room. “What? Is he okay?” Phil nodded, and reached forward to pet him again. Reluctantly, Tom let him. “He’s okay,” said Phil. “I think he was having a nightmare.” Wilbur shifted on the couch. “Can cats have nightmares? What would cats have nightmares about?” Phil shrugged and Tom stood up, ready to lounge on the Prime Path for a few hours, maybe lay in an inconvenient spot to soak up some sunlight. “You did find him on the street, maybe he had a bad owner before us?” Tom zoned out from their conversation as he padded down the hallway to Techno’s room. He didn’t want to hear them guess what’d happened to him, and he also wanted to bat around one of technos fencing swords for a bit.

Chapter Text

Fundy paced in his cell.
“Why havent you left yet! I escaped years ago, and you promised you’d be right behind me! And then I never saw you again.”

The half and half man sighed and sat down in front of the glass.
“I know.”

“You’ve got Dream wrapped around your finger, are you just too scared to leave?”

“Fundy-“

“Or what? Do you like it here? Where were you when I was out on the streets? Before Eret and Niki found me?”

“Fundy!” The fox fell quiet. “I haven’t left because it’s better if I stay here. If I leave, I wouldn’t be able to help others get out.” The man ran a hand through his hair, before pulling on the lapels of his dual colored trench coat. It always suffocated him in stressful situations. “Dream’s smart. You yourself have seen him in multiple places at once, you know he’s always a step ahead of anyone here.”
They sat in silence for a moment before He continued, pulling off his glasses to look Fundy in the eyes properly.
“If I run, I will be caught. I will be contained, and every other person within these walls won’t get a chance to escape.”
Fundy paused his pacing to sit down.

“I’m sorry.” Fundy’s ears were down. The man sighed.

“I know. It’s okay. I just have to keep this up a little longer, until those people you talked about can take the facility down.” They sat in silence for a little longer, before the man scrambled up at the sound
of footsteps.
He nodded to the men coming down the hall.

“Good morning,” he said.
They nodded back, and one of them stopped.
“Ranboo, the doctor needs you within the hour.”
The half and half man, Ranboo, nodded.
“Thank you.” The man went on his way. Ranboo turned his head back to Fundy.
“Two bottle caps says I can get you extra food today.” Fundy disappeared from the view of the glass for a moment before coming back with the payment in his mouth. The fox dropped it and nudged it through a gap close to the floor.
Ranboo bent down to scoop them up and hide them in his side. He then dug around for a moment before he pulled out a small chicken breast from within his body and slid it through the gap. Ranboo smiled fondly when fundy immediately dug in. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Fundy grunted at him around a mouthful of food.
“Stay safe, double check the colors of whatever he gives you,” Ranboo nodded, and left to go to George’s office.

Chapter Text

Tom was feeling good this week.
It had been calm, and quiet, and no interruptions to anything he was doing. (Not to say he didn’t interrupt others, but that’s besides the point)
And maybe he’d change his mind once he was in less of a good mood, but he’d enjoy the calm while it lasted. (In the Watson household that was never long.)

Tom had also decided to tell them who he really was. He was going to tell his family.
(Tom doubted himself whenever he thought of them like that. Did he deserve to call them family when they didn’t really know him?)
But yeah. He was going to tell them. It was the week of Phil’s birthday, according to a conversation he’d overheard. Techno and Wilbur had been whispering about a present, he thinks. Wilbur had jokingly looked at Tom and told him to promise not to tell Phil. Techno rolled his eyes, and Tom felt guilt swirl inside him. He was lying to them, because they thought he was just some dumb house cat with a sprinkle of trauma. So yeah, he was going to tell them after Phil’s birthday, but within the week. He didn’t want to take the spotlight from Phil, but he wanted them to still be in a good mood when he came out about it.
How he was going to tell them he had no clue, but that was future Tom’s problem.

It was the day after Phil’s birthday, and he was going to tell them.
It was... easier said than done, for sure. But he could do it. He was brave. He knew that they loved him, even if it wasn’t the real him.
Tom was just waiting for them to come home and then... well... he could just turn human? That seemed too simple.
He was pulled from his thoughts by Wilbur coming through the door.
Huh. That was strange. Wilbur was almost always the last one home.
Tom, from where he was sitting on the prime path, watched as Wilbur pulled out his phone and put it to his ear, then began to pace. He always paced when he was nervous. Tom wondered what had the man all shaky.
Wilbur seemed relieved when someone picked up.
“Tech, Phil messed up.” Wilbur paused. “Yeah. It was his wings. I don’t know what on earth happened to make them come out, but I saw it online.” Tom tilted his head at the mention of wings. “Something about a very impressive cosplay, can you come home early.” It wasn’t a question.
Tom jumped down and nudged Wilbur’s legs, only for the man to ignore him.
“Thank you. See you soon.” Wilbur put the phone back in his pocket, and collapsed into the couch, arms on his knees. Tom jumped up beside him and head butted Wilbur’s arm. Wilbur looked down at him and smiled softly.
“Hey Tom.” Wilbur ran a hand over his fur, and Tom arched into it with a purr. “I know you can’t really understand me, but I’m stressed and I need to vent.” Tom put a paw on Wilbur’s leg, and the man laughed. “Glad someone’s here for me.” Wilbur sighed. “Anyways, Phil got caught with his wings out.” Tom froze as his claws dug into the couch. Wilbur didn’t seem to notice, and kept going. “I know, it’s confusing. He’s been so good about keeping them in that you would think he wouldn’t slip up.” Tom suddenly wasn’t hearing Wilbur anymore, and was lost in his thoughts.
Phil had wings? How did he hide them? Why hadn’t Tom seen?
He wanted to laugh. Of course. He’d been so careful about not showing them his magical side, only for the head of the house to have wings. What a coincidence.

He was yet again pulled from his inner turmoil when the door slammed open, and techno barreled in.
“Wilbur?!” Wilbur shot up and ran to techno, colliding into him. Tom watched over the back of the couch as they whispered a few words to each other, and pulled apart to hold each other at arms’ length.
“What are we going to do?” Techno’s words were quiet, but Tom caught them.
“We plan.” Said Wilbur. “We’ve done it once, who’s to say we can’t do it again?” Techno looked beyond worried.
“But... that was so long ago, and last time we had Phil.”
Tom crawled up to the back of the couch and meowed at them. They kept speaking, and Tom huffed. If he could just show them what he was now, then they could all work together to save Phil.
But they were ignoring him.
He yowled, and they just turned and went up the stairs.
Tom wanted to scream. He was trying to show them!
(It wouldn’t occur to him until later that he could have just shifted to a human form without the dramatics.)
He followed them, only to get a door shut in his face.
Wilbur’s voice came from the other side.
“Sorry Tom, not right now.”
(It also didn’t occur to him he could just shift and open the door.)
He growled under his breath and went back to the living room

Chapter Text

Hello!

As of right now, I have to pause my writing on this story. I have a wrist injury that’s keeping me in a brace, and it makes it difficult to write, as well as the fact that it hurts. I can still answer comments or any asks on tumblr, but I can’t do extended writing, like for this story.

I will try to pick up this story as soon as possible, but I wanna take care of myself first.
While I’m here, is there anything you guys wanna see? I’m open for suggestions, since I still don’t quite have a set in stone ending. Any characters, events, settings, etc you wanna see and I’ll think about adding it! I love hearing ideas!

I’m glad you guys have enjoyed the story so far, and I’m not sure when I’ll be back, but I hope everyone does well until then.

Thank you!
-Gurt/eclipsewatcher

Chapter Text

They were stuck. Only one of them had gotten out, and they had lost connection as soon as the box closed.

The box was horrid. It made them have to actually speak to one another. It was strange, after so long of just being able to hear everyone whenever they wanted to say something.

They only became one solid train of thought when they became human. But none of them preferred that form. It was clunky, and harder to dodge things. It made people ask questions.
If it meant they got to leave the box, they would become human again. If, on some odd chance, the man with the goggles came to the box and said “we will let you out if you stay in a human form” they would take the offer in a heartbeat.
Someone in one of the corners did what to others could be considered a groan. Someone else snapped at them to shut up, because they were all in the same situation.

They were all trapped.

They just wanted to be a hive mind again. Something in how the box was made prevented that. They just wanted to exist, without having to physically speak to each other.

They wanted out of this stupid fucking box.
So they took a moment, focused, and became one solid form. It was a little cramped, but it gave them a voice that others could hear.
They’d already tried this a couple of times. It never worked, but they always kept trying.

“Hello?” They screamed, multiple voices speaking at once until they-no, he, now, became one. “Let me out!” He banged a fist against the side of the box. Maybe he could annoy someone into opening it. “Hey! I know someone can hear us-me!”the space outside the box was silent, until he heard light footsteps.
“Hey! I hear you! Open the box!”

The footsteps stopped, and a voice started.
“Um... hello?” The voice was soft, and nervous.

“Let me out.” He growled, banging his fist until he was sure there were bruises.
Not that he could see, because he was inside of a pitch black fucking box.

“I could let you out... but I’m not allowed to. Is there anything you could pay me with? I might be more willing to help you if you could give me something?”
He stopped in his tracks. What? Pay?

Oh right, that was a human term.

“Why?”

The voice cleared its throat.
“Well. That’s my sorta... thing? I help the creatures here, if they can pay me something.” The voice hummed. “Could be anything, really. Once I got a ball of lint”

He looked down at himself, which he quickly reprimanded himself for. Right, pitch black. Maybe he had something in his pockets?

Nope. Empty. He gulped. He needed to get out of this box, and he didn’t have anything to get him there.
Maybe... maybe he could lie?

“Yeah. I’ve got some... stuff?” God, he was the worst liar.
There was silence outside the box. The voice hummed again.

“You sure? The way you said it doesn’t really inspire confidence.”
He sighed. Looks like he wasn’t getting out anytime soon.

“I don’t have anything.”
The voice hummed.

“Okay... I can’t really do anything for you then, sorry.” He assumed the voice was walking away, because the footsteps started up again, except this time they were getting farther away.
He sighed. There was no point staying in this form.

They separated, and all tried to go to their own corners.
They argued a lot, but there was one thing they could all agree on.
This fucking sucked.

Chapter Text

It was dark out, now, and neither Wilbur nor techno had come back downstairs. Tom had long since given up trying to break in, and had resigned himself to laying with his back to the wall, idly pawing at one of the toys they’d bought him.

