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Just another fun, lighthearted joke to himself. That's all it was, and all it was supposed to be when Tommy opened his eyes to old, empty chairs. They were rotting anyways, and it's not like he'd actually invite anyone here of all places. It held too many bad memories and the salty air always left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Most everyone was busy today anyways, not to mention it wasn't even his birthday yet. It would be better to have any actual festivities the day of.
Puffy would probably scold him if she knew of this, would call it self destructive. Stupid, maybe.
No, no she wouldn't say that it was stupid, not to his face, but she definitely wouldn't think it was smart. Just imagining the mix of worry and thinly veiled disappointment on her face made his stomach twist in an uncomfortable way.
If you asked Tommy though, he’d just say it was him building up a tolerance. Like when he was ready to go into the prison to get rid of Dream for good. Not that that ever even worked.
He kicked at the sand a bit, watching as it sprayed and got pulled around the small gusts of wind that cascaded over the crashing waves, ushering them towards the shoreline.
The E-Area had long since lost the stench of gunpowder and soot, the grass and wildflowers grew tall, up to Tommy’s waist when he’d wade through it. If he didn’t know to be careful of them, he would’ve fallen in one of the many craters that littered the ground several times over by now. That wasn’t including the one he tripped over a bit earlier, his ankle was still a bit sore from that, actually.
He took one last deep breath of the salt stained air. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine this place was peaceful, that it wasn’t ruined and rotted by brutality and pain, that the land wasn’t scattered in misery filled blemishes.
His eyes fluttered back open as he turned to the portal, and then he froze.
“Well, I would be lying if this didn’t seem familiar.” Dream laughed.
Tommy stumbled back, shoes sinking into the sand, small grains slipping in at his ankles and digging into his skin uncomfortably. He could feel his breath becoming fast and choked. “You- You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Oh?” Dream tilted his head curiously as he stepped away from the nether portal, striding through the reeds of grass. “Well, where am I supposed to be, then?”
“Anywhere. Anywhere but here.” Tommy ground out, but no amount of aggression or false bravado would make him sound- or look, any less scared.
“Anywhere but here…” Dream mimicked, lifting a hand up to his chin, as though thinking. “I dunno Tommy, I kinda like it here. Besides, this place was for you and me, not so long ago.”
“No, no it wasn’t.” Tommy snarled. “If you had just left after dropping me here, I would’ve been fine ! I wouldn’t be so- so fucked up!”
“And just leave you all alone to die? You would’ve gotten yourself killed in the first week.” Dream scoffed.
Tommy’s hands twitched for a weapon, but he had nothing, not even a shield and definitely no armor. He was defenseless.
“I would've been fine.”
“You would be dead . Tommy,” Dream spoke in that same tone he always used when he was trying to convince Tommy that this, any of it, was good . It was soaked in honey, but it sounded like something foul. “I think it’s high time you admit to yourself that you wouldn’t be here without me. You would be in the ground several times over if it weren’t for me.”
Tommy could feel his blood boil. “I died three times because of you!”
"I brought you back." Dream countered, as if that made anything better. "I'll always bring you back, Tommy."
"I don't want to be brought back! If I die, I want to stay dead."
Tommy could feel his heart pounding, the beats were loud in his ears. The world seemed hazy, his head was spinning.
Dream chuckled as he stalked closer. Tommy wondered when his own legs stopped working. "Now, why would I let that happen? That would be no fun!"
"It's not fun. None of this is fucking fun!" Tommy could feel himself careening backwards. The sand dug into his palms and elbows, it was painful, it stung.
"Aw, don't be like that." Dream sounded smug as he crouched down in front of Tommy. "You had fun at your party, didn't you? I know no one was there but me, but it was still nice, wasn't it? It can be like that now!"
" No ! I don't want it to be like that ever again!"
Dream tsk'd , shaking his head. "Oh Tommy, I don't think you have a choice. It's not like anyone else is gonna show up."
Tommy clamped his hands over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. No, no, no, no . This wasn't happening, this couldn't happen. He was hoping, praying for some kind of way out, an opening, a window for escape.
Dream's hands covered his own, pulling them away from his ears. Firm, but gentle. "A little mean of them, don't you think? All just so happening to be too busy on your birthday? Maybe I'm looking too far into it, but that doesn't really seem like much of a coincidence to me."
