Chapter Text
Tommy clutched Tubbo in his arms, the compasses around each of their necks spinning stupidly as the enchanted objects tried to stay focused on their targets.
“I’ve missed you so much big man.” Tommy wiped the tears from his eyes briskly, trying to hide his emotions. Tubbo stared back at him once they separated, eyes concerned.
“You look like shit.” Tommy scowled in mock anger, trying to ignore the filth and injuries he knew covered his body. Fresh scars and old twinged with the reminder of the last few months.
“Well, you try getting exiled with some green asshole making you throw away all your gear once a week and see how you look, dickhead!” Tommy tried to make it a joke, but the humor fell flat.
“What do you mean?” Tubbo’s voice dropped low, something between guilt and anger that Tommy almost flinched to hear.
“I just, Dream’s been the only one visiting me you know. Regularly. Except Ghostbur but… you know how he is.” Tubbo looked confused, blue eyes scanning Tommy. Tommy took a step back, reflexively pulling his arms around himself for comfort.
“Dream, he said that you didn’t want anyone to come…” Tommy froze. His mind became filled with static as the walls Dream had built around him came crumbling down in a single instant. That one sentence broke Tommy more than Tubbo would ever know.
“No… he… he’s been the only one around. He cares about me, right? Right Tubbo?” Tommy had never seen Tubbo more furious. His normally calm friend’s hands were in fists at his side.
“He wouldn’t leave you like this” Tubbo gestured to Tommy. Filthy and far too skinny. “If he cared.”
Tommy stared at Tubbo, wide blue eyes too shaken to betray his emotions.
“I’m not leaving you like this!” Tubbo grabbed Tommy’s hand firmly. “Show me your house, we can grab some supplies and leave.” Tommy let himself be pulled along. Tubbo was here. Tubbo cared. Dream… Didn’t? Dream was lying to him. Dream was using him.
Tommy finally managed to pull himself out of his ruminations as Tubbo was sorting through his meager storage space.
“Where will we go?” Tubbo looked up surprised, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him.
“Well…” Tommy knew L’Manburg wasn’t safe. The wilderness wasn’t safe. Anywhere Dream could find them wasn’t safe.
“Do you want to go see Techno and Phil?” Tubbo shrieked as the airy voice startled him, jumping backwards as Wilbur’s pale face floated through the wall.
Tommy started laughing despite himself, god it was good to be with Tubbo again. Tubbo collected himself and glared playfully at Tommy, giggling slightly.
“That might actually be a good idea… I assume you haven’t been getting our letters?” Tommy shook his head. Dream had kept him completely isolated.
“Well, Techno and Phil went off somewhere to live, Phil is helping Techno be less violent or something.” Tubbo shrugged. “I don’t think they would mind us coming, especially once we tell them what Dreams been doing.” Tommy bit back a sharp retort.
Some part of his still wanted to believe Dream cared. Clung to the idea he had been there when no one else had.
“I can take you there!” Wilbur’s ghostly form happily bobbed around the room, occasionally reaching in a chest and replacing something with a handful of blue wool or dye.
Tommy considered. It might not be a terrible idea. If Dream really did care, he could prove it later. Plus, there was no reason he should object to Tommy seeing his family! Besides, Tommy believed Tubbo more than he believed his own mind. If Tubbo said Dream was hurting him, he would just have to trust his best friend.
“Sounds like a plan big man.”
Tubbo gently guided Tommy through the forest. It was starting to get colder as they moved more into the mountains and Tubbo hated how Tommy shivered.
“Here!” Tubbo slung off his jacket and gave it to Tommy quickly, not accepting any protests. He had long sleeves on underneath anyway. Tommy certainly needed it more.
The fact that Tommy didn’t fight him on it told Tubbo more than anything how much Tommy needed to be away from Dream. Tommy was like a shell of himself. Too tired, worn, and manipulated to fight back. Tubbo hoped going to Philza was the right choice.
