Chapter Text
The ground was warm, sun coating the grass in its rays of light and heat. He should be relieved. To say he felt terrible would be an understatement, but it would certainly be true. He didn’t think he’d ever leave, but he was out.
Tommy was outside again, free to do anything he wanted as he used to, yet all he wanted was to curl up in a bed and sleep. His arms and legs felt like they had weights attached to them, everything around him was so loud but at the same time so quiet. It was like having headphones on in a room of people screaming. He almost couldn’t stand. His lungs were still getting used to fresh air after so long of the immense heat of the lava, not to mention the small space he’d been crammed into. He was so busy thinking about all the sensations around him that he had almost forgotten the feeling of, he didn’t notice the increasing heat he felt.
Everything was so bright, but at the same time felt like a dull painting. Unbeknownst to Tommy, he wasn’t hearing anything anymore. He tried taking a step forward. His legs gave out causing him to fall to the ground. He saw a few flashes of color that his brain vaguely registered as people, but he stayed completely still save for the rise and fall of his cheat. He couldn’t move, not that he wanted to anyways. Like he was sleeping almost. Everything was weirdly calm.
It was so hard to keep breathing, but every time he let himself stop he felt like his chest was being torn into, so he continued the difficult task that, unknown to him, was keeping him alive
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Techno couldn’t tell you why he listened to chat; they never lead him to good things. He could however tell you that he’d dealt with them at their worst, they seemed to be trying even harder than that today. Usually, they just wanted him to kill anything in sight because ‘blood for the blood god’ and they just wanted as much chaos as possible...for no reason, but today they seemed less chaotic and more….urgent. they weren’t yelling at him to do anything particularly bad which was already a red flag, and the other thing was the way they were talking. They never told him anything he didn’t already know or have the materials needed to figure out, no matter how much he wished they would. They seemed to have some rule against giving him information he was unable to obtain on his own. Today however they were telling him something was wrong. They were telling him they knew something he didn’t, that they couldn’t say it so he had to go where they told him. Though he was skeptical, he also knew for a fact that if they thought it would hurt him they wouldn’t have even mentioned it, seeing how if he died they did too (or at least that's what he assumed).
So here he was, walking through the community nether portal and down the prime path to the prison. He was expecting them to just yell at him to kill or break out dream (they did that a lot nowadays) but he did not expect to see a lump that vaugly resembled a person from a distance. Going closer slowly (this could be trap) he them.
A very dead-looking Tommy was laying on the grass just outside the enterance. He blinked a few times in consternation before he took a few steps forward. He crouched down and placed two fingers on his neck, shocked to find the boy still had a pulse. he pushed his hair (which was much longer than he remembered) out of his face and to his suprise, Tommy's eyes were open. His mouth was closed, his expression that of someone trying to retain a calm outward appearance, but at the same time the kid looked genuinely relaxed in terms of his posture. Techno didn't know much of what Tommy had been through, but he knew enough that he's sure Tommy would never just lay outside the building holding Dream from the outside world. ‘So why is he here?' Techno questioned. He shook the blond’s shoulder but got no response, causing him to grow even more confused as to what was happening.
"Tommy? You good kid?" He asked quietly. His voice didn't elicit any reaction from the blond, but he guessed it wouldn't. "Alright, I don't know if you can hear me but I'm gonna pick you up and take you to me and Phil's house. It's a pretty short trip but if you have any objections you should tell me now. if you can't talk just try to move your eyes or something." This really wasn't his forte. He was never good at helping people, and he really didn’t wanna help Tommy (not only did the kid have terrible decision making but if Phil found out something had severely harmed or even killed Tommy and Techno could've prevented it...he'd probably be mad. So after a moment of not seeing Tommy give even the slightest reaction to anything he'd said, he picked him up and started the journey home, not before messaging Phil a quick summary of what was happening of course.
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When the two had finally made it to the set of cabins, there was a very tired looking Phil standing on the patio. He looked up seeming to hear the sound of the snow crunching beneath techno's feet. Phil looked extremely confused as he got closer. To be fair, the boy in his arms didn't look even slightly alive, the only real sign he was being the slow beat of his pulse, and the slight rise and fall of his chest.
Move this later→ His mind felt blank and like there was fuzz covering the front of his head and everything around him was muffled. He felt something that was almost...cold. He was cold. Why is he cold? Darkness usually isn’t cold…
Everything was dark and dim, nothing fully processing in his mind. The world around him was complete darkness except for the slight feeling of cold. (fix please and thank) The His eyes blinked a few times in response to the feeling of complete and utter heat he was now being engulfed in. It was warm now. Safe. He was safe. His eyes drifted shut and he felt his breathing even out, only noticing a slight noise that sounded so very distant he couldn’t tell you if it was the wind or just his mind reacting to the silence.
