Chapter Text
Jack's tired of fighting. Everything's far too loud, the withers screaming and screeching and the TNT blowing up every inch of L'Manberg, of his home. None of their stuff is going to survive, it's all going to get blown up or eaten by dogs or whatever, and it's the best Jack can do to defend Tommy's exposed side from a wither.
Homes can be rebuilt, he thinks, but can't help but wince anyways as another TNT tears a wreckage out of his home.
Tommy glances at him, and his sky-blue eyes widen. "What're you doin' here?"
"Defending you." He grunts, scowling as another stray wither skull hits his shield. Why is this literal child so ungrateful? "What else would I be doing?"
"Jack, you have to-" Tommy curses as another wither skull is aimed in their area and he grabs Jack's arm and ducks behind a rock. He glances around for any threats before placing his hands on Jack's shoulders. "You have to defend L'Manbergians. I don't matter, we just need to protect L'Manberg."
"I-" Jack's just stunned. Here he was, assuming that Tommy was just ungrateful for the help, and now he doesn't matter. "Mate, you do matter, you are L'Manberg, man!"
Tommy blinks a few times, before shaking his head. "No, man. You need to- defend the others, alright? Techno's throwing his little tantrum over there," He glances up at where Techno is now asking why the hell Tommy backed off in the middle of his speech, "You need to- or, or kill him, or protect the others."
"I..." Jack swallows. Two big tasks. Two things he desperately doesn't want to fail at. The light from an explosion nearby lights up his wrist, revealing one last life. Tommy catches it, too, and his eyes widen.
"You too?" He asks quietly, and pulls back his wrist to see a singular heart, the other two taken out.
"TOMMY, I CAN LITERALLY SEE YOUR HAIR!" Techno's voice bellows. "GET OUT FROM BEHIND THAT ROCK, THESEUS!"
Tommy winces, then pushes Jack. "You need to protect them."
Jack blinks a few times, then nods and salutes. Tommy's mouth quirks up in a half grin, and he flashes a middle finger before leaping up outside the boulder.
Jack shakes his head bitterly. Immature child.
He runs out from behind the rock, and looks up at Technoblade. Tommy was right – he is throwing a tantrum, even stomping his foot and snorting, piglin-like. He's too distracted by his and Tommy's fight to think about any of his surroundings. Jack's lost his bow, but if he only gets close enough, maybe...
He dashes forwards, hiding behind the remains of a building to hide from Techno. Techno still doesn't suspect a thing.
He starts climbing the big-ass stone hill that Techno's standing on. It's jagged and hard to climb, and every step up brings scratches into his skin, but he could care less. Techno's just two metres above him.
Techno's still distracted as Jack reaches the top. Jack tries to be as quiet as possible, raising his sword, but Tommy meets his eyes.
That's all it takes for Techno to look back slightly and sweep Jack's legs out from under him. His sword – his last remaining weapon – tumbles down into the explosions below. Techno stands above him.
"Wh-" Jack shrinks as he sees Techno's hand hovering to his sword. "Don't kill me, don't kill me, please-"
"TECHNO!" Tommy shouts. "Don't kill him, man, it's me you want!"
"He tried to kill me first!" Techno argues, and holds a hoof up as Tommy begins to argue more. Jack's not sure what's more terrifying: the fact that Technoblade is standing above him, ready to kill him, or that Tommy just defended him. "If you wish to defeat me," He loads his firework crossbow. Jack suddenly understands, his mind and body filling with dread. "Train for another 300 years!"
Light colours his vision, bright and beautiful and vibrant and it hurts so much. It envelops him for all of time, in the infinitesmal pause it takes to reload a crossbow. Jack thinks he might be blind, everything's too bright and it hurts too much-
The last thing he hears is Techno's firework bow firing and bright, bright colours.
"NO!" Niki can only scream as she watches Jack's body stay completely still after the second shot. " NO!"
Blood leaks down from where Techno's standing, but Techno simply kicks Jack's limp body off of the hill he's standing on.
Niki, ignoring the wither firing madly at her, runs forwards, kneeling down beside his body. His face is a mass of star-patterned scar tissue. It'd be pretty if it wasn't so horrifying. She puts two fingers to his neck, trying to find a pulse. His neck is still under her fingers. Horrified, she covers her mouth with her hand to stifle a sob.
