Chapter Text
Chapter 1 – blue moon, saw me standing alone.
<>Tommy<>
Sunday – 8th February 2015
At 7:23 am Tommy was forced out of bed, his brothers frantically trying to pack up his bags and dress him though he was perfectly capable of dressing himself at 11 years old. Terrible confusion filled his sleep riddled system, desperately trying to figure out what was happening to him, the bleak sky was grey with the only just rising sun.
“-ommy, Tommy!” Wilbur stood in front of him. One large hand on his shoulder and the other on the side of his face, “wake up, come on we need to get going.”
Tommy had never heard Wilbur's agitated voice be so frantic before. Techno was stood awkwardly in the hallway, oversized bags on his shoulders and growing hair tied back into a low bun on the back of his head. The young blond-haired boy was still confused, whining, and lifting his arms. Wilbur did not hesitate in picking up his little brother, not tormenting him like he would typically do.
Phil, his father, stood downstairs by the front door. Ushering the boys through and towards the battered car. Tommy was still so confused, barely woken up until the icy blast of the chill February mornings crawled under his oversized shirt and caused goosebumps to prick at his sensitive skin. He shivered involuntarily and pressed himself against Wilbur more, not even blinking at the fact Wilbur sat down in the car still holding onto him.
Tommy looked towards the window, blinking owlishly as the car pulled off from the drive and down the road with a limited amount of care. Phil never drives like this, at least not when he had kids in the shabby car. Then he saw it.
A bloodied corpse threw itself against the car window, nails digging into the side of the car and leaving bloody prints against the glass. Tommy screamed on instinct, Wilbur jumping away from the window with a similar shout and forcibly pulling his little brother closer to his chest than needed. Phil sped up, the surrounding area turning into familiar blurs. This was some horrible dream. Tommy tried to rationalize, he would wake up and spend his Sunday in the garden wrestling with Techno while Phil and Wilbur prepared dinner.
“Wilby?” Tommy looked up with glossy eyes, even more confused than before.
“it's alright Toms, it's okay, we’re going somewhere safe.” Wilbur threaded a hand through his sun-bleached hair, holding him tighter like a safety blanket. “nothing's gonna hurt you.”
<> FIVE YEARS LATER <>
Saturday - August 7th 2021
The cruel grip Wilbur had on Tommy's oversized jacket was arrogant, his older brother towering above him with frustration and anger clear on his miserable face. He looked too aged for only being 24. Wilbur went to speak but cut himself off with an exasperated sigh. “go, now.”
Tommy pulled himself away harshly, storming down the desolate road. He began thinking back to the beginning for a moment, the sky cloudy and dark. It would rain soon. He could not understand why he was not allowed out from the poorly built walls. Techno and Wilbur went beyond the walls constantly, coming back with blood covered hands and maybe a packet of hard sweets as a gift for him. It was patronising, knowing his brothers were risking their lives while he was shoved into a classroom or training field and expected to behave.
At 16 years old Tommy was said to be top of his class, alongside his dear friend Tubbo. So why was he not allowed to go beyond the battered walls and end those things that had ruined his life, ruined his plans of growing up normal with nothing to fear beside if he got a passing mark on his latest test or if the girl, he had a crush on liked him back. Not that he would ever know. She was most likely a corpse now.
Phil stood in the doorway of the tall apartment complex that was used for housing within the struggling community. Arms crossed and a look of petty annoyance on his haggard face, the look did not bother him as much as it did when Wilbur looked at him like that. “come on mate, you missed dinner.”
Tommy shrugged, ducking past Phil, before up the dingy stairs, skipping one with each step he took. By the time he got to the 5th floor and outside the flat he was winded, lungs rattling against his ribs, maybe the exhaustion would encourage him to fall asleep tonight. He didn’t want to crawl into Wilbur's bed again. He was 16 not a toddler.
A record player sat playing on the counter of the kitchen, the song playing sounding older than it most likely was. Techno was sat awkwardly at the kitchen table, a machete in front of him and a used oil covered rag beside it. Phil came in after, closing and securing the door partially, knowing Wilbur would be coming home later that night after his overnight shift on the bleak walls.