He froze when the basement door opened, and out came Wilbur and Techno.
He narrowed his eyes. When had they gone down there? Why hadn’t Tom seen them?

One question came into his mind that made him think back over the entirety of his stay with the Watson’s.
What was in the basement?
The entire time he’d been here, they’d never allowed him in the basement. Sure, they barely went down there themselves, but it was strange.

He watched as they went back upstairs to their rooms. Once he was sure they were asleep, he stood up and padded over to the basement door.

Tom took in a quick breath. To reach the doorknob properly, he’d have to be taller. Being taller meant being human.
To be honest, he really hadn’t seen his actual face in a very long time. He wondered what he looked like.
Tom closed his eyes, and focused all of his energy into shifting.

He felt himself change, become taller, longer.

He opened his eyes and was still looking at the door.

No big pizazz, no fireworks, no dramatics.
If anything, he was being hella suspicious. If either Wilbur or techno came back downstairs, they’d see some random kid staring at the basement door.
Not good.

Tom let out another shaky breath and opened the basement door, not at all scared of the dark stairs.
He descended with a few stumbles, and pulled on a string to turn the lights on.
It was a large room, and the entirety of one of the walls was covered in strange papers.

There was a table, with even more papers scattered about. He decided to look there first.

He picked up what seemed to be a blueprint, and squinted at the words. Fuck, he regretted not keeping up on his reading skills. It took a while, but he managed to read through five documents about the layout of a large building.
What building was this, and why were the Watsons obsessed with it?
The letters at the top of the page escaped him for a second, but they made sense. He growled, but ended up having to smother a coughing fit. Stupid throat.
AERA. That stupid facility seemed to follow him everywhere.

He didn’t know what the letters stood for, but he knew who was behind it.
That stupid man, the one in the stupid green striped suit.
The doctor, who often gave him the wrong medicines, and made him sick.
and the security guard, the one who caught him every time he managed to get five feet from his cell.

He hated them. They ruined his life.

He spent an hour avidly reading as many papers as he could get his hands on. If he was going to save Phil, he needed to be prepared. He trusted Wilbur and techno, but they were humans that would hurt themselves trying to be loyal.

After that, he went back upstairs and did a little scavenging.
He opened the door to a coat closet, and grabbed a black coat. It was Wilbur’s.
Whatever senses were left from years of cat smelled the ocean breeze the man seemed to carry with him.
It was long enough to look like it could be Tom’s, and it wouldn’t look stolen.
He stared longingly at Phil’s puffy coats. Short bastard.
Next he stole a pair of Wilbur’s shoes.
Poor Wilbur, getting everything stolen.
Tom shrugged to himself as he tucked the loose laces into the sides of the shoe, not remembering how to tie them. He was sure Wilbur would understand the missing items.
Thank god clothes stayed on him in between shifts, otherwise he would need to make a very awkward trip upstairs. Tom ventured into the kitchen and looked through what he had seen was called the “junk drawer”. He grabbed whatever was small enough to fit in his pockets. He’d need it for bargaining and favors.
Tom grabbed Phil’s wallet off the table, as well as a spare key from the bowl. Who knew when he’d be home.

As he moved to open the front door, Tom caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
He turned to look at it fully and sighed.
He looked like shit.
His face was clean, he wasn’t too thin, he just...
Tom couldn’t recognize himself.
To be fair, he hadn’t seen his human face since he was a kid, but it still made something inside him ache.

Niki sighed. According to Wilbur, Phil was now at the facility.
First Fundy, then Phil. It was like the facility always knew where they were.
Maybe they did, and that’s why Niki and her crew were moving.

Eret came in, balancing a large box on their hip.
“You need help with anything in here? This is the last box from downstairs.”

Niki turned with a soft smile.
“I’ve got it. Would you tell Jack to do a final sweep?” She sighed, and started rolling up maps and papers into different cases. “Can’t afford to leave anything behind.”

Eret nodded, and shifted the box on their hip. It looked heavy, and made clinking noises when it moved.
“I’ll pass it on. I’ll meet you outside.”

Niki finished in the meeting room and took the cases to one of the moving trucks outside. They’d holed up in an old warehouse, and she had no idea where they were going to stay this time.
This was the second move, and Niki was beginning to get tired.

It wasn’t their fault they were the way they were. They just wanted to live normal lives, but according to people like AERA they were freaks who needed to be contained.

She just wanted her family and friends to be safe.

Chapter Text

Normally Phil woke up quickly. He would shoot up in bed, always doing a check over the house before he could relax.
Right now, though, consciousness kept slipping through his fingers. It was like trying to hold a freshly caught fish.
When he did manage to open his eyes, he was taken aback by a sterile, white ceiling.

Phil realized very quickly that this was not his bedroom ceiling. This spurred him to wake up a little faster, and he pushed his elbows beneath his torso to sit up.
Seems like today just kept surprising him, because across from where he was laying was a cell door he recognized the look of.
And on the other side, stood a man he’d hoped he’d never see again.
“Good morning.”

Phil scowled, and sat up fully.
“Dream.”

Dream smiled.
“Almost thought we wouldn’t catch you again, Phil.” Dream looked down and checked his nails, seemingly bored. “It’s been a while. How’ve you been?”

Phil scoffed and turned to the side, deciding to ignore the man in his stupid striped suit.
His wings were out, and felt strange, so he looked over his shoulder.
They were bound, tightly enough to hurt once he became aware of it.

Oh god, what did his boys think? How many days had he been here? Had they been taken too? Were they okay?
He just wanted to hug his sons, maybe give the cat a couple pats.
Phil would give anything to go back, even if that little shit of an animal took up his favorite spot on the couch.

Dream chuckled, and Phil looked up.
“Good luck escaping this time, old man.”
Dream walked away, and Phil wanted to punch him.

Phil later discovered he’d been put on one of the lower floors, with the people who were older in age.
Now he was just annoyed, way to add insult to injury.

Tom was beginning to regret not telling Wilbur or Techno the truth, because he was lost, and cold, and really had no idea where in the world he was.
He had been cared for like an indoor cat, so he didn’t know the layout of the forest surrounding the Watson home.
He shifted back into cat form, and crawled up a tree to curl into a little nook.
He’d get some sleep, and try to find a road in the morning.

Turns out light doesn’t help in looking for something when you absolutely suck at any sort of navigation.
Maybe he shouldn’t have left without more preparation.
He was lost, in the middle of the woods. How many times could he say it before it became untrue?
Not very many times, it seems, because a road has just popped up in front of him! Hooray!
Now the only question was which way to go.
Tom hummed. This was gonna be difficult.

At least now he was sure he’d chosen the right way, because he could see buildings in the distance. Once he reached the edge of the town, he looked around. There was a convenience store a block down, as well as a hardware store and some fast food joint.
Tom reached into the pocket of Wilbur’s coat, and opened the wallet inside.
Counting money was a skill that was covered in cobwebs, but he was sure he could handle it.
He entered the convenience store, jumping a bit at the door chime.
The clerk looked up, and squinted at him. He had strange blue and red glasses on.

Tom felt unsettled. He could feel the clerk’s eyes on his back as he walked around the store.
He picked up a drink in a flashy red bottle and a wrapped sandwich. The sandwich was small, but smaller meant cheaper, right?
He dropped his findings onto the counter and pulled a bill that read ‘20’ from the wallet.
The clerk scanned his items, and looked him up and down.
“You’re new around here, aren’t you?”

Tommy jolted, but nodded.
“Mhm.”

The clerk tilted his head.
“What’s your name?”

Tom cleared his throat.
“Uh- Tom. It’s Tom.”

The clerk huffed, and handed his bag over. The movement made Tom’s eyes catch the boy’s name-plate, which when he squinted for a moment read ‘Jack’.
“Where’ve you moved in, Tommy? We don’t get new people often. Can I call you Tommy?”

Tom nodded, and clutched the bag to his chest.
“Uh, sure. I’ve been down the road up there,” he pointed to one of the walls, “for a couple months. Never been into town.”

Jack nodded.
“Cool. I thought only the Watson’s lived up there. You seem em? Strange folk, they are.”

Tom hummed, and the store fell quiet for a moment. This was getting very awkward.
“Yeah, think I’ve seen them. I’d better get going.” He grimaced at the awkward closer. “Places to go.... y’know...”

“Ah, yeah. I won’t keep you. Have a nice day.”

Tom turned on his heel and speed-walked away from the store, bag still clutched to his chest.
He made his way behind a building and slid down a wall to eat his sandwich.
It was quickly devoured, and then he chugged the drink. It tasted... sweet, but not bad. It was good.
He sat there for a moment longer, before getting up.
There was a map in his back pocket, in case he forgot the address, but he didn’t need it.
So he asked around the small town, looking for directions or a ride.

He came up to a small woman, who was loading boxes into a small truck.
“Excuse me?”
She turned to look at him. She smiled, and Tom felt strangely comforted.
“Oh, you were the boy Jack was talking about. Tommy, right? I’m Niki.”

Tom nodded.
“Yeah, I’m Tom. Do you know of a forty-third west avenue? It should be in the state, I just need directions.”

Niki looked at him like he’d grown a second head.
“Why.... why do you want to go there?”

Tom froze. Did she know? Did she know about AERA?
“Well, my... friend... got lost near there, and I need to find him.”

Niki grabbed him by the shoulders, but let him go when he flinched.
“Tommy. Is your friend Phil Watson?”

Tom clammed up. This should be easy. She was like him, or at least knew people like him. He should be able to trust her.

And yet...

“No. His name is... Henry. I don’t know a Phil Watson.”
Niki deflated, but stepped away.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I think I got a little bit confused for a moment.” She smiled at him again, but this time it seemed more forced. It brought no comfort, only a deep guilt brewing in his stomach.

“It’s okay.” He began to walk away. “It was nice talking to you, I hope you find your friend.”

She sighed, and went back to lifting boxes.
“I hope you find yours too.”

God, there was no going back now.
Why couldn’t he have just told her? What was holding him back?
The weight of Wilbur’s coat on his back was no longer comforting.

Chapter Text

Ranboo was very nervous. He’d been called to George’s office, only for the man to point him down the hall.

Ranboo knew what was down that hall.
Everyone who had worked here knows what’s down that hall.

