Chapter Text
Ranboo is dead.
It’s a realization that feels distant, feels untrue, even as Tommy stares into the golden eyes that condemn him for it.
Tommy’s ears are ringing.
Or maybe it’s alarm.
He feels strangely cold and hot at the same time, a shiver crawling down his spine and sweat beading at his brow as he sucks a trembling breath and-
A horrible laugh rings through the room, bouncing like a wrathful echo of grief as Tubbo stumbles to his feet.
“He killed him!?” Tubbo’s mouth is a frightfully twisted grin, lacking of any joy, tear tracks on his cheeks, hands covered in blood clenching into tight fists at his side, a strange sort of sway to his motion before he abruptly stills. “Explain to me, exactly how, this is his fault, Warden.”
“I don’t have time to deal with you. You weren’t meant to be here in the first place.” Golden eyes burn into Tommy’s. “He needs to die.”
“Just like Ranboo needed to die!?” Tubbo demands, chest heaving and fists trembling. “You-“
“He got in the way.” Warden’s trident doesn’t lower from where it’s pointing towards Tommy. “This is what he does.” The Warden’s voice has a strange sort of shake to it, a barely there held control of the cool detached tone. “If it wasn’t for Red Chaos-“
“Red Chaos was protecting Nemesis! ONE OF OURS!” Tubbo lashes out, hand sealing down around the trident and yanking it towards himself as he steps boldly between the two of them, planting his feet and squaring his shoulders. “Are you going to kill me too, huh, Sam?” A warped kind of smile stretches his lips. “Are you going to make sure none of us leave Pandora alive?”
“What are you doing?” Tommy hisses in a low voice, heart feeling ready to crawl up his throat, so tense his shoulders ache.
Flowers bloom from the cracks of Tubbo’s clenched fist in response, an explosion of forget-me-nots that twists up and down the trident, green stems and petals wrapping in the blood still dripping from the prongs of it and-
It all comes back to the gold.
Bright and shining, warding against the draining effects of Pandora.
The Warden of Pandora.
Tommy blinks at Sam and-
Something unfathomable shines in the depth of Sam’s eyes as he stares down at the flowers, watching the way they crawl towards his own clenched fist only to halt mere centimetres away with a quiver.
“Why are you protecting him?” And- there’s something almost lost in his voice, a strange kind of thing in the metallic echo of his voice changer. “He and Dream- they are the ones responsible for everything that led to this.” Sam’s eyes leaves the flowers but he’s not looking at Tommy now, his attention on Tubbo. “Heroes are corrupt. You and I both know it. We thought they might have been different but, in the end, they turned out to be exactly the same as all those before them.”
Sam’s eyes finds his and Tommy’s jaw aches, fear crawling like ants beneath his skin, burying into his muscles and eating their way into his heart.
“The only option is to kill him… to stop him by force but… No one else gets it. No one else understands, we- even you and Jester, they just don’t…” An odd look, ice crawling down Tommy’s skin. “Oh well.” The trident gets yanked back, torn roughly out of Tubbo’s grip and lurching him forward before Tommy’s hand snaps out, yanking him back- “It doesn’t matter. Red Chaos is here… I’ll just have to deal with him myself.” A slow blink of his eyes. “Ranboo’s death was… unfortunate… but it’s just further proof that Red Chaos needs to die…”
The visor slips back in place, hiding his face.
Tommy’s hand wraps around the handle of the escrima sticks, twisting and sweeping Tubbo’s feet from beneath him, catching an end prongs with a spark of electricity as he pushed them into activation but-
The Warden doesn’t as much as twitch. “Gold is a conductive, that is true.” The Warden takes a step forward, Tommy’s sneakers sliding over the ground with a grunt, muscles straining as the Villain steps over Ranboo’s dead body. “But if you think I did not take precautions then you’re more of a fool than I thought-“
“You killed Ranboo you bastard!” The trident yanks sharply aside as Tubbo stabs a knife into Warden’s thigh, kicked roughly aside in the same motion as the Warden twists, sending him skidding across the ground to hit Nemesis.
