Lavender Snow

And He Shattered

Tommy leaned against the wall. "So the voices are leaving."

"Yeah," Ranboo said.

"Well. . . Isn't that a good thing?" Tommy shrugged. "I mean, you don't really want them there, do you?"

Ranboo tugged at his hair. "I don't know! Yes? Maybe? I was just getting used to them, and— and Techno said they only grow, they aren't supposed to just leave, and I don't know what will happen when they're all gone! Will I just disappear?! Like, what if something happens to me?!"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Tommy said, taking Ranboo's wrist. "Nothing's going to happen. They aren't really meant to be there, right? So maybe your body is just rejecting them, like a virus."

Ranboo winced, then laughed wetly. "They don't really like that idea."

"Well, I did just call them a virus." Tommy grinned. "Hey, it's chill, okay? You're going to be fine."

"Maybe." Ranboo wiped his eyes. "I'm just so confused, we're taught pain is good, but then apparently it's not, a-and I keep forgetting things, and now we're here in the End, and everyone has wings, and I'm just so confused."

Tommy looked over at the guard. She averted her gaze quickly, staring straight ahead as if they weren't there.

"Look," Tommy said quietly. "I don't know everything you're going through. My memory is fine, I never ever had any voices, but I do understand, Boo. Looking around this city. . . the void, the wings, the powers. . . It's lonely, you know? We don't fit."

"It feels like we were meant to be here, but now it's too late and we won't belong anywhere." Ranboo's voice cracked. "B-but you want to stay here, you'll be happy, and—"

"Nah. I don't think I could live here without my roommate. Sounds fucking boring," Tommy hummed.

Ranboo let out a broken sob and collapsed into a hug, pulling Tommy close. Tommy squeezed him. "I'm not ever ever going to let you go, okay, Ranboo?"

"You were so excited to come here, and you were planning to stay," Ranboo wailed. "A-and the voices are leaving, and I don't want to be alone, and. . . and. . ."

Tommy closed his eyes. "It's okay, Boob boy. I'm not going anywhere."

There was a crunch of sand as the guard shifted. Tommy sighed into Ranboo's shirt, hoping she wasn't about to be a Karen and tell them to hug somewhere else. Ranboo shook, crying, and Tommy—

Cold.

Tommy flinched. Something was pressing against his back. The cold dripped down his skin and stung where it ran over his scars.

"Tommy?" He heard Ranboo say, but it sounded muffled and distorted. Tommy's vision blurred. "TOMMY?!"

Something else pressed onto his stomach. Tommy looked down. Red.

Oh, blood.

People were shouting, but Tommy couldn't understand them through the haze flooding his mind. He'd been stabbed. . . it was staining his shirt, that was a real shame. . .

Where was Ranboo?

Everything felt floaty. He'd been stabbed.

Lavender was blocking Tommy's vision. It. . . it was a shame. . . he wanted to see Ranboo before he. . . he. . .

Tommy's body dissolved into purple light.

✿❀✿❀✿❀✿

Ranboo paused. Tommy had suddenly tensed in his arms. "Tommy?" Ranboo opened his eyes. Something was clinging onto the back of Tommy's shirt, some sort of silver knob, or—