He knocked on the dark wood of the door, stepping back and waiting.
There was silence, and then:
“Come in.”

He opened the door to see the owner of this facility sat behind a polished desk, hands folded. “Ah, Ranboo.” He said. “I’ve been expecting you.”
Ranboo nodded, his hands kept clasped behind his back.

“Nice to see you, Dream,” he greeted. “What did you need me for?”

Dream smiled.
“Oh, just to talk. Come, sit down.” Ranboo obeyed, and moved his hands so they could fidget with the tassels of his trench coat. “I’ve noticed an alarming amount of escapes, lately, and as my man in the shadows, I figured I’d see if you knew anything about that.”

Ranboo gulped.
“Uh- no sir. I didn’t know the amount went up?”
The man behind the desk sighed dramatically.

“It did.”
The room fell silent, and it became apparent to Ranboo that Dream was waiting for the reason he didn’t know about the escapes.
The escapes Ranboo had been orchestrating.

“Well... I’ve been busy, lately... Reading. Lots of books, very good books. From the library in the lower levels.” Ranboo shifted under Dream’s stare. “I didn’t mean to get so distracted, I’ll make sure to pay more attention during work hours.”

Dream hummed. “Don’t get distracted again.” The man tilted his head, casting one of his eyes in shadow due to the low lighting of the office. “The guards have been reporting your interactions with the prisoners. Don’t get too close to them, understood?”

Ranboo nodded frantically.
“Of course, of course. I suppose I’ve been trying to get them... comfortable? So they have no need to leave!” He smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry if it came across as getting attached.”

The man across from him hummed again, then waved his hand in a shooing motion towards the door. Ranboo understood and quickly left.
After he closed the door behind him he leaned into the wall with a heavy sigh.
“Holy shit,” he whispered, running a hand down his face.
He pushed off the wall, and made his way towards his room.
He just wanted to collapse into his covers and ignore the world for a couple hours.
On his way to his room, he passed the room with the strange box. Ranboo had seen it carted in, and had even talked with the thing inside.
It hadn’t seemed very sociable.
He looked down the hallway towards where his room was, then back to the box.
Dream had just said that he shouldn’t talk with the creatures but....
it had to be so lonely inside of a box.
He stepped into the room, knocking on the wall softly.
“Hello?” He called. There was silence, until he heard a strange sound, like a mixture of putty stretching and bees buzzing.

“Hello.” Said the Box Boy. “Why are you here. I thought you said you couldn’t help me?” The boy’s voice was soft, but bitter.

Ranboo scratched the back of his neck.
“I feel bad. It has to be lonely in there, and I left very abruptly last time we talked.” He perked up a bit, his pointed ears twitching. “My name is Ranboo, by the way.”

Box Boy was quiet, before Ranboo could hear a quiet mumble, just barely.

“Could you say that again?” He asked, stepping closer to the box.

“My name is Tubbo.”
Ranboo smiled, and sat down in front of the box.

“That’s a nice name. Can I know what you are? Why you’re here?”

Tubbo shifted in the box before responding.
“I’m a swarm of bees.” Ranboo had no idea what a bee was, but it sounded cool. “I can turn into a human boy, and everyone wanted to show me off as some freak. Guess this place got to me first.” Tubbo went quiet. “...are you human?”

Ranboo shrugged, before remembering Tubbo couldn’t see him. He moved so his legs were crossed, and propped his chin in his hands.
“Not really. I don’t know what I am, but Dream says I’m special, so technically I work here.” He held one hand in front of him, watching as the dark scales on his right hand shifted colors under the florescent lights.
“The right side of me is pitch black, and the left side is white. I’ve got a green eye and a red eye.” He wiggled the claws of his right hand. “I can literally put things inside the white side of my body.”

Tubbo made a sound that was similar to a giggle, but not quite.
“You sound like an Oreo.”

Ranboo frowned.
“What’s an Oreo?”
Tubbo went quiet.

“You don’t... you don’t know what an oreo is?”

Ranboo shook his head.
“No. I’ve never been outside the facility, I don’t know what a lot of things are.”

“As soon as I break out of here I’m taking you with me.” Tubbo stated. His voice left no room for an argument, but Ranboo had never been one to understand social cues.

“I can’t leave. Dream needs me.” Ranboo brought his right hand closer to his body.

Tubbo scoffed. “What does he need you for? Sounds like he’s just trying to keep you here, he’s not letting you explore! You probably didn’t even have a childhood! What did you even do as a kid, huh?”

Ranboo looked down at the ground.
“I helped george clean the lab...” he mumbled.

Tubbo slammed against the side of the box, making it shudder. Ranboo flinched.
“That’s no childhood.”

Ranboo stood up, almost falling over at the sudden head rush.
“I’m not even supposed to talk to you. I’m leaving.”

“Wait-“ Tubbo called, but Ranboo tuned him out in favor of rushing the rest of the way to his room.

Once he arrived, he fell onto his bed, and pulled the blanket over his face.

Tubbo was wrong. Dream was kind, and generous. Dream gave him a room, food, protection, and more!
He couldn’t be bad.
Right?

Chapter Text

Wilbur woke up feeling like someone had dragged him through mud.
He wasn’t dirty, he just really didn’t feel great. Worry for Phil was making his stomach churn.
He got up, and poured himself a glass of water.
Looking to the living room, he expected to see Tom lounging over the back of the couch, maybe giving him a sharp glare for ignoring him last night.
The couch was barren.
He moved to the fridge, and pulled out a Tupperware of Tom’s food. The food was spooned out into a bowl and placed on the floor.
Wilbur let out a sharp whistle.

“Tom! Food’s out!”
There was no response.
Wilbur shrugged to himself. Tom was probably just in one of his hiding spots, holding a grudge against him for whatever reason.
In the few months since he’d found Tom, he discovered the cat was amazing at holding petty grudges over the smallest of things.
Occasionally if Wilbur wronged him(whether it be pushing the cat out of his room or not giving him attention) he would purposely avoid his affection but clearly snuggle up on Phil or techno, all while giving him the most petulant stare Wilbur had ever seen from a cat.
He chuckled to himself, and took another sip of water. The water helped soothe his stomach and throat, but not enough for the feeling to completely go away.

Him and techno were going to AERA within the week, and it was weighing on him.
They had gotten out once, and Wilbur was trying to stay confident that they could do it again, but...

the last time they did it was when they had Phil. Phil had done all the heavy lifting, quite literally. He’d carried them the entire way out, back when Wilbur couldn’t walk and techno in the midst of a panic attack.
He remembered the feeling of pure joy the moment the sun shone on his face.
Wilbur shook himself out.

He should go into town, maybe have lunch with Niki.
He nodded to himself. Yeah. That was what he needed. Just some time to unwind. He and Techno could do more work to save Phil later in the day, he needed some time to relax.

After a quick check at the weather, he decided to grab his coat, only to find it missing.
Huh.
He couldn’t remember moving it... maybe it was up in his room?

The coat was not in his room.
“Tech?” He poked his head into Techno’s room. “Have you seen my coat? It’s not in the closet.”
Techno pulled the blanket down from over his head.

“Nope.”
Wilbur rolled his eyes.

“Have you at least seen Tom? He didn’t come out when I made his food.”

“Nope.” The blanket was pulled over technos head again.

Wilbur snorted. “Thanks for the help.”
He went back downstairs and headed to the door, figuring he could handle a little chill.
He reached down to the shoe rack, only to find his shoes missing.
“What on earth?” He mumbled.

He ended up just using technos winter boots, since they fit well enough.
The town came ahead through the windshield, and he turned into the parking lot of the small grocery store. He needed to pick up a few things, then he’d look around for Niki.
Wilbur reached up to scratch at the gills hidden under his turtleneck. The air was cold and dry, which made the skin around them irritated.
He coughed into his sleeve as he entered the store and picked up a basket.

Walking through the aisles, he picked up the things he needed. Bread, eggs, some trail mix, and other random snacks.
He sighed when he noticed the store didn’t have any of Phil’s favorite granola bars left. He’d wanted to get some so after they got Phil back he could have some good snacks.
Wilbur reached for the knockoff brand when his hand collided with someone else’s.
He looked over to see a young boy with messy blond hair staring at him.

“Oh, sorry.” Wilbur drew his hand back. “You can... uh, you can have them.”

The boy continued staring at him, until his hand darted out and grabbed the bars. He then turned on his heel and ran out of the aisle.

Wilbur hummed to himself, but continued shopping.
It took him a moment after the boy was gone to realize he’d been wearing a very familiar coat, one with patches and pins that he knew by heart.

Chapter Text

God, he was so stupid!
He shouldn’t have gone into that store, because now his time in this town was cut down to the next few hours. If he stayed, he could run into Wilbur again.
Tom was just surprised that Wilbur hadn’t recognized the coat.
It seemed impossible, but he wasn’t going to stick around and test his luck.

He had gotten directions from Niki, so he should be all good to go.
He had also bought a cheap backpack from the store, as well as some snacks and water bottles.
As Tom came up to the dirt road that led out of the town, he looked back with a sigh. He really didn’t want to risk going to AERA, but Phil was there.

After everything the Watson family had done for him, he couldn’t stand letting Wilbur or techno try to get him back. They were humans with no proper way defend themselves.
They could get hurt, or worse.
Dream was a cruel man, Tom wouldn’t be surprised if he killed them.

Tom tugged on the straps of the backpack, pulling it up further.
He’d been walking for a few hours, and had only just come up on a road.
If he remembered correctly, he just needed to follow this road for another day or two, and he should be close to AERA.
Occasionally a car would pass by. He thought about trying to get the attention of one, but shook his head.
His journey would all be in vain if he got murdered by some stranger.

Ranboo was... struggling. Ever since Tubbo had planted the idea that Dream was bad into his mind, it hadn’t left.
He found himself looking back on every interaction with Dream.
Like that time Dream made him catch and subdue a guard.
Dream had merely put a cold hand on his shoulder and said:
“He knew too much.”
The man had been dragged away, and Ranboo hadn’t seen him since.

Was Dream really using Ranboo like Tubbo had said?

right now, Ranboo was laying in bed. Having a crisis, as you do.
He missed Tubbo.
The boy seemed pretty nice, even if he had been the one to cause the crisis Ranboo was currently struggling with.
He rolled over, and pulled a ratty stuffed animal to his chest.

