Short Stories/One Shots

6. Tommy's Anthem

"Look, it's my very hot girlfriend Dream." Tommy called out to his companion and gestured towards a wooden structure with a pumpkin head on top. "I bet you're jealous because you don't have a girlfriend." He smirked. His sunken and sad eyes glowing with mischief for only a slight second.

Dream looked less than impressed, "I don't do love." Was all he muttered. 

"Well you're still jealous, you don't even have any friends." Tommy continued, looking for an ounce of banter he had been deprived of for so long.

"Don't do friends."

"What do you want then Dream?" His curiosity filling the air.

"I'm only after success Tommy. I don't need a relationship for that." His words were serious.

"What about Gogy?" Tommy chuckled out, singing the nickname in a playful manner.

"I'll never soften my grip." Dream replied, clenching his fists ever so slightly. Tommy twirled around the makeshift girlfriend, arms extending and head tilted back to face the sky.

"Don't want cash, don't want card." He sung out, continuing to spin. "Want it fast, want it hard. Don't need money, don't need fame." He came to a halt suddenly. "I just want to make a change." His eyes suddenly filled with raw anger and pain as he glanced around the barren and empty area he had been exiled too. Dream took note of the immediate change to the atmosphere but didn't comment, knowing this happened fairly often to Tommy now.

The boy sank to his knees and his hands clawed at the grass as he repeated those words over and over. "I just wanna change."

After allowing him to let it all out until the words became muffled, Dream approached. "Tommy. Come on now, it's time to go to bed." He reached for the blonde boys arm who quickly backed away. His eyes searched once more as if looking for his sanity. That was long gone.

"I know exactly what I want and who I want to be!" Tommy shouted out before scrambling up. "I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine," he continued, pushing Dream away even further. "I'm now becoming my own self-fulfilled prophecy." His eyes darted to the nether portal.

"Theseus..." Dream whispered.

"Oh... oh no, oh no, oh no." Tommy began muttering repetitively again before striding to the purple structure.

"Tommy come on now."

"One track mind, one track heart. If I fail Dream, I'll fall apart." His steps began to get quicker and more desperate. "Maybe it is all a test," he said as he stood in front of his destination. Silence and sadness overcame him before he turned back to Dream.

"Cause I feel like I'm the worst so I always act like the best. If you are not very careful your possessions will possess you." He pointed a finger at the taller male who understood the reference to the disks. "TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal." His arms stretched out and gestured to the land around him as he spoke before once again the words got caught in his throat and "it has no appeal" was the only thing he could muster. He turned back to the nether portal and entered while muttering words to himself, Dream quickly following. 

He didn't stop quietly muttering to himself until he reached a plank of sorts, attached onto the nether rack path that lay above pits of lava. 

"I'm gonna live, I'm gonna fly..."

"Tommy step back." Dream spoke out sternly.

"I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna die." The boy had finally snapped and seemed to be battling his own mind.

"Tommy, I order you to step back."

"I'm gonna live Dream, I'm gonna fly." He seemed to be convincing himself.

"Phil told you that you won't have your wings until you're older,  you will fall." 

"I'm gonna fail, gonna die. Die. Die." The boys body began falling as Dream ran forwards and outstretched his arms. 

"Tommy!!" He screamed out.

Tommyinnit tried to swim in lava.