Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A boy stands on the edge of a cliff, hands clenched at his sides.

*****

300 Days, 10 Hours, 3 Minutes

*****

Tommy weaved through the alleyways of the city, running from some invisible assailant. Despite the urgency in his sprint, the boy was grinning from ear to ear, confident that the rubber soles of his shoes would find their grip as he veered around corners. He loved this moment, the thrill of the chase, the way his heart thumped in his chest, and the wind whistle in his ears. On the rooftops overhead he could hear them all closing in, her their feet hitting against the tiles like the beat of a drum. 

Three years he had been doing this. Running. That and praying to whatever Gods listened that he would make it home in time for dinner. If there even was any to be eaten. 

It had also bee three years since he had eaten a proper meal, one that involved something fresh. Now, all they had was dried meat and rice. Surprisingly, he didn’t hate it, it meant he didn’t have to make decisions about what to eat. That’s what he told himself, at least, but that never stopped his stomach from rumbling and mouth from watering at the thought of a large steak. 

One thing was for sure, he deserved a good meal tonight. 

Today had been different, something had gone wrong.

“Fuck.” Tommy muttered to himself as he saw a wall ahead of him. He had reached the dead end sooner than he had expected. His hand clenched into a fist around the papers he held, and he quickly stuffed them into a pocket of his pants. Ripped and crumpled paper was better than no paper at all, he had learnt that lesson the hard way. 

The boy slowed to a stop as he approached the wall, and turned around, backing himself against it. The figures descended from the rooftops, each clad in dark leathers that bore no emblem. Amongst their face, Tommy searched for the one that wore a mask, but he was not here today. Tommy nearly laughed. They still thought so little of him. 

“Give it over boy.” A voice spoke from the front of the group. This one wore a bandana, stark white against the black attire. Tommy couldn’t remember his name. There were only two others behind the man, far fewer than he had expected to see. He hoped that there were none still lurking on the roof, hoped that they were stupid enough to believe he was trapped. 

Tommy grinned at them, readying himself for whatever this would become, and tugged his mask to make sure it still covered the top half of his face. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Sapnap, that was the man’s name. Tommy had encountered him before many times over the years, and each time had been more unpleasant than the last. Sapnap rolled his eyes at the blatant lie Tommy had just told. 

“Let’s not do this again.” Sapnap said, impatience tinging every word with aggression. That just made Tommy all the more happy. If nothing else in this job was fun, moments like these were, when he got to play with them. Sapnap was the easiest to play with, he angered so easily, and didn’t have nearly as much of a thought process as the other two. 

“But it went so well for me last time.” Tommy teased, because it had. Last time, Tommy had gotten away with a document detailing the location of weapons stashes across the city. Twenty-three of them to be precise. He had saved lives that day. The comment about it, however, just made Sapnap seethe all the more openly. If this were a cartoon, Tommy would have sworn there would be steam coming out of his ears. 

“Raccoons can only dive in other people’s trash so long before they get caught, boy. Don’t keep trying your luck. Just give me the paper and you can leave without any trouble.” Tommy scoffed and rolled his eyes at the empty promise. They would never let him go, not after everything he had done. They really did think so little of him. At least that was to their own detriment. 

Sapnap did get one thing right: Tommy was a raccoon, at least in the metaphorical sense. In fact, he was The Raccoon, at least that was his mask told everyone that he was. The thing was a sorry sight, it hadn’t been washed in years now, and the black patches were beginning to blend into the brown that surrounded them. 

Tommy wasn’t the most well known of the animals that roamed this city, but that was how it was supposed to be. He went in and out, unseen, getting his paws on anything in sight and taking it back home where the Crow waited. 

Despite this, Sapnap and the rest of his little group insisted on calling Tommy ‘boy’, or even ‘child’ when they were particularly annoyed. He was used to it, those names, but they still pissed him off. He had earned the right to not be called a child a long time ago, though he still longed to live the life of one. 

Soon, he he promised himself three years ago, once you have finished saving lives. 

“Well, Sapnap, I wish I could say it was nice seeing you again but, as usual, it was just quite disappointing.” Before Sapnap could reply, Tommy spun on his heel and launched himself up the wall. His hands and feet found grips on the loose bricks of the wall quickly and easily. This was the real reason he wore the raccoon mask, yes he could steal, but he could climb like no one else. 

Behind him, Tommy could hear Sapnap cursing and yelling at the people with him, demanding that they follow the boy. But it was too late. Already, Tommy was running across the rooftops. Ahead, the sun was beginning to rise above the horizon, drowning the city in a golden light. 

Eventually, Tommy slowed as he realised there was no longer anyone pursuing him. They never followed him when the sun rose, they only followed in the darkness. 

Tommy reached the edge of the roof of the terrace house he was currently on top of and sat down on the edge. He stared out across the rooftops, listening as the city came to life below him. Though the roads were still dark, the sun not yet reaching over the buildings, people were starting to emerge from their houses, people who were oblivious to the work he was doing, the work that would ensure their safety. 

Tommy had always wanted to be a hero, he had dreamt of it on more than one occasion. He was just grateful he had been given the chance. 

Tommy heard a whistle from below him, and looked down to see Wilbur waiting at the bottom of the trellis, his mask nowhere in sight. Tommy wasn’t supposed to know Wilbur’s real name, and Wilbur wasn’t supposed to know his, but they had been brothers before the whole animal thing, so it was already too late for secrecy. Tommy grinned at his brother, peeling the mask from his face and shoving it into his pocket alongside the paper. 

He had found himself descending the trellis of this house on more than one occasion, mostly in a rush, but today he stopped to smell the flowers as he went. They were roses, pink roses to be specific, like none he had ever seen before. The owners of this house obviously cared for them. 

Wilbur starting walking, and Tommy strutted alongside him, a slight skip to his step. 

“Did you get it?” Wilbur whispered to his brother, eyes darting between the few faces that they passed. The grin still hadn’t fallen from Tommy’s face, but he only nodded. Wilbur grinned back at his brother, patting him on the back. “Nicely done.” 

Tommy reached into his pocket and held tightly onto the papers within, walking in the direction of home, or the closest thing to it.

Chapter Text

Behind and below him waves crashed against the sharp rocks that emerged from the thrashing seas like the claws of some great beast.

*****

300 Days, 8 Hours, 47 Minutes

*****

As the brothers walked through the city, sunlight finally began to drench the streets in a warm glow. People walked with purpose around them, like ants in a colony. Tommy glanced up to his side at his brother, Wilbur, and the way he seemed so at ease here. 

It had always been home for his brother here, among the buildings and people just living their lives. But for Tommy, it was anything but. The city stifled him, the walls seemed to close in on him as he walked down the street. That was why he spent so much of his time on the rooftops, looking out across the expanse of the world, and wondering what lay beyond. Tommy wanted to run through a field, he wanted to see places as green as the ones in his books. 

“What are you thinking about Tom?” Wilbur asked, not moving his eyes from the people around them. He was always like that. In fact, Tommy couldn’t remember the last time his brother had looked at him when he wasn’t wearing the mask. Tommy sighed,

“I’m thinking about green.” A small smile tugged at the corners of Wilbur’s mouth.

“And why are you thinking about green?” 

“There’s not much of it here.” Tommy shrugged.