Sure, it may seem childish to some, but it was the first gift Dream had ever given him, when he’d been a small child.
And this was why Tubbo had to be wrong.
Dream had taken him in when he was young, and had said that he was in a bad home, that the people holding him there had only been using them for their own gain.
And... Dream wouldn’t lie. Would he?

No. Yes? Would he? If Tubbo was right, then... what did that mean for him? He’d been in the facility his entire life, so did that mean that he simply had never been outside because of his own blindness to Dream’s manipulation.

A bell rang outside his door.
Ah. Seems like the mental struggling would have to wait for a while.
He had visitors to feed.

Ranboo was walking down the hall, stopping at each of the rooms with a creaking cart with shelves covered in thin plastic trays.
He didn’t envy those who had to eat these everyday.
There was a few sad lumps of ‘chicken’, as well as some wimpy lettuce and cherry tomatoes... frankly, the best thing on the tray was the small carton of milk.
He stopped in front of the next room, picking up a tray and sliding it through the hole in the bottom of the glass wall.
At first Ranboo thought it was strange that the rooms had a glass wall, but Dream had said it was to make sure they were safe, and make sure no one was getting up to anything.
Now that Ranboo thinks about it, he can’t tell whether Dream meant keeping the visitors safe or the staff.
The thing to break him from his thoughts was a hand shooting through the hole and grabbing his wrist.
He gasped, and tried to pull it back, but the visitor’s grip was strong.
Ranboo looked up at the glass and saw a man with shoulder-length blond hair staring back at him. It took him a moment to see the massive gray wings bound to the man’s back.
The man made eye contact with him, holding up his other hand in a soothing notion.
“I’m sorry for scaring you,” he had an accent, Ranboo noticed. It was... similar to George’s in a way, but different. “I just have to ask you a question.”
Ranboo frowned, but nodded.
The man sighed. “Have you seen any... any male ocean hybrids? Or any male pig shapeshifters?”
Ranboo thought for a moment. It was possible the facility had those and he just didn’t see them. He did feed the visitors, but he only worked in this section.

Wait. Why was he wanting to help this man? He should pull away and get Dream, or maybe Sapnap.

He shouldn’t be here, he didn’t want to get taken away, not like the staff that disappeared occasionally. No one knew where they went, and Ranboo didn’t want to know.
But... the man looked so worried. The people he was looking for must be family or friends.

“No.” He said. “Not that I know of. I only work in this section, if they were here I might not have seen them.”
The man managed to look worried and relieved at the same time.

“Okay. Thank you.” The man tilted his head. “I’m Phil. Whats your name?”

Ranboo froze. He didn’t want another person telling him that he was being used, so it was best to not even start a conversation with ‘Phil’.

“I’m Ranboo.” He left it at that, tugging his hand away and continuing to pull the cart down the hall.
He had a job to do, and he didn’t intend on disappointing Dream anymore than he already does.

Chapter Text

Hello! Gurt here.

I just wanted to make a small update, because I haven’t updated this story in a few weeks... whoops!
I’ve been really busy with exams and school, so I’m going to wait until the school year ends before I update this.
It’s only about a week or two, I won’t be gone long, but I want to focus on school without worrying about this.
Thanks,
Gurt :)

Chapter Text

Tom was a big man. The biggest, in fact, and he would not let crossing the highway scare him.
He would not.
The cars zoomed past him as he tried to focus on the middle area between the highway.
Just... find an opening, then run.
Just run.
Run.
He stepped forward, but quickly scampered back when another car whizzed past him.
He fell against the grass under him, gripping at it for a way to ground himself.
And in this moment, heart beating fast and chest heaving, he found himself missing his family.
Family? Was that the word?
Tom shook his head. This was not the time to have a crisis.

He had to calm down, and find a way across this stupid road.
Tom buried his head into his knees. Why was this so difficult?
Maybe it was because of that one time he’d been hit by a car when he was younger.
Gods, how old had he been? That was before he actually put any effort into keeping track of time.
Tom took a deep breath, and stood up slowly.
He could do this. He had to. If he didn’t save Phil, who would?
Bouncing on his heels, he prepared to run.
As soon as a gap between the cars came, he bolted.
And before he knew it, the grass of the other side was against him. He slumped down, burying his face into the ground. The crossing itself had happened in a flash, but Tom could only feel pure relief that he hadn’t been squashed.
With a groan, he stood. The sun was telling him that he didn’t have much time left in the day to travel, so he would have to find some sort of shelter to curl up in cat form to sleep for a couple hours.

Wilbur came home and set his bags on the kitchen table, calling out for Techno.
When he saw his brother looking at him from over the railing of the second floor, Wilbur smiled.

“Have you seen Tom yet?”

Techno yawned, and came down the stairs with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders like a cape.
“Uh. No. But I also haven’t been downstairs yet, so,” he shrugged.

Wilbur hummed, and began to unpack the groceries.
“Will you go look in the basement for me?”

Techno raised an eyebrow.
“We always keep that door closed.”

“I know. Just in case? Please?”

Techno sighed, and nodded. When he walked down the stairs, the blanket dragging behind him flopped on each new stair.
“Uh, Wilbur?”

He set down the milk and went to stand at the top of the stairs.
“Yeah?”

“Someone’s been down here.”
Those words had Wilbur scrambling down the stairs faster than Tom discovering that Wilbur had taken his favorite toy even when it was old and gross, but Wilbur’s version had much less screaming and clawing.

Chapter Text

They all had collectively decided long ago that they would make a truce for as long as this box was their place of residence.
But they were all too tired to take their human form, and tensions were rising between members of their hive.
Well, everyone called it their hive, but some of them were from other hives, recruited when the original colony had lost too many bees to take human form.

They were pulled to attention by voices outside the box.
“Hey, got new orders from Dream. He says to let the thing out.”
A second voice chimed in.
“Well I’m not doing it! I’ve got no idea what’s in that box, it could be dangerous.”
“Of course it’s dangerous, we work for AERA.”
“Sir-“
“Just do it. I’ve got places I need to be, I only came here to tell you.”
The other person groaned as a set of footsteps faded into the distance.
“Of course I have to be the one to do it...”
footsteps approached the box.
They all tensed, getting ready to move.
Light streamed in, and they swarmed out and instantly covered the random worker.
Some of them felt sorry for taking an innocent life, but the majority pointed out that if they worked at this place, there was a chance they helped stick them in the stupid box.

Looking back on things, maybe Tom shouldn’t have taken Wilbur’s coat.
It was very fluffy, and smelled like Wilbur(which he liked very much but would never dare admit that to anyone)
But he hadn’t expected to see Wilbur in a grocery store, much less actually have the man interact with him.

He just hoped that he hadn’t recognized the coat that now Tom was now zipping up against the breeze.
The trees swayed with the wind, occasionally dropping leaves around him. A closer look at the branches revealed the leaves were overturned.
Tom hummed to himself. It was going to rain soon, and with how many trees had their leaves turned it was going to rain hard. Maybe even storm.
A groan escaped his throat. He didn’t want to hunker down when the rain started, he wanted to go save Phil.
He scuffed at the dirt under his toe.
Stupid weather.

An hour of walking later found him huddling under some exposed tree roots in cat form to hide from the rain.
It was just big enough to fit him as a cat, and even then he felt bark scrapping at his fur.
A growl rumbled deep in his chest as a raindrop plopped onto his ear.
This was horrible, and stupid, and bad.

But he could do it. For Phil.

Chapter Text

Gods, he really shouldn’t be doing this. No one was allowed in this room since that worker had been killed, but… he felt some sort of strange need to be here.
He could be… fired? Ranboo didn’t know if that was possible, since he lived here, but it was better thing to think about compared to the possibility that he could be Taken.

The room was bathed in slowly blinking red lights. There was a faint buzzing noise, almost like a constant static.
Ranboo grabbed his keycard from his belt.
He had no idea if he had enough clearance to open the outer door.
Mismatched eyes looked around before a white hand slid the card through the reader.
The door slid open with a hiss, and suddenly the buzzing stopped. As Ranboo stepped into the transfer room he looked through the glass. This was the only thing between him and Tubbo.
Speaking of, where was he? He knew that this room was on lockdown because of a death, but the room was empty.

“Tubbo?” He called.

The buzzing started again, quieter this time, until small dots swarmed together and took the shape of a small figure.
The figure was cast in shadow, making Ranboo back up. This was starting to get a little too creepy, even for him.
The figure stepped forward, and the lights from the hallway behind Ranboo showed the face of a young boy with fluffy brown hair and deep blue eyes, wearing a ragged green shirt.

“Ranboo?”
Ranboo nodded, and held a hand up to the glass.
Tubbo copied from his side. “What are you doing here?”
Ranboo’s tail began to sway nervously. Tubbo noticed, from the way he frowned. “Are you okay?”

Ranboo sighed.
“I just… do you really, truly think Dream could be using me? I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently.”

Tubbo’s gaze softened.
“A bit too much, from the looks of it?”

Ranboo let out a small huff of a laugh.
“Yeah.”

They fell silent, until Tubbo cleared his throat.
“Well, maybe ‘using’ isn’t the right word, but I don’t think he’s good for you.”
Tubbo’s hand pressed harder against the glass, turning the skin of his palm white. “I don’t think it’s right that you’ve lived here since you were a child. You’ve barely been outside. Maybe I’m biased, since I’ve literally always been outside, but I want nothing more than to take you with me when I get out of here.”

Ranboo smiled, his tail curling until the tuft of fur on the end was lightly brushing the back of his neck.
“I would like that.”

He was curious as to why those little urchins hadn’t come crawling after their ‘savior’ yet.
Maybe they’d split up?
He coughed roughly into his elbow.
No. He’d had ‘Phil’ for years, he wouldn’t leave two young ones behind. It wasn’t in his nature.
‘Phil’ had always surprised them, but was also comfortably predictable.
Someone would come.
They had to, he had to get him back.

Here it is.
AERA, in all it’s glory.
Okay, not very much glory, more of an ‘oh god I need to leave’ feeling.
Tom couldn’t afford to turn back empty handed, he couldn’t bear to see Wilbur and Techno sad.
Thinking of them made him wonder if he would ever get home.
There was every chance he could get caught, and dragged back into a cell.
He shivered at the thought.
He was done with prodding, and poking, and needles.