Okay back to tech again.
The boy in his arms was shaking slightly, calming down the amount of worry in his friends' expression. He knew that Phil cared about Tommy, and honestly he still did too, he just didn’t show it. At all. Techno had thought Phil wasn’t even Tommy’s dad at one point because of how little they interacted, the few times they did were...less than pleasant. It usually ended up with Tommy leaving with a tear-filled glossy eyes, and Phil feeling regret and guilt at every word spoken between the two. Tommy was scared of being hurt again and Phil was scared he’d hurt him.
That conversation could wait till later though, once Tommy was responsive again. How long would he be like this? Who knows, all he knew was that Tommy could’ve been laying outside for hours, days even, and even if he wasn’t responsive he would probably die if he didn’t drink water and eat something soon.
Phil met them halfway to the house and looked at techno with a nervous expression. He didn’t say anything and just held out the frail boy in his arms, Phil took him and turned to walk back to the house
Everything that had happened to Tommy had been preventable, and yet Him and Phil had done nothing. He always used the argument of how Tommy had betrayed him, but he realized through experiencing it himself that when you have the whole world against you, it’s kind of hard to think rationally. Tommy handn’t talked to him much about his past, but he’d said enough for Techno to know he definitely had major problems when it came too trusting people and keeping himself safe wasn’t his first priority. The constant wars had probably been a big part of that, not to mention the never ending changes in people protecting and killing each other. Tubbo exiled Tommy, but he also had been the only one constantly following Tommy and genuinely caringEabout him without fail. Everyone else had left eventually but...Tubbo had always come back. They were friends enough that Tommy probably felt like that was his only stable relationship. Could he really blame the kid for not trusting himself and Phil? They’d left him multiple time just like everyone else, what reason did he have to trust them, let alone help them destroy his home, connections, and source of stability?
They walked into the small cottage and with no need to say it both immediately went to the fireplace. \without turning to face him phi spoke.
“What happened??” He asked, almost whispering.
“Found him on the ground outside the prison, he wasn’t responsive and the most I got was him falling asleep on the way here.” Phil’s shoulders slumped and he sighed.
“I know what’s going on, you’re not gonna be very happy though.” Techno’s brows furrowed and he looked at Phil slightly concerned now.
“He sick or something?” He asked.
“Kind of, he’s done this before, though it’s not at all on purpose. Wilbur told me about it the first time it happened cause he thought Tommy was dead” Techno snorted at that. ‘Of course Wilbur wouldn’t check for a pulse.’ Techno thought to himself.
“Sounds like him, but that doesn’t really answer my question about why he looks...honestly he does look dead.” He stated. Phil chuckled at that, turning to look at him now.
“I suppose in a way he is kind of dead right now, but not in a mental way. He’s still alive and thinking and processing what’s going on as far as i’m aware, he just can’t do anything. The first time it happened was back when pogtopia was around. From what Wilbur messaged me, he came back from getting supplies to find Tommy laying on the ground unresponsive. I didn’t know what to do at the time so I just talked to him over comms and we made sure Tommy still drank as much water as possible with a few healing potions so he wouldn't did of hunger. He’s unresponsive, not unconscious, but I’ll be honest I didn’t really help after that, though from what I’ve heard this happened to him a couple more times during other more...traumatic events. I guess. If he’s like this now then something must’ve happened.” He turned to Techno again and looked him in the eyes. “Tech, do you know of anything that happened recently that could’ve done that to him? Any new wars we weren't involved in or something?” He questioned. “It could’ve been the destructionof l’manberg but that was quite a while ago.”
Techno looked at the ground thinking about everything that’s happened and his eyes widened slightly in realization.
“Phil…. Do you remember what Ranboo told us at the last syndicate meeting?” He asked. Phil looked at him confused before realization washed over his face.
“You don’t think Tommy actually…” Phil’s sentence trailed off and his eyes studied the ground. Techno looked away from him and to the un-moving boy on the sofa. His breathing was even now, not as rapid as it was earlier. He wasn’t moving but his posture seemed more calm in a way. He had his eyes closed still but Techno didn’t think he was sleeping. He walked forwards a bit and crouched down to put his hand on the younger cheek. He sighed and stood back up.
"I don't wanna believe it but he was outside of the prison enterance when i found him. I wouldn't be surprised honestly," Techno replied, eyes softening slightly as he looked at the boy on the sofa. "Phil, I think I was wrong."
"About what mate?"
"I don't think Tommy's the only one who needs to apologize." He stated. Phill's eyes were studying the ground, unmoving. They sat in silence for a bit before Phil finally broke it.
"We should focus on not letting him die and get him something to eat," Phil suggested. Techno grunted, taking the hint and heading in the direction of the kitchen.