Promises you couldn't keep (Dream SMP)

Court, Tommy style.

A month later, a trial began.

For Tommy, it seemed more like his execution.

He was going to go up there, show everyone his broken legs, tell them everything. And he was terrified, for he knew, if he said the wrong thing, that he could end up right back in Dream's clutches.

And he would never make it out again.

Techno, he wanted Techno. He'd been staying with a sweet couple named Mr. Skeppy and Mr. Badboyhalo. While they were nice, Tommy liked them, he missed Techno. While Techno had visited sometimes, it wasn't the same.

Tommy zoned out for the whole formal part of the trial, waiting for his name to be called to talk. Techno gave him a reassuring look from behind the desk, but Tommy was still nervous. He panicked through the entire trial, when two people named George and Sapnap came up and said shit about how Dream was always a little violent but they couldn't believe that he would do something like this. Schlatt, Ranboo, Techno, and Phil all came up and testified what they saw, then it was Tommy's turn.

After being sworn in, Tommy took the stand. He looked down at his hands, not sure what else to look at. Techno was fidgeting and Dream was eerily still, smiling at Tommy, while Phil looked like he wanted to rip that smile off.

Techno's attorney, Tommy met him once, Quackity, stood in front of Tommy. "Hey, bud." he said. "I'm just going to ask you a few questions, okay?"

"O-okay." Tommy stuttered. His stomach was flip flopping everywhere.

"How long have you lived with the defendant?" Quackity asked.

"You mean Dream? Fiveish years." Tommy answered.

"How old were you when you came into his care?"

"Five."

"Did he give you any implications of having any other kids inside the house?"

"No. Only that I wasn't allowed in the room he kept Tubbo in. I didn't know why."

"I see." Quackity walked a few steps. "As sorry as I was, we were not able to include the kidnapped victim in our witnesses. He is still too unwell for this, and his parent didn't want to stress him out when he should be healing. However, I have an audio recording of the little boy reaccounting his... struggles is putting it lightly." He pressed play.

"What's your name?"

"Tubbo."

"What happened to you, Tubbo? That day, the last six years, everything."

"When I was five I had about a two minute walk from my bus stop to my house. This man, Dream, pulled up in a c-car and he told me to get in, that it wasn't safe, that daddy asked him to drive me home."

"And then?"

"H-he went the wrong way. I told him and he s-slapped me. I stayed quiet. He t-told me w- we were going to be a new family, I told him no. I told him to take me back, that I didn't want this. He kept hitting me until I finally passed out. When I woke up I was in a bed and Dream was above me. He apologized, gave me a stuffed bee, and told me everything was okay now. I didn't believe him."

Tommy was shocked. That bee! The one sitting in his backpack right now, was that Tubbo's?

"For a year we went on like this, me messing up and him beating me."

"Beating you how?"

"H-hitting me, kicking, sometimes even breaking my ribs, he threw me across a room once. Then, one day, he told me someone was coming to replace me, and shoved me into the room I'd woke up in. I stayed there for f-five years. Dream sometimes feeding me. Then, for two weeks, I had no food. I was already mal- mal- malnourished and I passed out. I woke up in the hospital with my daddy. I missed him. He was the only person who loved me in the world. And he's what kept me going. I di- didn't want to die without him seeing me, one more time."

Quackity stopped the recording. "Tommy, did Dream ever beat you?"

"Yes. He would hit me, kick me until I was bleeding, throw me across rooms, he starved me sometimes, these were his punishments. If I did something wrong he'd beat me and starve me and when I r-ran away he got me back and he b-broke my ankles with what I think was a c-crowbar. He chained me up to a bed and I was starved for two weeks." Hearing Tubbo's bravery made Tommy brave enough to not fear Dream anymore, to say what had happened.

Technoblade could do nothing but stare at Tommy. He wanted to leap up and kill Dream, police be damned, but he could only sit there as cold horror and shock trickled through his body. (Another unintentional change in POV)

"I- I was never sure if Dream was my friend." Tommy murmured nervously. "He would always tell me that no one else loved me, that he was the only person that cared about me. When I ran away I learned that Techno, Phil, Ranboo, Schlatt, and my friend Fundy care about me."

"Thank you, Tommy. Your honor, no further questions." Quackity took his seat. The defense judge stood up. "We have a few questions to ask," he said.

"So, Tommy." he murmured in a seemingly friendly tone. "Did Dream ever seem sad to you?"

"N-No?" Tommy said questioningly. He didn't expect the question. When you say something, say it clearly. Quackity had advised. "No." Tommy repeated. "He wasn't one for emotions."

"So he didn't show emotions at all?" the attorney asked.

"No, not really. Like, he'd say he was sorry but he never really looked like he was sorry. Or when I would cry he wouldn't show any emotion." Tommy flinched, this wasn't his thing to tell.

"Okay... why would you cry, Tommy?" the attorney asked.

"B-because Dream would beat me." Tommy said. "A-and it really hurt."

"Ah, I see. So he never showed any remorse or emotion when beating you?" the detective repeated.

"No." Tommy repeated.

"Thank you." The attorney said. He turned towards the jury. "Jury, my client is not the monster you think he is. He is an innocent victim in his own mind, just like the boy you heard and the boy you see before you. His inability to feel emotion due to a troublesome pass has caused him to not understand that hurting someone was bad. He was merely.... Experimenting on the children to figure out how to feel again. If you throw my client in jail, it would not be because of abuse, you would instead be punishing him for being a curious human incapable of understanding the feelings and emotions of others. And if we punish him for being human, where does it end?"

Tommy looked at the jury, seeing the emotions in their eyes. He'd gotten good at seeing other's emotions since he'd been looking for Dream's for so long. Some of them were unchangeable, on his side. The others were seemingly conflicted, maybe siding with Dream. But Tommy couldn't go back there, never again.

"We'll have a fifteen minute recess while the jury decides." the judge was saying.

"Wait!" Tommy cried. He wasn't sure where this sudden burst of panic was coming from but he fed into it, letting it consume him. He couldn't go back to Dream! "I- I can't go back there!" Tommy pleaded. "Please! He'll kill me. He'll kill me. He beat me and w- whipped me but Techno, Techno is so nice and I- I want to be with him. He's my family and he's nice to me. I love him. I've never loved Dream, and Dream's never loved me."

When Tommy said that, he knew, deep down, that it was true. It was very very true. Dream had never never loved him. Not even when he said it, all those times, Dream wasn't his friend. Dream had hurt him, over and over again. Friends don't hurt their friends.

"Techno's my friend, he's my brother! He and I are the same, we love each other. He and I like pineapple on pizza, even if Fundy and Phil call us crazy. I can't live without him. H- he kept me safe. Dream never did. Dream's not... incapable of feeling, he just doesn't. He refuses to. Techno lets me cry and break things and doesn't get mad no matter how many times I step on broken glass and not learn to be careful. Techno and I love each other. I want to be with my brother.

Tommy struggled to breathe. He was panicking, he knew that, this wasn't the first time. Tommy also knew he was rambling. He struggled to take a deep breath and his guardians, Bad and Skeppy, led Tommy away from the courtroom. "I wanna go home." Tommy whimpered.

"If this is too much for you, we don't have to stay." Skeppy said gently.

"I miss Techno." Tommy whispered.

Bad picked Tommy up and let him cry for about fifteen minutes.