Chapter Text
The sun rises over rubble, painting the sky a brilliant, bloody orange. Bodies lay broken and bruised amongst debris, ashes and dust falling upon them like a terrible grey blizzard. A wide, obsidian grid hangs over a smoking crater as the angel of death and a blood soaked pig run off into the nearby forest, a pack of wolves trailing silently behind them.
Two teenage boys sit at the edge of the maze in the sky, staring blankly down at the fragments of their home. The former president and the man he exiled, his best friend, sit in each other’s quiet company. Tommy’s wings hang limply behind him, a dull red as his feathers collect the gentle ashes; not a beat of hope to be found. Tubbo’s suit is wrinkled, his white shirt buttoned crookedly, red tie knocked askew in the haste of battle. His shoulders sag as he caves in on himself.
“How did things go so wrong?” he murmurs.
Tommy looks up. Tubbo shakes his head, dust falling from his dark curls and the horns nestled between them. The burn scars on his face and arms are faded beneath the grime on his skin. He looks older now, more exhausted, not like the young, happy-go-lucky beekeeper that Tommy once knew.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, when did it all fall apart? Was it when Wilbur founded L’manburg? When you and I picked a fight with Dream?”
“You know that none of this is our fault, Tubbo,” Tommy says gentle, but firm. “We were put in a fucked up situation.”
Tubbo shakes his head again. “Maybe we’re doomed to this, Tommy; we keep going in circles, history keeps repeating itself.”
Tommy stays silent. He doesn’t know what to say. What can he say? He can’t hold out hope anymore, it’s been proven to him time and time again that his hope is futile. L’manburg has disintegrated once more, right before their very eyes, and it can never come back.
Pulled from his thoughts by an unfamiliar sensation running up and down his spine, he tenses. Someone was touching him, his wings. Tommy’s heart pounds against his ribcage as sharp memories of Dream and exile flash through his mind, slicing into his lungs like shards of glass. The painful crack of bones, a sword trailing down his back, and a white mask whispering sweet nothings as Tommy lay on the ground before him, shattered and bleeding.
But this was different. There was no sword, no rough hands wrapping around his wings, no broken bones; instead, soft hands gently stroke them, fingers weaving into the red feathers before their familiarity sunk in: Tubbo. It was just Tubbo. Tommy swallows the lump that had formed in the back of his throat.
“You alright?” Tubbo’s voice is muffled as he buries his face into Tommy’s wings, breathing in the faint scent of apples and cinnamon.
“I’m fine, big man, don’t worry,” he says. Tommy shifts, wings fluttering as Tubbo pulls back and crawls around to his right side. His wing stretches out and wraps around Tubbo as he leans into Tommy’s shoulder, a cut on his cheek stinging at the contact.
“So… what do we do now?” the smaller boy asks. Tommy glances down at him before looking out across the ruined land below them.
“We go home and make a plan of attack to get the discs back.”
Tubbo laughs. It’s not full of its usual airiness, it’s heavy and sad. He sniffles before quickly blinking and wiping his eyes.
“Home where?” he says, voice soft and broken. “L’manburg was all I had, Tommy.”
Tommy sighs and draws his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. “I’m no longer exiled, am I? Why don’t you live with me?”
Tubbo sits up, a small spark reignited within him. “Really?”
“Of course. Why would I ever turn you away?” Tommy says. “I told you that I’d never leave your side; I’m not going anywhere.”
Tubbo smiles and Tommy feels himself relax for the first time in a while. He stands up and stretches, his arms reaching for the blazing morning sky as his wings fan out behind him. Tubbo stays seated, still gazing out across the rubble.
“I can’t believe it’s all gone, just like that.”
“You don’t have to carry the weight of the world all by yourself, you know?” Tommy says as he reaches his hand out. “Let’s get you home, big man.”
Tubbo finally tears his eyes away from his ruined nation and when they lock onto Tommy’s blue ones, they are swimming with hope. He takes Tommy’s hand and yelps as he's pulled up quickly and they walk to the edge of the obsidian grid together.
“Wait, Tommy, what are we doing?”
Tommy laughs. “How else do you expect us to get home, Tubbo?”
Tubbo groans nervously as Tommy shakily flaps his wings, their steady beat growing more and more powerful as he begins to rise into the air. Tubbo gulps as he looks down, the staggering height causing a rock to form in the pit of his stomach and he stumbles back.
Tommy stops flying and walks over to his friend. Tubbo’s chest is heaving as he breathes shallow, gasping breaths. Tommy puts his two hands on Tubbo’s shoulders and turns him so that they’re facing each other.
“Tubbo, listen to me,” he says sternly. “You’re going to be alright, okay? I promise I won’t drop you, Big Man.”
Tubbo nods rapidly, his brown eyes darting all over the place. He gulps and Tommy moves his hands to his friend’s face.
“Hey, hey, breathe with me, yeah? Come on. Breathe.”
Tommy takes big, deep breaths and motions for Tubbo to follow suit. The taller boy put his hands back on Tubbo’s shoulders as they breathed together.
“There you go- you got it.”
Tubbo nodded and took a few more breaths before he spoke a small, shaky request.
“Please don’t let me fall.”
Tommy smiles softly as he whispers.
“Never.”