Free Wings

CHAPTER 7

Karl pulled himself out of the swirls of green and purple, gasping for breath and looking around the secret bunker. Karl was a doctor for Dream’s castle, but he also had a secret he desperately tries to keep away from the king and everyone else. Pulling out his notebook he started scribbling down the changes in the future, how now Tommy wasn’t by Dream’s side when he took over everything, but now a lanky hybrid instead. Everything else was the same, his friends and family dead, kingdoms destroyed, fire and explosions going off everywhere, and confused citizens who didn’t know what was going on. All the same but that one detail. Everytime the future changes, something in the past makes that happen, that's why he goes to the future so often. 

The future is the way it is because of his king, Dream. He doesn’t like the ruler anymore, even if his fiance’s were close friends with the ruler. The green hooded man wanted to strike chaos onto their lands, and only with the help of time travel had his eyes opened. He shut the book after finishing, sticking it onto the bookshelf with the others, before taking his wrist watch off. Once the leather was undone the portal dissipated, the wall it usually mounts on looking as normal as any other wall. He huffs, wiping the grime on his face off before pulling a drawer open and stuffing the watch inside, shutting it and locking it back up with a key he had hung around his neck. 

No one could know about the powers he had been gifted, and he was determined to keep it that way. Once he locked the drawer though, questions started to plague his mind. Who was that hybrid that Dream stood by, and why did the creature seem so scared of the other? He’d never seen that hybrid before, so the fact that something in the present changed it from Tommy, to no Tommy, to this stranger worried the other. What had Dream done to change the future so fast? Karl was still trying to find a way to stop the other from succeeding, and slowly he thinks its working. Dream looked very beat up in this future, and looking into it he was on only one life. 

He’s getting closer to changing the future, but how much more did he need to do? His fists balled as he thought. Should he hunt this hybrid down? Should he look for Tommy? Should he try to take Dream out himself? The future was still not clear, but he hoped he could unmist it in time. 

Two days later. . .

Tommy stood in front of the Antarctic castle, soldiers around him still unpacking from the long journey. Technoblade stood beside him, laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Over the past few days he had slipped out of his denial, finally facing the truth head on. Though he still called his father Philza, the older avian seemed to not care too much about that detail. “Welcome home, Theseus.” Tommy scrunched his eyebrows up at the name. 

“I’ve told you before, Techno, my name is Tommy.” He shrugged his brother's hand off, still annoyed that his family called him that on occasion. Even Wilbur, who apparently remembered nothing about having a younger brother, would do it. Philza walked over to the two frowning boys, grabbing Tommy’s hand gently. 

“Even so, welcome home Tommy.” Tommy looked back up to the castle. It was a bit bigger than Dreams, yet still looked home-y in a way. This is where he was supposed to be raised? In the snow and ice? To Tommy, that didn’t actually sound too bad. He had always been fascinated by the snow, often sneaking off into the courtyards to play in the white fluffy crystals. “When we all get situated, I want to teach you how to fly.” This surprised the young blond, his head whipping over to the other with wide blue eyes. 
   
“You're going to teach me?” Philza nodded, a happy smile on his face seeing his lost son so happy about the idea. 

“Yes, after we get everything situated we’ll go out and work on your flying.” Tommy nodded in agreement, happy to finally learn how to use his wings for more than just combat. “Your room in the castle is the same though, it’ll take a few days to update it to the point you can sleep in it again.” Tommy nodded in understanding, but still wanted to know what his room had looked like in this castle. 

“Can I see the room?” Philza looked surprised by the question for a second, before nodding. 

“Follow me.” It didn’t take long for them to find said room, after walking a few halls they made it to the door. Philza pushed said door open, revealing an infant's room. The walls were silver and gold with hardwood floors, a few tubs of toys in the corner, along with a crib and small dresser. It was a simple room, but it still looked mesmerizing to the blond avian. “This was supposed to be your childhood room.” Tommy looked around, walking towards the crib before peering into it. A single stuffie sat inside the bed, making Tommy want to grab it. He did, reaching in grabbing the soft cow stuffie. 

“Why haven’t you disassembled the room?” Philza kept quiet, looking around the room himself. 

“I just guess I couldn’t bring myself to do it.” Philza smiled to himself. “After I lost you I would just come in here. It was in a sad way my escape from stress.” Tommy frowned at the explanation. "I closed this area off from others after the battle, actually." The two stood on the room quietly before Phil once again began to speak. “After everything is situated we’ll head out for flying lessons, ok?” Tommy nodded, still wandering the room with curious eyes. “Do you want to stay in here?” The avian looked over to see a fond smile on the blond's face.

“Yeah, I would actually.” Philza nodded before leaving to watch over the recovery of his soldiers. 

+ + +

Tubbo and Ranboo sat in a cave, the snow outside pelting down as they sat around the warm fire. They had a few more days to travel since they are not on horseback. Tubbo was sure the kidnappers and Tommy were back at the kingdom by now, but still they couldn’t keep going through the snow. Ranboo sat next to the other munching on a warmed up potato, both using the same huge fluffy green blanket they had been provided. “Snow is so pretty.” Tubbo said out loud. Ranboo turned to the other, curious. 

“Why do you say that?” Tubbo stopped for a moment, only now bringing the warmed up potato he held to his lips. After taking a bite and swallowing he answered. 

“My best memories are from times snow was involved. I met Tommy when it was snowing, I have a lot of great memories sledding too, and snowball fights were the best too.”  He smiled to himself, taking another huge chunk out of the potato. Ranboo looked out the mouth of the cave, staring at the snow with indecisive eyes. Blinking Tubbo thought for a moment as the other stared at the snow. “Have you never been out in the snow either?” It made some sense to Tubbo, since snow was just crystalized water. Tubbo frowned, already seeing the head shake coming. And there it was, he shook his head no still in a daze as he stared off into the whiteness. 

“It sounds cool though.” Tubbo nodded in agreement. He took another bit of his potato before asking a question that had been bugging him. 

“What type of hybrid are you?” The question seemed to startle the other hybrid. His red and green eyes raced down to meet his own. They both sat there staring at one another before Ranboo finally answered. 

“U-Um I’m an Ender hybrid.” Tubbo paused, looking into the others eyes to see if he was joking. When he saw no ounce of it being a false answer, more questions popped up. He would have heard if an ender hybrid had moved into the soldiers ranks, so where did this male come from? 

“You're not really a soldier, are you?” Ranboo looked defeated, like he had been found out. 

“No, I’m not. I’m Dream's brother.” Dreams brother? How? Tubbo wasn’t sure if he believed him or not. Dream had another brother? How was he not aware of this? 

“Dreams brother? How come I hadn’t heard of you before?” Ranboo looked into the fire, a glazed over look in his eyes. 

“He doesn’t like it when people see me. He keeps me hidden for my safety.” Ranboo finally answered, smiling as he looked over to the other hybrid. “He really does care about me, Tubbo. I am his brother.” The enderman hybrid looked away, his expression holding uncertainty as he talked. “I know he cares about me.” With that he looked away from the other again, Tubbo still confused looked at the dancing flames as he thought. Why did Ranboo look so lost as he spoke about Dream?