Oh, We Can Be Heroes

Chapter Nine

TW: Self Harm (nothing vivid just conversed) and Suicide Ideation

Alex's biggest fear was bees. This made Sam laugh, especially the first time Alex had come over. Sam was, of course, a beekeeper. So when he told Alex about his hobby, and was met with the boy almost crying, he was shocked to say the least.

"I need to do something like exposure therapy or something. A fear of bees is such a bitch boy move. I literally survived a cult and you have powers. And my biggest fear in life is fucking bees?! Not happening." Sam laughed, shaking his head.

"Sure, we can try at least. I can't promise you it'll work, but you can wear the suit Tubbo uses when he helps." Alex nodded, then shifted his focus to Tommy walking to the table they all sat at the day prior. Tommy had his earbuds in, and seemed dazed.

Alex looked at Sam, with a questioning gaze. "What's wrong with him? Did something happen?" He whispered it, even though he was sure Tommy wouldn't even respond.

"I don't know, Tubbo may have mentioned it? Eret was complaining about something, so I had my headphones in." Alex shrugged, and the two continued the conversation on bees. They would try to include Tommy when they could, but never got a response.

They planned for that night to get Alex over his fear.

-

Tommy had no idea how far away he'd gotten, but he had reached a point where the noise was loud and he was being overwhelmed. He gasped, trying to grasp onto any breath his body allowed

I need water. I need to find water. He tried his hardest to look, but between the winter winds and the blood loss from that day, it was a challenge.

"No, Thomas. You need to repent!" His father boomed. He turned to his father, and shook his head.

"No, I don't. I already did today. I haven't done anything wrong." On some random luck, he was able to find a spring of water (it was just starting to freeze over) and began to drink from it.

Nobody remembered that Tommy was 16, and his first thought right now wasn't to purify the water.

"Thomas, the blood god isn't happy! You're living with these traitors. You need to repent to be forgiven!" Tommy flinched at the tone of his father, no matter if he was alive or dead.

"How am I being a traitor? I haven't celebrated any holiday that's for another god or even interacted with any other religion. I've stayed dedicated to him, just not as intense as you! Why should I repent for doing what's right?" His father shook his head in disappointment, and looked one last time at his son.

"You are smarter than that, Thomas. I taught you well. Use that intellect." He started to fade away, for after all he was just an hallucination.

"Dad no, don't leave! Please! I'll repent, don't leave me alone!" He tried to grab onto him, but he was too late.

He was alone, stuck in a forest in the middle of winter.

-

Time is a tricky thing, is it not? It's something that us, as humans, have a difficult time explaining because we cannot comprehend just how it works. We understand the simple concept that as time passes, we age, and one day our bodies die, and in turn we die. But that's just the start of the story and the end. What about the middle?

Time works in weird ways. A person's entire life can change in the matter of an hour. Look at Tommy's. Not even two chapters ago he was making friends at school, Connor finally making him laugh over the nicknames. Now, we're here. He's stabbed Technoblade, grown a mountain out of nowhere, and now is hiding in a forest. He doesn't even know who he's hiding from! Is he hiding from Phil? Phil has shown multiple times he wouldn't hurt him, so it couldn't be him.