Tommy springs forward, arm sweeping wide to get around the Warden’s throat, grasping the escrima stick and slamming it backwards into the soft flesh of the Warden’s throat where no armour was protecting him, levelling his weight back and dragging the Villain against his chest, his instincts blaring in a cacophony of protest and deep surging retribution.
The Warden slams him back into the closest wall, one hand grasping the escrima and nearly yanking Tommy’s arms out of his sockets before he wraps his legs around Sam’s waist, feeling the metal dig roughly into his chest as he braces himself, snarling as he fights to hold on and-
He gets slammed into the wall again, three times, four times, his elbows bracing to keep the metal from hitting his face, muscles straining as he pulls harder, teeth gritted.
Abruptly the escrima is released, trident cluttering to the ground, and in the next moment Tommy feels hands dig into his shoulders, Sam’s back bending to drag him bodily over him in a harsh roll to tear him off, his back hitting the floor.
Tubbo’s hand wraps tight around his wrist, dragging him back across the floor, Tommy clumsily rolling to get his knees under him, pushing up.
“Nemesis!” Tubbo chokes out in his ear. “Ranboo- he sacrificed himself for her please-“
Tommy grasps deep for the last remain of power, hand darting into his pocket, wrapping tight around the Enforcer mask still there and-
The shadow dog explodes out of the wall beside the Warden, snarling furiously, teeth bared, sinking into the forearm of the Villain and yanking him down, away from the trident he’d been reaching for.
The strain of it nearly sends Tommy’s feet out from beneath him, sucking a harsh breath as his vision whitened furiously in a sparkle of dots.
He bites down on the inside of his cheek, tearing through skin that had barely stopped its bleeding as he sunk down on one knee and Tubbo is right beside him, already moving to push Nemesis up on his back, Tommy hauling her up with a grunt as Tubbo ducks beneath his arm to force him up on his feet.
“Ranboo-“
“Leave him,” Tommy bites out hoarsely. “There’s nothing that can be done with a dead body.”
Tubbo recoils, yanking Tommy with him, and he only just barely avoid slamming his face into the door frame as the shorter pushes him back roughly.
“He saved you,” Tubbo grits out, a ravaged sound of barely kept together grief. “Have some damn respect.”
“I’m- fuck, sorry okay,” Tommy hisses out as they move down the hallway, away from Warden, too fucking slow and knows it but. Fuck.
He comes to an abrupt halt, chest heaving, the alarm blaring and-
“I fucking hate this noise,” he snarls. “I can’t fucking- think.”
Nemesis weight is on his back, Tubbo barely keeping it together beside him, and Ranboo lies dead in the cell.
Jester is nowhere to be seen.
Tubbo shoves at him. “We need to go-“
“Warden will catch up with us,” Tommy interrupts him. “There’s no- fuck.” He rounds on the other. “You- you have to take Nemesis.”
Tubbo stares at him, pale, eyes wide behind a fringe of brown hair.
“What-“
“If you want Ranboo to not- to not have died for nothing-” Tommy sucks in a rough breath, swallowing thickly. “You need to get Nemesis out of here and let me handle Warden.”
Tubbo’s brows dips, eyes darting to Nemesis and then back to him. “You were having a panic attack-“
“I can handle it,” Tommy cuts him off. “I have to. This is- he’s not going to stop until he’s done with me or- or I’m done with him.” He glances back to the cell. “This- it’s personal.” His tongue drags over his tusks. “He made it personal,” he says in a quieter voice, heart pounding inside his chest.
Tubbo’s gaze is unfathomable when Tommy looks back, a strange searching look.
“You’re Tommy, aren’t you?”