Just a few days ago- just half an hour ago, Jack was laughing with her about some random joke he'd made, long forgotten, now. Just half an hour ago he was helping her with her armour straps. Now he's dead on her lap.
"How could you..." She whispers, and looks up at Techno accusingly. Techno doesn't even care. He's not even facing her. He's arguing with Tommy again. "HOW COULD YOU?!"
She looks over and Tommy's terrified eyes meet her own. His eyes widen and he points, his mouth opening in what she can only assume is a scream, as she can't hear him over the explosions and shrieks of a wither.
Wait.
That shriek sounds a lot closer than before.
She looks over at where he's pointing only to see a wither skull flying towards her. She screams, raising her arms instinctively to defend herself. The wither skull hits her arm, and the full force of it makes her fall over.
She sucks in a breath and coughs, coughs so badly she can feel her body rattle with it. She looks down at her arm.
Fuck. Her hand's already graying. Or is that just her vision.
"Niki!" Suddenly someone's arm is around her, and she's getting brought away, away from the wither, away from-
"JACK!" She screams. He doesn't get up. He can't hear her. "JACK, NO!"
Suddenly she hits stone and groans – the pain in her arms is unbearable, and every time she breathes it sets her lungs on fire. "Niki, listen-" Puffy puts her arms against Niki's. "Niki, Jack's gone, Niki-"
"No, no!" She shouts, "He's still there- he's still- I CAN'T JUST LEAVE HIM!"
"I'll- I'll get the body safe." Eret promises her – since when was Eret right there? But it doesn't matter as Eret rushes off, and Niki's shoulders untense.
"Jack..." She sobs. "Jack..."
"Fuck, your arm-" Puffy's face whitens under the glistening moonlight as she catches sight. "Shit. The wither got you, huh?"
"Yeah." Niki breathes. Now that she knows that Jack will- Jack is- he'll be safe, she's so much more away of the slow numbness spreading up her arm.
"I don't have any milk on me." Puffy whispers, and looks around, alarmed. "PONK! PONK!"
Niki feels dizzy, lightheaded. This whole war thing really takes it out of you. She wants to go home. She tries to move her fingers experimentally, but they don't even work. They're turning ink-black.
Suddenly a new guy is at her side – a guy with a ski mask and a few curls slipping out from under it. Their brown eyes are alarmed as they take in her shaking form, her deadened hand.
"I-I used up the milk on Tubbo." They say. "I don't have any on me."
"Someone has to have something!" Puffy screams.
"Puffy..." She whispers, and Puffy whips around to look at her.
"I'll- I'll do what I can." Ski Mask promises as they look through their bag. Puffy places Niki's head on her lap, cradling her there.
"Niki, you'll be okay." Puffy tells her softly, an urgent tone in her voice. "Remember- remember when we had the flower shop? And Tommy accidentally messaged you tell me that you don't like women? What was the exact phrasing?"
Niki can barely manage a smile as she remembers the hysteria of the message and the timing of it. "T-Tell her you don't like girls o-one bit..."
"Yeah, that's good, that's good." Puffy says to her, voice soft and warm, like sheep's wool. Easy to get tangled in. "Ponk? Anything?"
Someone grabs her arm and she involuntarily yelps – despite the numb feeling spreading through it, sharp pain goes through her brain.
"Sorry, sorry-" The guy's voice says, but it's getting fainter and fainter... Niki just wants to close her eyes and-
"-sleep." Puffy's saying as Niki's hearing kicks back in. Yeah, sleeping sounds like a great idea. "Open your eyes, sweetie- that's, that's it, you're doing so good-"
"Puffy." She croaks. "What's your favourite flower?"
"Uhm- uh- I don't know." Puffy says. "You?"
"Roses..." Niki whispers. "You know this..."
"Guess I forgot, but- but you'll have to remind me!" Puffy laughs, and Niki can hear alarm in it. "Ponk-"
Niki coughs, and feels a coppery taste fill her mouth. "Puffy-" She lets her tears fall. "Puffy, I want to go home."
"We'll go home, darling." Niki is fairly sure Puffy's crying, and two warm hands go on her cheeks. "We'll go home, darling, I promise."
