Tricks and Treats

4 - Poisoning The Mind

Tommy didn't remember how old he was. The sky was pitch black, and the horizon didn't exist. The ground Tommy stood on was a reddish orange, almost like clay. Tommy was wearing his L'Manberg uniform, holding the sword that Wilbur had given him at the beginning of the war. Tommy breathed in the scent of iron, chest laboriously rising and falling. Something warm and sticky was falling from Tommy's arm. When he looked down, blood was dripping from his shoulder onto the sword he held in his hands.

Bodies, piles of bodies that stretched across the landscape, were broken and destroyed in different ways. Tommy walked among the ghastly faces, unsure where he was going but knowing he needed to get there. All of a sudden, the bodies became livid, clutching at Tommy's boots to make him go slower. They were dragging him back. Tommy fought against them, but their ghostly hands started rising higher. Tommy began to run as claws dug into his neck, making it a lot harder to breathe. A hand grabbed at his head, pulling his hair to knock him back a step. Tommy's vision began to fill with people's faces, each one using their strength to pull him into the ground. Two hands covered his eyes, squeezing his face until he felt like his brain would shoot out.

The hands disappeared all at once. The bodies were gone. The sky turned into a mild orange, the same shade that surrounded sunsets. Tommy reached for the sky before he let his arm flop back down. Water splashed up, and Tommy realized he was floating in an endless ocean of reflected orange water. Tommy looked to all his sides, not a single landscape took shape. It was him, the sky, and the ocean.

The water became deeper. Tommy lost his balance, falling into the depths. Tommy looked around at the darkening water, waiting for something to happen. Was this his end? Was Tommy dying right now?

Someone grabbed Tommy, pulling him to the surface. Tommy took one deep breath, and his eyes flew open. He didn't know where he was. Tommy looked around. What he saw first was Awesamdude, and the rest was a pretty much empty room. It had all the basics with a picture hung on the wall of a moonlit lake. Tommy had never seen this place before but he knew Sam.

"Tommy! Thank god, you woke up," Sam said with a sigh of relief. Tommy stared at him with confusion. The slow drip of his memories leaked into his mind. Mining. Freya. Music. Someone. Captain Puffy. Helping. Treat. Niki. Darkness. Nothing. The dream. Waking up. Tommy sighed into his hands, body deflating from the tension that was starting to make his body ache.

"Hold on, buddy, before you go back to sleep, you need to drink some water," Sam said, opening a nearby water bottle for Tommy. The dirty blonde blinked at the drink. He took it slowly, watching the water swirl around. It was clear like water. It moved around like water. Placing the tip underneath his nose, Tommy found that it smelled like water, clean water. Tommy didn't want to trust the water, but he wanted to trust Sam. With a deep breath, Tommy took a slow sip of the water. With no immediate effects, Tommy gulped down the water until Sam told him to slow down.

"If you feel up for it, we can get something to eat," Sam said slowly, hesitantly. Tommy wondered why Sam acted like he was scared animal. Tommy swung his feet off the bed, standing up. He wished he hadn't when he became extremely dizzy. Sam caught Tommy as he started to tip over. Tommy took deep breaths, letting his eyes adjust. When he felt ready, he pushed off Sam to stand on his own. Sam nudged Tommy forward, pushing gently against him to guide Tommy to the kitchen. "Sit down, bud, I'll fix your plate."

Tommy, again, didn't want to trust the situation. However, if Sam wanted him dead, poisoning his water or killing him in his sleep would have been easier.

Tommy looked around. He had been to Sam's fortress before, but it amazed him every time he saw the huge ceilings inclining in like the mountain outside. The spacious kitchen reminded Tommy of a fancy restaurant, one where they cooked hundreds of meals per day. Where people need full walk in closets to house food and had three huge fridges. Tommy imagined Sam Nook running a restaurant, charing people outrageous prices for a leaf. Tommy giggled at the thought.

Sam looked over his shoulder when he heard the laughter. Tommy sat facing him on a barstool, leaning against the granite island as he giggled. Sam smiled at the thought, knowing that the innocent laugh didn't come from Tommy imagining pranks or women or anything of the sort. It was the laugh of a young child.

Sam didn't know how he forgot it. How anyone forgot the basic fact. Tommy was 16. He was a child despite his protesting. Tommy could be strange at times, but people always forgot the child part of man-child. Sam swore he would help Tommy remember his youth, and the joys that came with being young. That was a promise he swore to the Church Prime gods.

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A/N
Short but I like it.
Should next chapter be:

Captain Puffy confronting Niki

Or

Tommy meeting Gogy, Sapnap, and Karl (who live with Sam according to the wiki)