Tommy jerks, mouth opening to deny it but-
“It- whatever. It doesn’t matter now. I can’t- Ranboo-“ Tubbo abruptly grabs hold of his shirt, yanking him down, and Tommy finds himself staring too close into his brown eyes, frozen. “Don’t you let him have died for nothing, you hear me?” Tubbo’s fists twists the fabric harshly. “If you’re Tommy- that only means that you have more invested in this than Red Chaos ever did.” A harsh drawn breath. “I want you to know this, Red Chaos. You saved me.” The words are low, a confession that sends a shiver down his spine. “If, by chance, you’re Tommy, no matter how fucked up that is, I’m taking that secret to the grave, do you understand? I owe you that, no matter what happens here tonight.”
“I’m-“
“Do. You. Understand?” Tubbo repeats, enunciating each word clearly.
“… I do,” Tommy responds slowly only-
He twitches, tensing as Tubbo yanks him closer, their foreheads bumping together.
“I want you to listen to me and listen closely, Red, okay? You don’t know if you can trust me or not, right? But it doesn’t matter, it’s as fifty-fifty as saying ‘oh, I’ve got a box of nothing in it, and it either has a bomb in it, or it has an apple, but it could have neither.’ Trust means nothing when we don’t know each other. And- right and wrong depends on which side you are, right and wrong isn’t really a fair way to describe things-“
“What’s your point?” Tommy wrestles out, the hair on his neck prickling uncomfortably.
“I’m not an advocate of violence,” Tubbo tells him, eyes darting, searching his. “I think everyone should just get along. I don’t- I don’t want to be an agent of chaos, if you will, or anyone who wants to start a violent activity- that’s what I swore to Ranboo. But Ranboo isn’t here anymore.”
A tear trails down Tubbo’s cheek, his face twisted and Tommy swallows, the guilt weighing heavy in his chest.
“What do you want me to do?” he asks but he already knows the answer.
“Swear to me you’ll make him pay.” Words harsh and warped by both grief and rage, brown eyes burning into his. “Swear to me, Red Chaos.”
“I swear.” Tommy tells him heavily, resolution setting deep in his soul, the mark around his wrist burning hot in approval that slides down his spine as turns, sliding Nemesis onto Tubbo’s back. “I’m ending this between me and Warden tonight.”
“Good.” Tubbo carefully hoists Nemesis up and it’s a strange thing, the way he looks to Tommy, waiting for the next step. “I need a way out.”
Tommy stuffs his hand into his pocket, pulling out the Enforcer mask and throwing it over. “Gold- it’ll keep Pandora from draining you power. You felt it, when you grasped Warden’s trident, right? And then- you can get down using your vines.”
Tubbo stares down at the mask before slowly sliding it onto his face, sealing it with a click. “I can but there’s obsidian everywhere.”
“And Warden has already proven himself quite useful in breaking it.”
Tubbo’s gaze flashes with understanding.
“Got it. I’m getting us out of the way.” Tubbo turns but pauses, back still turned. “If worst comes to worst- this is goodbye.“
“Goodbye?” Tommy echoes haltingly before he can catch himself.
“Yeah like- everything hurts less. If you say goodbye at the start.” Tubbo peers over his shoulder and there’s a very small quirk of his lips. “Let’s hope we live to say ‘hello’ again, alright, big man?”
“Oh.” Tommy hesitates. “Goodbye, Tubbo.”
“Goodbye, Tommy.” A laugh. “If that’s your name. You better not die, Red Chaos! There’s more than one person that still needs you.”
Tommy fumbles to undo the knot on the back of his neck, sliding the ring off before securing it back.
He rolls it in his palm briefly, admiring it with a small huff before yanking the glove on his right hand off, sliding it in place on his index finger, watching the way it settles against the pink with a brief dilating of his pupils as he flexes and unflexes his fingers carefully.
Unlike the way it had felt against his chest it’s almost cool to the touch, right in a way that it has no right being, instincts crooning with a rumble of violence that ripples down his back, tail flicking from side to side behind him.
He unlocks the compartment in his mask, letting one capsule slide down to settle on his tongue.
One, out of his last two ones.
He rolls it to catch it between his sharp canines, bracing himself.
