Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy fell to the ground in shock. Frightened and scared, he began crawling away. "Techno! Please! Don't kill me, please! Techno! Don't let him control you!" He begged, tears falling onto his cheeks as pleaded for his life. Technoblade wasn't responding, he didn't even seem to register anything Tommy was saying.

Tommy scrambled away and tried to get someone's attention, but they were all too busy trying to kill the Withers or were too far away to hear him.

Or they just didn't care.

Tommy assumed it was the latter and quickly gave up calling for help.

He continued running for his life, looking around for his father in the process to see if he could help.

But it was too late.

Tommy's back hit a stone wall and he sobbed. There's no use now, he thought. I'm dead now.

He fell to the ground once more and backed into a corner, his legs coming up to his chest and his arms covering his face and head as he braced for impact.

.

He tried to fight it as much as he could. Technoblade may be strong, but he was stronger.

"I'm not going to let you control me!" Technoblade shouted to the voice in his head. "You have to kill me first before you make me kill my own family!" Tears ran down his face as he watched his little brother sob and beg for his life (from inside his head), scrambling across the ground as he tried to run from him.

The voice in his head stopped and all was quiet.

Then... everything went black.

.

A minute of silence passed before Tommy finally opened his eyes to see what was going on. He began to sob when he saw Technoblade's lifeless body in front of him. "Techno! No, no, no, no, no! Please! Wake up!" He sobbed as he laid his head on the older's chest.

He laid there, sobbing for what felt like hours, until the world finally went quiet.

God knows how many hours later, footsteps broke the solemn silence. Tommy had passed out, the sobbing and events of the day quickly draining all of his energy.

With a heavy sigh, Phil kneeled down beside both of his sons. Tears, although silent, fell from his eyes as he ran his wrinkled fingers through Technoblade's hair.

Phil looked down to his youngest son. The only one he had left and smiled. He was happy to know that he was alive.

With another sigh, Phil picked up Tommy in his arms and began the long journey home.

Chapter Text

He could never forget that day. No one could. It was the day that started a domino effect that heavily affected everyone's future.

It had been raining very heavily due to a thunderstorm, and everyone was stuck inside.

"For the last time, I said no, Tommy!" Wilbur yelled at his younger brother as they walked through the giant ravine they now called home. They both hoped it would be temporary, but with how everything was going, it seemed like it might be permanent. Neither of them commented on this though. They were both too prideful. "Whether you like it or not, I'm blowing it up! End of story!"

Tommy stopped in his tracks and so did Wilbur when he realized that Tommy wasn't saying anything. "Tommy? Toms?"

He had his back facing him. Tommy would deny it if questioned, but he was crying. "We ran away from the boring town where nothing ever happened (a place that we called home), and we settled down here. Yeah, we weren't exactly doing well, but we weren't on the streets because of dad's old hotdog van. We settled down here and started a new life where you got married and I spent my teenage years here. Both of us have made a lot of friends. We all bought some land and built our homes there and it eventually became a town because of the ever-growing population and you were the mayor of said town. But now, Wilbur, you just want to throw that all away just because we lost one goddamn election! This is our home! We have a history here so why won't you fight for it?" Tommy went off like a bomb. He couldn't hold it in anymore.

Wilbur's eyes widened in shock. He was right. His little brother was right. How could he be so cruel? How could he be so stupid? He sighed, wiping the stray tears that were falling from his eyes. "Tommy, look at me, please. Look at me."

Tommy turned around and faced his brother, looking at the ground because he didn't want to face him. He felt embarrassed for going off on him. He hadn't done that before and they've both never had an argument like this before. They both blamed it on stress, their pride once again taking over.

"I'm sorry, okay? I won't blow it up. I didn't think about you or anyone else's feelings. I'm sorry." Wilbur apologized and hugged his brother tightly. Deep down, Wilbur would never admit this, but Wilbur knew that Tommy was always right.

Tommy may be a gremlin sometimes, but when it came to people or things he was he was attached to, he was always right.

Wilbur and Tommy talked for a few more minutes (both of them discussing tomorrow's plans) and they both went to bed for the night. They had a busy day tomorrow and needed all the sleep they could get.

.

After releasing a loud yawn and stretching his long limbs, Tommy got up from bed and made his way to the other side of the ravine where Wilbur was tending to their potatoes. They were glad to have at least one thing that reminded them of their brother Techno. Their brother never strayed too far from their father and can only be bothered to write a letter once a month so they were happy to have at least part of him there with them.

"Morning, Will." Tommy mumbled as he walked past the small makeshift farm they had made and over to what was supposed to be their version of a kitchen. In reality, it was just a metal table with a campfire next to it and some utensils and dinnerware organized nicely on the table. It wasn't much, but it's all they needed to survive.

Tommy kneeled next to a small bucket filled with cold water and splashed some on his face before drying off his face. How refreshing! He thought to himself, making a mental note to change the water later.