“There are trees and parks here.” The sentence was matter of fact, and of course correct. There were trees and parks, but they were all dead or dying. The parks especially. Barely any sunlight could reach them over the buildings that surrounded them. 

“You’re right Wil, there are.” And the conversation ended like that, just as abruptly as it had begun. Tommy couldn’t remember what had happened between them to make it this way. He couldn’t even remember a time when it wasn’t like this, so perhaps nothing had happened at all. Maybe this is what brothers do. 

“Stop daydreaming Tommy. We’re here.” Tommy snapped out of his thoughts, and saw the building looming ahead of them. It looked just like any other, an old red brick terrace house, a trellis running up the front bearing dead or dying morning glory. Tommy had never been able to tell what it was, but the very air around the building seemed different, as though tainted by whatever went on inside. 

The boy couldn’t think why. They were saving the world. Only good things happened in this building. 

Tommy reached into his pocket, pulling out his mask and sliding it over his face. It wasn’t comfortable, it never had been, but now it just felt like a second skin. The ears that stuck out of the top of his mask sat perfectly amongst his mess of blonde hair, and the tufted cheeks curved to fit the shape of his face. 

He glance to his left, where Wilbur was pulling his own mask down over his face. Wilbur’s mask was an owl, fitting enough for the person who wore it. Wilbur was the thinker, the one who sat in the corner and watched as everything played out. That was why he was the second in command, and not anyone else. He knew when to let others fight for him, and from what Tommy could see, that was all of the time. 

But that was beside the point. 

Tommy pulled his hood up over his head, mimicking his brother’s actions beside him. Tommy then stuffed his hands into his pockets, gripping once more onto the papers within. He hadn’t read them, hadn’t even thought about reading them, perhaps he should have. They never let him do any of that here, he wasn’t allowed to know anything. He was told that it was to keep him safe. 

To know things you shouldn’t is to be in danger. 

That is what Tommy had always been told, and for a while he continued to ask. He pestered them until he grew bored, and eventually, he just learned to shut up. 

Wilbur knocked twice on the door, and Tommy could hear the sounds echo around the interior. The door was opened quickly and quietly by a boy, no older than Tommy, wearing a goat mask. Tommy had seen him around before, always in the green shirt and black pants, the colours of the house. The little horns that stuck out from the top of the mask were adorned in green ribbons, and Tommy couldn’t help but wonder if the kid had done that himself. Probably. 

The space inside the terrace house was anything but homely, lacking any kind of personal touches you might find. There were no family photos, no discarded keys or trinkets lying around. Everything that laid within these walls had a purpose. Tommy’s nose wrinkled at the smell that wafted through the room. Someone had been cooking, rather poorly, in the little kitchen that lay at the end of the hallway, behind the staircase. 

On the couches to his right, two people sat next to each other. Tommy assumed they had been talking before him and his brother had entered the room. Now, the Fox and the Rabbit just looked at them and gave some vague nod of recognition. Yet their conversation did not continue, instead they sat in silence and ate their food. Tommy made a mental note to never eat anything either of them had cooked. 

“He’s waiting upstairs for you.” It was the goat boy that spoke, the first words Tommy had heard from him since his appearance in the house a few weeks ago. They boy was shy, Tommy could tell that much, he just couldn’t figure out what his purpose was. 

“Thank you.” Wilbur’s voice had turned to the stony thing Tommy had grown used to. Every word had a sharp edge, and Tommy couldn’t help but notice how it made the fox and rabbit look away, and how it made the goat boy flinch ever so slightly. But he didn’t dwell, and trailed behind his brother up the stairs and to the study that lay at the top. 

Before Wilbur could even lift his hand to knock, and voice came from within. It was gravelly and low and utterly terrifying. 

“Come in boys.” So Wilbur opened the door, and there, sitting amongst pages and pages of documents that Tommy had probably stolen for him, was the Crow. From under the curved, black beak of his mask he grinned as they both walked into the room. 

The room was small a dark, the large window that covered the back wall had thick curtains drawn across it. They couldn’t risk anyone seeing in. The other two walls were covered in maps and drawings and pages of writing, each pinned to the wall in patterns Tommy couldn’t understand. The Crow fit in here, in the darkness. 

Wilbur nodded his head slightly as they entered the room, and a second later Tommy did the same. He didn’t understand the point of it, the formality, it just grew tedious. They were basically family here, family didn’t nod to eachother like they were business partners. 

Tommy had seen people do that on the street, people who had never spoke a word to eachother in their lives. They would do the nod, give a tight-lipped smile, and then walk in opposite directions. He didn’t understand it. 

“Did you get your paws on what I asked for?” His voice sent shivers down Tommy’s spine, though Tommy had never been able to decide whether that was because of the sound of it, or just because it was the Crow’s voice. It was both. Tommy grinned from ear to ear. 

“Of course I did, who do you think I am?” The Crow chuckled lightly before reaching out his hand expectantly. Tommy obliged, pulling the papers out of his pocket, and placing the scrunched up ball into his hand. Crow’s eyes looked down his beak to the mess that now lay in his hand, and gave Tommy an unimpressed look, to which Tommy only shrugged. 

“To quote you exactly,” Tommy started, giving a slightly cough for emphasis and putting on a deeper voice before continuing. “Better to bring back something nearly destroyed than bring back nothing at all.” The imitation earned Tommy an elbow to the ribs from his brother, who then swiftly found himself walking a few paces away to read something on the wall. 

Crow rolled his eyes and carefully began unfolding the mess Tommy had created. As he did that, Tommy’s focus drifted around the room. The maps on the walls were covered in red and blue and green pins, he didn’t know what the colours meant, but they made patterns. 

“Any trouble today?” Crow asked, barely paying attention to anything except the paper in his hands. Tommy doubted he actually cared about the answer, but shrugged and gave one anyway. 

“Nothing much. Sapnap and some others chased me to the alley, but I scaled the wall at sunrise, so they didn’t chase.” Crow gave a small nod of approval, but Wilbur’s eyes shot to his brother. Though worry laced his features, Tommy knew he would never say anything. They might be brothers in the real world, but here, they were anything but. 

“No sign of Dream recently?” Tommy’s gaze return to Crow, who had now successfully unfolded the paper and was reading whatever was written on it. The boy shook his head. 

“Nothing, no one even mentioned him while I was in the warehouse.” It was strange, Tommy now realised, that the name hadn’t even been mentioned. 

Every time he had snuck in before, he had overheard conversations about their leader. Conversations that centered largely around what lay under the smiling mask that he always wore. But last night, no one had spoken a word. It had been strangely silent, and perhaps that was something he should mention, but Crow wouldn’t care. If they were quiet then they weren’t doing anything, and that was good. 

Twice before Tommy had tried to sneak into Dream’s office for some morsel of information to give Crow, and twice before he had failed miserably. The first time, he had only been able to glance into a window before staring straight into the eyes of Sapnap, who proceeded to chase him through the entire city. The second time, Tommy actually made it into the room. He had cracked open the window and slid in, before quickly fleeing at the sound of footsteps in the hallway outside. He hadn’t been chased that time. 

“Thank you, Raccoon, you have done good work today.” Crow’s eyes didn’t drift from the page in front of him, but Tommy knew well enough what a dismissal sounded like. So, silently, he left the room and closed the door behind him. 