The shadow Fran-like dog slides over the floor, out of the cell, catching herself with a scramble of paws to bare her teeth, hackles rising in a ripple of shadows as the Warden steps out after her, trident twirling.
“I’m putting an end to this tonight,” Tommy swears to himself, biting down on it and feeling Dream’s powers rush through him in a familiar heady thing, red light zipping up his limbs, swirling around him, disturbing the dust and debris on the ground, clothes rustling as it circles around him.
He embraces it, forcing it down to his legs, muscles clenching as he slides one foot back.
Ahead the shadow dog pauses, eyes turning towards him, head lowering into something like a bow before she melted away.
Warden halts, turning sharply towards him.
And Tommy moves.
It’s an explosive thing, a zip of red as he blurs into motion, ducking the swing of the trident that moves too slow, the Villain barely in the motion of beginning to turn as Tommy twists around him, bracing and slamming his leg hard into Sam’s back.
“I’m sick-“
The Warden goes skidding down the hallway, armour rustling noisily as he rolls.
“-and fucking tired of you blaming me for everything!”
The armour, once an advantage but now a disadvantage, heavy and clunky with Tommy already in hot pursuit, red swirling around him as his palms hits the ground, four footed as he pushes off the floor and hits the wall, avoiding the explosion sent where he’d been.
He pushes off it, landing with a skidding of his sneakers behind the Warden, palm still outstretched, smoke curling through the air around them both.
“How about you get a taste of your own medicine!” he snarls, violence coursing through him as his palms grasps onto Warden’s shoulders, energy already rushing up his arms, and he hauls the Villain down the hallway, closer to where Tubbo had disappeared around the corner.
The trident is still clutched harshly in Warden’s hand, drawn to his chest and used to push to his feet, stumbling back.
The satisfaction wraps heady and rotten around his heart, a vindication that burns.
Tommy bares his teeth behind his mask, stalking closer, a swaying dangerous thing, twitching to explode into motion. “How does it feel to be the one thrown around?” Tommy growls, blue eyes spilling with the red of blood as the brand around his wrist pulses with hunger, tail lazily swishing from one side to the other, opposite of the sway of his body. “How does it feel to the one at disadvantage, Warden?”
He pushes off, an explosion rocketing the hallways, heat licking up his cheek as he skitters with a slide of his back along the ceiling, rolling to push abruptly down when he found himself above the Villain, his fist drawing back, redirecting the energy down his arm with a pulsing of his muscles before he slammed it forward.
The visor shatters, tearing his knuckles before they bury into Sam’s cheek, snapping his head aside and Tommy snarls as he bears down on him only-
Golden eyes burns into his and Tommy’s feet hits the hip-plates of the armour, Warden’s grip sealed tight around his wrist as the trident clutters to the ground.
A palm presses against his midriff. “You’re still running,” Warden rumbles, Sam’s voice bleeding into the metallic voice with a sharp noise of static from the broken voice changer, and Tommy’s breath hitches before he twists and-
The explosion rings loud, rattling his teeth, but his eyes doesn’t veer from Sam’s golden ones as his mouth curves into a razor sharp smile beneath his mask, leaning closer.
“Say that again,” Tommy breathes. “I dare you.”
His fingers digs deep into the Warden’s wrist, red zipping and dancing up his limbs, curling tight around his forearm as bones creak beneath his grip, the palm directed away from him.
“Well?” Tommy demands, glowering down. “Why the sudden silence? You seemed to have plenty of shit to say to me before this!”
The Warden remains quiet, fingers twitching as Tommy’s grip tightens further, and-
There’s a snap, a miniscule twitch of Sam’s stoic expression as the bones in his wrist breaks, and Tommy recoils at the noise, the red faltering-
Sam’s forehead slams into his and Tommy loses his grip in surprise and in the next moment he gets backhanded by a metal covered forearm that sends him skidding across the ground, palms flattening down to lurch to his feet, red zipping back up his limbs, tracked by golden eyes as the Warden slowly bends down to grab the trident with his good hand.