Tom had circled the building a few times in cat form, and decided that he could get through a water gate that lead to a river. He had no idea where in the building it ended, but it was a way in, and he could be sneaky.

He could not be sneaky, it seems.
Drenched in dirty water, and being held by the scruff of his neck, he was carried down a hallway by an AERA worker.
Never let it be said that he went down without a fight, though, because he was clawing and screeching like Techno when he was pulled away from his work, or like Wilbur when Phil had to drag him from eating sand.
The worker knocked on some door, and it was opened by a man who was split down the middle, obsidian black on one side and pearly white on the other. The man’s red and green eyes stared at him as the worker handed him over.

“Please find something to do with this cat, my shift is over, and I’ve decided it’s no longer my problem.”

The man hissed, seemingly with pain when Tom touched him. Tom cackled in his head and started thing to get as much of his fur to touch the man as possible.
“Sapnap- wait-“ the man pleaded, but the worker was already too far down the hall.
The man held him out at arms length, and Tom hissed at him.
“Okay… might as well get it to like me…” said the man quietly, as if trying to process what was happening. “Hello, cat. My name is Ranboo.” Ranboo shifted his hold, and nodded to himself. “Okay, male, and no collar… I wonder what your name is?”
Tom hissed again. He had been caught, but at least he was in the building.
He could work with this.

Chapter Text

Many years ago….

“It won’t take long, don’t worry.”

“Please, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to-“

“You mean you didn’t want to get caught.” He snarled.
The other man was silent.
He scoffed. “I should have known, what with the way you acted. The way residents went missing right after your shift…”
The man, strapped down to the table, shuffled weakly, the drug running through his veins doing its job.

“Please…” he whispered.
The man above him straightens his tie and leaves the room, motioning to the workers standing around the room.

“Start whenever you want.”
The workers swarmed through the room, getting ready for the procedure.
The screams didn’t stop for hours.

Present day…

Ranboo fiddled with the pin on his jacket. He wanted to try and let the cat that had wandered in through the sewage line, but the poor thing just kept swiping at him whenever he got close.
He looked around his room. Maybe part of his collection could work as a cat toy of sorts?
He sifted through the drawers, all neatly organized, and was sure to keep one eye on the cat.
Most of his stash was small things like bottle caps, metal scrap, string and scraps of fabric.
With some quick hands, he managed to tie fabric and some shiny metal together, all hanging on a string.
Ranboo dangled it in front of the cat.
“Here, kitty kitty!”
The cat cautiously stepped forward and gave the makeshift toy an experimental swipe.
It fell apart, and the cat sat back on his haunches with a flat stare towards Ranboo.
It felt like the cat was judging him for making a crappy toy.
“I’m sorry, I thought that would work better than it did.”
An idea popped into his two-toned head. “I wonder if you’d wanna meet Tubbo?” He pondered aloud.
The cat tilted its head, and Ranboo nodded decisively. As soon as the cat would let him touch it, he would take them to go and see Tubbo.

Chapter Text

Techno was tired, but Wilbur was already asleep in the seat next to him, and they’d agreed one of them had to be awake at all times.
They were on a bus that would take them closer to AERA.
Busses were easier to hide in, and they couldn’t be followed back home as easily once this was over and done with.
The bus rolled to a stop outside of a bank, and he had to hold on to Wilbur’s water bottle so it didn’t roll off the seat.
A few people disembarked, and techno watched as their feet splashed through the puddles.
A man standing watching the crowd caught his eye.
His suit was sharp, and fit him perfectly.
Technos eyes roamed over the man, until they saw a pin sitting on the man’s breast.
He elbowed Wilbur.
“Will,”
Wilbur groaned, but sat up properly.

“What…” he mumbled.

“There’s a man outside with an AERA pin.”

Wilbur was suddenly wide awake.
“Really? Where?” Techno nodded his head to the window, and Wilbur took a moment to look until he turned his head back towards the seats in front of them.
“I saw him. You think he knows we’re here?”

Techno grabbed a strand of his hair to twirl between his fingers.
“No idea.”

Wilbur looked to the map displayed on the wall of the bus.
“Well, the next stop is ours, so we’d better make a decision quick.”

Techno hummed. “As long as they stay outside the bus, we should be perfectly fine.”

And, because they were so incredibly lucky, the person just had to come on the bus, sitting a few rows ahead of them.

“Fantastic,” Wilbur muttered under his breath. “Bloody fucking fantastic.”

Chapter Text

Wilbur shifted so he was slightly closer to Techno as he eyed the man a few rows in front of them. The man was currently using his phone camera to fix his hair, though wilbur had a sneaking suspicion that he was really looking at them.

“What do we do?” he whispered. Techno turned his head slightly.

“Get off at our stop and act normal. Maybe he isn’t here for us.”
Techno sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anything.
As the bus rolled to a stop, they grabbed their bags and began making their way to the front. The man stood with them, and waited behind them for the bus to open its doors.

“Fuck,” Wilbur whispered under his breath.

“Normal,” Techno gently reminded him. “Act normal.”
They got off the bus, and began walking away from AERA, which they could now see in the distance, a large gray building advertised as some sort of factory. The man was still following them.

Wilbur tugged on Techno’s sleeve. “Why are we walking away?”

“Normal people don’t walk towards factories without uniforms,” he whispered. “And I see an alleyway over there. We can corner him.”
As they turned into the alleyway, Techno quickly hid in the shadows and pulled Wilbur with him.
When the man followed in, Techno’s arm shot out and pinned the man to the wall.
“Why are you following us?” He shifted into his pig-like form, tusks close to brushing the man’s cheek. Wilbur, noticing Techno, bared his teeth and flared his gills, hissing lowly.
The man/s eyes widened.

“l-Listen, I can explain!” He squirmed under Wilbur’s sharp gaze.

Wilbur growled. “Then do it.”
The man glared.
“I was getting to that.” He cleared his throat. “I assume you saw my pin?”
Techno pulled him away from the wall before quickly slamming him back into it.

“Get to the point.”

“Okay! Jeez. My name is James Schlatt, but you can call me Schlatt.” When he was met with only unimpressed glares, he rolled his eyes. “I guess you haven’t heard of me then. I’m not a field agent, like this pin would say, I’m a partner of AERA. I profit by getting my men to help catch freaks like you two.” at Techno’s warning growl, he chuckled nervously. “Sorry ‘bout that… Just a habit. Anyways, I'm here to warn you. AERA knows you're coming to save daddy dearest, and they are prepared. And I mean very prepared. You shouldn’t go, you have no chance.” Techno scoffed.
“Come on Wilbur, it’s obvious this guy is worthless, lets keep going.” they began to leave the alley, walking the opposite direction they came, towards the facility.
Techno stopped when a weight fell against his back, and turned to see Schlatt trying to pull him back.
“Listen to me!”
Techno sighed.
“We’re going, like it or not, the only thing that’s up to you is if you want us to fight you or not.”

Schlatt thought for a moment, clearly taking a moment to look them up and down(likely noticing the many sharp things protruding from them) before sighing.
“I’ll let you guys go. Just be careful, and you can’t let them know you heard anything from me.”

Wilbur smiled, and his gills went down, and as he elbowed Techno, the younger’s tusks and ears slipped away as well. Techno grabbed his brother’s arm and began dragging him towards AERA.
“Thank you, Schlatt, we will not forget this!” Wilbur yelled as he was forcefully pulled away.

Schlatt sighed to himself as he fixed his hair again, and walked back to the bus stop, staring up at the moon as he waited for a bus that could take him home.

Chapter Text

He shouldn’t have disobeyed, he understood that now. If he had known a day ago that trying to take down AERA from the inside would lead to this, to… he looked down at his body in disgust. He was no longer human, and therefore bound to AERA. He’d taken to writing everything down when locked in his room, because he noticed with each weekly injection, it became harder to recall simple things about himself, about his life.
He wouldn’t let that happen.
He knew there was a file on him somewhere in the documentation wing. As long as his future self knew that, then he could try and take down AERA again, and perhaps succeed.

He looked in the mirror, trailing a hand down his face. He looked like a… what was it called?
He… he used to have one.
What? When?
Piebald!
He used to have a piebald horse. When he was a kid, his… parents? They lived on a ranch.
He sighed in relief. At least he could remember that, even if he couldn’t remember their faces.

“Ranboo.”
“That’s not my name.”
“Ranboo.”
He held his clawed hands to his pointed ears, and shook his head.
“No.”
“Ranboo.”
“Please,” he begged. “No more.”
“Ranboo.”
“Fine! What do you want! Please, just stop!”
“Good. It’s nice to see you’re accepting this transition. Who am I?”
“An asshole.”
“Try again.”
“Dream.”
Dream nodded.
“Yes. Who are you?”
This made him pause. Who is he? What was his name? Surely it couldn’t be Ranboo, not even thinking it caused so much distress… but…
Dream was getting impatient. “What is your name?”
“…Ranboo”

Chapter Text

Tubbo had no idea how a cat got into AERA, but it gave him hope. It meant there was a way in, and that meant the re was a way out.
He would get out, take Ranboo and the cat with him, and they could live a long domestic life in a forest somewhere.
He’d taken quite the liking to Ranboo in the time they’d known each other, he’d even dare to call them friends.

Yesterday those stupid lab people had tried to come in, and when he attacked another worker, they flooded the room with smoke and gathered him up.
It was horrible. All he can remember is being too weak to stop anything as they pulled him apart and put him back together.
Now that he was back in his cell, they were staying a bumbling swarm in the corner of the room, watching and waiting for any threat while they recuperated.

Ranboo kept getting wisps of memories. Most of them consisted of a large room, dark in the corners, filled with filing cabinets. For some reason, in the memory he knew he needed to be there, but in the moment he can’t find a single reason for him to be there. His only duty to AERA is to feed the residents.
He would find the reason, he knew it, he just needed time.

He probably shouldn’t be sneaking around, but Ranboo was going to see Tubbo, and then try and find a room that matched the one in his memories.
When he came up on Tubbo’s cell, all he saw were bees in the corner.
“Tubbo?” He whispered. The bees seemed to explode with motion, swarming towards the glass until they stopped upon seeing who it was.
Slower than usual, they assembled to form a very shaky and unstable Tubbo.

“Ranboo.” He slumped over, eyebrows relaxed at the sight of his friend.

“Are you okay? What happened, I saw you weren’t in your cell yesterday.”