Tommy knew he shouldn’t, knew that if he was caught the punishment would be severe, but it didn’t stop him. He sat down beside the door, and pressed his ear to it, listening to the conversation between his brother and their leader. 

“Is it the one we’ve been waiting for?” That was Wilbur’s voice, muffled and hushed. 

“It is indeed.” Tommy could practically hear the grin on the Crow’s face as he spoke. “Do you know what this means Owl? We can finally start moving forward.” Wilbur made a hum of agreement, but Tommy was just confused. He didn’t know about any of this, though he didn’t expect to, they never told him anything.

“Raccoon can’t know anything.” And there was the reason, his overprotective brother who felt it was his business to look after Tommy. 

“We’re going to need him to -”

“Raccoon can’t know what he is doing.” 

“In case you forgot, I’m the one in charge here.” 

“And in case you forgot, he is a child. He won’t understand.”

“I don’t care.”

“If you tell him anything, I will tell Dream everything.” That made Crow pause. Tommy didn’t wait to hear his response.

The hallways in this building were always cold. Even in the Summer, Tommy couldn’t walk through them without a shiver running down his spine. As he descended the stairs, he noted Goat’s eyes on him as he opened the door, walked outside, and then slammed it behind him. Tommy stopped just outside, and closed his eyes, tipping his head to the sky. He didn’t reach to take his mask off, nor pull down his hood, he just stood there. 

No one walked past this area anymore. Tommy had never know it any different, he had always just known this street to be silent. He had only ever seen one person walk down this road, a tall man, with a mess of blond hair and freckled face. He had smiled at Tommy, a kind smile, the first one he had seen in a while. 

In fact, that might have been the last time as well.

Chapter Text

The boy raised his head to the sky, feeling the rain on his tear-streaked face.

*****

300 Days, 4 Hours, 56 Minutes

*****

The halls in this building weren’t as cold as next door. Tommy had always preferred it here, in this house full of bedrooms. It made him feel like he was at school, like the other boys his age. He didn’t sleep here often, having to spend much of the night running across the rooftops of the city, but everyone else did. 

This was the boarding house, for those of them that did not have a home of their own. Tommy, being the child that he was, didn’t have anywhere else to go. He was an orphan, plain and simple, and orphans weren’t allowed to own a house. It was a stupid rule, in Tommy’s opinion. It’s not like he earns money doing this either. 

Tommy would have loved a home of his own. 

Tommy’s room was on the top floor, up two flights of stairs, and at the far end of the hallway. There was a small window against the far wall, one that looked out over the rooftops, and one that sat next to trellis he had climbed down on more than one occasion. The boy knew this room had not been given to him by chance, he knew the Crow had thought this through, and chosen it specifically for him. 

The boy sighed, throwing himself onto the small single bed that sat in the corner of the room. Tommy didn’t have much in the room that belonged to him, he had never really owned much. 

Wilbur had given him a pair of gloves once. Tommy had worn through them in a matter of days, the rough brick of the city walls had proven too much for the thin material. Now, they just sat on a shelf gathering dust. Tommy would never throw them out, no matter how many holes they had collected. They were barely even gloves anymore. 

Next to the gloves, on the shelf, was a bandana. It was one he had found in this room on the first day he arrived, and it had been tucked under the bed like someone had been purposefully trying to hide it. 

The bandana was red, Tommy’s favourite colour, so he had adopted it as his own. He hadn’t yet found the courage to wear it, afraid that if he did someone else in the house might claim it. It was his now, and the only way to guarantee that it would always be his was to leave it hidden away in this room away from anyone and everyone else. 

When he looked out of the window, not from this lying down position, Tommy could see the ocean. The sharp edge of the cliff that lay at the edge of the city made it easy to see. It was dark today, dark and utterly terrifying. Tommy hated the ocean, he much preferred the open air, running on solid ground. 

Someone knocked on the door, drawing Tommy from his whirlwind of thoughts. 

The boy shot upright in his bed and stared at the door. From beyond it, he could hear feet shuffling, as though the person waiting outside was nervous. Or maybe just impatient. No one ever knocked on his door, he couldn’t remember the last time it had happened. In fact, Tommy didn’t think it had ever happened in the time he had been living here. 

Tommy didn’t know why his heart was beating so fast and hard in his chest, only Animals had access to this house. They were all his friends. 

The boy walked to the doorway, adjusting his mask slightly, more out of habit than necessity. He opened the door a crack, peering out the small gap, and there, standing in the hallway, was the goat boy from before. From under his mask, Tommy could see a small smile on the boy’s face. 

“Hello.” His voice was small, just above a whisper, and he was indeed shuffling his feet around. The boy was also wringing his hands, and looking up at Tommy like he was going to die here. 

“Hello.” Tommy replied, slightly confused, but also happy for the company. “Is there something that you want?” The boy’s smile faltered a little when Tommy asked the question. 

“Actually, don’t worry about it.” Goat spun on his heel and was walking away down the corridor when something in Tommy’s heart lurched at the sight. 

“Wait!” Goat stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, flinching slightly at the volume of Tommy’s voice. Tommy hadn’t realised how loud he had been speaking until the word had bounced between the walls. He gave a reassuring smile. “Do you want to come in for a bit?” 

Goat grinned from ear to ear, and Tommy stepped to the side so the boy could walk into his room. Once both of them were inside, Tommy softly shut the door and turned to watch Goat. 

Tommy thought Goat was strange. The way he looked around the room like it was the first one he had ever seen confused Tommy. Goat walked straight to the only shelf in the room, but before he could reach it, Tommy stepped in his way. He didn’t want to boy touching his things. 

“How did you end up here?” Tommy asked Goat, observing the boy’s face to try and gain some understanding of what it looked like under the mask. His imagination was getting better now, he found himself able to come up with faces more easily, and stories that went with those faces. Goat shrugged, trying to look over Tommy’s shoulder at the objects on the shelf. 

“Well, I saw you leaving next door. I thought I would say hello,” the boy was now on his tip toes to look over Tommy’s shoulder. He was considerably shorter than the racoon, only coming up to his shoulder. “Crow doesn’t let me talk to people very often, but he’s talking to Owl, so I have some time. You’re also the only person as young as me that I’ve seen, everyone else is an adult. What’s that on your shelf?” The words came out in a torrent, and Tommy didn’t even register the question before Goat had side-stepped him to look at the pair of gloves and bandana. 

“Please don’t touch it.” Tommy’s voice came out harsher than he had intended, and louder too. Goat flinched again, his hand hovering above the gloves and bandana. 

“Sorry.” The boy muttered, pulling back his hand and tucking it into the pocket of his trousers. Tommy frowned at the way Goat moved, how he acted whenever someone yelled or told him off. 

Technically, Tommy could spy on Goat if he wanted to. There was every chance he would get caught doing it, but he would get answers without having to ask questions. Tommy wasn’t much of a questions person, he didn’t like thinking the way his brother did, he just wanted to do. Plotting and planning and scheming weren’t words in his vocabulary. Yet, something in Goat’s face made Tommy want to ask. He wanted to talk to this boy, like something had tied a string around the two of them, and was slowly pulling it tighter and tighter. 

They were already bound, and they didn’t even know each other’s names.

Chapter Text

He smiled, but it was a smile fuelled by confusion, anger, and desperation.