“your plates in the oven.” Techno said gently without looking up, returning to what he was doing with the fearsome weapon and filthy rag. Tommy could care less as he walked past and down the hall to his cramped room. The apartment had three bedrooms; Phil had the biggest, Tommy had the smallest while Wilbur and techno shared the middle one. They had always shared a room, being closer to each other in age than they were with Tommy. Said careless boy, flopped forward onto his disordered bed, staring at his plastered wall with a weary expression on his miserable face. Tommy barely remembered when he fell asleep, still with his shoes and frayed jeans on, jacket rising and exposing his red and white hoodie.
A gentle knock on his battered door roused him up from his sleep, blinking deliriously for a few seconds as he tried to push himself from out of his suddenly comforting and warm bed. “screw off,” Tommy managed to mumble out, rolling over to try and fall back asleep. His fuzzy eyes snapped open when the door was carefully pushed open anyway. Wilbur stood respectfully in the doorway; arms crossed as he leaned comfortably against the door frame.
“you didn’t eat today, come on.” Wilbur said in that soft and caring voice that angered Tommy more than he would care to admit.
“stop talking to me like I'm a kid.”
Tommy stood up anyways, following Wilbur down the hallway and into the kitchen, the disorderly house was quiet. Uncomfortably silent just like everything else in the entire world. Tommy pushed himself up and sat precariously on the counter, surveying Wilbur with a sour expression as he pulled out a pan from one of the cupboards.
“mac and cheese sound okay?” Tommy wrinkled his nose in distaste; he never liked mac and cheese, but he wasn’t allowed to be fussy with his food anymore, it was ungrateful and wrong when people outside the walls were dropping dead because of hunger. He'd seen the emaciated bodies being brought in on hijacked trucks for disposal. All corpses were burned at the most isolated corner of the settlement unless they were family.
Wilbur began making the god awful food, completely aware of the face that Tommy didn’t enjoy eating but was what he deserved for trying to sneak past the walls again, Wilbur had caught him more than once, the same going for Technoblade but neither of them said anything beside to each other. Understanding the trouble Tommy would possibly get into.
“why do you want to go out there Tommy?” Wilbur asked carefully, looking firmly at the teenager from the corner of his eye while letting the pasta boil. The haven kept an efficient farming system, being able to have a lot of fresh food was a luxury few could afford. Even if the crops could be fussy about growing seasons. Tommy merely shrugged, looking down at the soft laminate flooring.
“Toms answer the question.” he said firmly, turning around to look at him. Wilbur's hair was tangled, windswept from the shift he had on the walls. He still had his clunky boots and coat on, the long leather trench coat making him seem more like a dystopian character from a book he heard Tubbo talking about, he wasn’t really listening to be honest.
“I'm not a kid anymore Wilbur.” Tommy said far too quietly than he would have liked, regretting how he sounded so small when he wasn’t. He could take out those monsters, and he could scavenge for supplies with the volunteer groups so wasn’t he allowed? It was frustrating, and it was beginning to get tired of hearing the same things being lectured at him.
“just cus you're a teenager now doesn’t mean you're invincible now, Tommy.” Wilbur went back to stirring the pasta, the unique sound of boiling water filling up the tense silence. Tommy wanted to scream, wanted to hit his brother and tell him he was wrong, that he was able to handle himself, but he didn’t. Instead, he slipped off the counter and walked around to sit on one of the stools, yawning tiredly.
Wilbur strained the pasta, moving over to start making the rest of the terrible food. A methodical and repetitive motion that was far more comforting to Tommy than it should've been.
“take off your coat and shoes.” Tommy didn’t reply, shrugging off the puffy jacket and kicking his shoes off under the table. Phil would probably tell him off for it, but he didn’t really care, he was told off for a lot of useless things.
The bowl of mac and cheese was placed down in front of him, another being opposite from him as Wilbur sat down, his own coat shrugged off and showing off the mustard yellow sweater he habitually wore underneath. The peculiar colour had faded a lot since he was 19. Tommy sighed and began eating, Wilbur didn't bother to continue the one sided conversation.