Falling • OriginSMP TommyInnit

18 - It Wont Let Go

wait guys on the discord server, should i write the bonus of tommy being dragged away in this story?

"Help?" Tommy laughed dryly. "As if! The first time you met me, you called my class shit!"

"I had just come back from Hell, give me a break." Jack rolled his eyes, his blaze rods floating around him more tightly packed.

"No." Tommy huffed, turning away. His wings curled around him, almost as if protecting him. He stared blankly at the dried blood on the ground, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Why not?" Jack asked, taking a step towards the boy.

"Because if you're seen with me, you'll be in danger." Tommy said. "Also, you're kind of an ass."

"What? I'm not a fuckin' ass, you're the ass! Also, what do you mean I'm in danger if I'm seen with you?" Jack asked, squinting. Tommy lifted an eyebrow, letting Jack work it out by himself. When he did, the older inhaled sharply. "Wilbur won't hurt me again, not if I act like I can't see you."

"And how exactly is that meant to work out?" Tubbo cut in. "If you're seen with Tommy at all, Wilbur's gonna be suspicious. He'll take Tommy and think you two weren't talking, or he'll realize and expose all of us. Then Phil will be force feeding us meds! Sneak it into our food, he will." 

"Exactly." Tommy tipped his head in Tubbo's direction. "Even if we did manage to hide the fact that you can see me, I'd be taken constantly. As far as Wilbur knows he's doing me a favor, instead of letting me be sad and gloomy that you can't see me."

A gust of cold air rolled through the narrow tunnel as he spoke, the soothing scent of possible rain smoothing Tommy's feathers. Jack shivered, his blaze rods glowing white where the faint water had whisked by him for a few moments.

"Yeah, it won't work if you don't cooperate." Jack rolled his eyes, "Come on, surely you know how to hide the fact that you're having a conversation? Talk quietly, or talk as if talking to yourself and describing things while secretly passing information on?"

Tommy and Tubbo stared blankly at Jack. "What?" They said in unison. 

"You're joking." Jack looked at them funny. "Seriously?"

"Maybe?" Tubbo asked. 

The three stood in silence for a few moments, until the clap of thunder overhead startled them. Tubbo yelped, instinctively clinging to Tommy. The Avian Origin rolled his eyes, but wrapped a comforting wing around the boy. Jack winced, knowing thunder meant rain, and rain meant water, and water meant pain. He was lying when he said it was tolerable, it still hurt like hell.

"This cave doesn't stretch much deeper, and I don't have my tools." Tubbo took a step back as the sound of the sky ripping open and rain pouring down surrounded them. "Tommy, is the other cave much longer?"

"Um." Tommy froze for a moment, dropping his gaze to the ground. "No."

"His wings are twitching, he's lying." Tubbo read his friend easily. "To the other cave we go."

"Wait!" Tommy grabbed Tubbo's sleeve. The older turned, giving him a confused look that told him to go on. "I don't- You shouldn't- uh. You shouldn't go down that path."

"Why not?" Jack glanced past Tommy, to the blood dried onto the stone. He knew the boy didn't have the best history in this cave, but he didn't know it went so far. The boy had jumped off of a cliff and mangled his own wings, yeah, but if only Jack had known that the reason he respawned so often...

"It's just- um, there's alot of skeletons." Tommy shrugged. "It uh- there's- um, it's not safe."

"We can handle a little danger, can't we?" Jack looked at Tubbo, who was staring blankly at Tommy. By now, the Avian had pulled out a particularly blue cornflower and was beginning to shred it, tearing off the petals and slowly stripping the stem.

"It's not that kind of," Tommy's voice died down near the end of it. "It's just- I'm not going back there. Never again."

The rain only protested, seeming to roar louder and throw the trees in anger. A few trickles of water ran into the cave, slowly but surely filling it. Not to mention the wind-carried rain that soaked their clothes.

"Tommy, I know you don't want to," Tubbo started in a different tone. It was hushed and gentle, as if coaxing a wild animal. "But we have to. If we don't we're only going to freeze to death. And I know you'd rather be dry, I can tell so by the way your wings flick water off of them every three seconds."

Tommy closed his eyes, his wings coming to a halt. They still trembled slightly, but not enough to be too noticeable. From far away, at least. "I'm not doing it."

"Tubbo's gone." Jack called from up the cave. "Have fun freezing!"

"WHAT?" Tommy's eyes snapped open and he was instantly animated in a few seconds. "WAIT! WAIT! LET ME HIDE SOME THINGS FIRST, GUYS!"

"Only if you can catch up~!" Jack sang, clearly more distant.

"SHIT, FUCK YOU GUYS!" Tommy was immediately running to the top of the cave, sliding across the fork in the path. Literally. He nearly fell. He caught up to Tubbo and Jack before they had entered the cave (in his blind state he didn't realize they were actually waiting for him) and ran past them, eyes darting around the  room.

Oh god, it was awful. 

Oh god.

Sharp, carved rocks were covered in blood at the tips, and puddles of dusty, dried, old blood smeared across the floor. Tommy thanked himself silently that he hadn't shaken his wings out just yet, lifting one of his backwings and squeezing it over a puddle. It stung a little, but water dripped from each feather, wetting the dried blood.

Grabbing one of the rocks, he scraped it across the floor, smoothing it until the blood was no longer visible. The boy did this probably several times or more, being surprisingly quick. The cave looked... almost better. It wasn't covering anything up very well, but at least it was cleaner. 

"OKAY." Tommy called flatly, letting his expression show how pissed he was at his friends. What an asshole move. 

Tubbo and Jack entered the room, Tubbo poorly trying to hide how he looked around the room curiously, eyes darting for any evidence of what he had done. Jack, on the other hand, wasn't afraid to show that he was looking all over. In fact, he was so interested, that he slipped. Tubbo caught him, but his eyes were focused on Tommy's squeeze-dried wings, looking into the avian's eyes. It didn't take a detective to understand what Tommy did to clean the room, and it didn't take a detective to see he didn't like it here.

"Better than the storm," Tubbo muttered once Jack had wandered a little ways away. 

"Better than the storm." Tommy agreed quietly, his wings tucking tightly into his body. He closed his eyes, hugging himself, releasing when the older boy wrapped his arms around him. He let out a mewl of surprise and protest, but didn't push Tubbo, now hugging him tightly, instead returning the hug.

"Better than the storm."