*****

299 Days, 22 Hours, 42 Minutes. 

*****

“So how did you get here?” They had been talking for hours now, sitting cross-legged on the floor of Tommy’s room. He had finally determined that it was time to ask the question, the one he had been waiting to ask all morning. 

The Goat froze at that question, staring a very specific spot on the wooden floor where a small stain was. Tommy hadn’t been able to determine where the stain had come from, but he too had spent a considerable amount of time staring at it. 

“I ran out of options.” Goat continued to stare at that spot on the floor, seemingly refusing to make eye contact with Tommy. The raccoon, evidently unable to understand social cues, just kept pressing with his question. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” Goat just gave his head a small shake, finally looking up at Tommy, though maintaining the slouched posture he had adopted over the course of the day. 

“My mother is long gone, I never really knew her, all I know is that she abandoned me with my alcoholic father who made it his mission to make my life miserable.” Goat winced at his own words. “No. No that’s not fair. He was kind, for a long time, until I was old enough to take care of myself. He took that as a sign to drink himself into oblivion, and then one day I came home and he was lying dead on the floor.”

Tommy’s jaw dropped open as he stared at the boy sitting across from him. He could have sworn there was a small smile forming on Goat’s face as he spoke, and though it remained small, it seemed genuine enough. Tommy felt bad for the boy, he hadn’t ever imagined that this boy had been through so much in life. 

“What about you?” Goat was now looking at Tommy expectantly, as though he thought the boy had some kind of story to tell that would top his own. 

“Well,” Tommy swallowed whatever had been gathering at the back of his throat, pulling at the suddenly far too tight neckline of his t-shirt. “I never really had a family, it was just me and my brother for as long as I can remember. Crow took me on one day when I tried to steal some money from his office. He had seen me scaling the side of the building and thought I might be useful. I didn’t really get a choice in the matter, I had stolen from him after all.” 

“But why did you stay? You could have just run away.” Tommy shrugged. 

“I want purpose. I want a legacy, something that will leave a mark on this city.” Goat’s smile grew under his mask, and his eyes fell back down to that mark on the floor. 

“May the transition be easy, may the other side be warm, and may you leave a storm behind when you go.” Tommy’s smile matched the other boy’s as he recognised the Animal’s slogan. He had heard those words spoken so many times, by so many different people, but never had someone made them sound so beautiful. 

“I’m going to leave behind the biggest storm the world has ever seen.” Tommy grinned at Goat, who looked up and grinned back. Tommy shot to his feet, arms stretched out wide to the sides, his eyes ablaze with passion. “In the centuries to come, my name will be known by everyone. My story will be told by parents to their children.” Goat shot to his feet as well, joining his new found friend in their dreaming. 

“They will tell our story to their children. The Goat and The Raccoon saved the city from destruction.” Tommy nodded along enthusiastically, practically bouncing up and down as Goat spoke. 

“And, and,” the boy added, “they were never seen without the other by their side, like batman and robin from the comic books.” Tommy had stolen a comic book once, just one, and had sat on the sidewalk reading it. He had to abandon it before getting back to headquarters, to avoid the questions that would surely ensue. Yet, somehow, he had memorised large portions of it, enough of it at least, to know he wanted to be Batman someday. 

Goat opened his mouth to add more to their ever-growing fantasy, but was silenced by the sound of a knock at the door and a muffled voice coming from the other side. 

“Raccoon, you’ve got a mission tonight, Crow wants to talk to you about it.” Tommy recognised his brother’s voice from the other side of the door, and Goat also recognised it to be the Owl’s, making a small amount of panic pool in his stomach. 

Tommy’s eyes widened behind the mask, staring at Goat. They were allowed to talk to each other, of course, as long as they had their masks on. The real problem lay in the fact that Wilbur didn’t want Tommy talking to any of the other people who lived here. He had told him that it was dangerous to get attached, though it seemed Tommy had been routinely ignoring that suggestion. 

“I’ll be right there.” Tommy responded, looking over to the door and listening for the sound of footfalls that never came. 

“No, you won’t, we’re going right now.” Wilbur didn’t open the door, Tommy knew he wouldn’t, he knew that when he opened the door he would find his brother leaning against the opposite wall. Tommy looked back to his friend, who had frozen at the sound of the Owl’s voice, making Tommy wonder why. He quickly determined that was a question for another time. 

“Ok, coming.” Tommy held a finger up to his mouth, signalling for Goat to be quiet, and the boy just nodded. Loudly enough that his brother could hear, Tommy walked over to the door. He turned back, giving a small wave to his friend, before opening the door and walking out. 

When Tommy left the room, he came face to face with the mask of his brother who was, as expected, leaning against the opposite wall. He gave Wilbur a small smile, who returned it half-heartedly, before standing, dusting himself off, and then walking down the hallway without giving Tommy a second glance. 

The Raccoon looked after the Owl, wondering if perhaps the boy he had left inside his room was already more of a brother than Wilbur had ever been.

Chapter Text

It was a smile that came only because he didn’t know what else to do anymore.

*****

299 Days, 14 Hours, 17 Minutes

*****

Crow had taken hours to explain tonight’s plan, longer than usual. Tommy had suspected it was because this mission was more important, but it didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary. He had been given the address of a warehouse, and a place inside where he could sit and wait. 

“We have been told that Dream is going to be making an appearance tonight with some important documentation.” When his brother had told him that, Tommy’s blood had run cold. He was excited, of course he was, the adrenaline pumping through his veins made sure of that, but he was also terrified. 

As Tommy perched in the corner, just as he had been instructed to do, all of the stories he had heard began rushing through his head at a million miles an hour. Dream was a murderer, and a terrorist who was about to start a war that would kill hundreds if not thousands. No matter what he tried to do, Tommy could not quiet his mind, so instead he focused on anything else. 

The warehouse was strangely dry for this end of the city, that was the first thing that had struck the boy. Usually, this close to the edge of the city and the cliff that overlooked the ocean, things were at least a little bit damp. That told him enough about what was kept here, about what they must be trying to keep dry. Weapons. 

Tommy knew how guns worked, he just didn’t know how to shoot one. He had begged and begged to be taught, but Wilbur hadn’t seemed very keen on the idea. One of the few things he had been told was that guns need to be kept dry, as do a multitude of other weapons.

Tommy shuffled on his feet, growing increasingly uncomfortable in the crouching position he had adopted. Wilbur was probably perched somewhere nearby, feeling completely at home. This was his job, not Tommy’s. He was the Owl that watched over everything, Tommy was the Raccoon that rifled through files and stole papers.  

“Remind me what time he said he would arrive?” Tommy crouched lower onto his perch at the sound of voice approaching below him. 

“Twelve.” 

“Right, and remind me what time it is now?”

“One.”

“Exactly.” Both voices were directly below Tommy now, and he could recognise both of them. Sapnap and George were both waiting underneath his feet for the arrival of Dream. The boy had never seen both of them in the same place before, they were usually on opposite ends of the city. Sapnap ran the North, George the South, and Dream appeared wherever and whenever he wanted. 

“Miss me boys?” That was the voice that made Tommy’s blood run cold. Dream sauntered into the large warehouse space from the opposite end to where Tommy was sitting, so the boy got a perfect view of that ever-smiling mask. 

He was wearing a green hoodie and black jeans, as usual, but Tommy knew that was just a facade. Underneath, he would be covered in guns and knives from head to toe. A walking, talking weapon. 