Technoblade could protect them. Though the warrior still made Tubbo shiver sometimes in memory of a life lost, he seemed to have changed recently. Tubbo could handle the reminders of burning flesh and a yellow box if it meant Tommy would be safe.
Besides, Techno would never hurt Tommy. Tubbo knew no amount of peer pressure or threats could change that. Especially not when Tommy and him were on their last lives.
Tubbo kept Tommy moving as much as he could. They still had to stop more often than he would have liked. Tommy was starved, and though Tubbo had brought food with him, his friend was still weak. Tubbo forced him to eat every time they took a break.
Wilbur had been helpful, Tubbo was half-afraid the ghost would forget what he was doing and wander off, but so far he had stayed on target. Or, at least Tubbo thought so. He didn’t know where they were going exactly.
At least they were out of the fields, Ghostbur was obsessed with blue for some reason, and insisted on collecting every flower in that color. Tubbo held Tommy’s hand in his own, comforted by the warmth.
It was nice—
Tubbo yelped briefly as the air was knocked out of him. He hit the hard ground with a painful thud, thin snow not cushioning the fall. He grasped for the sword on his belt frantically, trying to find his feet.
A tall man in a green hoodie stood in front of him. In front of Tommy.
“I came to rescue you Tommy.” Tubbo looked at his friend, Tommy was completely still, his blond hair blowing in the icy wind was the only visible movement.
“No… Tubbo wasn’t…” Tommy dropped his head, energy leaving his form as Dream took a step closer.
“He lied to you and kidnapped you Tommy, but it’s okay, I’m here now.” Tommy shuffled his feet in the snow and shook his head, Tubbo lunged before Dream could speak again.
“Leave us alone!!” Tubbo was furious. Dream had been hurting Tommy, he had lied to him and make his life hell! Tubbo knew he wasn’t strong enough to enact revenge, but he wished he was in that moment.
Dream laughed lightly behind the mask. The first few flakes of snow fell from the heavens.
Tubbo held his sword up defensively, stepping between Dream and Tommy.
“Let Tommy go!”
Ghostbur winced as the first few flakes of snow landed on his shoulders. It didn’t hurt, not like things really hurt when he was alive, but it wasn’t pleasant.
Snow and rain made him feel less… connected, like he would lose every last shred of himself if he stayed out too long.
The only way he knew how describe that was melting. It felt like he was melting.
Ghostbur floated to a nearby grove of trees, ducking under the safe, pine branches. Much better.
He turned back to the commotion once his immediate crisis had been solved.
Oh yeah.
Dream was here. Wilbur didn’t think Dream was supposed to be here, but he couldn’t remember if he should be upset about it. He also couldn’t tell if him and Tubbo were training or playing or really fighting, but they were going at it.
He assumed it must be play, Dream was obviously running circles around the younger boy. Wilbur cheered innocently from the tree line.
What was he doing again? He fidgeted with a handful of blue happily. Right. Tommy and Tubbo would come over to him and he would take them to Phil and Techno!
Just as soon as they finished.
Tommy watched his best friend who exiled him and his only companion who manipulated him fight each other in the snow.
Tubbo was getting run ragged, breathing heavily and bleeding from multiple small wounds. Dream was unmarred and unphased, a mile above either of them in combat.
Tommy didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t fight, he didn’t have any weapons, Dream had made sure of that. Even if he did Tommy was aware of his own weakness, his legs were barely supporting him just standing here. He couldn’t possibly—
Tubbo cried out as Dream slammed his leg with the blunt side of the axe, sending him crashing to the hard ground again. Dream just stood over him. Casually leaning on his weapon, unemotional under the smiling mask.
Tommy heard Wilbur yell something, a nearby grove of trees was the only color in the snow. Dark green against the ever-increasing white. Tommy leaned down and grabbed a handful of the snow, ignoring how the cold stung his fingers.
