The Wither Effect

The Realization

Tubbo sat up and rubbed his head, looking around. He had been thrown back by the explosion a bit, but he wasn't harmed.

"Tubbo! Are you alright?" Nikki ran over and helped him up. Brushing his shoulders off from the dust.

"Yeah yeah, I'm alright I'm alright" Tubbo shook his head to clear it. He turned his head to see a large group of his friends fighting one of the withers off by party island. Nikki followed the young boys eyes and helped him up. "Are you sure you're okay?" Nikki asked, worried for the smaller boy. "I'm fine! Really!" Tubbo said, bouncing a bit on his feet to show Nikki that he was truly okay. She gave a small smile, nodding over to party island. "Then c'mon! They need us!" Nikki charged off, Tubbo in close pursuit. The two quickly made it over to the island, Nikki launching into the battle. Tubbo was about to do the same before fulling remembering what had just happened. He hardly had any time to reflect before his thoughts get interrupted again.

"Tubbo!" A man in a green robe ran over and grabbed onto Tubbo's shoulders. "You took quite a hit! Are you alright?" 

"Philza?!" Phil was stood before Tubbo, a small bit of blood on his robe.

"Yeah! Its me its me, listen. I would love to catch up but now isn't the best time." Philza chuckled, his hat dipping backwards to reveal his fatherly smile. Tubbo nodded and jumped back into the battle letting himself quickly dismiss his past worries. Tommy is fine, he's always fine. Tubbo knew Tommy was fine. Tubbo began drawing back his bow and firing into the sky, his arrows raining down upon the wither ahead of him. 

"TUBBO! WATCH OUT!"

He spun around only to see Quackity getting thrown into him. They tumbled over each other a few times before finally coming to a stop with Quackity crushing Tubbo. 

"Are you alright?" Quackity asked in a panicked voice, quickly getting off his now President. 

"Yeah yeah! No worries I'm fine!" Tubbo chuckled, getting up.

"Sick!" Quackity smiled, jumping into battle again. 

Tubbo had a moment to take a step back and look at all the damage... everything was getting destroyed... Everything... But he couldn't worry about that now, he had to focus on his friends. 

"Phil! Do you have an eye on the other wither?" Tubbo called, hopping Phil could hear him from the top of the hill he was stood on. All Tubbo could see was one wither and he didn't want another sneak attack. 

"Yeah! I got the other one! We only have one to go!" Phil called back, firing his bow down on the final wither. This one wasn't giving up, it fired its deadly wither skulls upon the group of friends, causing the ground to split and quake. Tubbo jumped into action, throwing his sword onto the shoulder blades of the beast and chopping at its boney body. "Heads up!" Tubbo turned in time to see Eret throw an ender pearl right above the monsters head. Eret spawned, stabbing his sword right through one of the main skulls of the wither. It let out a beastly cry, letting him and Tubbo tumble to the ground as the monster vanished in to particles of exp. Tubbo looked around, was it over? Had they done it, had they really done it? "Is everyone okay?" Phil asked, running down from his spot on the hill. Tubbo got up and helped Philza check everyone for injuries. Surprisingly the only people who had major injuries were Fundy, who had a broken arm, and Quackity, who had a gash beside his eye. After tending to the wounded, Tubbo looked around. Technoblade was nowhere to be found.

"Tommy, did you manage to see-"Tubbo was cut off as a sense of dread built in his chest... Tommy wasn't in the crowd. 

He spun around a bit, his fear growing stronger. "Has anyone seen Tommy?" Tubbo asked franticly. "I haven't.." Nikki said, her voice soft and worried. "Nor have I." Fundy added as everyone else shook their heads. It was only then that Tubbo was struck with a realization. He hadn't seen Tommy at all since their run in with the wither skull. Tubbo bolted from the crowd without a moments hesitation, checking under debris and calling out his best friend's name... over and over again... with no response.

"TOMMY! TOMMY WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Tubbo yelled, his voice coated with dread. Tommy has to be okay, he has to. Tommy is always okay!

"C'MON! THIS ISNT FUNNY!! WHERE ARE YOU BIG MAN?!"

Suddenly, something caught Tubbo's eye. He noticed a foot poking out of a corner, besides Ninja's alleyway. Tubbo skidded to a halt and ran, not at all prepared for what he was about to witness. Tommy was on his stomach, his head in his arms, motionless as a pool of crimson blood stained the grass around his arms. He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing... Tubbo was at a loss for words, and for a few moments he just stood there, looking down at his seemingly dead friend. Finally, his brain kicked into action as he ran over and flipped Tommy onto his back, holding him in his arms. Tommy had what looked like spiked black vine wounds snaking from the center of his chest around to the tip of his chin. His face was a sickly pale, the back of his head coated in blood.

Tubbo began shaking Tommy back and forth. "Tommy! Tommy wake up! C'mon big man, answer me!"

Tommy laid in Tubbo's arms, motionless, unresponsive. Tubbo finally broke, crying out "TOMMY!!" This finally alerted everyone else to the distress. Philza was the first to round the corner, stopping in shock at what he saw. Nikki was next, followed by Fundy, Karl, and Quackity. All of them stood in shocked silence as they saw the two boys on the ground... one holding the other in anguish.

"Tommy! Wake up! C'mon! WAKE UP!" Tubbo sobbed, trembling violently. 

Philza ran over and collapsed beside Tubbo, rummaging through his bag, looking for some sort of healing potion. "C'mon- C-c'mon!" Phil stuttered. "I'm not losing another one today, I'm not losing another son!" Philza kept searching, flipping his bag over and turning it inside out, all while Tubbo held Tommy in his arms, looking down on the face that always had the biggest smile, the loudest laugh... the face that now was completely and utterly still.

Suddenly, out of the crowd, Technoblade steps forward... His eyes not giving any hint to how he is reacting to the situation. He then walked up and placed three potions of healing down beside Tubbo without any comment. Philza immediately grabbed them and started giving them to Tommy, hardly acknowledging that Techno was even there. Potion after potion... minute after minute... tension began to rise as the potions showed no signs of healing the boy. Philza sighed... turning to Tubbo... "Tubbo... I-" He was cut off by Tubbo's sudden scream.

"HES BREATHING!" 

Oooh! Angst time! Sorry for not posting, school is rough- I hope you enjoyed this chapter and had a happy New Year!