Eburnean Tommy Au

XXVII - Silent

Tommy walks up to his brother while he's feeding his hounds, and the voices let him know immediately.

"Hey Tom, you need something?" he asks, turning around.

He doesn't get any kind of response, so he checks on him, "Can you hear me, bud?"

Tommy looks up at him, but does nothing more.

"Can you hear me?"

He nods, so Techno repeats his first question, "Do you need something?"

The kid tilts his head.

"You came over to me," Techno recounts, "Was there a reason? Do you need my help with something? What's up?"

Tommy looks a bit stuck, like he's trying to answer, but can't.

Hes really struggling     aww     slowinnit       lil brother can't respond    poor kid    he's trying his best     aww   

Techno adjusts Tom's blue matching coat, so it's not falling off his shoulders, and puts up the hood, then turns back to keep feeding the dogs.

"It's like herding cats with you sometimes," he sighs, "it's not your fault of course, but it still ticks me off"

Technoblade finishes feeding the hounds, "heh, it used to tick me off when you would talk," he remarks, "come on, we're going inside, dont want you to freeze out here"

He holds out a hand to help Tom walk, and he slowly takes it, then follows him in at the same pace.

He eventually gets Tommy to sit on an armchair near the fireplace.

"I've been wondering why exactly you never speak anymore," he mentions, "is your voice too damaged, or is it something else?" he waits for a minute, but doesn't get an answer, "Nevermind, I shouldn't be bugging you about this."

Techno sees his brother start to twitch and quiver, but all Tom can see is bloody snow and a hazy green figure towering over him.

It's terrifying, but he knows this is a flashback, and he knows how this one goes. He had been, for probably the 20th time now, trying to make the run for it and get to Phil's and Techno's houses.

Of course Dream had caught up to and incapacitated him, so he tries something he's better at, being excessively loud.

"PHIL! PHIL!!! PHIL HELP!! HELP ME!! DAD!! HELP!!!" He shrieks

"Oh Tommy, you know that nobody is going to come save you. You're stuck with me, so, for the sake of my ability to hear," He strikes with his axe to create a deep gash up and down the boy's neck.

Techno sees Tommy choking, thrashing, and convulsing, and rushes over to help.

Tom chokes on his blood, it's terrible, though at least he knows it will be quick. But it's not, it keeps going, and he has to endure the choking and nauseating pain.

Techno panics, he hasn't seen Tommy have an attack this bad. He thinks about yelling for Phil, but he's at Tubbo's house, so he wouldn't hear it, and he can't just leave Tommy alone like this.

He remembers something his mother would do when he was little and had no control of the voices. She'd hug him to hold him still, and hum a song until he calmed down.

Of course she's an actual goddess, so it might not work for Techno, and he'd feel like an idiot the whole time either way, but he didn't have another choice.

He picks his brother up to put him on his lap and hugs him, then starts to hum.

Tommy's flashback slowly fades as he hears a familiar song. He finds himself restrained, and tries to get out, but he can't, and he's way too sore to keep trying.

With more clarity, he realizes that he's being held by his brother, and stops resisting, but he does hide himself in Techno's cloak and cry.

He lifts up his cloak with his arm to check on his little brother, "You alright?"

Tommy immediately hides his face in the hood of his own coat, and more tears fall, so Techno puts it back over him.

"It's okay, Theseus, you're safe"

He feels the child grip his shirt and cry.

That worked? It wasn't as perfect as mom, but it worked. He actually calmed down a bit. It worked? Yeah, great job, he's still crying. It's better than before. Good thing he stopped shaking. That's all you could do?

Techno wasn't appreciating how many of the voices were still disappointed, like they could've done any better.

He moves the arm that's not wrapped around him to hold his hand.

"Hey, you're safe with me, are you doing any better?" he speaks softly, so as not to startle him.

He doesn't give an answer, but shakily takes hold of his hand.

The voices start polarizing.

See, he isn't better, you're useless! He's a heavily traumatized little boy, he needs a minute! He's still upset! At least he isn't having a seziure!! WHAT A TERRIBLE BROTHER YOU ARE! TOMMY HAS BEEN SLOW ALL DAY, DO YOU EXPECT HIM TO BE ALL FINE AND DANDY AFTER A SEZIURE?!

The door opens, startling Tommy, but his brother, struggling with the voices, doesn't notice it, so he tugs on his shirt and points to the door.

"Hm- oh, it's just Phil, Tubbo, and Micheal, you don't have to be scared," he motions for them to come in, and they sit down on the couch near him.

"Hey, mate, Toby and I are going to snowchester to move some of his stuff here. We know you've already got Tom on your hands, but could you watch Micheal for us"

Technoblade groans, "Can you take him with you, Tommy just had a really bad panic attack, or seziure, or something, and the voices bitching is starting to overwhelm me"

"Oh dear, well, I guess we can take Micheal, if you can handle Tommy?"

"Well, he freaked out when I took my coat off of him, so I don't really have a choice"

"Okay then, Michael, do you want to go get stuff from your old room?" Phil asks

The young piglin crosses his arms.

"You can make a big mess if you want" offers Toby, and his son agrees to go.