Ink Stains (MCYT Oneshots)

[R] A Task From The Gods (Tommy-centric)

(A/N: request as a pic. I'm afraid I couldn't include the last bit, but everything else is sort of here!
cw for religion (prime)?? for anyone who has religious trauma, or just doesn't like to read anything to do with religion)

"Kid? Oi, wake up already!"

"Stop it! He's already been hurt enough!"

"I'm not even touching him, what do you mean-"

Everything hurt. Tommy could barely move his body, every nerve in his body felt like they were on fire — there was a word for it, he was pretty sure. Overstimulation? — and the voices speaking from everywhere and nowhere in particular were definitely not helping with it.

"Shh, he's waking up!"

His eyes cracked open, although it did take considerable effort to do so. Hands lifted him up to a seated position, with pillows behind him.

There were two other people in the void he had found himself in. The two of them only looked vaguely humanoid. One wore an outfit of purple and white, the colours of Tommy's religion, while the other was dressed more simply, with a colour scheme of dark brown, red and green.

"Are you alright?" the first one asked, worry clear in their voice. The second scoffed.

"What do you think?" they asked, voice full of sarcasm.

"Well I was just asking, you don't have to be so rude."

"You were rude to me first, you dick!"

"As if! You lying piece of fuck!"

They... really were acting like bickering siblings.

Was Tommy hallucinating?

Tommy tried to speak, but all that came out was a series of harsh coughs that rattled his form. A cup of water was shoved into his hands, and he greedily and gratefully drank all of it.

"Are you alright now, Tommy?" the first one asked.

Tommy nodded. "Who...?"

"Call me Blood, for simplicity's sake," the second one said bluntly. "I'm the Blood God, obviously."

Blood must've seen the widening of his eyes, because they sighed, and continued, "And before you go on about whatever rumours the mortals have spread about me, let me clear them up. As the Blood God, I'm more of a god of... survival, or life. The hunter will draw blood when hunting their prey, true, but the hunted will also draw blood in order to survive or save the lives they care about. That's what I'm the god of: blood."

Blood's speech was... dramatic. The first figure huffed, and shoved them, making them yelp.

"And I'm Prime," the first figure said gracefully, and Tommy almost choked on air.

"You-!" this was... Prime? The god that he followed? "You know..."

"Of course I know of you," Prime said. "I remember all of my priests."

"Even if-" Tommy's voice cracked, not being able to finish his sentence. Prime seemed to get what he meant, though, because they smiled.

"I've never needed a physical show to know of your devotion," they explained gently. "It was not your fault that you couldn't pay your homage."

Tommy could only nod. "I... but then why...?"

"Why are you doing here?" Prime finished for him. "Well, it has something to do with the man who had taken all three of your lives."

"The other option was for you to help him, but She threatened to cut us off from our inheritance if we went that route," Blood huffed, and while Tommy was trying to figure out what they meant by that, Prime continued.

"Long story short, we'd like you to help us in taking down Dream-Was-Taken," they said.

...what?

"I- that's what I've been trying to do," Tommy muttered. "Is- is it only because..."

Of course the gods wouldn't have decided to save him solely because he was himself. But it was fine; he wanted Dream to just- to just stay away from him, anyway; having the help of the two gods would be good.

"Dream has gotten too arrogant," Prime responded. "It was like that myth about... Icarus? Or at least, about the boy who flew too close to the Sun. There was a reason why, as gods, we had separated ourselves from mortals. And right now, Dream is toeing the line; if he continues along this path, we'll have to take drastic measures. Not only to him, but to the whole world as well, due to the volatile nature of the resurrection book."

"Obviously, we'll be giving you some boosts to help you out," Blood said dryly. "You won't be able to defeat him otherwise. We'll be communicating with you through all of this as well."

"Blood!" Prime snapped. Then, their voice softening, they turned back to Tommy, who was still half-convinced that he was on some sort of acid trip. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

"...what happens now?" he asked. "How will I get back?"

"Simple," Prime clapped their hands. "We'll revive you, from a gift She had given us. Then, we'll give you further information."

"We're counting on you," Blood huffed, though the undertone of fondness was clear to everyone around.

Something white came out of Prime's hand, and slowly, the white enveloped everything, including Tommy's vision.

Then, pain.

(With all of that, Tommy never realised that he hadn't actually accepted their proposal.)