Tubbo flexed his jaw, rubbing an eye. “They gave me a large dose of smoke, and now I’m all off kilter.”

“They drugged you?!”
Tubbo shrugged.

“Basically.”

“Tubbo. That’s…” horrid, despicable, cruel. So many things he wanted to say, but couldn’t, for fear of the cameras.

Tubbo smiled softly.
“Its okay.” He lowered his voice. “One day we’ll get out of here, and everything will be different.”

Chapter Text

Phil was having a rough time, to put it lightly. After two weeks trapped in a glorified box, his body was tired. He wanted to fly, to be free, but something was keeping him here. He’d say he had a good sense of intuition, and right now it was screaming at him to stay. For now, Phil would listen, but the second he got the chance, he was out of here.

Chapter Text

Ranboo knocked on Dream’s office door. Ranboo and Tubbo had been talking, and Tubbo had inspired some questions in him.
The worst thing to have, honestly, but he had to ask.

“Come in.”

Ranboo opened the door to see Dream sitting behind his desk, hands steepled. George stood in the corner of the room.
“Dream? Can we speak?” Dream gestured to a chair. Ranboo cleared his throat, feeling awkward. “Alone?”

Dream hummed. After a moment of silence, he nodded. George left the room instantly. Ranboo sat down, clasping his hands in his lap. His black and white hands. Why were they like that?
Dream cleared his throat.

“Um. I just wanted to ask… what was my life like before the facility? Was I always….” He waved a hand towards himself. “Like this.”

Dream hummed again.
“Well… do you really want the truth?”

Ranboo looked up, surprised.
“Yes!” He stopped himself. “Uh, I mean, yes please.”

Dream chuckled.
“If you insist. Your mother, she came to me, desperate to save you. Hunters were after you.” Ranboo was hanging on to every word. “She didn’t survive. I raised you, took care of you all this time, and to be frank, I feel… an attachment to you, Ranboo.”

Ranboo was silent. This was different from what memories he had. Of being a small child on a ranch, with horses and cows, and chickens that would pick at his heels.
“My mother?”

Dream smiled, or at least that’s what his mouth did. Ranboo had no idea if his eyes were squinting in fondness of his mother, or if they were flat and the smile was fake.
“Your mother was beautiful. I see so much of her in you.”

Ranboo now knew he was lying, because he could see a blurred image of his mother in his mind, all short brown hair and green eyes, not like him at all.

Tubbo was right.

Chapter Text

(Flames dancing in the center of the clearing. It’s a bonfire, stacked high with dry wood.
A family, enjoying each other’s company and relishing in the freedom they share.
Wilbur pulls him closer on the log they’re sitting on.

“Come on toms, you can do it.”

Do what?

“Yeah!” Phil calls from the other side of the clearing, braiding Techno’s short hair into little strands that stick up awkwardly.
“I don’t know,” Tom says, pretending to know what they’re talking about to stay in the moment. He has to stay here, tucked into Wilbur’s side, warm and happy.

Techno makes eye contact through the fire.
“Wake up, Tom.”
This catches Tom off guard.
“What?”
“Wake up.”)

He jolts awake to Tubbo shaking his shoulder.
He murps discontentedly, but Tubbo keeps shaking him.

“Hello? You’re a fucking shapeshifter?”
Uh oh.
That wakes him up instantly. He looks down at himself only to see his human form staring back. He looks up to Tubbo with fear in his eyes. What if the other boy decides to tell Ranboo? What if Ranboo talked to Dream?
“Calm down, you need to breath. I’m not going to tell anybody, but you need to change back into a cat before the guards show up!”
Tom looks up to the camera in the corner of the room, only to see it covered by a swath of bees.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, and looked back to tubbo.
“Thank you,” he whispers before shifting back to cat form.
Right as he does this, guards come running to the room.

Tubbo shifts so that he’s in front of Tom.
“Release the camera, B-04.”
Tubbo blows a raspberry at them, but the bees come swarming back to tubbo.
The guards leave, and the other boy immediately turns back to him.
“Okay, can we talk about you being a shapeshifter?” At Tom’s hesitance, Tubbo pulls out some strong puppy eyes. “Please?”
Tom looks to the camera, then back at Tubbo. The boy sees this and sends some bees to cover it.
“It’s okay, the guards are lazy. They won’t be back for a while.”

Tom changed into a human.
“Hello.” He whispered. Tubbo smiled softly.

“Hello, I’m Tubbo. What’s your name?” The boy seemed to be trying to stay calm, as he was vibrating quite a bit.

“I’m Tom-“ he paused. “Tommy. Call me Tommy.”
Tubbo’s smile widened.

Chapter Text

Theyd done it. They’d gotten in, and now all they had to do was find Phil and get out.
Techno had managed to find some uniforms, so now they planned to sneak into the food service area and find Phil that way.

Wilbur pushed the cart in front of him, techno following close behind.
“What floor should we go to first?” He asked as they entered the elevator.

Techno hummed.
“Probably on the lower floors.”

Techno had no idea what Wilbur was doing.
Somehow he’d managed to make friends with a worker, and they were now discussing something on the other side of the break room.
In their search for Phil, they’d been pulled into here by some worker who called himself ‘Bad’. He said he worked in the egg division, and asked why he’d never seen them before. In a panic, Wilbur had told the man they worked in the bird division.
(Techno elbowed him in the side when Bad turned away)
When bad turned back, he’d sighed and said: “yeah, this place is so big, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised I haven’t seen you two.”
Now techno was awkwardly watching as Wilbur made conversation.
Techno stood up, straightened his stolen uniform, and began to leave the room.
Wilbur frantically gestured towards him, trying to get him to stay.
“Later loser,” he mouthed to Wilbur as he left the room.

Now he just had to find Phil, with or without Wilbur.

He needed an excuse to see Phil. Maybe a medicine Phil needed to take? That should work.
He walked to where he remembered a lab should be, and when he got there, got past the keycard scanner by holding up the card clipped to the stolen suit.
He grabbed a random pill bottle and left the room.
As soon as he left, he bumped into a young boy.
“Oh, sorry,” he mumbled.

The boy staggered back and shrugged.
“It’s okay.” They stood awkwardly for a moment, before the boy cleared his throat.
“What’s your name?”

Luckily he remembered the name on his name tag.
“Mark, mark beloved. You?”

“Charlie.”

Techno nodded.
There was another silence before techno got an idea.
“Could you help me find something?”

Chapter Text

“So, how long have you been working here?” Techno asked, unsure of how to talk to this strange man.

“Oh, I dont work here. They just can't keep me contained!”
Techno hummed awkwardly. That certainly was interesting, best to keep that in mind.
“You’d think anyone who worked here would already know that,” Charlie said, calm as anything.

Techno tensed.
“What?”

“Oh, it’s okay, I know you don’t work here. You dont have the right demeanor! Dont worry, though. I won’t tell anyone.”

Techno sighed. “Thanks. My real name is Techno, by the way.”

“I know!”

“What was that?”

“What? I didn't know that!”

Techno gave Charlie a side-eye. This guy was so strange.

Wilbur had finally escaped the conversation with Bad, and was now on the hunt for either Techno or Phil. preferably Techno first, that way they could search for Phil together.
He peered down a hallway, only to be jumpscared by a voice.
“Hello!” it said. He turned to see a boy and a siamese cat in a cell. “You're new.”
The boy was wearing the standard AERA captive uniform, and he was staring at Wilbur with a strange look in his eyes.

Wilbur smiled his most convincing smile, and leaned down so he was at the height of the boy, who was sitting on the ground petting the cat.
“Hello, I’m Wilbur. What’s your name?”
The boy tilted his head.

“Tubbo.”

“Do you think you could tell me where the bird hybrids are kept?”

“Are you looking for the new guy?”

Wilbur shrugged.
“I’m not sure, honestly. What does the new guy look like?

Tubbo continued to pet the cat, who was staring at Wilbur.
It was unnerving.

“Blond hair, gray wings, blue eyes?”

“That sure sounds like him. Do you know where he is?”

Tubbo’s face morphed into a smug look.
“What’s in it for me if i tell you?”

Wilbur sighed. Of course the kid was smart. It was never some random kid who didn’t know how to bargain.

“I can help you get out?”

“The cat too.”

“What?”

“The cat. I wanna take him with me. As well as someone else.”
Wilbur sighed again.

“Sure.”

Tubbo smiled widely, and looked down at the cat in joy.
Now that he was looking, the cat looked eerily familiar.
Whatever, he’d focus on that bit later.
Right now he needed to focus on getting Phil and Techno, as well as Tubbo, the cat, and Tubbo’s friend out of this horrible place.
Hoo boy, that was a lot to do without getting caught.

Holy fucking shit, how was Wilbur here? Little puny human wilbur, inside of AERA’s walls.
Oh god, if Wilbur were here that meant that Techno was too. What did that mean for him? Would he be forced to watch as they got Phil out and leave him behind?
Don’t get him wrong, he loved Tubbo’s company, but he was starting to miss life with the Watsons.

“The cat too.”
Oh thank god.

“What?”

“The cat. I wanna take him with me. As well as someone else.”

Wilbur sighed. Tommy was worried, he seemed to do that a lot lately.

“Sure.”
Oh hell yes! Except… How did Wilbur plan on getting them out? Maybe Ranboo would help.
There were footsteps coming down from the east hallway, and Wilbur ran.
Once the footsteps passed, Tommy turned to a human so he could scream with tubbo, who was vibrating with excitement.

“Tubbo!”

“Tommy!”

They started giggling. Tommy had barely known Tubbo for twenty-four hours and yet it felt like they’d known each other forever.
Tubbo’s bees began separating from his main form to buzz together happily, and now there was a chunk missing from his face, which was eerie.
Once they’d caught their breath, Tommy decided he’d tell Tubbo how he knew Wilbur.
Once he was done, Tubbo sat with a shocked look on the half of his face that was there. The bees began to come back to tubbo, and finally the entirety of his face had the same expression on it.

“That’s such a coincidence,” Tubbo said.

Tommy shook his head.
“Not really. Phil, their dad, is a hybrid and is trapped here.”

“Oh.”

They sat in silence for a few awkward moments.

“We need to talk to Ranboo.”