"It's- they just-"
"Oh, don't try and justify it, Tommy. They always do this to you. Everyone leaves you behind and I'm the one that's left to pick up the pieces."
Tommy could feel tears burning in his eyes as Dream carded a hand through his hair. He wanted to scream, to fight, to run, but his body refused to obey any command.
"You're the one that got rid of the letters-"
"And who told you that?" Dream's tone hadn't changed, still soft and sugary sweet. Laced with silent manipulations.
"Ghostbur? I- I think?" Tommy hated how the honesty came naturally to him when faced by Dream.
"You think? How do you know he wasn't just blaming me for his own screw up because he didn't want to face the guilt?" If Tommy weren't any better, if he hadn't healed, he knows he would've fallen for the trick.
"No, Ghostbur- Ghostbur was good , he wouldn't do that to me-" Tommy was interrupted by his communicator buzzing in his pocket.
He let out a shaky breath. There was a long beat of silence, then, the communicator buzzed again.
Dream looked at him and even behind the mask, Tommy could feel the expectancy in his gaze. "Well? Aren't you going to answer it?"
Tommy's hand shook as he maneuvered to pull the little device out of his pocket. He was careful to keep the screen out of Dream's field of view as he turned it on.
BadBoyHalo: Hey tommy where are you?
BadBoyHalo: I wanted to give you your birthday gift! ^-^
Tommy's gaze flickered between the screen and Dream's mask. This was his only shot.
TommyInnit: exile place
TommyInnit: need help
TommyInnit: hurry
He quickly pocketed the device again, ignoring how it chimed a few more times.
"Well?" Dream asked. "Who was it?"
"It was uh- Bad." Shit, why did he give that away? Okay, okay, he could salvage this. "He just wanted to yell at me for his house…"
"Oh, right, I saw that." Dream's voice took on a slightly darker edge. "It would seem like I didn't teach you well enough about that last time, but don't worry, we have time to fix it."
Before Tommy could even think, Dream's hand was wrapped around his wrist tight enough to bruise and he was being yanked up onto his feet. His shoulder screamed in pain and he was certain his arm had nearly been pulled out of it's socket.
He cringed, but that little defiant spark came flittering back, lighting in his chest. "I didn't burn it, I bombed it. I'd say that's following your example pretty damn well."
"Tommy, what have I told you about backtalk?"
He fought against the curl of dread that encircled him, glaring as harshly as he could and yanking his arm away. Dream had gotten weaker after his time in prison (not that Tommy was faring much better himself). "You can take your rules and go fuck yourself!"
Dream hummed, in a flash, Tommy was back on the ground, his chest ached from where Dream's boot had collided with it. The grass tickled his neck.
Tommy stared up at the mask that always seemed to taunt him, trying his best to choke down a breath. He could see it, the gleam of the axe and brought his arms up to guard his face as it swung down.
It sunk into his flesh and he gasped. The cuts before had always been shallow. Just deep enough to bleed. Just deep enough to hurt . Had Dream really been holding back that much? Had he given up on any shred of mercy because he had the book?
Was Tommy going to die? Tommy didn't want to die. Not again.
In self preservation or fear, he wasn't sure, Tommy's body moved. It hurt but he rolled over so he could push himself up. Before he could get even a few inches up, his feet were swiped out from under him and he hissed when the wound on his chest dug into the dirt.
"Really, Tommy? Trying to run away? You know it's not gonna work." Dream was pinning him down with his foot. "You know you deserve this."
The axe came down again and this time, this time he screamed . The blood was rushing to his ears. He wanted to cry but the tears refused to fall.
He was so focused on the pain, on the overwhelming fear that he didn't hear the sound of the portal.
"Tommy?" Bad's voice rang out, and Tommy could feel Dream go rigid. "Tommy, are you- Dream? What are you doing here?"
"I- I was just-"
Tommy didn't waste another moment. He couldn't give Dream a chance to plead his case. "Bad! Bad help, he's gonna kill me-!"
Tommy's head spun when Deam's foot collided with it, maybe with the intention to knock him out, or maybe just disorient him. It didn't really matter, he did his part.
"Tommy?!" He could hear footsteps as Bad rushed over. "Dream, what the heck is going on?!"