“Wha—”
Dream’s indigent cry was cut short as Tommy’s second snowball hit its target. The man’s mask spun off into the snow, nearly invisible in the fluff. Tommy almost froze as he saw a glimpse of the SMP leader’s face. It wasn’t the scar stretching from temple to chin diagonally that caught his attention. Not at all. It was the pure, malicious anger and pleasure that filled the green eyes that made Tommy’s blood run cold. Dream was enjoying this.
The man spun to find his mask; Tommy moved.
“Tubbo run! The woods!” Tommy was now the one dragging Tubbo, hoping that the house was nearby, or that they could lose Dream in the trees. It was their only chance.
Adrenaline surged through his body, energy briefly replacing helplessness as they ran side by side. Wilbur floated with them, chattering about something. Tommy ignored him as he sprinted, dodging trees and bushes, hoping for some way to hide or—
Tommy felt a shriek tear from his own throat as something impacted his upper leg. He rolled as he hit the ground with all his momentum, stunned. Tears blurred his vision as he became aware of the pain from the arrow, now sticking from the back of his leg.
He gasped wetly for air. There was no one in his line of sight. No ghostbur, no Tubbo.
If Tommy was able to, he would have sobbed. He was alone again. He was alone.
And then there was Dream. The way he walked forward screamed arrogant confidence. He strolled over as if he had no care in the world, hooking his crossbow behind his back and drawing his axe as he sauntered closer.
Tommy was alone with Dream.
Then he wasn’t. Tubbo flung himself between them, sword swinging in an arc that forced Dream to take a step back.
“Get. Away. From. Tommy.” Tubbo was panting and his words were strained, but he stood firmly. Tommy stifled a pathetic sob of relief, hating the urge.
“Tubbo. You can walk away right now, or I will slice you open and leave you to die.” Dream’s tone was disturbingly nonchalant, Tommy managed to push himself into a near sitting position, gasping as white-hot pain flared when he bumped the arrow.
“I’m not leaving him! You can’t have him!” Tubbo screamed at Dream furiously, the small boy seemed to swell with the anger. Tommy felt fear fill his heart when Dream’s shoulders tensed in the way Tommy knew meant he was upset. The way that meant danger.
“Fine.” Dream lunged forward, heavy weapon swinging with precision. Tubbo dodged, sword dashing towards Dream’s side, momentarily exposed. Dream blocked the blow with his shield, putting force into it to push Tubbo back slightly.
Tommy could only watch.
Twice more Tubbo almost struck Dream. Twice more he was thwarted easily. Dream suddenly switched gears, going on the offensive. Tommy yelled a warning as Dream feinted left, only to bring his axe around to bear on Tubbo’s sword arm. Tubbo twisted, the axe caught around the blade, Dream pulled it away.
For a single heartbeat Tubbo stood disarmed and still, just as angry and determined as before. The next, Dream had brought his axe back down. Tubbo staggered back and dropped to his knees. The fresh white snow was splattered with bright red blood.
Tommy pushed himself forward to grab Tubbo as he collapsed, dragging him away from Dream. Tommy’s back hit a tree and he fell into a sitting position, unable to stay upright. He looked up fearfully as Dream approached and dropped to a crouch in front of him.
“Listen Tomathy, you can come back with me, or stay here to die in the snow with him.” Tommy spat at Dream, feeling satisfied as the glob landed on his stupid mask.
“Tommy. Make a good decision. Don’t forget that Tubbo betrayed you, he was the one that exiled you, not me. I was there for you, we can make things right.” Tommy glared daggers. Dream wasn’t entirely lying. But Tommy knew it wasn’t the truth either.
“You MADE him exile me! You made it so I was alone, so you were the only person around!” Tommy took a couple gasping breaths, pain clouding his vision.
“So go ahead bitch boy, kill me if you want, but I am NEVER going to go anywhere with you EVER AGAIN!”
Dream reached a hand toward him, grabbing his injured leg and pointing for emphasis as blood dripped from it.
“You are on your last life. You won’t come back.”
Tommy tried to pull away, weakly kicking out with his other foot.
