In the Shadows We Fight (for justice and ourselves)

Why did you come to me?

Tommy normally felt like shit, but that day was really trying to surpass his previous records. It was for this reason that Tommy went to the cafe that he met Tubbo, Ranboo, and Purpled at before his normal time of 12 in the morning. It was a subconscious decision because Tommy didn't know he was there until his feet stopped moving in front of a glass door. Tommy was tempted to leave before anyone saw him, but his body ached at the thought of walking any more distance than he already had. He pushed the door open before his brain could overthink the situation. All he wanted was a hot chocolate. He could handle if the others were there, even if he wasn't in the mood for smalltalk. Tommy was even sure that he was tired enough to deal with Sam.

Niki was standing at the counter with her lips pressed into a firm line. Tommy stared at her for a few minutes. If he had doubts about ordering here, they were multiplied considerably. Niki did not look like she ready to perform customer service. In fact, Tommy thought she looked sick. Her cheeks had sunken in, and her eyes had gone dull. There was a paleness to her skin and near unnoticeable tremble in her hands that Tommy couldn't look away from. His heart clenched between his bruised ribs, and he walked up to the counter slowly. Even if he understood that something was wrong with Niki, he didn't know how to fix it. Did he ask her if she was okay when she was so obviously not? Did he try to pry into what had upset her so? Did he pretend like everything was normal, asking for the hot chocolate he came there for?

"Oh, hey, Tommy. I haven't seen you around in the past few days," Niki said after a few long moments of silence stretched between them. Tommy opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it when no sound would escape his throat. He was bad with people, and that social awkwardness didn't get any better when his body was bruised all over. When Niki didn't get a response, she merely continued talking like she had never stopped. "You probably don't know that this is my last night here. Tomorrow, Sam will be looking for a new cashier to work the night shift. I hope he warns them about how wild you and your friends can get."

Tommy ignored how Niki called the other three his friends (were they?) in favor of mentally processing the words she said before. This was her last night working? Niki was a staple of this place! Tommy may have been to the cafe only a few times, but Niki was part of that experience. If she wS gone, who would smile kindly at Tommy when he ordered? "No. Wait. What the fuck? You can't- I mean, you can but why- what the hell, Niki? Why?"

Niki laughed softly, humorlessly. Her voice was emotionless and tired as she talked, fingers intertwining and coming apart in a rhythm. "Something happened. My friend... was... well, I don't know. He's gone. I'm... I just... I needed a change of pace. I have a new job with a company. I was told to start as soon as I can. When I talked to Sam about it, he said he would let me shorten the two week notice to a few days. Tomorrow morning, I leave for the mountain distract."

"You're going to the fucking Arctic District? Niki, that place is owned my the Blade, himself. That is one of the scariest distracts. I'd say only Pogtopia beats in term shittiness," Tommy said, his hands hitting against the counter. The Essempei was divided into distracts that have owners or rulers. Most were heroes like how Unfound owned the Greater distract and the Minotaur owned Snowchester. Some places, however, were owned by villains or vigilantes. Banshee left his mark on Pogtopia, and Croupier joined forces with Ankh to make Las Nevadas distract. The most notorious and longest standing distract, however, was the Arctic. It was founded by the Blade in the mountain region north of Essempei. It didn't have much in the way of a population, but it was one of the mightiest distracts due to the simple fact of the Blade protecting it. A lot of rumors surrounded the Blade, none of which Tommy believed all that much, but the one thing he did know was that the Blade was dangerous. He had the scars to prove it. And Niki was going right into his territory.