Niki barely manages to wipe one of Puffy's tears away before her whole world blurrs and fades into darkness.
Fundy is leaping over a rock when he hears it: a scream.
A scream isn't uncommon here – there's screams from the wolves, screams from the withers, screams from the people down on one life who brush close to death.
But this one is not one of fear, nor one of anger or hatred or anything else. It's chock-full of grief. Like a cauldron, overbubbled.
He looks over and his heart drops.
Two dozen blocks away, Puffy is cradling Niki in her lap, and her mouth is open is a loud, grieving scream. Niki, just below her, is still, unmoving.
When he sees that, Fundy nearly starts crying himself.
Niki can't be dead. It just doesn't happen. It's impossible. Niki and dead are not two words that fit together. All Fundy's senses must be betraying him, because Niki can't be dead.
He rolls under a wither skull and starts running towards them, because he has to check, has to know, that his sister isn't dead because she can't be-
Searing pain shoots through his ankle. He yells and falls, landing flat on his face. He looks round and sees a dog biting into his leg. The collar shows it's one of the hound army. It gives him a vicious look before biting down, harder. Fundy cries out again before hitting the dog with an axe. It yelps and falls down, then fades out of existence.
Fundy gets up, but a nasty crack and burning pain like a white-hot knife seems to slice his foot open and he falls again, panting.
Suddenly, a whole pack of dogs are running towards him.
"Wait-" Fundy tries getting up again, to run away or something at least, but his ankle screams with pain whenever he does so. The pack bears down on him. "Good dogs! Good dogs!"
He slashes towards them with his axe but only a few disappear. Before he knows it, they're pouncing on him, biting wherever they can reach. Fundy yells in agony and tries to push them off him, but they just keep on coming, knife-sharp teeth slicing through flesh and through to bone. He screams in pure pain, unable to contain it.
"Help!" He screams, his voice raw and scratchy. "HELP!"
Once upon a time, Wilbur would have tripped on his own feet as he heard that cry. Once upon a time, his father would gather him up in his arms and hold him close, one hand in his hair and the other under his legs, and he'd hum faintly, thrumming his vocal chords and making Fundy feel all warm inside.
B ut there's nobody, nobody who isn't six feet in the ground, to make him feel warm again.
"Dad." He mutters, dazed, in pure, complete, agony, but he can't desist – he's just seen a yellow jumper in the darkness. "DAD! DAD!"
"Fundy!" His father's echoing voice is the last thing he hears before one of the wolves puts him out of his misery and bites down on his neck.
Tubbo pants and clutches a shoulder. He scrunches his face before pulling out the arrow with a yell and quickly downing a healing potion.
Tommy's by his side – always has been, always will be – and he passes him a regen pot. His face is chalky white.
"Dead." Tommy whimpers. "So many are dead, Tubbo."
Tubbo's heart drops to his stomach. "Who?" He asks. If it's anyone he knows- fuck, who's dead, who is dead?!
"Jack." Tommy whispers, slumping down . His face is terrifyingly blank. "Fundy."
"Fundy?!" Tubbo says indignantly. "Jack?! But- w-wait, Big Man- you can't be- I mean-" He looks at him pleadingly. "They're not on their last life, though! R-Right?"
The pained look Tommy gives him is answer is enough in and of itself.
Tubbo wants to scream. Tubbo wants to dig his nails deep in his skin and tear it all off, the suit, the armour, everything he never wanted. He wants to cry and yell and be angry and just be a kid.
He just wants to be a normal teen. That's all any of them ever wanted – to live normal lives. Now Jack will never be able to have that. Now Fundy will never be able to have that.
Fuck, Tubbo remembers the day Fundy was fucking born. Fox hybrids age nearly double as quickly as humans, so it became very weird when he was older than them when he was supposed to be five years old. He remembers Wilbur's happy tears as he said proudly, "My son!" and the room erupted into fresh cheers.
He slumps against the rock, like Tommy, and watches the damage. Somewhere far away, he can hear sobbing, screaming, and knows that another of their own has died. He bows his head in recognition of them, whoever they are.
It happens so fast that Tubbo barely has time to keep up with it. First, he meets eyes as blue as a cloudless eyes, identical to Tommy's, next, he's lying down next to Tommy, Tommy's hand under his neck, holding him up.
