Mirrors . TommyInnit AU

2 - Skinny Dip In Rabbit Holes For Fun

note! while writing this, i noticed some phrasings can sound weird, but i assure you there is NO SHIPPING in this story, especially with Tommy 

Tommy woke up with a start. Warmth was wrapped around him, and he felt claustrophobia and panic settle in. Not here, no, not again, please. Please, take him back to the world of wings and powers and- and a Phil that cared and- please.

"Tommy?" A familiar monotone voice asked, an unusual amount of concern laced into his voice. Tommy's eyes shot open when a hand shook his shoulder lightly, and he jumped back, shouting in pain when he hit his head on a wall.

"Fuck, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please- SAM! SAM LET ME- let me- ou....t.." Tommy's voice lowered and his words became slower when he focused on his surroundings. Relief flooded through him when he was no longer encased in blackstone, but then embarrassment crept onto his face when he saw Techno and Phil in the room. "Oh. Oops."

"Sam? Who's..." Techno shot Phil a questioning look, who simply shook his head. What the hell is up with this world, can they READ MINDS, TOO? Tommy thought the worst thoughts he could possibly think towards them, huffing in half-disappointment when they showed no reaction. Maybe they just knew how to hide it.

"Stop squirming," Phil leaned over Tommy, reaching out almost hesitantly, brushing his hair to one side of his face. "You've opened the wound again."

"I-I did?" Tommy asked, but he was mainly puzzled on how worried Phil was. He still isn't used to the upside-down world where everyone was nicer- even himself. But not him, in a way. The Tomathy kid. 

"Listen, I know you're in shock right now, and before you ask, no we don't know how you're here. You aren't meant to be here, somehow a glitch sent you to a different world, and by the looks of it, you're supposed to be dead." Phil explained in a hurry, and Tommy found himself wondering how Phil knew these things.

"I am dead, this is some kind of afterlife, I bet." Tommy huffed, "Or shitty reincarnation. Or-," He stopped. Phil began gentle wrapping the wounded, bashed side of his head with bandages, allowing the boy to continue. "The revive book."

"Revive book?" Techno perked up at this. "What's that?"

"He- He has a book that can revive people- he claims it works a-and that he was going to show me b-but... I'm here. Does that m-mean that W-Wilbur and Schlatt are here, too?" Tommy was almost hopeful. He knew these men were poisoned, Wilbur having gone mad, and Schlatt being a shitty president and dying to his addiction, but it would comfort him somehow. He's sure of it.

"We... We have a Wilbur and Schlatt, but they're not from your timeline." Phil finished wrapping his head, moving to one of his arms. "Hold your arm out for me."

"Timelines? The fuck are- ow- those?" Tommy winced when Phil tenderly touched the area that his arm was hurt in. Dislocated? Broken? Maybe either of those, but he knew it wasn't natural and it hurt like hell.

"It's complicated." Phil wrapped Tommy's arm in the same stuff, but not as heavily layered. "Do you have any other wounds? Like, under your shirt or something?"

"Maybe one under- youch, yeah. Shirt, stomach- ow- holy shit." Tommy felt his chest and body through his shirt, wincing when he felt his stomach and ribs. Dream really treated him like a rag-doll. "Ribs, too- holy fuck."

"Could you take your shirt off? If you're not comfortable I understand-," Phil stopped talking when Tommy took his shirt off gingerly, immediately taking a deep breath in when he saw the wound. 

A deep wound, possibly from scratching, was etched into the boy's stomach. One thing Phil was relieved for, was how the boy wasn't too terribly thin, not like the Avian Tommy had been. Of course, his ways were fixed now, and he was healthier, but it was still good that he knew this was long after a harmful time.

"This is going to hurt, okay? I promise I'm trying to help you." Phil heard a shaky hum from Tommy, the boy already shutting his eyes tightly and gritting his teeth. He gingerly touched the wound, listening to Tommy take a sharp breath. "Sorry, sorry, I'm only assessing how deep it is. It's alright, I'd never hurt you for any reason that isn't health."

Phil plucked a feather from one of his wings, and Tommy couldn't help but stare. That mirror Phil had the same charred wing, the one his Phil had gotten when he shielded Wilbur from the L'Manberg explosion. Tommy then closed his eyes tightly again when Phil brought the feather to the wound. He felt a few sharp pricks, but it wasn't as bad as he had been expecting. When he opened his eyes, he gasped slightly when he noticed the wound was stitched. The fuck?

"Now, you said your ribs?" Phil asked, earning a small nod from Tommy. "Okay, this is going to hurt again."

Phil ran his hands lightly over the most damaged looking areas, occasionally pressing lightly, wincing when the boy and himself reacted. Taking a breath in, he stepped back. "Techno-," The powerless man looked up. "I'm going to go get some wood to make a temporary brace. Watch Tommy, will you? He isn't supposed to be alive, and he's lucky I saw to him before he bled out."

"Alright." Techno nodded, and Phil left the room. They sat in silence for a few moments, until Techno spoke up. 

"How many lives did you have?" Techno asked.

"What's it to you?" Tommy snapped, a worm of regret wiggling in his stomach. Techno in this universe is the exact same, but he wasn't corrupted by anger. 

"Well, I want to know some things. This world has unlimited, but if you died permanently, then that meant you didn't want to come back. Ever. We think that when you die, you'll become a ghost, and you'll have a chance to choose between perma-death or come back. We don't know for sure, though," Techno added when he saw Tommy's expression. "It's only happened once."

"With who?" Tommy asked hesitantly. Techno met his eyes for a moment, turning his head to the floor soon after.

"Someone. It's not important, now, you'll be on your way, soon." 

"But I want to know." Tommy pleaded, "Please? What can I do with the information, anyway?"

"Forget it, it's not important." Techno huffed.

"But-," Phil entered the room, holding what looked like a rib brace. It looked so strange, though. Instead of the soft wool Puffy made them from, it was made from wood. Stretchy, bendy wood. 

"But what?" The oldest asked, gesturing for Tommy to put his arms up, so that he could put it on.

"Techno won't tell me who died and came back when they decided they wanted to." Tommy pouted, hoping to pry the answer from Phil. The rib brace was slid onto his body, being cool to the touch, but also comfortable. He then put his shirt on.

"Oh, Tommy?" Tommy hummed, thinking Phil was asking him something. "Oh, no, I meant the Tommy from this world. He- he did some things, but now he's better, so it's not too important to know."

Oh, wow, Tommy thought. Another version of me has committed suicide. How many more are there, I wonder?

"The other me- what," Tommy wasn't asking, instead simply processing the information.

"So, how many lives did your world have?" Techno asked again.

"Three." Phil and Tommy both answered. Tommy shot Phil a strange look, and Phil's frame went tight and still, lips tight as if he just accidentally spilled a secret.

"Only three?" Techno asked, "So how many do you have now?"

"I don't- I don't know." Tommy shrugged. "I didn't lose my final one the way I swore I would, but- now I'm revived and have to live with the shame that I couldn't prove Technoblade wrong. The other one."

"There are more of us?" Techno asked, and Tommy nodded. "What exactly did you promise the other Techno?"

"He told me that if I wanted to be a hero," Tommy's stormy blue eyes met Techno's maroon ones.

"Then I'd have to die like one."