Chapter Text
The snow was a blur beneath his feet but Tommy was sure that he had never run slower in his life.
Each stepped dragged, pulling him back toward the jaws of the beast taunting him from behind with a poisonous tongue that spat threats and jabs to make him falter. He couldn’t stop. He had to keep running. Running, running, always running. Running from the election, running from the explosions, running from exile, running from Dream. Just as he was now.
An arrow thudded into the ground beside him and he lurched to the left, ducking under a low branch of a spruce. Scrambling up a hill he dug his fingers into the snow, numb from the cold but his only hopes of getting up. Ice slipped under his legs, threatening to let him fall but he pulled himself up and over the top as another arrow swished past, slashing his ear. He pressed his palm on the wound as warmth seeped out.
“Come here, Tommy!” Dream taunted, netherite footsteps approaching.
“Stay the fuck away!” he yelled back, voice breaking. Each breath was icicles stabbing into his lungs, raking his throat on the way through. His nose burned but he wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from Dream punching him in the exile area. Exile. He was never going back to that place ever again.
A flash of greenish-blue shot past him and shattered against a tree and suddenly Dream was there, appearing with the ender pearl. Snow kicked up as Tommy skid to a stop and changed direction, haunting laughter bouncing off the trees behind him.
“You’re not getting away this time!”
“Stay- stay-” he gasped, but his lungs refused to expand. His hands shook and his knees refused to propel him forward. No. He couldn't panic, not now. Not yet. He had to get away.
A red tower appeared on the horizon, a beacon for a haven he may find. Phil and Techno. They would be there, they would protect him from Dream, they wouldn’t let Dream hurt him-
Pain exploded over his calf and the world tipped abruptly, sending him tumbling into the snow, palms splitting on ragged edges of ice. He twisted around as a heavy body crashed into him, pinning him to the ground. Leather-clad fingers wrapped around his throat and squeezed.
White flashed across Tommy’s vision and he grasped at the hands to pull them off but the enchantments on Dream’s armor burned him like thorns digging under his skin.
“This is where you die, Tommy!”
He couldn't answer, he couldn’t even breathe, he had to get out-
The fingers disappeared from his throat but he had no time before a punch landed on his jaw. His vision flashed between the snow of the forest and the dark obsidian of the prison, teetering on the edge of present and past. Another punch landed and he was no longer sure if the bubbling of lava or the creaking of trees was reality.
“Please, stop!” he begged, raising his arms but they were batted to the side before another fist landed, armor scraping a crude cut across his cheek. “Stop!”
“But we’re having so much fun,” Dream laughed, returning his hands to Tommy’s throat.
The boy struggled, kicking his legs, ripping at Dream’s armor, ignoring the cuts that broke onto his skin at the contact, but to no avail. Once again, as the world threatened to turn dark, he was able to breathe once more, left gasping for air through the blood running down his face.
Dream raised his fist and brought it down, but this time Tommy grabbed it and pulled. He thrusts his hips over his shoulder, throwing Dream off balance and scrambled from the man as he crashed into the ground. His calf screamed, warmth trickling down to his shoes.
Phil was close by. Tommy struggled to his feet, trying to find the red beacon within the spinning of the world around him. Phil would protect him, Phil would help, he had to get there!
“Tommy!” There was no longer anything playful about the tone. Tommy didn’t look back as he shot across the snow once more, knees giving out with each step. He caught himself on tree trunks and branches, pushing himself forward, closer to help.
“Phil!” he screamed, coughing out blood that slipped between his lips. His shoe sloshed, filled with blood. “Phil! PHIL-”
A weight crashed into his side and his knees gave out. The earth disappeared from under his feet and suddenly they were rolling down the side of a hill, the white sky and silver ground mixing together to make him blind. For a split second Tommy was suspended in the air and he saw the bottom of the hill, disappearing over a cliff to rocks not too far below. But far enough to maybe kill him.
His hand caught the edge of the cliff, sharp stones digging into his palm as his fall halted. Dream slid to a stop on the shelf above, rising to his feet.
Tommy’s arms shook. Blood dripped from his palms, grating against the edge. He kicked, struggling to pull himself up but there was no strength left in him. Dream rose to his feet, steady as a predator peering down at his prey. Slowly he approached, the unearthly smile never wavering.