“How nice of you to show up.” Sapnap laughed to his friend, the earlier annoyance now fading from his voice. Dream chuckled as well, and for a moment Tommy forgot who they were and what they were trying to do. For a moment, they all seemed normal, they weren’t the monsters from the stories. 

“Oh calm down, I’m not that late.” Tommy could practically hear Sapnap’s eye roll from where he crouched high above them. 

The Raccoon peered out over the edge and saw the three men embracing one another in a huddle of sorts. Something tugged at his heart as he watched them. When they finally moved away from one another they were all grinning from ear to ear. 

“Down to business then gentlemen?” George asked, causing both of the others the chuckle. 

“Yes, I think so.” Dream said, starting to walk towards his office in the corner of the building closest to where Tommy was waiting. The boy started moving along the beam he was on, inching closer and closer to the room the three men were going to enter. 

As he moved, the metal was creaking under his feet, and all Tommy could do was pray that no one far below could here it happening. Above him, there were several small windows, or his ‘escape route’ as Crow had called them. They were barely bigger than him, and though he had crawled through smaller space before, windows never failed to make Tommy nervous. 

It was the glass, and the sharp fragments that always remained at the window’s edge when he smashed it. He had one or two scars to show for previous attempts. One in particular had put him out of work for two weeks. 

Tommy heard the soft click of the door closing below him, his first cue. The boy peered out over the edge, ensuring that all three of the men had entered the room, before he began his decent. The walls were metallic and slippery, but Tommy could see every small hold like it was illuminated in blinding light. 

Within the minute, the Raccoon was crouching on the floor of the warehouse. From the opposite end of the building, Tommy knew his brother would be watching every step that he took, so every step was careful and silent. 

As Tommy crept closer and closer to the door he was becoming more and more aware of just how silent it was in this place. He couldn’t even hear voices coming from the office the three men had retreated to. Usually that was Wilbur’s problem, but for the first time, Tommy wasn’t just trying to steal something, he was doing his brother’s job. 

“It will be the beginning of your formal training.” That is what the Crow had said to Tommy. “You will become our greatest weapon, as you were always meant to be.” Wilbur had seemed hesitant when their boss had said that, but Tommy had been grinning from ear to ear. 

It always seemed that Tommy was learning through practical experience. He had never once sat in a classroom. 

The door to Dream’s office had a small window in it, barely low enough for Tommy to see through it. He peeked through, and saw all three of the men staring down at some map that had been laid out on the table. That was what Tommy needed to get. That was his mission. So he retreated, back to the beams he had been sitting on earlier, and waited. 

Tommy was so ridiculously impatient. Enough light was starting to come through the windows of the warehouse that he knew it was getting close to sunrise. The boy didn’t even know if the men were still in the room, but he did know that they had not yet emerged. There was another exit though, one that Crow had pointed out to him, at the back of Dream’s office. All three of them could have left and Tommy would never have known it. 

“Screw it.” The boy muttered to himself, tugging down his mask sharply to make sure it was secure, and then beginning his speedy descent. Perhaps it was fatigue, or even just the impatience, but Tommy’s footsteps were far less quiet and careful than they had been four hours earlier. 

The Racoon glanced through the window, half expecting to see all of their faces staring in his direction in wait, but instead he saw an empty room. The map was still there, pinned to the table, but not a person was staring at it. 

“Thank God.” Tommy whispered to the empty space. Gently, the boy turned the handle of the door and pulled it open. He took one step into the room, and from the other side of the warehouse he heard some kind of bird call. An urgent one. But it was quickly drowned out by a voice whispering into his ear. 

“Hello little rodent.”

Chapter Text

“We were children.”

*****

299 Days, 9 Hours, 33 Minutes

*****

Tommy’s blood ran cold in his veins, and the mask felt like it was beginning to suffocate him. He froze like a deer in headlights. The Raccoon wasn’t trained for this, he wasn’t trained for anything. All he had ever been told how to do was avoid conflict, how to stay just out of reach for long enough that someone could come and help him. But no one was coming tonight. Even his brother, perched high above him on the other side of the room, was told not to intervene. 

Tommy had always been told that if he was caught, he was alone. And right now, in this moment, that was far too true. He had never felt smaller or like more of a pathetic child in all of his life. 

“What are you doing here little rodent?” Sapnap taunted from the boy’s left. Behind Tommy and to his right, George slammed the door shut. The boy flinched slightly, his feet still frozen to the spot. 

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be here.” George’s voice was condescending, and something about it snapped Tommy back to action. The boy couldn’t fight, there was no way he would ever win, but he would certainly go down swinging. In the metaphorical sense. 

“Oh I am so very sorry, I thought this was the supermarket.” Tommy crossed his arms and spun on his heel, looking between the two men. He gave them a mockingly polite smile and pointed to the door. “I’ll just see myself out.” The boy took a step towards the door, but was quickly stopped by Sapnap, who gave him a light shove on the shoulder. 

The Raccoon was still very aware that Dream was nowhere to be seen, and had seemingly vanished into thin air. Tommy was almost counting down the second until the masked man appeared through the door at the back of the office. 

“Yeh that’s not going to happen.” George said, crossing his arms and leaning against the now locked door. Tommy’s eyes were darting around the room, searching for any kind of escape route. There was only one option: a small vent close to the ceiling. Tommy didn’t even know whether he would fit through it, but if push came to shove, he would give it a go. 

“I thought that might be the case.” The boy mumbled. 

“I might suggest that you take a seat.” Sapnap walked to the desk, resting a hand on the back of a wooden chair that faced the large black one across the desk that Tommy could only assume belonged to Dream. The Raccoon rolled his eyes but walked over and dropped himself down into the seat. 

“How have you been Snipsnap?” Tommy said, grinning up at the man. “Have you been taking some anger management classes? Because I really think that you should invest in them.” If this was a cartoon, smoke would be coming out of Sapnap’s ears. The man’s eyes seemed to burn. The flames only seemed to increase a George chuckled from the back of the room. 

“Shut up rodent.” He spoke through gritted teeth. 

“I’ll take that as a no.” Before Tommy knew what was happening, there a knife to his throat. The boy sucked in a deep breath, back pressed firmly against the back of the chair, and palms resting flat on the desk in front of him. He was far to focused on the imminent danger to notice anything about the map in front of him, far too focused to notice that one building in particular was marked with a red circle. A building that Tommy’s brother was now running frantically towards. 

“Oh calm down Sapnap.” Tommy’s eyes snapped to the now open doorway opposite where he sat, and the man who was walking through it. 

Dream seemed a lot more terrifying up close. Tommy could see every crack in his mask, every little scratch, and every faded splash of red that coasted its surface. It looked like something out of a horror movie. Even the eyes weren’t really eyes, they were just empty black circles void of emotions. Tommy didn’t know how the man could see a single thing. 

Slowly Sapnap moved the knife away from Tommy, slipping it back into an invisible pocket of his pants. Even without looking, Tommy could feel the man’s eyes burning holes into the back of his head. 

Somehow, despite his racing heart, Tommy maintained some semblance of composure and nonchalance. The boy leant back in his chair, arms folded loosely across his chest. But before he could make any sort of snide remark, Dream had already started talking again. 