"You're not supposed to be here, Bad." Dream's voice was low, threatening.
"No, what-" Bad's voice hitched, and Tommy could only assume the demon had finally caught sight of his curled up form. "What did you do ?!"
"Stay out of this Bad, it doesn't concern you."
"I think it does, actually!" Tommy could see how Bad seemed to be trying to get closer.
Dream's axe blocked his path. "Didn't he destroy your house?"
"As a prank ! We're having a prank war!"
Oh, is that what it was? Tommy had been so used to the actual pain and wars, was that really not what that was?
"He sure didn't seem to think so." Dream muttered.
"Yes he-" Bad stopped himself. "Tommy, did you think I actually wanted to- to hurt you?"
Tommy could do nothing more than curl further in on himself in shame. He felt so stupid .
It was all the answer Bad needed. "Oh…"
"Bad, I think it's time for you to leave." Dream ground out. Oh, he was pissed now.
"Not without Tommy." Bad shot back. "He's hurt, Dream. He needs help."
" I'll help him, once you leave ."
Tommy whined at the words. Everything hurt. His head was spinning so fast he thought he might throw up.
"I don't think you will, Dream. I don't want to fight you, but I'll do what I have to."
"You don't have to do anything, Bad. Just walk away, and pretend you never saw anything." Dream told him.
Tommy could hear Bad growl. "Fine. If that's how you want it to be."
The sound of metal clashing resounded over Tommy's head. He needed to go, he needed to escape and get somewhere safe. His hands dug into the dirt, standing felt like too much, so he would crawl if he had to.
He flinched each time he heard metal hit metal. He was almost to the portal now, just a few more feet and he'd be free-
"Tommy?" He froze like a deer in the headlights when Bad spoke. The demon was close enough to crouch down next to him. "He's gone now, I- I managed to scare him off. Here, let me help you up."
Tommy groaned as he was lifted. Prime, he wanted nothing more than to go home.
"Are you alright?"
He snorted, it should be pretty damn clear he wasn't. "Oh, I'm just fuckin' peachy."
"Language." Bad scolded, and Tommy was sure it was on instinct at this point. "Why did Dream…"
Tommy wanted to laugh. "I don't fucking know, it's what he always does. Since- since exile started. He thinks- I don't know, that he can fix me or some shit?"
"Fix you?" Bad sounded… Perturbed. "Tommy, I think you need to learn better than just doing whatever you want, but hurting you isn't the way to go about it."
"You think I don't know that?!" He snapped. "There's a fucking reason that I ran away from this place."
"You ran away?"
"Yeah, I- He wouldn't leave me alone and I wasn't allowed to leave so-"
"What? That's not what I heard. I thought the exile just meant you couldn't go anywhere around the main SMP?" Tommy wasn't sure, but Bad almost sounded concerned.
Tommy shrugged. "I mean, I guess . But he didn't seem to think so."
"So, is all… this ," Bad gestured vaguely to the area around them. "Why he was put in the prison?"
Tommy snorted, shaking his head. "I wish, but no. Nobody really knows about what happened in exile. Honestly I don't remember much of it myself but it was- it was bad , Bad."
"Oh… That's not great."
Tommy sputtered a laugh at that. Bad sounded so awkward. "No, no it's really not, big man." He sighed, then, like a light bulb, a memory flashed in his mind. "You said- you said it was just a prank war? I really thought you were proper pissed at me."
Bad scratched his head awkwardly. "Well, I was a little upset. I mean, I worked hard on that redesign of the Prime Path. But I wasn't trying to make you feel genuinely hurt or- or scared ."
"I wasn't scared , dickhead!" Tommy snapped back, trying to push away the memory of just how panicked and shaky he was when he saw it the first time. If Wilbur weren't there to distract him, to give him something else to do, he would've had a breakdown right then and there. "Just… Maybe don't use obsidian next time, maybe? There's some ah, not so great memories with it."
Bad smiled, it looked kind, genuine . "Sure, Tommy. Now, let's get out of here, I think it's about time we got some healing potions for those injuries of yours."
"Yeah, I don't think I wanna be here anymore." Tommy muttered as he took the outstretched hand.
Okay, so maybe BBH wasn't that bad. Maybe, if Bad asked, they could redecorate the Prime Path, together. Maybe .