“Dream!” Tommy begged. He grasped at the snow, nails digging into the ice beneath. “Please, don’t. . .”
The man reached into his quiver and pulled out an arrow. Taking his time he crouched and brought the point of the arrow to the back of Tommy’s hand and pressed. Tommy cried out as the tip broke, digging into his flesh, but he held on.
“They call you a hero,” the man continued, twisting the arrow. “But you still bleed the same.”
The arrow lodged itself into the ground, bloodied flint meeting red grass. Tommy’s eyes blurred with desperate tears. His fingers threatened to slip on the wet ground.
“What is the name that Techno would call you?” Dream’s tone was almost conversational. “Theseus, was it?”
His arms shook. The drop was dizzying beneath him, though it couldn’t have been more than nine meters. But with the jagged rocks and boulders underneath, it would without a doubt kill him.
Dream tilted his head and rose. “Do you know how he died, Tommy?”
His feet kicked free in the air. Dream continued, amused.
“King Lycomedes killed Theseus by throwing him off a cliff. And you know what Tommy? I think it’s time you follow.”
Dream crashed his boot onto Tommy’s fingers. And that was it.
His fingers slipped.
Plummeting to the ground, Tommy was now a mere shadow of Theseus, a hero exiled and hated by his people plummeting to his death at the hands of his enemy. He caught one glimpse of the white smile, sneering down at him with emotionless eyes and then-
Pain. Agony. Every part of his body felt broken, shattered beyond repair; his back screamed and he was certain his legs were broken. From the corner of his eye he saw a bone sticking out of his arm, jagged edges pointing to the sky. Beneath him a jagged rock dug far too deep into his head to be normal and the ground was quickly turning wet with something warm.
He wasn’t dead. But he was dying.
The world spun, appearing in flashes. The figure on the cliff disappeared, then it was just the sky with crows circling ahead, then it was white clouds drifting across the sky and then a smile blocked his view.
“You’re a lot harder to kill than I remembered,” an echoed voice said.
Copper filled Tommy’s mouth, he tried to cough it out but his head wouldn’t move. His heart hammered at the sight of the person above him, but he wasn’t sure why.
Something cold and shimmering purple pressed against his neck, chilling against the hot coursing through his body. He thought it was winter. Why was everything so warm?
A sting on his neck. Another one next to it. And one more, running in a line beneath. The shape should have meant something to him. Now he couldn’t understand what it was.
The figure above him crouched, setting down what seemed to be an axe. The weapon blurred in his eyes. He sputtered out warm liquid. Had he drunk something? He should have known not to breathe in a drink. So why did it feel like he was drowning now?
“I could kill you,” the voice said slowly. “I could make it quick, painless even. But this is too fun to watch.”
Black dots spun in Tommy’s vision. He knew the taste in his mouth, it was blood. He’d tasted it plenty of times before and something told him that there shouldn’t have been blood in his mouth. He coughed, but only sprayed more of it on his face.
And then he couldn’t breathe. There was something stuck, blocking his airways. He couldn’t breathe. Something thick and hot slid down the back of his throat, an impassable barrier of hot and burning.
He tried to reach up to claw at his throat, to get the blood out, but his arms wouldn’t move. Nothing would move.
He was choking. He was drowning. Why wouldn’t the man above him help?
His head pounded, his heart hammering out of his chest, each beat thrumming in his ears. It was slowing down. Maybe it was trying to calm him. . . he surely needed some calm in his life. . . But his head was ringing, telling him to breathe, to move, to do anything. But he couldn’t.
His eyes shot to the person next to him, pleading. Why were they just standing there?
Darkness pressed at the edge of his vision and the pain began to dull, slowly draining out of his body, much like the warmth he lay on. Was it time to sleep? Would he finally get some rest? He was sure he needed it. Maybe he hadn’t slept well last night. . .
“Goodbye, Tommy,” the figure above him said, standing up. “I’ll see you again soon.”
Tommy shuddered once more, straining to reach out to his friend, for who else would stay by his side through this if it wasn’t someone who cared? But he couldn’t reach them. The drums in his ears slowed and became quieter and further away, tapping to a soundless beat. Was there a party somewhere? Tubbo liked parties. He would have liked to be there.
Tommy wished his friend had come.