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Tubbo stares down at the crater that was once where Dream stood. All that’s left now is a cracked porcelain mask smeared with dirt and something that looks like blood. The smile stares sickeningly at Tubbo, sending a chill through his spine.
“It’s ok Tubbo,” he murmurs to himself, “he’s gone now he can’t hurt you. He can’t hurt us.” A wave of relief runs through Tubbo and a grin breaks out onto his face. For the first time in years he feels something akin to hope. “I can’t believe it’s over, Tommy, it’s over.. it’s finally over.”
Elated, he turns around to where Tommy stood behind him mere minutes before, but the ash coated ground is empty. “...Tommy?” Tubbo frantically looks around the bomb stricken landscape for a flash of blond hair or a sparkle from mischievous blue eyes. Where did he go?
Tubbo’s heart sinks as he turns to his right and sees Tommy slumped over, tied to a tall oak tree. Jack Manifold stands over him with a look of cruel determination on his face... and a dagger in his hand. “JACK NO,” Tubbo screams, throat raw from the explosion. “I’m sorry Tubbo, but it’s for the best. One day you’ll understand.”
Jack Manifold laughs, an unhinged, feral laugh, and plunges the dagger into Tommy’s stomach. Tommy’s eyes jolt open, his once bright, sparkling irises fade to a dull grey. He lifts his head weakly “Tubbo... I’m so sorry Tubbo.” Tommy’s head falls to the side, and just like that he’s gone...
Tubbo doesn’t remember falling but suddenly he’s on his knees staring up at the strong branches of the oak tree swaying in the gentle breeze. He watches, numb, as Jack Manifold and Niki, who appeared from the shadows, slowly untie Tommy’s body from the tree. They laugh while they do it, and despite all odds Tubbo finds himself laughing along with them.
It’s a hysterical laugh, a laugh coming from somewhere deep inside that has snapped, finally come undone. Tubbo finds himself laughing as his knees sink into the eroded soil. He laughs as the wind picks up and the debris around him begins to swirl in a circle of dust and sand. He laughs until his throat burns and he can’t laugh anymore, and even then he laughs at himself in his thoughts.
What an idiot he was, he thinks to himself, chucking. What an idiot to think that things would be ok. That after every damn thing that had happened to him he would finally get a break. What an idiot to think that he could live a normal life, reclaim whatever shredded bits of childhood he had left, and be able to live out the rest of his life in peace. What an idiot. Tubbo laughs, and in a strange mix of numbness and hysterics, he picks himself up and walks home.