Chapter Text
“I think you should go, Tommy. You don’t talk to mortals very often, and the rest of us do,” Wilbur said, sitting on the countertop while he poured himself some coffee. Though coffee wasn’t his favorite drink, he sure drank it a lot.
“All you do is talk to your bandmates,” Tommy said, rolling his eyes. He pulled a cheese stick out of the fridge and tore the plastic off. The kitchen was unusually messy, as Kristen and Phil had recently attempted baking together and it went predictably poorly. Much to Techno’s dismay, they did a bad job of cleaning it up.
“That may be true, but you don’t talk to anyone. At least I do better.” Wilbur took a sip of his coffee, then attempted to hide his look of surprise when it was way too hot for him. Tommy couldn’t argue with his logic, so instead decided to call Wilbur names.
“God, I hate you. Go cry about it, prick,” Tommy spat, though he had no real heat behind his fiery words. He turned around and walked out of the kitchen to his bedroom, golden wings almost knocking over a nearby cup.
“You know I’m right! Better start looking for a suit, kid!” Wilbur shouted after Tommy, leaning around the corner to watch as the teenager scrambled up the stairs like a little racoon. Tommy couldn’t argue with him, so deflecting was the only option.
“Prick thinks he can do whatever he wants? Boss me around? I’ll show him… I’ll look so cool at the Masquerade, my outfit will be so cool and I'll fly in with my big man wings and be so awesome and cool and awesome. Eret will be so stunned by my beauty that he’ll try and crown me king but I'll say no so I stay humble,” Tommy muttered to himself as he walked to his room, staring at the light brown carpet. His room was at the end of the hall, across from Techno’s. Kristen and Phil shared a room, because they were simps, and Wilbur got the room across from them.
A fond memory Tommy liked to look back on was a few days after he became the fourth angel and moved all his things in. He was flown up the mountain and given a tour. The palace of the gods was so large and grandiose, so much larger than the home Tommy had stayed in for most of his life, until he was blessed by Kristen and gained partial immortality.
When Phil showed him his new room, he thought that he would be sharing it with someone. It was simply too large to be all for him, but when he was informed that it would belong to him and him alone, he hugged Phil for so long that he had to call WIll in to pry him off. Then, 1000 years later, Tommy’s room felt smaller than it had ever been.
Tommy’s first thing he asked Sam to install in his room was a perch, for when he wanted to be a bird. He then asked for a hammock, then a set of monkey bars, and it spiraled out of control from there until he had a whole playground hanging from his ceiling. Perks of being housemates with the god of technology.
After his ceiling was completely full, Tommy moved on to the floor. He made a mini library for himself, full of comics, coloring books, novels, and nonfiction. He still hadn’t finished all of them, even in his 1000+ years of living. After that, he upgraded his full bed to a king sized bed, which was a welcome change. Even though he could never hope to take up the entire bed, it felt nice to know he wouldn’t have to worry about falling off the bed.
He also had what Technoblade liked to call his ‘wall of stuff,’ which just was a fancy way of saying he had a bunch of shelves halfway up the tall ceiling. He was still expanding that area, and since he could fly there was no limit to how high he could build the shelves.
Tommy walked into his room and jumped into the air, flying up to his hammock and landing quite messily in it’s fabric. He laid there for a while, but soon grew bored and jumped down, barely preventing his fall with his golden wings. He glided into his open closet door, skidding to a stop just before he hit the wall. His wings disturbed the hangars, the sound of gentle clicking filling Tommy’s ears.
He began to dig through the closet, looking for something, anything, formal to wear, as well as something that could be fashioned into a mask. He got increasingly more desperate as he searched, only to find a mediocre grey suit tucked in the back of his closet. When he tried it on, the pants were too short and there were no wing holes, likely a remnant of his time as a regular human. He discarded the suit, deciding to ask Kristen and Phil for some help. They would know what to do.
***
Three hours and two clothing tears later, Tommy found himself standing in front of a full length mirror wearing a blue suit that matched his eyes. The wing holes in the back were surprisingly unobtrusive, letting his golden wings slide through the carefully sewn gaps. Phil, behind Tommy, was digging through one of his many drawers to find some sort of mask. He was going to a masquerade ball, after all.
