-Rehabilitating a Child Soldier-

The Sun's Gaze

Tommy sat on the beach, a bowl of stew clutched in his bandaged hands as he watched the fire before him discolor the sand. Beyond that, the ravenous waves lapped at the shore, eager to snuff out the first fire that had been started just meters beyond their reach. 

He was enjoying the heat that was seeping through the wooden bowl and his bandages almost as much as the food itself... He tends to forget how hungry he is. Food isn't easy to come by here, and given the season, growing his own wasn't an option. So all he had to rely on was the good will of the people who came to visit him... Which wasn't much... Dream doesn't visit him every day.

The sun peeks out from behind one of the many scattered clouds in the sky, as it has been all morning leading up to this. Its appearance sending down patchy rays of light, but not nearly enough to make the day feel any less cold... and the night is always worse... 

Bad sits beside his son on the beach, feeling helpless as he sees how dull the teenager's eyes have become, even though he's only been here for a few weeks...

And as for Tommy... He wasn't alone... But he felt very distant to the person beside him... One who was trying very hard to take care of him at the moment.

"... Would you like some more..?" Bad whispers, his tail loosely curling around his child. He wants nothing more than to hear Tommy's energetic voice... But instead, he just nods, and Bad silently fills up his bowl again, feeling lost.

That's how it is for a while... could have been a few minutes, or a few hours. It really didn't concern either of them, as they stared out at the horizon without a single word hanging in the air. But despite the silence, it felt natural, like there wasn't anything else to be said in that moment.

Tommy was wearing Skeppy's blue hoodie, the one that he gave him on his first day here, with Wilbur's trench coat over top of it... The one that Bad had fixed for him five whole years ago... 

It made him feel closer to them.

... All three of them...

"... Dad..?" He whispers, almost so quietly that the word refused to form as it left his discolored lips... But the demon still heard him...

"Yes child?"

"... Where do people go when they die..?"

The tip of Bad's tail flicks as his eyes widen a tad... but not nearly enough to be wild. Bad's ears flatten a bit, and his tail instinctively curls around his son... Both comforting and protective.

"... Now why would you want to know that, little star..?"

"... Because I think you could tell me." He responds, staring into his bowl. This stew has flesh in it... the flesh of animals... Where did they go once their lives were ended?

Bad sighs, staring out over the horizon, as if to look deep into another world that could be found just beyond it.

"Tommy... I truly hope you aren't considering-"

"I'm not." He cuts him off, not wanting to hear his dad finish that sentence... or deal with the implications of the question his father was going to ask. "... I just want to know."

One of Bad's ears twitches, Tommy can see it out of the corner of his eye, the moment it hits the side of his fathers hood.

"... Well..." Bad whispers, "... They go somewhere far away... where no mortal should ever be able to touch them... and this place isn't good, Tommy... I've been there... It takes the worst parts of yourself and twists them into a prison that you can never escape from. One that is determined to drive you mad..."

Tommy sets his bowl down in the sand, and then pulls his leather coat around himself... Before he can ask, Bad nods.

"... And you've been there..?"

"It's where I'm from." Bad nods, speaking grimly, "Demons come from a very dark point in existence... There is no how or why to our existence. All that exists for us is the guarantee to be miserable... and to bring misery to the people we touch."

Tommy then looks up at him, as the demon continues to stare of into the distance, his white eyes glassy and hollow.

"... You're the farthest thing from that... You know? You always make everyone happy..."

And Tommy finds his response... strange.

"... I hope so, Tommy... I really do... I hope my presence isn't an omen. I have a family, a happy, real family... and the last thing I want is to be the reason you all suffer in the end..."

"... But we won't... as long as we're together." He whispers back.

Bad slowly nods, running one of his hands through the sand, on the side that Tommy can't see. It reminds him of Skeppy... even though Skeppy hates the beach... But it also distracts him from the darker idea that has been looming in his mind.

... That someday... There may come a time where he can do nothing to protect them anymore...

But for now... The demon nods along with is son.

"... As long as we're together... There's not a soul in this universe that can hurt you..."