He twists it, twirling it bodily with an easy motion of his arm and shoulders, before sliding into a ready stance with the handle supported in the crook of his elbow.
Tommy clenches his fists tight.
“I see you figured out the secret of Pandora.” Warden’s voice layers with Sam’s and it’s fucking with him in the worst possible way, his heart pounding wet and heavy inside his chest as Warden’s head tilts meaningfully towards the ring on his finger. “Clever.”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Tommy snarls back. “You’re covered in the shit and you’ve been using your power left and right.”
“Then you know that that small piece of gold isn’t going to let you keep that power for long.”
Tommy knows he’s out of his element inside tight walls that prevents him from moving freely but his teeth gnashes together and he pushes into motion because damn it to hell if he’s letting that stop him.
He twists through the air, his leg slamming into the trident, Sam’s feet skidding briefly before moving and Tommy’s hand wraps around one of the prongs of the trident, dragging it down with him with a furious snarl of frustration and fear alike as he throws it harshly aside, lurching Sam’s body with it, leaving him open and-
Tommy’s fist slams into the already broken wrist that jerks up to block it, feeling the way it crunches, the noise ringing in his head with a tidal wave of fear and he flinches before catching himself, stumbling several steps back, shoulders curling as he hunched on himself, palm pressing flat over his heart and-
You’re not there, Tommy reminds himself sharply, his breaths whistles harshly inside his chest, even with Dream’s power curling red around him, the energy thickening around his legs.
You got out, Techno- he got you out-
“I thought you were done running,” Warden takes a step towards him, broken arm almost an afterthought as it drops to hang at his side.
“Fuck you,” Tommy growls back, a shiver crawling through him, fingers twitching and eyes skating over goldgoldgold- “I am-“
“You don’t sound so sure, Hero.” And- for the first time something breaks through the façade of the Warden, Sam’s too human voice bleeding thickly through it. “Lying again?”
“I’m not fucking-“
“You said Jester was here!”
“And he was-!” Tommy’s voice breaks, the red zipping up his body, responding to the volatile rise of his emotions. “You can’t fucking tell me he wasn’t when his blood was all over his cell! When those were his goddamn feathers-“
The Warden is the first to move this time and Tommy twists, knocking the trident aside, teeth drawing back in a sharp cat-like hiss of warning, the skin on his back rippling with his hackles.
The Villain stills, smoke curling out from the broken mask.
“I. Didn’t. Fucking. Lie.” Tommy bites out each word painfully slowly, struggling against the instincts crowding too tight inside of him.
The wall leading towards the prison isn’t far behind the Warden now and Tommy’s fingers flexes carefully as he sinks his upper body forward.
Ideally, he would give himself more space, move back, recalculate-
But he can’t risk Warden turning the situation around on him, to hunt him.
Tommy explodes into motion, red zipping violently around him, and he pushes the rush of energy into his arm like a pulsing wave of violence as the trident shoots through the air, and Tommy feels the end one tear into the soft skin of his cheek, just above his mask, as he jerks his head aside, dropping low as he slams his fist forward-
The air whistles, the energy exploding out, and Warden shoots back, airborn before slamming into the end of the hallway wall with a rattle of his armour, and Tommy’s fist trembles, chest heaving and mouth twisting into a jagged grin of satisfaction that juts his tusks.
“Got’cha,” he snarls, twisting the energy down to his legs and rocketing forward, past the dropped trident as Warden goes for the only optional defence, sparks smattering on his palm and-
Tommy’s hand wraps around the Villain’s wrist, the scent of gunpowder in his nose as he slams Warden’s palm flat against the wall behind him.
“Boom,” Tommy snarls hoarsely.
The explosion is loud, ringing in his ear, and the wall is crumbling, smoke thick around them both and-
Tommy’s feet jerks beneath him, his eyes stinging and unable to see shit but feeling the way he gets shoved, hand twisting in his grip to grab onto his wrist, and-
Then suddenly nothing is beneath him and his other hand shoots out, clawing into the Warden’s wrist, nails dragging against the gold, the cold winter air curling around him where he dangles.