“I don’t care!”
Dream yanked the arrow out. Tommy screamed as his vision started to fade.
The last thing he could see was Dream as he stood up, and walked away, arrow dropping into the snow.
“Tommy? Tommy?” Tommy felt pain before anything else. Then cold. Then weight on his lap.
He flicked his eyes open. For a moment he thought his vision was broken, there was pure white all around. Snow. It was a blizzard now; the wind tossed the heavy snowflakes around in whirls. If not for the tree they were under Tommy knew they would be covered in the white blanket. Even so, Tommy realized he was already trembling from the cold. Wilbur floated in front of him, having been the one to call his name.
Tommy looked down at the weight on his lap. Half-lidded eyes looked up at him weakly. Tommy felt the surge of relief push him to motion, he leaned against the tree heavily and adjusted Tubbo on his lap, sitting up so he could see to his friend’s injury. Tubbo whimpered at the movement, hand grasping Tommy’s sleeve.
Tommy felt his heart drop. Tubbo had a gash, wide and flowing blood, that stretched nearly from shoulder to hip. Tommy couldn’t help but be reminded of a similar scar on the face hidden by a mask. Weirdly, parts of the injury had bits of blue material haphazardly dropped on top.
Tubbo somehow managed a slight smile, his words were a whisper.
“I think Ghostbur was trying to help.” Tommy wiped some of the blue away, grabbing the bits of wool and cloth to try and stop the bleeding. Ghostbur floated closer, handful of blue dye at the ready.
“So much red, I though blue is a much nicer color so I tried to change it.” Ghostbur’s voice was as absent as ever. Tommy shook his head.
“You should get your leg to stop bleeding Tommy, the cold will get to you worse if you’ve lost a lot of blood.” Tubbo murmured at him even as Tommy pulled Tubbo’s blood-sodden shirt away from the wound as delicately as he could manage with cold-numbed fingers.
“How would you even know that?” Tommy snarked back at his friend, glancing at his own leg dutifully.
“Sam was teaching me medical stuff lately.”
Tommy looked at his leg. The puncture wound from the arrow was bleeding heavily through the tear in his pant leg, a wave of dizziness made Tommy sway. He wouldn’t be able to help Tubbo if he passed out first.
“Tie something around it, tight.” Tommy looked around helplessly. Their bags of supplies had been forgotten in the rush to escape Dream. All they had were the clothes on their backs and whatever Wilbur happened to be carrying. The ghost floated in circles around the tree unhelpfully.
“Okay.” Tommy pulled his borrowed jacket off, then his shirt. As soon as he could, he put the jacket back on, noticing how much his teeth were chattering. The cold was already making it hard to use his hands precisely. The cloth of the old shirt was worn and ripped in places, it was almost fortunate. Tommy was able to tear a long strip off of it because of this very wear. He grabbed a handful of blue wool and pressed it against the hole in his leg. Air hissed through his teeth as he gritted them against the pain.
Tears flooded his eyes as he wrapped the wound as tightly as he could, tying the strip of cloth around it above his knee. He had to take a moment to breathe through the pain that overwhelmed him.
Tommy focused. He gripped the rest of the red and white shirt and looked down at Tubbo, evaluating how best to help his friend. Tubbo looked up at him lazily. Tommy knew he needed to put pressure on the injury, but he didn’t know where to start. He hovered his hands over Tubbo’s chest for a moment before pressing down as firmly as he dared.
Tubbo tensed and gasped for a few moments before stilling, tearing up from the pain.
“’m probably in… uh… shock? Yeah, that’s what it’s called.” Tommy bit his lip at the way Tubbo talked, pained and weak. “means it doesn’t hurt as much as it should… but uh, it’s not good…”
“What do I do Tubbo?” Tommy met his friend’s eyes, feeling tears drip down his face, warm against cold cheeks.