He wanted to make sure that he looked nice today. Even though their citizenships were revoked, the new mayor of L'Manberg invited Wilbur and Tommy to the town's annual post-election festival. They appreciated the invite and both of them made sure to give their thanks. They may not be allowed to live there, but at least they could visit.

"Have you washed up yet?" Wilbur asked as he splashed some water on his face as well and snatched the towel from Tommy's hands. Tommy hummed and grabbed an apple to eat before sighing and sitting down on a nearby chair.

Wilbur sat down next to him and began chewing on a potato that he started cooking a few minutes before Tommy had woken up. "We gotta tell Dream." He began, talking between bites. "That I've changed my mind." Tommy hummed, he had forgotten about that. Not completely, of course.

"Well, let's get to it then."

.

The festival had going well so far. Tommy and Wilbur had told Dream about their decision to not blow up Manberg and he was fine with it. After all, they were trying to prevent conflicts, and blowing everything up would be doing the complete opposite of what they wanted to do.

Dream seemed to be happy about it so he just went back home.

"Tubbo!" Tommy yelled happily as he ran past a big group of people that were crowding around a boxing ring.

Said boy turned around and grinned when he saw Tommy running towards him. They both met in the middle and hugged each other so tight their eyes almost popped out. "I've missed you so much, Tubs!" Tommy exclaimed as they both stepped away to give each other some air.

Wilbur had eventually caught up with him and smiled adoringly at the two, giving them both a pat on the back as he made his way over to Schlatt.

Tommy and Tubbo walked around, running into some of their other friends and chatting and also playing around at some of the booths.

It wasn't until about an hour later that Tommy saw Wilbur by himself at a table by one of the taco trucks. He was hunched over the table and seemed to be holding his head in his hands as if he had a headache.

"Sorry to interrupt Tubbo, but I need to go talk to Wilbur. I'll meet back up with you in a minute, okay?" Tubbo nodded, smiling and telling him that everything was fine and he needed to leave to meet up with Schlatt anyway.

Tommy made his way over to the table that his older brother was occupying. "Will? Are you okay?" Tommy asked. No response. "Is your head hurting again? Do you wanna go home?"

Wilbur nodded his head and groaned in pain. "Okay, let me say goodbye to Tubbo. I'll be right back." Tommy quickly ran over to Tubbo and said his goodbyes, but when he got back to the table, Wilbur was gone. "Excuse me, have you seen the man that was sitting here?" He asked a group of people that were nearby.

"Uh... I think he went that way." One of the people said, pointing to an all too familiar hill. Tommy sighed and thanked the people before running after Wilbur.

When Tommy had finally caught up with his brother he had just entered the room. The room where pictures, plaques, and awards hung all over the walls and a single button on the farthest wall. Wilbur stood by it, clutching his head and talking to himself. "No, no, no. I won't do it." Tommy ran over to him and held him in his arms.

"Everything's going to be fine, Wilbur. Nothing's going to happen. You're going to be okay. Everyone's going to be okay." Tommy tried to reassure his brother. He wasn't sure what for though, if he had to be honest. All he knew is that his brother has been having a lot of headaches the past few days and that's what had made his brother so moody.

"Tommy... he's talking to me. I can hear him. I can hear his voice in my head." Wilbur stuttered as he clutched onto his head, groaning in pain once more.

"What do you mean, Wilbur? Who's voice?" Tommy was beyond confused. Apparently, this wasn't a normal headache.

"Dream's. His voice is in my head. He's keeps telling me to push it. To blow everything up." Tears began falling from Wilbur's eyes. "I didn't mean to walk here, Tommy. He made me."

Tommy's eyes widened. "Look at me, Wilbur. Look at me." Tommy said, making his brother look into his eyes. "Just try to fight him as much as you can. I'll be right here. He can't hurt you." They were both crying now, Wilbur more than Tommy.

"I'm trying. I really am, Tommy, but he's too strong." Wilbur said, closing his eyes. If he couldn't see the button then maybe he'll stop thinking about it.

"Press it, Wilbur. You know you want to. You've been planning this for a long time now, remember?" Dream talked in his head, his voice sounding irritated and impatient. "All this hard work will go to waste..."

He knew that if he didn't press it that something bad would happen. And he was right. Dream's next words confirmed it. "If you don't, then kill Tommy."

Wilbur screamed and Tommy flinched at the outburst. "No! I will not hurt anyone! You can't make me, Dream!" Wilbur yelled as Tommy pulled his brother into his arms to try and calm him down.

It wasn't until ten minutes later, that Dream knew that Wilbur wouldn't listen to him. No one ever did.

With a heavy sigh, he grabbed a pair of scissors and held a string that signified as Wilbur's life. Without a second thought, he cut the string and Wilbur fell to the floor not even a second later. "That'll teach you to disobey me." Dream muttered under his breath. He hated it when no one listened to him.

Tommy kneeled by his brother, tears falling from his eyes once again. "Wilbur? Wilbur! Wake up!"

He was dead.

Just like that.

Tommy cried his heart out. Why were they always the unlucky ones?