The Warden stands, arm outstretched and Tommy hanging from the end of it, blood and dust clinging to him, armour missing on the side of his chest where the explosion had torn through it, the visible skin charred and dark and weeping blood.
“You’re a pest,” the Warden, Sam, tells him, something unfathomable in his voice.
“Yeah, well-“ Tommy coughs, the adrenaline still burning through him making him almost feel delirious, the ground far far below him, waves licking up the shores of Pandora’s island. “Not particularly housing any warm feelings for you either at the moment, big guy.”
“You should have stayed at home,” Sam’s cold voice is a thing that blurs with the gentleness and warmth in his memories and Tommy feels his eyes sting.
“I could say the same to you, Sam,” Tommy laughs, chest burning.
“Don’t call me that,” the Warden warns him, grip tightening, squeezing over the brand around his wrist.
“Fuck you,” Tommy musters back but it feels weak, tired, the red light zipping up his limbs, heaving up to get his fingers into the chink of the armour and digging down with a gritting of his teeth.
“You never stop.”
There’s blood on Sam’s face where the broken visor had torn into his skin, red amidst the patches of green, beading above his brow to trail down with a curve beneath his eye where it continues its path down his chin.
Tommy blinks at him and-
His mouth curves behind his mask, a bitter self-depreciating thing as he lets out a barked laugh, the very tips of his fingers folding beneath the metal in his grip.
“I’ll be honest with you,” he tells the other, red zipping up his midriff, rustling the fabric of his hoodie. “I don’t think I know how.”
He yanks himself down abruptly, catching the Warden off-guard with the sudden pull of motion and dragging him along with him as he turns sharply, using the momentum to swing like a wrecking ball towards the prison wall, knees bending to brace, and shooting off it to slam back into Sam and send them both rocketing out into the open air, away from the shore beneath them.
Away from Pandora.
Warden’s arm wraps around his midriff, sealing tight, and Tommy struggles, clawing at the fingers digging into his belly, struggling frantically and pushing with hands and feet to try and free himself.
“Let me go you bastard!” he shouts furiously.
The air whistles past them, Sam falling hard, dragged down by the weight of his armour, but Tommy is falling just as fast, caught in his grasp, the dark water approaching rapidly.
“If I’m going down,” Sam’s voice in his ear, his fingers bruising his flesh as he’s wrapped tight in the man’s grasp. “I’m taking you down with me, Red Chaos!”
They hit the water, Sam’s back taking the brunt, bubbles swirling white around them both as Tommy slams his elbows desperately back, prying at the fingers, bubbles leaving his mouth in a furious stream as they sink downdowndown into the dark depth.
He feels his beanie swirl into the depths, hair floating free, the cold a horrible thing that sinks its way into his limbs, leaving them feeling heavy and clumsy.
He slams his head and he feels it collide with something, Warden’s grip loosening for a moment before sinking into the collar of his hoodie, spinning Tommy along with him and dragging him down as Tommy kicks blindly, the red light of his power streaking violently around them both, the only light in the darkness that swallows them up.
The air trapped in his chest burns, his ears aching, the surface getting further and further away and eyes stinging from the salt of the water as he claws into the hand keeping him trapped.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-
Air bubbles from his mask and he jerks, feeling Warden’s fingers dig into it, the broken arm outstretched stubbornly, the fingers curling weak, and-
Tommy stops fighting.
Stops struggling.
His mask unlatches from his face and Tommy, not Red Chaos, stares down into the golden eyes of the man who had taken him in into the small red brick café with its silly dog sign and even sillier white fluffy dog that greeted him with a tip-tap of her claws, tail wagging with the ring of the bell.
It’s me, Sam, words that feels trapped in his heart amidst the devastation of what they had become.
Blue eyes wide, his face bare for the truth of who he was, staring down at Sam whose harsh grip on his hoodie loosens.
And for that single moment, it’s just the two of them.
Just-
Tommy and Sam.