Chapter Text

Tommy purred under Tubbo’s hand as they waited for Ranboo to show up. Somehow, Ranboo had slipped Tubbo a walkie-talkie, and now they could speak anytime they wanted.
Ranboo rounded the corner, and kneeled down outside the glass wall.
“Hey guys.”
“Hi, Ranboo.”
“Mrow.”
Ranboo smiled. “You said you had something to tell me?”
Tubbo chuckled, wringing his fingers together. Tommy murped at the loss of touch, and Tubbo separated his hands to continue petting him.
“Yeah… About that… Tommy here is a… Well, he’s a shapeshifter.

Silence.

“...what?”

“He’s a shapeshifter.”

“Okay, it’s too early for this.”
Ranboo sat down and ran a hand over his face.
“He’s a shapeshifter?”

Tubbo nodded.
“Look. Tom, you wanna go for it?”

He nodded, and slowly began to shift into a human. From limbs to torso, to head, he became human.
Tommy looked up and stared at Ranboo for the first time as a human.
“Hello…” he whispered, voice unused.

Ranboo stared in awe, and waved slowly.

“Hi.”

The silence was broken by Tubbo clearing his throat. They snapped to attention, and Tubbo smiled wickedly.
“Now… how are we getting out of here?”

Tommy shrugged.
“We could always go the way I came, through the sewers, but I have no idea if you guys would fit.”

“There’s always the main entrance,” Ranboo suggested. “I have my keycard, It shouldn’t be too hard to steal two more.”

Tubbo shook his head.
“We’d get caught too quickly. We need to be discreet. Besides, Wilbur said he’d get us out once he got his dad.”

“Wilbur?” Ranboo asked.

Tubbo blinked.
“Oh, i forgot you don’t know about him. We met with him a few hours ago, and he promised to get us out if I told him where his dad was.” Tubbo hummed. “Oh, I never told him where the bird hybrids were. He just sorta… Walked away.”

“Oh.” said Ranboo. “That sucks, I hope he finds him.”

Tommy sighed.
“So basically, our only way of getting out of here might get lost.”

Tubbo shook his head with an air of confidence around him.
“No, I'm sure he’ll come back. We just have to wait.”

Ranboo looked down the hall as footsteps approached.
“Looks like I've gotta go. Talk to you guys later.”
The creature scampered off.

Tom shifted back to a cat just as a worker passed by.
He sighed to himself. Looks like it might take a bit to get out, but they could do it.
They had to.

Chapter Text

AERA was mind-numbingly boring. For an evil facility, they had much less lasers and death than one might expect. 
Well, they had death, just not lasers. 
Lame. 
Tommy sighed as he leaned against the wall of Tubbo’s cell. He was in human form, if only to get more used to it. 
    “What do you do for fun around here?” he asked.
Tubbo shrugged. 
    “Nothing, usually. Just kinda stare at the wall most days, or fly around in laps. We could play patty cakes?” 
Tommy scoffed.
    “That’s stupid…” he paused. “...What is it?”  
    “It’s a game children play with their hands. If we had Ranboo here, we could play the bullfrog game.” 
Tubbo moved so he was closer to Tommy, and held his hands up as if he were surrendering to something, and started clapping his hands together in rhythmic patterns. 
    “C’mon, follow the patterns while clapping on my hands.” 
It took Tommy a couple tries, but eventually he got the hang of it. They played for a few minutes until Tubbo sparked up a conversation. Tommy had to get used to playing and talking at the same time but he did it eventually. Everytime he fumbled, he flinched slightly, expecting punishment. 
Tubbo was patient with him the entire time. 

Sapnap knocked on an office door. 
    “Come in.” 
    “Hey Dream,” he said. “You do know that the security team saw T05 in T63’s cell, right?” 
Dream hummed.
    “Thomas? Oh, I already knew he was here.” 
Sapnap sighed, and ran a hand down his face. 
    “Of course you did, what did I expect?” he stared Dream down. “What are you going to do about it?” 
Dream’s smile was wicked. 
    “Nothing. There are others, ones you haven’t even seen yet. They’re like rats in a maze
He stood up, and pulled his mask up over his nose. 
    “Let them try to find the cheese.” 
 

Chapter Text

Ranboo was now officially on Tubbo business. He was snooping around in AERA’s files, looking for a way out that no one would expect.
He sighed as he opened what felt like the hundredth file, before his eyes focused on three words at the top of the page.
‘Underground train tracks’.
He read through the file a bit more before deciding they were a perfect way to escape.
He set it down so that he could put the other files back into place, when a paper fell out of a manilla folder.
On it was a grainy picture of a young boy, with blond-brown hair and gray eyes. Lower down on the page were pictures of the boy being strapped down to a table, and then one of the boy’s back arching in apparent pain.
At the very bottom was a picture of himself, unconscious, strapped to the same table the boy was.
‘Subject ‘Mark Beloved’ is shown being strapped to a metal table to experiment the use of injection ‘RANB00’.’
Oh god. That was… was that him? It couldn’t be. He shook his head to clear the thoughts. This wasn’t the time to be worrying about himself! He had to get to Tubbo and Tommy, before Dream realized what they were doing.
“Guys! I found a way out!” He turned the corner only to find Tubbo’s cell empty, not even Tommy was there. Dream must have gotten to them first.

Tommy quickly turned into a cat and hid behind Tubbo when they heard footsteps approaching. He peeked around Tubbo’s side, only to see Dream staring back. He startled, the hair on his back standing up as he hissed.
“Hello T63.” the man tilted his head. “I see you’ve found yourself a friend.”
Tubbo held out an arm, shielding Tommy as best he could.
“You won’t touch him.” his glare could kill armies.
Dream chuckled, and gestured to a man on the side. The door to the cell opened, and Dream stepped in.
“I have the power here, T63.” he shifted so he was looking Tubbo in the eyes. That action sent shivers down Tommy’s spine. Why did Dream always like looking people in the eyes? “What are you going to do to stop me?”

That phrase brought a memory into his mind, back when he was just a child, trapped in AERA’s winding halls.

He was a scrappy kid, with scraggly hair, long nails, bitten down to be sharp enough to cut. Sometimes they had to hold him down while they cut the points away.
He was forced to stay in his human form constantly, which had dulled his senses.
Anytime anyone came close to him, even other captives, he would hiss and push himself into the wall.
Except when Dream came in. if he resisted, he got punished. Usually with needles or something of the sort. He would say: “I have the power. What could someone as pathetic as you even do?”
“Why do you do this?” he whispered.
Dream smiled, the action seemingly splitting his face in half.
“Because one of you freaks took everything from me. I’m simply taking revenge. What are you going to do to stop me?” he hissed.
He shook himself out of the memory. He had to keep himself and Tubbo safe.
He let his fur stand up, and murped in surprise when Tubbo suddenly stood up, with him under the boy’s arm. Tubbo smiled wickedly.
“This.” half of his body turned into bees, and swarmed to Dream, and the other half, with Tommy under his arm, hopped past the man, who was swatting at the insects. The guard outside the cell tried to stop them, but Tommy reached out his front leg and swiped at the man’s face. It hit its mark, if only because AERA guards weren’t allowed to wear helmets or face coverings of any sort. Something about identity confirmation.
The man fell back, and they ran. Tommy squirmed free of Tubbo’s grip and turned into his human form to run. Dream’s voice ran over the loudspeakers.
“Containment breach! In hall 59, sector 3!”
The second half of Tubbo came flying back, and they grasped each other’s hands.
Tommy and Tubbo, hand in hand, were currently running away from a patrol of guards.
They stopped at a fork in the hallway, one going left and the other going right.
“Left!” said Tommy, and began to pull Tubbo only for the boy to resist.
“What if we should go right? We don’t know what’s down there!”
Tommy grunted, exasperated.
“Just trust me, Tubs.”
“Why? It’s not like you know more about this place than I do.”
Tommy sighed.
“I do. I’ve been here before, when I was younger.”
“Containment breach! Hall 59, sector 3!”
Tubbo paused for a moment, before nodding.
“Left it is.”