“I don’t know, I feel like it needs a little more. Something to bring the outfit together,” Kristen rambled, patting Tommy’s wings. She was at his height, but being a size-changing goddess could grow to hundreds of feet tall if she needed to. Phil says that he likes when they fly together and she’s a giantess, but Tommy could never understand it himself.
“Like a mask?” Phil asked, holding up a tattered blue mask that looked like it could fall apart at any moment. Tommy rolled his eyes. Surely Phil didn’t think he would wear such an ugly mask?
“Well, maybe…” Kristen said as Phil walked over and placed the blue fabric in the palm of her hand. As it touched her fingers, the fabric righted itself magically and the mask now looked somewhat presentable. Kristen’s magical knowledge never ceased to amaze Tommy.
“You’ve outdone yourself this time, Kristen,” Phil breathed, placing the new mask on Tommy’s face. It fit nicely, and what Kristen had said about the outfit not being complete suddenly made sense to Tommy.
“I look so awesome,” Tommy stated, spreading his golden wings out. Both Phil and Kristen ducked, because despite Tommy looking at himself in a mirror, his spatial awareness wasn’t the best.
“I think you’re ready for this ball,” Kristen said, pushing Tommy’s wings out of the way with her own, black as the night sky. At times, her hair was almost indistinguishable from her wings.
“Yeah, when is it?” Phil asked, fighting both of their wings to be in view of the mirror. He was being forced out by the mass of golden and black feathers.
“This saturday. I have a few days to mentally prepare, so don’t worry about it.” Tommy nodded and removed his mask, smiling at himself. He looked so goddamn cool.
***
“Beep beep beep,” Phil said, his mouth opening and closing like a bird, “Beep beep beep.”
“Phil, what the hell are you doing?” Tommy asked, standing on his ceiling and looking down at the birdman, who sat neatly on Tommy’s own king sized bed. Phil did not answer, only continued his high-pitched and annoying beeping.
As the beeping grew louder, Tommy realized that his eyes were still closed and he was, in fact, dreaming. In a flash, he sat up in bed and looked at his clock, realizing that he had overslept. With the grace of a leopard seal on a mountain, he clambered out of bed and started attempting to get ready in what little time he had left before the ball. It was 2pm, and he needed to be there by 2:30.
“Crap, shit-” Tommy quickly brushed his teeth and hair, then flew out of the bathroom and into his closet to find his neatly folded suit sitting in the middle of the floor, with his mask laying on top of it. He put the thing on as fast as he possibly could, almost tearing the wing holes in an effort to go faster.
Tommy rushed into the hallway and down the stairs, shoving a cold bagel into his mouth. Wilbur, who was sitting down at the dining room table with Techno, looked up at him with surprise.
“Where are you off to?” He asked, but Tommy had no time to reply. He threw his shoes on his feet violently, still chewing on his bagel.
“The masquerade,” Tommy said, but it came out garbled due to the massive amount of bagel bread in his mouth.
“Heh?” Techno said incredulously, leaning forward in his chair to get a better look at the absolute state Tommy was in. Pausing to take a deep breath, Tommy swallowed half of his bagel, took the other half in his hand, and looked up at Techno.
“I’m going to the masquerade, and I’m going to be late.” Tommy pulled open the door, letting a blast of cold air flood the room. Perks of living on a mountain.
“Alright, bye-” Wilbur said something more after that, but Tommy had already jumped out the door and began gliding down the mountain. Up ahead, Tommy spotted the entrance to the end portal room, a tunnel that led down to the swirling mass of stars. The whole reason the gods lived in the mountain was to keep any unworthy souls away from the end, so that the dragon within could live a full life.
The wind rushed past Tommy’s face, biting into his cheeks and hands. He could have taken one of Sam’s trains, but gliding was faster. Luckily for him, Eret’s kingdom was the farthest north of all the realms, so he would be able to get there all the quicker.
Tommy was going so fast that the ground rushed by in seconds, and he soon saw Eret’s castle on the horizon. Tommy forgot that he could move at superhuman speeds on occasion, even though he had been doing that for over 1000 years. The familiar main tower of the castle stretched up over the horizon, and Tommy slowed down so he could land neatly in the courtyard. Other people arrived on horseback or in a train, but Tommy could fly.
