Chapter Text
The one thing Tommy knows for sure is that fairytales don’t exist in the heroes program. You train, you fight, and you repeat. There is no room for anything else, let alone weakness of any kind.
This methodology had gotten him this far, hadn’t it? He’d found himself training with the Blade, one of the top heroes in L’manburg... even if he was currently getting his ass beat.
Tommy fights almost on autopilot, but the thing that brings him back to the present is when Techno throws a punch directly towards his side, hitting his already bruised ribs. All of the air in Tommy’s body rushes out of him in a second, and his legs crumple beneath him as his arms wrap around his torso. The edges of his vision start to darken, but he can somewhat make out a figure running up to him.
“Caerus? What happened?” It’s the Blade’s voice. He must have been the one to run up to him. Tommy almost corrects him on his name before his brain comes back to him and he realizes that the Blade only knows him as his code name.
“I’m fucking fine, asshole.” Tommy’s voice is strained as he slowly gets to his feet. “You just caught me off guard.”
The Blade looks almost worried as he looks Tommy over, just about making him squirm. “You’re injured,” he says matter-of-factly. “You need to go to the medbay.” He tries to reach out to Tommy, but the boy pushes him away– or tries to, at least.
“Fuck you,” he spits. “I don’t need your pity. I can take care of myself.” With that eloquent response, Tommy storms off in the direction of his room, slamming the door to the training room for good measure.
—
Tommy hates going on missions, but there is one thing he enjoys about them: the calm before the storm, so to speak, or the little bit of time he gets prior to his mission that he gets to spend in the city. If he’s quick, he can usually grab a bite to eat at Niki’s bakery instead of the shitty meals that the hero program serves, and that alone makes every mission worth it. Besides, L’manburg is a beautiful city with many sights to see, and Tommy takes his time to see them all. As he walks towards his mark, he takes a few deep breaths of cool December air– and immediately regrets it. He’d almost forgotten about his bruised ribs that had only become more aggravated with the punch that the Blade threw at him, but now that’s the only thing he can think of.
It’s then that Tommy is brought back to the gravity of the situation. This mission is an important one; he’s to infiltrate a meeting between the infamous villain Dream and one of his lower-ranking allies, Phoenix, and he is operating on an injury.
Briefly, he wonders if he should have listened to the Blade and went to the medbay before his mission, but he quickly dismisses the thought. He’ll be fine, right?
He shakes his head to clear it, looking around for the right building and realizing the building he’s looking for is a skyscraper . He even double checks to make sure the address is right, and sure enough, it is. He briefly wonders how he’s going to get to his location without being noticed before he remembers his ability.
He thinks his invisibility will come in handy with this particular job.
It doesn’t take him as long as he assumed it would thanks to his training and his ability, and soon enough, he’s creeping into the room where Dream and Phoenix are scheduled to meet and taking his position in the corner of the room. He waits for a few minutes before two sets of footsteps approach the room. They open the door and step inside, and Tommy’s heart begins to race. He’d never been face to face with Dream before, though he’d heard many stories about the villain. Phoenix was a different story– they’d scuffled many times before– but Dream… Dream was different. Cold. Relentless. Vicious.
Tommy doesn’t want to think about what would happen if he screwed up right now, so he focuses back on the task at hand.
“It’s good to see you back in business, Phoenix,” Dream greets the other man in the room, and Tommy thinks it odd that they’re not on a first name basis after working together for so many years, but he supposes he’s not one to judge.
“Yeah, it’s been tough dealing with Chronos’ memory loss and everything that Q’s been going through, but things are looking up for us again. I’m looking to get back into the swing of things. I suppose that’s why I’m here. Do you have any jobs for me?”
Even despite the mask covering his face, Tommy can almost feel the grin on Dream’s face. “Always. You’re one of my most loyal customers; of course I can get something lined up for you.”
"...isn't that right, Caerus?" Dream's hand moves subtly to the sheath by his hip.
Tommy knows then his cover is blown. He promptly bolts for the door.
Dream is behind him in an instant, having fully pulled his dagger out of its sheath. "Come on , you know you can't escape."
Tommy, who has completely abandoned his disguise at this point, desperately tries the door, quickly finding that it will not open.
Dream just about cackles. "Game's over, Caerus. The door's locked."
Tommy wonders vaguely if Dream will be the last face he'll ever see, but the thought is quickly squashed because Dream is still wearing the damned mask .
He thinks back to the Blade, then. He thinks back to the man that, out of the kindness of his heart, had shown him his face, and all he can think is ' what will his reaction be when he hears that I'm dead? '
The masked man quickly sweeps Tommy’s feet out from under him. He yelps as he falls, terror evident in his eyes as Dream points his dagger at him. Tommy speaks up then, his voice almost failing him. “Y-you won’t get away with this. The other heroes will find out you killed me, a-and they’ll be after you.” It’s not the most intelligent thing he’s ever said, not by a long shot, but it’s the only thing his panic-stricken brain can think of in the moment.