Wilbur was completely sure of where he was going.
Okay, that was a lie… he was horribly lost.
That kid, Tubbo, hadn’t actually told him where the avian section was, which sucked.
It wasn’t like he could start calling out Phil’s name like he was some lost dog.
Well, he could, but that would be insulting to phil. Also it would be more likely for him to get caught.
He turned a corner and saw the familiar face of Techno and… some random guy? Why was he green?
“Techno!” he whisper-shouted. Techno turned and smiled.
Wilbur rushed forward and embraced Techno. The man returned it and then let go to gesture to the green man. The shade of green eerily reminded Wilbur of Dream.
“This is Slime,” said Techno. The thing waved.
Wilbur snorted.
“Obviously. What’s their name?”
“No, his name is actually Slime.”
“I use human pronouns like he/him!” chirped Slime, holding out a gooey hand.
Wilbur huffed amusedly, and shook the hand, wiping it on his jeans afterwards. He had no idea if it would wash out.
“I’m Wilbur, and I also use he/him.”
Slime looked back to Techno.
“Now that we’ve found your brother, can I take you to Quackity from the Egg Division?” Techno nodded.
“Sure,” he turned to Wilbur as Slime led them through the halls. “He has a friend that works here, I’ve been assured that he’s chill, and friends with that Schlatt guy that tried to stop us.”
Wilbur hummed.
“Okay.”
Soon they arrived at a locked door, which Slime molded his hand into a key to unlock, and they stepped inside. Slime stayed outside.
“Aren’t you coming?” asked Techno.
Slime shrugged, and gestured for them to keep going.
“I have things I need to take care of!”
Wilbur sighed, and they stepped in. As soon as they did so, the door slammed shut behind them. The room was completely red, except where it cut off at a glass wall. The wall separated them from a strange red Egg… thing. On the white side of the room lay a cluster of desks, and behind those, farthest from the Egg, lay six containment cells.
Techno stepped further into the room, and peered into the containment cells.
Something leapt at him, but was stopped by the glass. It seemed to be a young man in a white hoodie, with red eyes. Upon further inspection, every cell each had a person inside, albeit not all of them looked human, as every one of them had red eyes.
“What is this place?” Techno asked.
“What do you want?” said a voice.
Wilbur whirled around to reveal a figure standing behind the door, holding a glinting knife.
Wilbur’s hands shot into the air, and he backed away slowly. The figure stepped forward with every step he took back. Techno looked ready to pounce on the figure.
“Slime brought us here!” Wilbur squeaked.
The figure stopped, and stepped out into the light. He had black hair, held underneath a gray beanie. He was wearing a white lab coat, stained with red. Wilbur couldn’t tell if it was blood.
“Slime brought you here?”
Wilbur nodded.
“That’s… what I just said, yeah?”
“Oh shut up. I just can’t imagine why he’d bring you here, of all places.” he put the knife down on a table next to him carrying strange lab equipment. “Where is he now?”
Techno shrugged, and moved so he was next to Wilbur.
“We don’t know, he said he ‘had something to deal with’.”
Quackity sighed, and ran a hand down his face.
“That self-sacrificial bastard better not be doing something stupid.”
“What is this place?” Wilbur repeated Techno’s question.
Quackity was drawn out of his thoughts.
“It’s formally known as Division E-88, but everyone calls it the Egg Division.”
Wilbur chuckled, and sent a nervous glance to the Egg.
“I can see why…”
A voice rang out over the intercoms.
“Containment breach! In hall 59, sector 3!”
Quackity tensed, and grabbed Techno and Wilbur by the shoulders.
“Look, a containment breach is happening, so you're gonna have to hide somewhere. Guards may check this room.”
Wilbur pointed to crates in the corner of the observation chamber.
“What about in there?” Quackity nodded.
“That works.”
Wilbur and Techno crouched behind the crates just as the containment breach message rang out again, and the door burst open, and two figures stumbled in. Wilbur tilted his head. Those weren’t workers, they must be the escapees.
“Quick, shut the door,” Quackity commanded. The blonde one, which Wilbur didn’t recognize, obeyed while the Boy from earlier glared.
“Tommy! Don’t just listen to any random man telling you what to do!” Tommy held his hands up.
“He was intimidating! What was I supposed to do?”
Quackity held up his hand and Tommy shut up.
“Who are you two?” Quackity hissed.
“Why should we tell you?” The Boy sneered. Tommy, who looked a tad lost, grabbed the knife off the table and pointed it at Quackity, a triumphant look on his face. Quackity sighed and immediately grabbed the knife with ease.
“You bitch!” Tommy screamed, then immediately slunk around to hide behind The Boy. “Who are you anyways?” He asked.
Quackity sighed again.
“I’m Quackity. I work here.” The Boy bristled at that, but Quackity held up his hands in an attempt to be placating. “You two can come out now.” Wilbur stood up, pulling Techno with him.
Tommy smiled.
“Wilbur!”
Wilbur tilted his head.
“How do you know my name?” Tommy paused, then looked back to The Boy. The Boy shrugged, and Tommy shrugged to Wilbur. Tubbo scoffed.
“Not important. I’m Tubbo, and this is Tommy.” Tommy waved. Wilbur waved back, and gestured to himself and Techno.
“My name is Wilbur, and this is my brother Techno. We’re just like you, when we were younger, we were trapped here as well.” He looked at Quackity. “Now we’re here to save our father.”

Phil’s head lolled from side to side as he slowly woke up from whatever drugs they had been pumping into him. He opened his eyes, only to immediately shut them again. It was too bright to see anything. When he managed to open his eyes, he saw a full IV bag laid on a metal table next to where he lay. It was like someone had left it there in a hurry.
“Containment breach! Hall 59, sector 3!”
That made sense.
He looked up to see that the IV bag that was supposed to be dripping into his veins was empty. It must have run out just as the containment breach started.
Phil moved to sit up, but found he was strapped to the table. He reached up with a hand and worked to unbuckle the bindings. Kind of redundant, then.
When he did sit up, the world spun. He had to hold back vomit, even though his stomach was empty.
He pulled the iv out of his arm, and swung his legs around the side of the bed.
He had to find a way out of here, and get back to his boys. And the cat. The thing had started to grow on him before he was fucking birdnapped.
Luckily his wings were still in his back, so he could maneuver around the small room without trouble. When he got to the door, he was surprised to find it unlocked. The security breach really pulled down the guard of whoever had been watching over him.
Now he just had to find a way out.

Chapter Text

Quackity stuck the knife he’d snatched from Tommy into his belt, hiding it under his lab coat.
“Okay, we’re still on lockdown, but this door should still open with my key.”
Tommy gulped, and grabbed on to Tubbo’s arm as Quackity moved to unlock the door.
“What if they find out what I am?”
Tubbo shrugged.
“They won’t.” his voice held an air of self-assurance, and Tommy couldn’t help but believe him.
Quackity stopped, as if he’d realized something. He walked over to another side of the room that held some shelves. He grabbed four pairs of what looked like cuffs.
Tommy tensed.
He remembered those from his first stay here.
“No, I will not be putting those on.”
Tubbo looked at him worriedly as Quackity scoffed.
“They’re the only way for you to walk through AERA without being stopped. You need to wear them.” Quackity moved towards Tommy, cuffs outstretched.
Tommy hissed, and his pupils shrank as he stepped back, hands coming up next to him in a defensive position.
Tubbo stepped in front of Tommy, face tense.
“Back off, dude.” his voice buzzed with the sound of thousands of little warriors.
Quackity sighed, and dropped the cuffs onto a table.
“Fine. Maybe we can find you a worker uniform, or something.”
Techno pulled at the front of his shirt.
“He can always use the one I'm wearing. It used to belong to some dude named Mark Beloved.”
Tommy nodded frantically.
“Yes, please, I’d much prefer that.” Quackity rolled his eyes, and gestured for Techno to take off the shirt.

After Tommy put on the shirt, Quackity put the cuffs on Wilbur, Techno and Tubbo. Quackity handed the lead connected to Wilbur to Tommy, and kept the other for himself.
They left the Egg division, and turned left. A guard patrol began to come towards them, making Tommy panic.
“Act like you’re better than them,” Quackity whispered. “Works for me.”
Tommy puffed out his chest and put on the face he made whenever he stole a piece of ham from Phil.
The guards nodded to Quackity, and chuckled at Tommy.
“Stuck on newbie duty?” one asked. Quackity nodded.
“Yep. This is Mark.”
Tommy nodded to the guards, waving with one hand.
One waved back.
Quackity began to keep walking, so Tommy followed.
He turned his head so he could look at Tubbo.
“We need to find Ranboo. He said he’d find a way out for us.”
Tubbo nodded, and Quackity scoffed.
“You’re working with Ranboo?” He pronounced the boy’s name strangely.
Tommy nodded.
“Yeah? You have a problem with that?”
Quackity shrugged.
“He works pretty close to Dream, surprised you’d even associate with someone like him.” he shuddered. “He’s also just kinda weird.”
“How so?” Tubbo challenged.
“He’s just…” Quackity paused, like he was searching for the right words. “I saw him pull his lunch out of his torso one time. Almost made me vomit.”
Tommy shrugged.
“Just means he’s like me and Tubbo.” He looked at Quackity out of the side of his eyes. “Trustworthy.”
Quackity scoffed. Was his throat okay? He seemed to do that a lot.
“I’m trustworthy. I’ve helped you so far, right?”
Tommy furrowed his brows.
“Doesn’t mean you won’t sell us out the moment it proves more beneficial to you.”
Wilbur moved so he was between Quackity and Tommy.
“Both of you need to calm down, we just need to focus on-” he was interrupted by rushing footsteps coming into hearing range. Wilbur moved back into line behind Tommy, and Tommy tensed when he caught sight of Phil running around the corner.

Seeing Phil in the standard AERA captive uniform made a memory he didn’t know he had flood into his mind.

He was laying in the corner of his cell, panting sharply as he held a hand over the cut on his side. It wasn’t too deep. They never hurt him enough to put him in danger.
“Containment breach, sector 2.” rang out the automated voice.
He lay there for a few more minutes, shrinking back into the wall when he heard running footsteps approaching the hallway he was in.
It could be Dream coming to punish him for being weak.
A blond man in a captive uniform stopped in front of his cell. He had two children under his arms, one with dark hair and fin-like ears, and the other with bright pink hair and boar tusks.
He tilted his head as the man noticed him. He hissed when he saw the pity and sadness in the man’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” the man whispered.
He narrowed his eyes, and bared his teeth, relying on his sharp canines to intimidate. The man didn’t flinch, instead sighing, and continuing to run.

He gasped out of the memory when Tubbo laid a hand on his shoulder.
Tommy flinched, but never took his eyes off Phil.
Tubbo saw that he was looking at Phil, but couldn’t read his expression.
A realization filled Tommy’s mind.
The two kids Phil had been carrying.
Wilbur, always wearing a beanie, conveniently covering his ears.
Techno, with his pink hair.
They weren’t human, and he hadn’t even known.
How hadn’t he seen it?
He shook himself out of his thoughts when a furious expression crossed Phil’s face.
“Let go of my boys.” it was a demand.
Tommy chuckled nervously, and watched in mild terror as Phil’s wings came out of his back and puffed up, and large, visible talons slid out of his fingers.
He lunged.
Tommy quickly bent backwards and shifted into his cat form to be smaller. Phil’s talons were inches from his furry face, and he swears to this day that a whisker got sliced off.
Still in cat form, he ran over to the wall and arched his back, hissing when Phil turned around to look at him again, seemingly done with Quackity, who was laying on the ground, out cold.
When Phil caught sight of him, he tilted his head. It was eerily birdlike.
“You’re not human.”
Tommy shifted back into human form.
“Yeah, no shit!”
Wilbur put an arm in front of Phil, as if to keep him from lunging again.
“Dad, this is Tommy. Tommy, this is Phil.” he slowly lowered his arm. “Be nice.”
Tommy panted as he stared at Phil, waiting for him to move.
“I’m sorry,” Phil mumbled, which almost sent him spiraling, but then Tubbo ran over and crouched next to him.
“Are you okay?” Tubbo grabbed his face and turned it side to side, cuffs clinking together.
Tommy nodded, and moved Tubbo off of him. (Later he would shake at the mere thought of how caring Tubbo’s touch had been)
“I’m okay,” he whispered. “Just spooked. That was close.”
He thought about Wilbur and Techno, even Phil. they were so undeniably human, but… not?
They took such good care of him when they lived together, and they didn’t even do it out of pity.

They genuinely wanted to take care of him.

At least when he was just a plain cat. What if they thought he was disgusting for hiding from them, some monster that just wanted to leech off their good-will?
He shook himself out of his thoughts with a frown.
He needed to focus on getting everyone out.