“Well,” Tubbo’s voice was almost too quiet to hear. “It’s real cold, we need to try and be warm. ‘n I’m more okay cause I’m not starved and stuff. But you gotta make sure you stay warm. An… we have to stay awake I think…”
Tommy nodded, then managed a slight grin through his chattering teeth.
“What should we talk about?”
Tubbo knew somewhere in the back of his mind that it wasn’t a good sign that he had stopped shivering. Something about hypo-something? Still, he was glad when the shaking stopped. He noticed Tommy seemed stiller too. His friend had almost nodded off several times, Tubbo was fighting to remain conscious.
Gotta stay awake.
Got to keep Tommy awake.
It was getting harder. Lethargy crept into every fiber of his body as the cold stole his energy.
It would be so nice to just close his eyes for a while and relax… surely a few minutes couldn’t hurt…
A cold hand brushed through his hair.
“Tubbo…” Tommy’s voice was strained. “Stay with me big man.” Tubbo forced his eyes open. For Tommy.
It felt like it was getting harder to breathe, Tubbo had to gather himself to speak.
“I’m here Tommy.” Tommy looked down at him, weakly smiling when Tubbo responded. It made Tubbo happy. Nearby another voice spoke.
“I’m here too!” Ghostbur was so cheerful it was almost funny. Tubbo didn’t have the energy to laugh.
“Yeah Wil, you’re here too.” Tommy sounded so tired, Tubbo wondered if he also wanted to take a nap. Just for a bit and—
No.
Remember, if Tommy sleeps, he will die and you will never see him again!
Tubbo squeezed Tommy’s hand where it rested near his side. Tommy stirred again slightly, squeezing back. Tubbo felt reassured. Tommy was still awake.
“Are you both…” Wilbur’s spectral form stilled, briefly flickering. “Are you okay?”
Tubbo sighed, his eyelids fluttered shut despite himself. He forced them open.
“No Wil, I’ve been telling you, we aren’t okay.” Tommy sounded exhausted. He had explained and asked and pleaded with Ghostbur already to no avail. The ghost just couldn’t seem to understand. Tubbo weakly turned his eyes to look at the falling snow. It was pretty.
When Wilbur was silent for a minute Tubbo just assumed he lost the train of thought, again lost in faulty memories, disjointed and confused.
“Are you dying?” Tubbo giggled a little, the renewed pain it caused made him gasp, but it was kinda funny. Now Ghostbur understands. Not that it matters.
Tommy responded for both of them.
“No! We are going to be fine, right Tubbo? If we stay awake, we can make it until morning, or the snow stops falling and you can go for help. Remember Wilbur, you’ve got to go get Phil once you can.” Tubbo looked back up at his friend. Tommy didn’t look like he believed it. Tubbo squeezed his hand again.
“I should go get Phil.” Ghostbur looked out into the snow.
Tommy sighed deeply. “No Wil, you can’t do that, remember? You melt.”
“Oh.”
The silence was nice and soothing. There was wind in the trees, but it didn’t bother Tubbo that much anyway.
It was getting darker. Tubbo couldn’t feel his hands anymore. He wondered if Tommy was squeezing them… The thought of his friend not getting a response made Tubbo sad enough to force his eyes back open.
Tommy was slumped overtop of him, eyes shut.
No, he can’t sleep. Tubbo tried to find the energy to speak.
“Tommy…” He worried his voice was inaudible.
Tommy’s eyes drifted open nonetheless. His once bright eyes looked dull, but he was awake. Tubbo saw his lips moving to form words he couldn’t hear.
Okay. Good. Tommy was awake. Tubbo was just letting his eyes shut again when there was movement over them both.
A yellow sweater and mop of brown hair came into view, Ghostbur hovered.
“You two are dying… I remember that.” Tubbo blinked heavily. He wondered if he would get to be a ghost. Probably not, Wil was really special. Nobody else Tubbo knew of had come back after a third death. Ghostbur looked uncharacteristically concerned.
“I’m going to get Phil.”
When the presence floated away, Tubbo tried to stay awake with Tommy.
Still the world faded from his senses.