“Hello Raccoon, I’ve heard that you’ve become quite the problem around here.” Dream said as he sat down in his chair. Tommy grinned from ear to ear at the man sitting across from him.

“What do you look like under the mask?” Dream chuckled at the question. 

“I could ask you the same question.” 

“You probably look like shit.”

“That’s very nice of you.”

“You probably got bullied as a kid and now you wear a mask and kill people so no one can be mean to you.”

“You really enjoy hearing your own voice don’t you.”

“Oh yes of course I do, who wouldn’t love to hear my voice?”

“I’m certainly not enjoying it.” George muttered from the doorway, and Tommy had to fight the urge to laugh. 

“You don’t enjoy much, do you George?” Tommy turned around in his chair to look at the man lurking in the back corner of the room. George rolled his eyes at the boy. 

“Oh do shut up rodent.” Sapnap snapped from Tommy’s left, causing the boy to swivel back around. Tommy was enjoying this far too much, messing with them all, procrastinating for as long as he possibly could. 

“Oh Snipsnap, you don’t mean that.”

“Oh I think I do.” 

“No you really do love chasing me across the city and losing me every single time.”

“It’s not every time.”

“This is the first time.”

“Exactly.”

“But I can almost guarantee it wasn’t even your plan.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Well yes it does, because I’m talking about you losing me every single time, not Dream.” Tommy sat back with a satisfied smirk as Sapnap’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. 

“What do you look like under the mask?” Dream’s question came out of nowhere, and quickly made the smile drop from Tommy’s face. The boy’s eyes narrowed as they met the empty black holes of Dream’s mask. 

“None of your business.” Tommy snapped in response, and suddenly he knew the smile on Dream’s face wasn’t just part of the mask. 

“Oh I think it is.” Dream nodded at Sapnap, who took a step towards Tommy with a smirk on his face. 

Tommy’s face was distraught as the mask was pulled away. He felt naked without it, and was suddenly painfully aware what this meant for him. He wasn’t safe anymore, anywhere. Even if he could escape this palace, Tommy was forever trapped by these people. 

“You’re a child.” Dream sounded genuinely surprised by this revelation, as though both of his friends hadn’t already figured it out. “They’re making you do this as a child?” He sounded upset.

Chapter Text

He whispered to the sky, and then slowly he turned his attention back to those who were left on the bloodstained grass.

*****

299 Days, 9 Hours, 17 Minutes

*****

“Of course he’s a fucking child.” Sapnap said, pointing to the boy sat in the chair staring into space. “I thought that was obvious.” George remained leaning against the closed door, watching Dream cautiously and curiously. 

Dream, despite the unshifting smile on his mask, seemed concerned. 

Tommy wanted to make a snide remark, he wanted to snap back, but it seemed all of his energy had been drained. What more was there that he could say? He had not only failed his mission, but he had failed the one task that he had known from day one: don’t let them find out who you are. 

“What’s your name Raccoon?” Dream’s voice was quiet and gentle as he crouched down in front of Tommy. Something had shifted in his demeanour, and it was obvious that Sapnap was not happy about it. The man had moved to lean against the nearest wall, fiddling with the fraying edge of his bandana. 

“Raccoon.” Tommy muttered, looking up at Dream through the hair that fell across his face. Every thought of escape or rescue had been swept away by the tsunami of panic flooding his mind. Dream chuckled at the response, those empty black eyes staring straight into the young boy’s. 

“I understand that you want to be brave, and that Phil has taught you to say certain things -“ The expression on Tommy’s face, completely caught off guard, stopped Dream’s words in their tracks. Even though the boy couldn’t see it, a small half smile formed on the man’s face. “You didn’t know his name, did you? What am I saying, of course you didn’t. You just told me your name was fucking Raccoon.”  

Tommy didn’t know what to think. For some reason, no longer was escaping or rescue at the forefront of his mind. Instead, it was that name. Phil. Honestly it was kind of unwhelming. He was expecting something a little more dramatic, like Spike or even Dante. Phil was just… well it was just Phil. 

“We’ve been looking into your people for a long time.” Dream said, rising back to his feet and walking to sit behind his desk. “There are too many of you to keep track of, and we always seem to lose you just before you get back to your base of operations.” The masked man slumped into the chair, and Tommy let out a snort of a laugh. The boy couldn’t see it, but under the mask a slight smile pulled at the corner of Dream’s mouth. 

“It’s because these two idiots are the ones tracking us.” Tommy motioned towards the two men leaning against the wall, one of whom was frowning and the other glaring. There was a light that returned behind Tommy’s eyes at those reactions, and he forgot completely about the mask that was now lying discarded on the floor. 

Dream chuckled, leaning forward in his chair. He had heard stories of the Raccoon that had been stealing all of his plans, but he had never quite had the pleasure of meeting him face to face. Sapnap had warned him that whoever was behind the mask was a “little demon”, but Dream just found the boy endearing. 

“Snipsnap has tried to follow me several times, Goggles in the corner not so much.” Tommy commented, continuing with his rambling while his eyes continued scanning the room. Dream snorted a laugh at the name the boy had given to his friends. “Snipsnap, as you can probably guess, has been rather unsuccessful.”

“You climb walls that are literally smooth, your little gremlin fingers and feet don’t obey the laws of physics.” Sapnap snapped back, which just made Tommy grin all the more. He had figured out a plan. 

“You know, Snipsnap, I’m pretty sure you just got lazy and gave up a couple of times.” Dream looked over to his friend at Tommy’s comment, raising a hidden eyebrow. Sapnap looked like he might kill the child then and there. 

“That’s what I wanted you to think.” 

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s what I knew.”

“You’re wrong.”

“If that’s the case, where do I run back to every time you chase me?”

“Probably the orphanage.” 

“No, not quite, a good guess though. Honestly I thought you were better than this Snipsnap.” 

“Stop calling me that.”

“Stop calling you what? Snipsnap?”

Sapnap lunged at Tommy, Dream shot to his feet at the movement, but it was George who got to his friend first. George, who had left his post by the door and was distracted by restraining his raging friend. George, who Tommy had to thank for his chance at freedom.  

Tommy slipped from the chair faster than he had ever moved before, swiping his mask from the floor by his feet, and sprinting for the door. The boy heaved a sigh of relief when the doorknob turned easily and the door swung wide. 

“It was nice talking to you all.” Tommy said as he ran through the warehouse slipping his mask on, and keenly aware of the three men close on his tail. “But I really must be going.” The boy reached a wall at the far end of the empty expanse and launched himself at it, his hands only sticking due to the friction between his palms and the rough surface. He scrambled up, just out of reach and onto some pipes as Dream arrive to stand directly below him. 

Under the mask, he was grinning from ear to ear. This was a game, one that he loved to play, and one that he had never lost. Tommy was grinning too, because this was a game, one he had never had the chance to play. 

Chapter Text

“We were fucking children!” He screamed at them.

*****
297 Days, 6 Hours, 24 Minutes
*****

“Where do you think you’re going to go, Raccoon?” Dream taunted from underneath Tommy’s feet, tilting his head like a predator monitoring his next meal. The boy’s feet dangled as he sat on the pipe that ran across the wall. He was yet to determine an exit point from this building that wouldn’t be locked or otherwise obstructed. Dream knew this.

“Oh, I don’t know, probably home or something.” Tommy hummed, still looking around the room and swinging his legs like he was sightseeing. Dream chuckled, and the sound sent a shiver running up Tommy’s spine.