He looks up groggily and, oh, there's a knife coming out of his chest. It's adorned with a hardcore heart. And it's struck him right in the heart. The coincidence is so funny to his razzled brain that Tubbo giggles.
"Fuck!" Tommy swears next to him, then starts speaking in his superfast machine-gun tone. "Tubbo, I'll- it's fine, you'll be fine, I've got a potion here, just drink i-"
"I'm already dead." Tubbo says to him, defeated. The idea of death no longer makes him sad. "D- do me a favour, okay?"
"No! You're not dying, you're- you'll live, just drink the fucking thing!" A glass gets pushed to his mouth, but Tubbo pushes it away.
" The dagger's already hit my heart, big man!" Tubbo tells him. And it's true – he can feel the knife ingrained deep in his chest, cutting through the flesh of his heart. "It's fine, I'll be fine, all good things must come to an end eventually-"
"No, it doesn't! It- it's us, we're a duo and everything, you know this! Tubbo, you can't have one half of a duo! It's cringe! Like- what, what am I without you?" Tommy says, his voice fast and confused and heartbroken.
Tubbo smiles and wipes a tear from Tommy's cheek. "Yourself, Tommy." He moistens his lips. "I'm sorry for exiling you, Tommy."
"You were right." Tommy tells him. "The discs weren't worth it, nothing was worth this, Tubbo, you can't, you can't die!"
"Tommy." Tubbo says, deadly serious, and Tommy's protests cut off immediately. "The discs- the discs- they were important to you. I should've seen that. I-" He coughs, and feels something roll down his chin. Tommy touches it. His hand comes away red. "Tommy, do me a favour? Get the discs back and- p-play them-" Fuck, words are getting harder to say, now. He just wants to be back home. "p-play-t-them- o-on our..." He never finishes the sentence. The last thing Tommy gets to see is Tommy's tear-stricken face before he falls asleep.
It's started raining. It's started raining as Techno and Phil and Dream all leave, triumphant. It's started raining as Doomsday War is officially over.
It's started raining as Tommy climbs up a hill with his best friend dead in his arms. It's started raining as he looks out over the damage that's been done.
His home, reduced to a crater. His friends, reduced to unmoving bodies. His best friend, lifeless in his arms.
He sees Eret bandaging Fundy's many wounds – they're still bleeding, even now he's dead. Eret keeps stumbling over the job as they can't stop crying. Further along, he sees Karl pulling a pure white sheet over a body, that may be Jack's. A dozen or so blocks away, Captain Puffy is refusing to let go of Niki, even as Sapnap insists that there's nothing they can do for her. Everyone else is walking around, stunned, as the damage of what's happened starts to set in.
Tommy looks down at Tubbo in his arms. He's so small, so, so small. He looks cold, too – Tommy's prepared to bet that if he was- fuck, if he was alive – then he'd be shivering.
He gently sets Tubbo down, careful to not let his head hit harshly on the rocks, before taking off his shrugging off his coat and draping it over Tubbo, to protect him from the rain. He gently pulls Tubbo's eyelids closed, then takes a shaky sigh.
This is it. This is where it ends.
This is where Tommy gets the discs back, triumphant at last.
There's no longer an obsessive need to have them back, no longer an ache where he missed listening to the music. It's been replaced with a gaping hole, threatening to tear him open, where all his friends used to be, where Tubbo used to be.
Get the discs back, Tubbo's voice echoes through Tommy's head like a fucked-up mirror, and play them at our...
Bench, he knows Tubbo wanted to say. Play it at our bench. How fucked up is that? He couldn't even finish his fucking sentence.
He gets up, a determined spring in his step. He looks over the crater, over all the bodies he'll have to process sometime later.
"I'll get the discs back, Tubbo." He says. It's an oath. He'll get them back no matter what. "I'll play them there. I'll listen to them for you."
He takes out his communicator to ask Dream where they are, when bright, blinding, light falls down on him. Blearily, with eyes he can no longer see with, he sees the new message of TommyInnit was struck by lightning.
Oh, he has time to think. That's what it was.
Tommy's world tilts on its axis and he falls down, down, down.