He decided to steal the show away from a particularly pretentious princess from one of the kingdoms on the equator, who had just arrived in a large boat that sailed up the river to Eret’s kingdom. As far as Tommy knew, her name was Princess Rae or something like that, he couldn’t be bothered to actually remember her name. She would be gone in a few decades anyway, why should he get to know her?
Tommy dropped below the cloudline and began gliding in circles around the castle entrance, like a hawk circling its prey. Soon enough, people began to look up at him, hair and wings sparkling in the sun. He landed gracefully on the front steps and put on his mask, keeping his wings partially extended. In one swift motion, he walked through the front door. The guards let him in without fuss, after all, if an Angel shows up at your doorstep, you’re gonna let him in.
Eret sat atop a throne in the ballroom, sunglasses blocking his eyes. Kristen had made him those after Karl blessed him with the gift of foresight in exchange for his vision. He was blessed by her at the same time, and has all three of his lives left.
“Tommy! Glad you could make it!” Eret said, waving the Angel over.
“Eret, it’s good to see you, man,” Tommy said, shaking Eret’s outstretched hand. The king smiled, but right then he was just an old friend.
“So, are you ready to have fun?” Eret asked, waving as Princess Rae entered the room. She couldn’t cross to the throne as quickly as Tommy could, so she curtsied at the door and walked to one of her princess friends to talk about something Tommy couldn’t imagine.
“Yeah, I suppose.” Tommy stared into space, unsure of what to say.
“The band will start up soon, I got a good group tonight. There’s a jazz band and an orchestra, and they’ll alternate playing. It’s going to be a fun night,” Eret said, keeping his head tilted high.
“Are you using your power to tell me that?” Tommy asked, glancing over at the prophet king.
“No, I would never,” Eret said sarcastically, pulling his sunglasses down so Tommy could see his glassy eyes. Tommy shuddered, and in that moment he was almost glad Eret couldn’t see.
“King Eret, would you mind if I talked to Tommy for a moment?” Someone with a smiley face on their mask appeared next to the throne. Tommy must not have seen him approaching.
“Not at all, Dream. Just don’t keep him too long, I want to talk to him about how Kristen is doing. It’s been a while since I've seen her,” Eret explained, waving Dream away. Tommy followed the man, who was wearing a bright green suit. A strange outfit to be sure, but Tommy supposed that it wasn’t the worst suit he had ever seen.
“So you’re Dream then, yeah?” Tommy looked around the halls as Dream lead him to a hallway adjacent to the ballroom. The floor and walls were spotless, Eret must have hired quite a few maids.
“Yeah, it’s nice to finally meet you, Tommy,” Dream said, but his tone indicated that he would have rather not met him. Dream turned left and led him down a narrow, dark hallway into a small room.
“So, uh… what are we doing here, big man?” Tommy asked as Dream turned around, grabbing Tommy’s wrist. Alarm bells went off in Tommy’s head, and he tried to leave, but the door slammed shut before he could even get a foot out.
Dream grabbed Tommy’s other wrist and shoved them into handcuffs, which Tommy hadn’t even noticed he had on his person. He cursed himself for being so unobservant, then thrust his wings backwards in an attempt to knock Dream to the ground. The lamps in the room flickered with the sudden blast of wind, casting an eerie shadow over Dream’s masked face.
He was kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily. Tommy began to attempt to break the cuffs, but they were surprisingly strong. The room’s walls felt like they were closing in, and the cuffs somehow grew tighter with every second. Dream got up and tackled the caged bird, slamming his golden wings into the ground.
“What the hell?” Tommy shouted, thrashing about with all his might. Dream didn’t let go, and instead drew a knife and slammed the handle into Tommy’s right temple. He started to see spots, he hadn’t felt this much pain in thousands of years. In reality, he hadn’t felt any pain since he died the third time.
“Calm down and go to sleep, Tommy,” Dream said. Strangely enough, his mouth didn’t move as he spoke. Maybe Tommy was simply losing his mind. Another hit later, Tommy found himself limp on the floor. His golden wings breaking was the last thing he felt before passing out.