“You know you can’t do that Raccoon. Sapnap and George might not be able to, but I can definitely follow you until you drop to the floor in a tired heap.” The words were dripping with a venom that Tommy had never heard before. It made him want to curl away into a ball, away from the unseeing eyes of the mysterious man’s mask.

Tommy heard Sapnap sniggering, presumably at the expression on the boy’s face, quickly prompting him to replace the mask that had been taken off earlier.

“We can find you now, little rodent.” Sapnap mocked. “It doesn’t matter where you run, if we can’t follow, we know your face. You aren’t safe anywhere.”

Tommy’s heart dropped in his chest, reminded of just how desperate his situation was. He couldn’t go home anymore, he would be putting his family in danger.

“Just get down from there.” George said through a yawn, barely attempting to cover his mouth as he did so. “It would be really inconvenient to try and chase you.” Tommy’s eyes still scoured the warehouse, finally landing on the small window he had climbed in through on the other side of the vast expanse. If he wasn’t being completely stupid, this building was a mirror image, and there would be another small window directly above him.

“You might be able to recognise me.” Tommy said, moving himself into a crouching position on the pipes, causing all men below him to shift on their feet. “But that relies on you actually finding me first.” The Raccoon shot upwards, scrambling to hold onto the pipes that stretched up the wall.

Both Sapnap and George went to chase the boy, heading straight for the door to the warehouse, but Dream held out an arm to stop them. Just as Tommy’s feet slipped through the window and out of sight, Dream spoke.

“Leave him.” Under the mask, he was smiling to himself. “He’ll be easy enough to find.”

“You’re not the one that has been chasing him for the last few months.” Sapnap muttered under his breath, folding his arms across his chest. George just sighed, resting his hands on his head and pacing back and forth, anticipating the argument that was going to ensue. Dream just chuckled.

“There’s a tracker in his mask.” George stopped his pacing to stare at his friend, and Sapnap’s arms fella way from his chest.

“Since when?” George asked, almost irritated that he hadn’t been filled in on this plan.

“Since I crouched down in front of him and it was lying on the floor.” Dream said, turning on his heel to walk back towards the office. Sapnap and George gave eachother a look before jogging to catch up to their friend.

Tommy didn’t look back, he just held his breath and ran across the rooftops. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him from panicking as he jumped over alleys that separated the roofs of the terraces. He didn’t know that he was crying until his mask started to feel damp against his face.

The boy stopped, gasping for breath, and glanced over his shoulder. He was surprised when the roof behind him was empty, and even more surprised when the street below was as well.

He kept running.

Dream sat in his office, his two friends opposite him, in complete silence watching a red dot race across the screen that sat in front of them. They had been watching Tommy’s movements for nearly an hour, and yet he had never stopped. He hadn’t even moved in only one direction. He had gone back and forth, as though deciding whether or not to come back to the warehouse.

“Do you think he actually lives at the orphanage?” George asked quietly, leaning back in his chair and looking up form the moving map. Sapnap quickly followed suit, but Dream continued to stare at the map intently.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if a gremlin child like him came from the orphanage.” Sapnap said, before his eyes snapped to his masked friend. “No offence intended of course.”

“Phil had put a child into the middle of a war.” Dream said, his voice low and full of something far beyond hatred. He had always hated the man, for a multitude of reasons, but this was a step too far. This was beyond the point of getting an advantage, this was cold-blooded manipulation of someone who had no real decision making skills.

“Children are always in the middle of wars Dream.” George muttered, eyes drifting back to the dot on the screen. “They are just rarely involved in the conflict.”

“He chose to pick a fight with us.” Sapnap practically growled, earning a glare filled with fire from Dream.

“He looked kind of like you.” George said to Dream, desperately trying to diffuse the tension between his two friends. Dream’s face softened as he looked back to that red dot, which had finally come to a stop on the outskirts of town.

“Don’t even put that thought into my head.” Dream didn’t even want to let himself believe that it was a possibility.

Chapter Text

His throat felt like it was tearing itself apart. 

*****

299 Days, 2 Hours, 22 Minutes

*****

The sun was high in the sky when Tommy finally reached the building he called home. He had been wandering through the city for hours, going down the same streets over and over again. People had looked at him strangely, and every fibre of his being screamed at him that one of them was Dream about to grab him. 

The raccoon had run out places to hide, and the mask he had just pulled on suddenly felt so much heavier than ever before. It no longer fit on his face the same, the hair got in his mouth, and the edges cut into his skin. 

Tommy sat on the doorstep, very aware of the fact that he was being watched. He wanted nothing more than to sink into the pavement just to avoid the eyes of the Crow. Phil. His name was Phil. Somehow it made the man seem more human to give him a name, and Tommy didnt think that he quite deserved that humanity. The Crow was an entity unto himself, Tommy almost expected to see a black hole if the mask ever came off. 

The door behind him opened, and Tommy shot to his feet. He turned, the eyes now burning holes into the back of his skull, and stared straight into the eyes of the Goat. The boy grinned at him, and Tommy grinned back, relieved that he wasn’t immediately in trouble. But the smiles quickly faded. 

“You had better go quickly.” Goat said to him quietly. “They’re arguing about you.” Tommy rushed past his friend, past the living room where many of the animals were gathered, listening to the muffled voices echoing down the stairs. As he got closer, more and more words became clear, but it didn’t make the subject of the argument any more obvious. 

“You’re not telling me what to do.” Crow’s voice was low and full of anger. 

“We cannot do without it. We need to go back.” Wilbur’s voice was more quiet, reserved, how it usually sounded when he spoke to the Crow. Tommy was beginning to think that maybe they weren’t talking about him, but he knocked on the door anyway. 

“Come back later.” The Crow practically growled. Tommy had always wondered why their leader had not chosen to be some more vicious creature. He certainly would have fit it. 

“It’s Raccoon.” Tommy’s voice was quiet and careful, but inside the office he heard papers hitting the desk, and then the door was opening. Wilbur and Phil both stood in the doorway staring at him, their mouths gaping below the masks. Crow’s eyes dropped to the boy’s hands, searching for something that Tommy knew he would not be able to find. Tommy had failed. 

Wilbur had already turned away, going back to leaning over the map that was pinned across the desk, Crow quickly joined him, and Tommy was left standing awkward and alone in the doorway. 

“You failed Raccoon.” Crow said, his voice no louder than a whisper. Tommy went to speak, but before he could, Crow continued. “I thought I could always count on you to get the job done. The first important mission I give you, and you couldn’t even do it.” The boy saw something apologetic behind Wilbur’s eyes when the owl looked over his shoulder, but Tommy knew that would quickly fade if he knew the full truth. 

“I know.” Tommy whispered. He wanted to escape this place, to run back to his room and hide under the covers. 

“Did you at least see the map?” Crow’s voice was cold and harsh, different than the gruff sound that Tommy was used to. Tommy didn’t want to shake his head, didn’t want to have to explain why he hadn’t been looking at the map. 

“Nothing that I can remember.” Tommy’s voice was so quiet now, quiet enough that initially he didn’t think Crow heard him. That was until his head slumped and he let out a long sigh. 

“Then get out of my office.” Tommy tried to catch his brother’s eye as Crow finally dismissed him, but Wilbur refused to look at Tommy anymore, he just stared at the table and gripped it with white knuckles. 

