ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴍʏ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ | ᴀɴ ᴇᴅᴅsᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ғᴀɴғɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ (ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ!)

【24】

As soon as they entered the garage, Matt tied Tom up and assisted to Edd's wounds. Tom strained, trying to free himself from the strength of the ropes. "Let me fucking go!" he shouted. Edd sighed. "Make sure that rope is tight." he said, turned to Matt. Matt nodded and tightened the ropes. Tom struggled. "Tom listen-" Edd said, being cut off by Tom. "No! Never! Not after you did this to me!" he shouted. "Did what?" Edd asked.
"Don't play dumb with me!"
"Okay, first of all, stop screaming. Second, what did I do to you?"
Tom stayed silent. Edd stared at him and sighed. "You did this to me." Tom repeated quietly, "You ripped out my eyes and gave me this. You forced me to be like this just so you could throw me away." Edd gasped slightly. "Wha-Who told you this? I would never do something like that!" he exclaimed. Tom turned and looked away from Edd. "Red Leader told me. He found me in a science lab where you left me." he replied. Edd scoffed. "That's a lie!" he exclaimed, "Tell me you don't believe this-you can't actually believe this!"
"Everything Red Leader tells me is true."
"No! No it's not! It's like he's got you under some kind of..."
Edd trailed off, staring at Tom closely. Tom stared back. A nasty scowl on his scarred face. Edd certainly didn't like that. What happened to Tom? His Tom. Edd sighed. Tom huffed. "Tom, listen to me." he started, "I need you to snap out of it. You've done it before and you can do it again. It's me, Edd. Or James, whatever you wanna call me. Please Thomas, I need you back. We need you back. No lie Tord tells you is true. Do you remember anything?" Tom's expression softened. He sighed and slowly shook his head. "I took you in remember?" Edd asked, smiling softly, "When you came to my house and-and you didn't have a place to go." Tom sat still for a second. He mumbled something under his breath. "What?" Edd asked. Tom looked up at Edd. "Like... brothers?" he muttered even louder. Edd nodded. "Yeah." he replied. Tom shook his head.
"You're lying. Y-You have to be."
"Thomas, I know you believe me. I can tell with that look on your face."
"N-No. I don't believe you."
"Tom-"
Edd paused when Matt placed his hand on his shoulder. "He's gone." Matt said, "Let's kill him and get it overwith." Edd scoffed. "No!" he exclaimed, "What's wrong with you?" Matt smiled. "A lot of things." he answered. Edd shook his head. He stood up and took a small glance at Tom. Tom stared at the ground. Edd sighed sadly and walked away. Tom looked up at Edd. He thought about what he said. Red Leader would never lie to him. Right? Red Leader loved him.

Unless he didn't.

Paul sighed and looked at the other soldiers. "Did you find at least any trace of them?" he asked. "No sir." one of the soldiers answered. Paul sighed. He knew Red Leader would be furious. Especially since he lost Tom as well. "Let's head back to the base." Paul instructed. "We will continue tomorrow." The soldier nodded. "Yes sir." he replied
"You fucking lost them!?" Tord shouted. Paul nodded. "Y-Yes sir Red Leader sir." he answered. Tord slammed his hands on the desk. "I knew I should not have trusted him." he mumbled. He looked back at Paul. "Do you know what you have just done!?" he shouted. Paul looked around nervously. "No sir..?" he answered. Tord clentched his teeth. "You dumbass!" he screamed. He sat back down in his chair and rubbed his temple. "Red Leader sir?" Paul called. Tord looked at him. "Go." he said, "I do not wish to deal with you right now." "Yes sir Red Leader sir." Paul answered, saluting. He turned around to leave when Tord called him. He turned back around slowly. "Yes sir Red Leader sir?" he asked. "Jeg degraderer deg." Tord stated. Paul gasped quietly. "Sargent Patryk will be taking your place." Tord finished. Paul sighed quietly. "Y-Yes sir Red Leader sir.." he replied. Tord pointed to the door. "Out. Now." he ordered sternly. Paul swallowed hard. "Red Leader sir?" he called once again. Tord groaned. "What?!" he exclaimed.
"Thomas wanted me to tell you somehing."
"Make it quick."
"Han sa at hvis han ikke kom tilbake..vel..han elsker deg."
Tord paused. Did he? Tord shook the thought out of his head. "Go." he said. Paul nodded and rushed out. Tord sighed. He took out the photo of him and Tom. Looking back at it made Tord's heart hurt. He needed to forget about that. “I thought we were friends!” “Hah no! Who needs friends when I have this?!” Those distant memories didn't feel so distant anymore. Everything he wanted to forget, he needed to forget, was coming back. The start of it all. All of it was Tord's fault. He quickly opened one of the drawers and snatched his bottle of pills. There were only two left and Tord took them anyway. He groaned and lied his head on the desk.

The next day, Edd tried to get through to Tom again. He crouched down in front of him and smiled. "Hi." he greeted. Tom spit in his face. Edd wiped his face on Tom's shirt and stood up. "Ikke prøv å friste meg med den dritten. Jeg vet at rød leder har rett, så du kan like godt slutte å prøve." Tom said. Edd shook his head. "Okay, let's not do that. I can't understand you." he said. Tom sighed. A heavy silence loomed across the room. Edd rubbed the back of his neck. He took a deep breath and stared into Tom's virtual “eyes.” Which made his eyes sting because of how bright they were. "Do you not remember? Anything? We all went to the same school, shared stories, told secrets and all that. You can't just not remember." Edd said. Tom's expression softened. "There...There was a photo." he muttered under his breath. "What?" Edd asked. Tom looked up at Edd.
"There was a photo. Of me and Red Leader. O-Or someone who looked like me. He hid it and told me it was nothing to worry about."
"What did it look like?"
"..I was holding him, kissing his right cheek."
Edd paused. He was what now? Though he and Tom were long since through, he couldn't help but feel a small bit of jealousy at the bottom of his heart. He decided to brush that to the side however, he continued to speak. "You don't remember taking that photo? Like, at all?" he asked. Tom shook his head. "I don't know if that's me. Or someone who looks like me." he replied, "Are you sure that what you're saying is true? I believe Red Leader but..when I remembered the photo and what you said, I'm not so sure what to think anymore." Edd placed his hand on Tom's shoulder reassuringly. "You can trust me." he replied. Tom hung his head and sighed sadly. Edd lifted his head by his chin. "Hey.." he spoke softly. Tom gave him a worried look. The two stared at each other for what seemed like forever until Tom felt a soft pair of lips against his own. Pulling away, Edd smiled slightly. "Edd?" Tom called. "Yeah?" Edd answered.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
Edd hugged Tom and pat his back reassuringly.

"You're okay."