absence | bench trio (lore)

seven

Tubbo bolted toward the prison, skidding to a stop and gasping for air desperately. His calves ached and his body had been begging him to stop running, but he had kept going anyway. Despite the exhaustion he was feeling, he just hoped that he wasn't too late. He looked up at the orange torch light emitting from the stain-glass windows, then back down at the door. He wasn't sure what to do- had Tommy left? Had he just arrived? Who knows, had he even came here at all? Just as he was starting to think about the different possibilities, he heard footsteps coming out of the prison. He perked up, anxiously looking into the dark abyss of the doorway.

He saw two figures emerge from the shadows, one slightly taller than the other. He noticed a blonde head of hair and a glowing Netherite armor set. Sam and Tommy walked toward him, and Tubbo nearly panicked when he saw his best friend's appearance. He was crying more than Tubbo thought possible, and he had a black eye to match the bloodied rip in the sleeve of his shirt. Sam grabbed the back of Tommy's shirt and threw him to the ground with ease, as the blonde's legs were weak. Tubbo caught him and helped him to his feet, puzzled and shocked.

"Keep him out of trouble, will ya? He's a real handful-" Sam growled, stepping back into the shadows of the doorway. "But he's not my problem anymore, because he's never allowed back here again." And Sam walked away. Tommy let out another cry and Tubbo turned to him, trying to calm him down.

"What happened in there, boss man?"

"It's all my fault, again-"

"What?!"

"Tubbo, all I do is screw everything up, how am I supposed to-"

"Tommy, what the f-ck happened to you?!" Tubbo yelled, shaking his shoulders slightly. To his surprise, this worked. There was a tense silence, and Tommy hiccuped a few times, restraining sobs with all his might. But he wiped his eye on his arm and his expression became numb and hard.

"Ghostbur is dead," he muttered. Tubbo's eyes widened and his hands dropped from Tommy's shoulders to his sides limply. There was a loud silence, and Tommy's words seemed to echo in the dark skies that slowly dropped snow on the two boys. Tubbo knew what this meant, both the words themselves and the context behind them.

"W-what?"

-

Neither of them really knew if they were going the right way.

But they were almost hoping they didn't reach their destination.

Tears blurred the boys' eyes as they barreled through L'Manburg- their feet made strange clinking noises on the glass below them, and there wasn't exactly a low chance that it would shatter and give in, send them tumbling through the air into the ruins of the nation below. But they weren't aware, as usual. Oblivious, they were- but it sometimes benefited them.

Tommy suddenly skidded to a halt in front of Tubbo, causing him to crash into his shoulder and stumble backward. The brunette swallowed hard- it were almost as if he could still smell the smoke emitting from the button room, clogging his lungs, could still hear the explosions that only made his deafness in one ear and fear of loud noises even worse. But all of Tubbo's traumas aside, what was left of the room could send chills down anyone's spine, not just his own.

"This is it, right?" Tommy whisper-spoke, his voice cracking slightly.

"Yep."

"So, if I've thought this out right, he should be..." Tommy looked up from the ground and made eye contact with the man, standing in the center of the ruins. The man had fluffy brown hair with a significantly noticeable snow-white streak in the front, and sunken brown eyes that looked drained of all life. He held a cigarette in his mouth, and a few playing cards in his hand. If trauma were a person for the two youngers, this would be him. "Yep." Tommy breathed- "Right where he left off."