The raccoon practically scampered back downstairs and straight out the front door, tearing off his mask as soon as he was outside and heaving in desperate breaths. Tommy was holding back tears, and the street was becoming blurry in front of him. He slumped down onto the floor. 

Tommy was so absorbed in his own whirlwind of thoughts that he didn’t hear the front door open behind him, nor notice as Goat sat down beside him. The boy behind the mask didn’t look at Tommy, didn’t ask him to put his mask back on so that he could, he just sat there. He was present, and he hoped that was enough. 

Goat had heard Raccoon sobbing from inside the house, and he had heard the anger behind Crow’s voice that had caused it. He had always looked up to Raccoon, the golden child, the one who never failed. Raccoon was perfection, and Crow had always told Goat that he would never live up to that standard. He could never even hope to. But that was Crow, and Goat owed him a life debt, so he would never let the insults go to heart. This was the price he must pay to live this life. 

“Can we go inside.” Tommy’s voice felt hollow as he spoke. He felt a gaze sitting heavily on him, and knew that Goat was taking in the fact that he was not just a raccoon. He didn't know that Goat was trying to do anything but. 

“Sure mate.” Goat said quietly. “Let’s go.” He helped the other boy stand, and together they slowly walked to the building next door. 

From a nearby roof, Dream watched the two children walk between the houses, and for the first time in his life wondered if he was doing the right thing.

Chapter Text

“You started this.”

*****

299 Days, 1 Hour, 17 Minutes

*****

Tommy’s breathing had slowed by the time they entered his room, but his heart still continued to race inside his chest. Every emotion, every thought from the night was rushing through his mind, tearing it to shreds as they held on tighter. Goat helped the Raccoon lower himself slowly onto the creaking bed, and when Tommy’s head finally touched the hard pillow and his body curled into the foetal position, he finally allowed himself the chance to cry. He did not make a sound, he would not allow himself to, instead the tears fell silently one after the other as though they were waiting their turn. 

Goat was beginning to feel like he was intruding, but he could not allow himself to think that leaving the Raccoon here alone was the right thing to do. He did not even know the boy’s name, and yet everything in his body screamed at him to move closer, to rest a hand on his shoulder, to tell him it was all going to be ok. The mask was missing from the Raccoon’s face now, gripped tightly to his chest, and Goat had barely even noticed. Some semblance of a thought must have found rest in Goat’s mind, because he finally decided to speak. 

“You know I first came here a few years ago now.” Goat said, the words were so quiet that they barely reached Tommy’s ears, and even though he was not listening to what was being said, he was so grateful that the silence was being filled. “I cried a lot when I first arrived. I think I may have even softened my pillow with those tears, however impossible that may seem. I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing in this place, how I had ended up in such a world as this.” 

The boy looked over at Raccoon now and noticed that his words were having little to no effect. Slowly, Goat lowered himself onto the end of the bed, and sat by the feet of his newest and oldest friend. He sighed, raising his eyes to the ceiling. He counted the cracks in his own ceiling every night, and found himself doing the same now. 

“You have as many as I do.” Goat said softly, a small smile blooming on his face. He almost wanted to laugh at how absurd the comment was. 

“What?” Tommy whispered back, sniffing and wiping away the tear streaks that stained his face with the dirty cuffs of his jacket. Goat turned back to look at the boy, who was now beginning to sit upright beside him. 

“You have the same number of cracks,” Goat continued, “in your ceiling. Seven. Mine also has seven.” The boy said it almost proudly, and Tommy gave a short and half-hearted huff of a laugh in response to the comment. Goat’s mouth thinned into a line, and he sighed as he turned to look at the boy next to him. Tommy often wondered what went on inside of the other boy’s head. He suspected that it was far more than he would ever know or begin to understand. 

“I lied to you.” Goat said, his voice flat. “Not now, not about the cracks, but when I told you where I came from.” Tommy was fully upright now, and Goat could finally begin to take in some of the boy’s features. 

The Raccoon’s face was hollow, his skin pulled tightly across his sharp bones. None of them had eaten a proper meal in this place, not in the time that Goat had been here at least. Light freckles covered the bridge of his nose, faded, but dark enough against his pale skin. He looked younger than Goat thought he would, and those blue eyes were far brighter without the mask to shade them. 

“I told you that my father drank himself to death.” Goat chuckled at the thought, looking away from Tommy’s face to stare back at the floor. He did not think he would make it through the next sentences while maintaining eye contact. “To be honest, I prayed every day that it would happen. I begged whatever God is out there to take him out of my life. Nothing listened to my pleas.” Tommy was staring at Goat intently now, his own emotions almost forgotten as he hung on every word. Suddenly, Goat’s eyes began to gleam behind the mask, not with tears, but with something entirely different that Tommy had never seen before. 

“He was a rabid creature, determined to destroy whatever parts of me remained.” The boy lifted his sleeve, and underneath Tommy saw cigarette burns littering his porcelain skin. Tears pricked at the backs of his eyes again, tears fuelled by rage targeted at the man who had done this to his friend. Goat continued, “Rabid animals need to be put down. They need to be put down so they can’t inflict pain onto others. So I shot him.” 

The words rang through the air, and Tommy could have sworn there was a small smile on the boy’s face as he said those words. Goat’s shoulders seemed to lose their tension, as though they had finally unloaded a weight placed upon them. It made the Raccoon’s stomach turn. There was something dark hiding behind that mask, something that Tommy had never noticed before. Something he did not think he quite understood yet. “I shot him right between the eyes while he was passed out on the couch.” 

Goat looked to Tommy once more, that small smile beginning to fade from his face, but it remained in those dark eyes. 

“Crow found me before the cops did. I owe him my freedom. I owe him everything that I have today.” Only now did that smile disappear from those eyes. Tommy understood why, only because he too felt the same way. He too did not know whether this place was better than any alternative. He too often wondered what his life would have been like without ever encountering the Crow. He too wondered what it would have been like to remain a child for just a short while longer. 

“I am sorry.” Tommy said, and once more that smile on the boy’s face morphed as an idea materialised in his head. Raccoon watched as Goat slowly raised his hands to the string the back of his head and tugged at that bow that held his mask in place. The mask fell away into his lap, and Tommy looked away at where his own sat on the bed beside him. It was instinctual movement, as though looking would incur some kind of punishment. The Crow had always made it sound that way. 

“It is only fair.” The Goat said, chuckling lightly at how quickly his friend had glanced away. Tommy carefully raised his eyes to look at his new friend. It felt like a crime to see Goat’s face. He wondered why this was the crime that his mind could not get over, why every other had been so easy to break. 

The Goat’s face was soft around the edges, and he looked so much younger than Tommy had expected. Those dark eyes seemed so much lighter without the mask to disguise them. A scar was stretched across the left side of the boy’s face, barely missing the eye. Tommy could only imagine what had caused it. Goat grinned at him, as though removing the mask had freed some part of himself that had been locked away for a long time now. He extended a hand to Tommy,

“Pleasure to meet you, my name is Tubbo.” Tommy took the boy’s hand, his worries from before now buried somewhere deep inside to be dealt with later, and he grinned from ear to ear. 

“Hello Tubbo, I am Tommy.”

The two boys sat grinning at each other, hands holding tightly to one another.