Eburnean Tommy Au

XV - Awake Again

Tommy wakes up and feels better than he has in a long time. He sits up and kicks his legs back and forth against the couch trying to express the excitement.

The noise startles Phil "Oh my gods, Tommy, you're awake! are you okay? How do you feel?"

(happy)

"Happy?"

He nods

"Well that's good, I suppose. I can't say I expected that, is there a reason why?"

He nods and reaches for his book, 'I got to see Mumza'

"What was it like?" Phil asks cautiously, hoping it was a real visit and not a brush with death.

Tommy writes for a while, more than he's written so far,

'I could talk and run and we listened to discs she told me that she hates when I have nightmares, then she told me about technos souls and wills and mine its so cool and she gave me hugs and said she loves me and made me so happy'

Phil's heart melts as he reads it, "I'm really glad to hear that she's looking out for you"

'where is Techno'

"In his house, I assume. Do you want to go hang out with him?"

He nods and limps to the other house.

"Hey Tom, it's good that you seem like you're doing better, otherwise Phil wouldn't shut up about it"

'I got to talk with Mumza'

"Good for you"

'she told me about our souls its really cool'

Techno stops replying to him, using all of his focus to keep the voices at bay. Tommy taps him on the shoulder when he sees the abrupt change in his demeanor.

"Go back to Phil before they make me hurt you" he orders in a strained voice.

He grabs his book and cards and gets out of the cabin as fast as he can, tripping several times. Halfway across the short bridge he looses his footing again and can't manage to get himself back up.

"YOU STILL CAN'T KEEP THINGS TO YOURSELF, HUH?" yells the blade, grabbing the kid by his shirt and pinning him to a wall.

Tommy silently prays that Phil will hear the yelling and come to help. Even with all he's forgotten, he still remembers how bad it can get when his brother looses himself to the voices. If only he had a voice, then he could yell for Phil like he always used to.

Deep down, Techno hopes he'll intervene as well; sometimes Phil can control the voices when he can't do so himself.

"I THOUGHT YOU'D HAD ENOUGH DEATH BY NOW, BUT YOU'RE ASKING FOR MORE!" he throws him against the fence.

Tommy sees himself sprinting through a field and being chased by the masked man.

"I'll kill you, and revive you, and then I'll kill you again, then I'll revive you, and kill you again"

He feels his lungs burn from panting. How is that freak talking that much and still catching up to him? The hallucination fades to reveal an equally nightmarish situation, except this one's real.

He starts to feel the sting of open wounds, most on his legs, they're the most exposed part of him when he's slumped like this, but he feels throbbing pain all over. Techno must have hurt him a lot during the flashback.

"SAY HELLO TO MOTHER FOR ME!"

He feels a cold sword press on his throat, but before any blood is drawn, he's enveloped in his father's arms and wings.

"Techno... h- how could you say such things?" he asks. By just the sound of his voice he's clearly sobbing.

Tommy weakly clutches Phil's robes, but with the state that he's in it's enough to draw a worried gasp from his dad. He picks him up and goes inside, leaving Techno with a betrayed glare.

He puts Tom on an armchair and wraps him in a blanket, making sure to be gentle and speak quietly.

"Are you alright?" Phil questions, nearly whispering.

Tommy only timidly shakes his head and hugs him. So he hugs him back because he can tell that he really needs some affection.

As soon as he falls asleep, Phil wraps the wounds and goes to confront Technoblade. He storms into his cabin, planning to yell at him until he sees him crying.

"They made me hurt Tommy, didn't they Phil?" he sniffles, "Is he okay?"

"You don't- you don't remember?"

"No, I don't. Did I hurt him? Is he alright?"

"Wow, you havent forgotten an episode since you were his age" he mummurs to himself

"Is he okay or not?!" he demands

Phil sighs, "Honestly, you did quite a number on him, he's terrified and I doubt he can walk. And there's no way in hell I'm going to let him try"

"Then why aren't you in your house taking care of him?"

"Because he's asleep. I want to let him rest, and I've been wanting to check up on you"

"Well I'm fine, so go away"

With melancholy, Phil leaves the cabin and heads back to his own.