Chapter 7: Unspoken Words
The camp was eerily quiet as the group made their way back to L’Manberg. The cold night air bit at Tommy’s skin, but the chill in his bones came from something else—the look in Technoblade’s eyes, the threat lingering in every word the Syndicate had spoken. This wasn’t a bluff; it was a promise of destruction.
They crossed through the forest in tense silence, Ranboo and Niki walking ahead, while Tubbo and Tommy trailed a few steps behind. Tubbo’s expression was unreadable, his eyes fixed ahead as he walked with determined, heavy steps. Tommy, on the other hand, could barely contain the storm of emotions building inside him.
The Syndicate wanted them out of the way, and Tubbo—his Tubbo—was right at the center of it all.
“Tubbo,” Tommy muttered, his voice a little too loud in the silence of the forest. Tubbo turned his head slightly, acknowledging him, but said nothing. “What now?”
“We keep preparing,” Tubbo said quietly, his voice tense but controlled. “War’s coming. We can’t stop it.”
Tommy gritted his teeth, frustration rising in his chest. “And that’s it? After all that talking, we just let them bring war to us?”
“There’s nothing else we can do,” Tubbo replied, though his voice wavered ever so slightly. “We tried diplomacy. They don’t want peace. They never did.”
Tommy stopped walking, his fists clenching at his sides. “Then what the hell was the point of us going there? You could have gotten us killed for nothing!”
Tubbo finally turned to face him, his eyes sharp. “I needed to know, Tommy! I needed to see if there was any chance we could stop this before it started. I had to try.” His voice cracked at the edges, revealing the cracks in the armor he’d been wearing since they left.
Tommy’s anger deflated at the sight of Tubbo’s exhaustion. He had never truly understood the weight Tubbo carried until now—the impossible decisions, the responsibility for everyone in L’Manberg. It wasn’t just about him and Tubbo anymore. It was about their entire nation.
“I’m sorry,” Tommy muttered, his voice quieter now, the anger fading into something softer. “I just… I hate feeling useless.”
Tubbo’s gaze softened, the tension in his posture easing. “You’re not useless, Tommy. I need you. L’Manberg needs you.”
Tommy scoffed, but his heart clenched at the words. He needed Tubbo to understand—to see what Tommy had been struggling with for weeks, ever since the threat of war started looming over them. It wasn’t just about protecting L’Manberg. It was about protecting him.
“I know I don’t always show it,” Tommy admitted, his voice low, “but I can’t lose you, Tubbo. Not to them, not to this war.”
Tubbo’s eyes widened slightly at Tommy’s words, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, unsure of what to say. For a moment, neither of them spoke, the air thick with the weight of everything unsaid between them.
Tommy swallowed hard, his chest tightening with the words he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud. He didn’t know how to tell Tubbo the truth—the truth that had been gnawing at him since the war started looming, since Tubbo became president and everything changed between them. It was more than just friendship. It always had been. But how could he say that now, with everything falling apart around them?
“I—” Tubbo started, but before he could finish, the sound of a snapping branch cut through the silence. Both of them stiffened, their hands instinctively reaching for their weapons as they scanned the dark forest around them.
Ranboo and Niki were already on high alert, weapons drawn as they looked for the source of the noise. Tommy’s heart raced, the adrenaline kicking in as he strained his ears for any sound of movement.
“Who’s there?” Tubbo called out, his voice steady despite the tension in the air.
For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence. Then, from the shadows, a figure emerged, stepping into the faint moonlight filtering through the trees.
It was one of the Syndicate’s scouts.
Tommy’s heart leaped into his throat as he recognized the distinctive mask the scout wore, the same one they’d seen guarding the camp. Without thinking, Tommy drew his sword, ready to defend them if the scout made any sudden moves.
“Hold on,” Tubbo said quickly, raising a hand to stop him. “Let’s see what they want.”
The scout raised their hands in a gesture of peace, their voice muffled behind the mask. “I’m not here to fight. I have a message from the Syndicate.”
Tubbo stepped forward, his expression hard. “What message?”
The scout hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Technoblade wanted me to tell you that you’ve made a mistake. There won’t be a second chance. Next time we meet, it’ll be on the battlefield.”
Tommy’s grip tightened on his sword. It was exactly what they had feared.
The scout took a step back, disappearing into the shadows once again, leaving the group in stunned silence.
Tubbo’s jaw clenched, his hands curling into fists at his sides. “That’s it, then,” he muttered, his voice barely audible. “War.”
Tommy’s chest tightened at the finality in Tubbo’s voice. It was happening. The storm they’d been dreading was finally here.
But more than the looming war, Tommy’s mind kept drifting back to the moment they had just shared—the way Tubbo had looked at him, the unspoken words that had hung in the air between them.
War was coming, and they would have to face it together. But as they prepared to stand against the Syndicate, Tommy couldn’t shake the feeling that the real battle wasn’t just against the enemy outside—it was the battle between the unspoken feelings they had both been too afraid to acknowledge.
And in the end, that might be the hardest fight of all.