Dream just laughs. “ You really think I’m going to kill you? No, no, death would be kind. I have much bigger plans for you, Caerus.”
“Or should I say
Tommy?
”
‘ Shit. ’
—
When Tommy comes to, the first thing he feels is pain.
His body feels like it’s on fire, like someone had poured kerosene on his wounds and set him ablaze, but his mind feels hazy. It’s like he’s thinking through a thick cloud of smoke. All he wants to do is lay back down and sleep, but that stubborn part of him doesn’t let him. No, it forces him to sit up, using the wall behind him as support, and it shouts at him that he needs help.
Maybe he’s tired. Maybe he’s tired of being someone else’s puppet, of living not for himself, but for others.
Maybe he just wants to rest, just for a little bit.
Of course, the other part of him doesn’t let him. He takes a deep breath before shakily getting to his feet and letting them lead him along, almost on auto-pilot. He vaguely remembers passing the local bakery, flower shop, and restaurant on his way, but nothing else besides that. Eventually, he finds himself typing in something on a keypad and walking inside a building. The warmth of the building is a stark contrast to the bitter winter chill of the outdoors, but the contrast is a welcome one. Thanks to the heat warming him up, Tommy begins to come back to himself and immediately realizes where he is. He’d wandered back to the hero program building, the exact opposite of where he truly wanted to be. It was too late to turn back now, though; there was no guarantee he could make it past the people roaming the hallways again, not in his current condition. Maybe he could make it to his room, maybe he could lay down in his own bed before he passes out again. And that he does, letting his feet lead him through the labyrinth of a building to his room. He opens the door when he arrives and immediately flops down on his bed, not even bothering to take off his shoes, jacket, or mask. All he wants to do is sleep, and that’s exactly what he plans to do.
That is, until there is a knock on the door.
Tommy groans, having just gotten under the covers. “What do you want?
The voice coming from the other side of the door sounds familiar, deep and smooth. It sounds different than he remembers it though, tinged with emotion. “Caerus?” The person on the other side takes a deep breath, seemingly to calm themselves down, and then they speak again. “Can I come in?”
He makes a vague noise of approval which the person takes as a sign to open the door, footsteps drawing closer until they stop directly beside his bed. Tommy doesn’t move to look at them; he doesn’t even turn over in his bed, where he lays in the fetal position. “What is it?”
“Caerus, you’ve been gone for three days. Nemesis reported you missing after you didn’t come back to the program after your assignment. It was radio silence from you for three days . Where the hell have you been?”
At first, the memories trickle in like a stream. Then there’s a flash flood, and the stream of memories turns into a tidal wave, and Tommy doesn’t stand a chance against the force of the flood.
There are echoes of screams that he barely recognizes as his own, memories of blood and pure fear, and above all, an impenetrable darkness, like he had been blindfolded as Dream tortured him.
Right. That’s what had happened.
Tommy doesn’t realize he’s crying until he hears himself audibly sob and until he hears the person beside him speak up. “Caerus?”
“It’s Tommy,” he mumbles through his sobs, and he can just about feel the surprise radiating off of the other person.
“Tommy,” they echo, a twinge of something that Tommy can’t identify in their voice. “Tommy, what happened to you?”
And so, Tommy recounts it all. He tells them everything from the failed mission to what Dream did to him to the hazy walk back to the program, finishing with an eloquent “and why am I telling you anyways? I don’t even know you.”
They barely even react, simply replying: “Tommy, turn around for me.” Tommy does so, wincing as he turns over in his bed to face the person.
It all clicks immediately.
It’s the Blade.
Tommy goes to move away from him, but the Blade doesn’t give him a chance to do anything before he speaks. “Techno. My name is Techno.”
“...Techno’s a shit name,” Tommy decides after a shocked pause. He’s totally not freaking out over the fact that the Blade just told him his name, never.
The Blade– no, Techno – laughs quietly, a small smile creeping onto his face. “There’s the Tommy I know.” He ruffles Tommy’s hair, looking down at him fondly. “Now, are you hurt anywhere? I can take you down to the medbay–”
Tommy cuts him off, panicking. “No! I… I can’t. I don’t want to be the heroes’ puppet again. They were the ones who sent me out on this mission. They almost got me killed. I just… I want to live a normal life. Surely, you understand that?”
Techno’s fond gaze fades into a wistful one, and he looks away. “You’re right, I do understand… Alright, let’s figure out how to get you out of here.”
Tommy shakes his head. “You too. I can’t do this alone.”
Techno sighs, a smile returning to his face. “You know what? Why not? Hell, maybe we can even get some others out after we get settled.”
“Let’s do it then,” Tommy says firmly, absolutely beaming. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
And that they did, Techno carrying an invisible Tommy in a rather large box through the building and eventually out of it. If anyone suspected anything, however, no one said a word.
Maybe Tommy would have to scratch ‘
fairytales don’t exist
’ off of his list of things he knows after this.