A tired grouchy teenager protesting over the silly animal shaped cookies as Sam worked away in the kitchen, the air heavy with the scent of food and bakery, the radio playing some old song that Sam would hum away to.
No Heroes.
No Villains.
The blood from Sam’s side is darkening the water, spiralling around them both.
“Tommy.” His name leaves Sam’s mouth in a stream of white bubbles and-
He finds himself let go.
Tommy’s eyes widens, his mouth opening in a shout in the blood stained water, twisting and reaching out, fingers only narrowly wrapping around his mask as it’s released from Sam’s limp fingers.
There’s no way to reach him, Sam sinking too fast, back into the depth, hand still outstretched towards him.
Tommy’s chest and eyes are burning and his mouth opening, screaming, for a moment suspended in the all-consuming darkness, tasting blood and salt on his tongue, feeling his neck and shoulders prickle and burn, two powers wrestling inside of him before he pushes his mask back and twists, kicking furiously and blindly in the direction of the surface.
Because the world is ugly, a place of desperate hollow survival that beats with the pounding of his heart even when he hates it.
The cold wraps around him and he chokes on a sob, feeling so frightfully lost in the big dark depth as the current pushes at him, twisting him in the water until he claws himself free of it and-
This can’t be the end.
He feels turned around, Dream’s power streaking through the water, desperately pushing onwards because-
This can’t be the end.
It can’t, it can’t, it can’t-
The red flickers, heat licking at his throat, something tearing on his back, mouth parting with a stream of bubbles as he chokes.
The cold wraps heavy around him in the merciless embrace of the sea, and he jerks as something surges into view, twisting with a spread of wide wings that turn from metal to feathers to halt the abrupt descent, blond hair, lighter than his own, a hand reaching out to clasp his.
The Angel of Death draws him up against him, an arm wrapping around his midriff, Tommy’s curling instinctively to wrap around the back of the man’s neck, fingers sinking stiffly into the wet fabric.
And-
Phil’s warm, his wings spreading out, rising and flapping sharply down, propelling them up with a rush of the water around them.
The arm keeps him anchored and Tommy watches the dark depth and the swirl of bubbles as each strong beat carries them further and further.
His fingers curls tighter into Phil’s sweater, lungs burning, something crackling at the back of his throat.
They break the surface harshly and Tommy sucks down a desperate rush of air, coughing and choking, smoke escaping the vents of his mask, seeping into the dark night as a hand pats against his back.
“Let it all out, mate,” the Angel of Death tells him, arm strong and secure around him as Tommy wheezes, lungs burning, the cold night air somehow even worse than the chill of the ocean.
“Fuck you,” Tommy tells him miserably.
Somehow, this startles a small laugh, a warm thing that rumbles through the chest he’s pressed against. “Fair enough,” Phil murmurs. “Come on, let’s get you back to shore.”
Tommy sinks his chin against Phil’s shoulder, lethargic and exhausted and miserably cold.
“Ranboo is dead,” he murmurs, fighting against the insane urge to bury his face into Phil’s neck, to tuck himself away, to pretend the world is kinder than it is.
Phil’s muscles tightens for a moment before he lets out a breath. “I know, Judge told us.”
“Oh.” Tommy blinks. “I’m sorry, I-“
A low crooning noise makes his teeth click shut, brain fuzzing and muscles going limp with a startled little noise that gets caught in his throat with a clack of his teeth.
“You can tell us all about it later.” Phil hauls him up more securely against him and Tommy clumsily wraps his legs around his waist, feeling very much like a child, ridiculously so with Wilbur’s father holding him close. “Take a moment and just breathe, mate. I’ve got you.”
I’ve got you.
Tommy’s eyes flutters, a numb sort of strange feeling settling heavy in his chest.
Below him in the dark depths, somewhere, he imagines Sam’s golden armour falling softly against the sand in a pillow of white dust.
And- if Phil feels any of the tears that drops warm against his neck he makes no mention of it as his free arm strokes easily through the cold water, taking them closer and closer to the waiting figure of Techno at the shore.