Duchenne (DSMP Superhero AU)

Chapter 26

Theseus floated through the streets of district 6, humming to himself. It seemed like a good day, the sun was high in the sky and Techno had promised to take him to spy on the heroes later that day. Theseus had been a vigilante for about a week, and in that time he had gained the support of most of L'manburg. He had noticed in particular that the LGBTQ+ people of the city loved to wave and call out to him as he was patrolling, asking for pictures or high fives.

"Babe look, it's Theseus!"

He glanced down at the sidewalk to see a girl hugging the arm of her lover, pointing at Theseus with a big grin. He floated down, landing in front of them. He waved, the girl grinning and waving back. Her lover rolled their eyes, tugging her away.

"Come on Safia, he's just another wannabe hero."

Theseus watched the pair go, Safia whining and leaning on her partner. That was another type of interaction he had. It was familiar, somehow, to when he was still a villain. People called him a wannabe hero before he revealed that he was working with Dream, and it still sparked a little bit of pride in himself. Even under Dream's influence, some people had seen that he wanted to help.

He tugged on a string, floating back up so he could continue to glide through and towards district 5. He rolled in the air, lazily gliding along.

He was bored now, hardly anything happened in the inner districts other than a couple run-ins with heroes. Sure, there was stupid people who tried to rob a place in broad daylight, but most of the notable stuff happened under the light of the moon.

He was still lazily gliding when he saw the TNT stuck to the side of a building. He tugged it towards him using his strings then sent them up to the skies, the bombs couldn't do much damage when Theseus's strings was the only things up there. He tugged on a string, darting around the building and grabbing more TNT and sending it up as he worked his way up the building. He reached the top floor reasonably quickly, sending up the last bit of TNT and landing gracefully on the roof to check for anything on the roof.

A man with curly brown hair and a beanie stood there, Huios's old mask covering his face. Theseus frowned, sending his strings to check for any kind of manipulation from Dream.

The man stayed put as invisible red strings swarmed around him, tilting his head up to look at the TNT floating in the air. He looked back down, his masked eyes making contact with Theseus's. With a flourish of his long brown coat, the masked individual spoke with a gleefully insane voice.

"Hello Thomas."

Tommy stepped back, his strings lighting up visually around the man. His wide eyes drifted over the man, denying it. No. No. That couldn't be. He was dead. He had seen it happen. There was no way in fucking hell that this man was the same one that he thought it was. No. He couldn't work with Dream. Even if he was real, he would protect Tommy! Only Tommy. Never Dream. Never Clay. He couldn't be. There was no way. He couldn't be....

"Wilbur?"

Tommy's voice trembled as he spoke, betraying the conflict in his mind. The man laughed, spreading his arms and flicking the mask to the side of his face for a moment.

Wilbur's familiar face was contorted into an insane glare. Those soft brown eyes had been ripped away, replaced with wide eyes that glowed red even in the bright light of the sun.

"I'm back Thomas! Have you missed your old enemy, Ares~?"

No. This was all wrong. That wasn't Wilbur. Wilbur was kind and helped Tommy, WIlbur kept Tommy safe. This man that stood before him was not Wilbur. He couldn't-

A gloved hand slipped around from behind him, taking advantage of his confusion. Theseus spun around, his instincts screaming at him to run as he came face to face with Dream and his smiling mask. The older let out a sigh of relief, reaching forward to caress Theseus's cheek.

"My Thomas... It's been too long."

Theseus was frozen. His brain screamed to run, escape, get away from here. He needed to, he had to get out. Dream stepped forward, opening his arms for a hug.

"Come home Thomas, we can be happy again. You can forget about all this silly vigilante nonsense and make the world a better place."

Theseus hated that he wanted to believe him. He wanted Wilbur back, and Dream had somehow brought him back to life. If he had Wilbur he would be safe. Maybe... Without the glare of Phil he could be happy. Without the apologetic gazes of Tubbo and Ranboo. WIthout the stress of trying to be a good person to the public. Maybe it would be better with Dream.

He leaned forward, silently warming up to Dream again.

"That's in Thomas, come with us."

Ares had walked up behind him, the mask covering his face once more. He reached out to Theseus, a warm tone in his voice.

Tommy could ignore the green strings that swarmed Ares now. He could ignore all the hurt that Dream had caused. Maybe he could-

"THESEUS!"

He snapped out of his thoughts, glancing up as Icarus swooped down. His surprise was short lived as he realised that Dream and Ares were trying to grab him. Possess him. This was wrong. This was all wrong. He wanted to go home.

Dream was never home.

He raised his arms, the winged man pulling him away from the desperate grasp of Dream and the angry grabbing of Ares. Icarus pulled Theseus into his arms, rubbing his back. Theseus clung onto Icarus tightly, not caring who he got comfort from at this point.

"Phil-"

"Shh, it's okay mate. I'm here."

Theseus sobbed, hugging onto Icarus as they flew away from Dream and Ares. Icarus flew as fast as he could towards home, pressing his earpiece and contacting Thanatos.

"I got him, make some hot chocolate and get blankets."

Thanatos snuggled into Icarus's chest, Ares's wide red eyes burned into his mind. There was no way in hell that he was going to be okay.

----<>----

Techno paced the living room, running his fingers through his long pink hair. Phil sat on the couch with his head in his hands. Tommy had been picked up by Bee and Void, then taken back to their apartment. The whole time he had been rambling about Dream, WIlbur and someone called Ares.

Phil and Techno had stayed cool while Tommy was in the house, but now that he was gone they were trying to discuss the new information they had managed to gather from Tommy's panicked state.

"So... Wilbur's alive."

Phil shook his head. The masked man on the roof was not his son. Sure, it was an imitation of Wilbur but it was Ares. Techno rubbed his temples.

"Work with me Phil, we can't just do nothing."

Phil shrugged.

"There's no way to get Wilbur back, he's gone. Your brother is dead."

Techno was quiet, fiddling with a strand of his hair. Phil leaned over, pulling Techno into a hug. Techno leaned into it for a few seconds before pushing out of it. He stood, walking to the door. He swung on his cape, grabbing his mask.

"Techno."

"I'll be back before dawn."

Phil gave up trying to argue, watching Thanatos slide on his arm protection.

"Stay safe."

Thanatos nodded, leaving Phil alone in the silent house.