Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dream had left without saying a word. All he left to give Tommy a clue of where he had gone was a note on the kitchen counter saying Went into town, don’t break any rules :) - Dream. Tommy didn’t know for how long Dream would be away on this trip, but based on how everything went down just now, Dream would purposefully stay longer away. 

He did that whenever Tommy messed up, left for a few days, sometimes even weeks to teach him a lesson, as he had said one time when Tommy was just a kid. What hurt the most right now, (aside from his wing), was the fact that Dream decided to leave a day before his birthday. 

It had been a while since Dream had been around for a birthday of Tommy’s, last time he remembered Dream physically being there was four- maybe five years ago? Tommy had at least been young, well, younger. 

“Shroud, you can come out now.” Tommy called, looking around for the fluffy spider. He didn’t have many hiding spots, but he had a few he liked the most. One was in the mud of a potted plant in the corner of the main room of the tower, which Tommy found him most often hiding in. 

“I should probably put away the supplies Dream brought in.” Tommy thought out loud, something he often did to drown out the silence. Talking to Shroud helped, but Shroud was still in hiding and Tommy couldn’t be bothered to go looking for him. Besides, Tommy had work to do. 

He could busy himself for the next couple of hours, before either boredom came or he’d finish his chores. The chores he did every day, and had done every day for almost seventeen years. 

Tommy’s life was quite sad, when he actually thought about it. Pitiful, even. 

No, no, of course not! Of course Tommy’s life wasn’t pitiful, Dream gave him the best life imaginable!  Dream protected him from the dangers of the world, had kept him safe all his life, Tommy should be grateful. 

That never stopped him from dreaming, though, as ironic as that sounded. 

Even after all of this time, Tommy had never even set foot outside of the tower. Never felt the wind against his skin, climbed a tree or laid in the grass. Never soaked himself in the rivers flowing around the tower, never smelled the flowers or watched the bees up close. The outside world looked so far out of his reach, yet it was just a few meters away from him. 

It felt.. empty. The tower, even if Dream was around, Tommy still felt empty and alone. Even with Shroud by his side, Tommy was still alone, and would still be alone probably until the day he died. 

Dream had made sure to beat his ideas of the outside world into Tommy, quite literally. Tommy had always asked Dream for books from the outside though, as curiosity was hard to drown and Tommy never stopped asking for them, so Dream eventually gave in to Tommy’s whining and begging and showed him the large library that the tower held, hidden behind a wall. 

Tommy frequented the library, and at this point had probably read every single book the library held. Tommy was constantly asking Dream to bring new books to add to the library, some on specific topics and some Tommy asked Dream to specifically pick himself. 

Most of the books Dream picked were fiction novels, never really books like encyclopedias on animals or books on the stars and open space. Those interested Tommy the most, and he had spent long nights looking at the stars. 

The stars were such a wonder, and they looked the best on his birthday, accompanied by the floating lights that danced and sparkled in the sky alongside the shining embers some billions of light years away. Tommy always stared in awe, wanting to touch them, be near them, see them up close in all of their glory. 

Tommy would never reach the stars, even with those wings of his, but he could possibly reach the second best thing; the floating lights. Tommy had never really thought about going outside the tower, to venture out into the world only to see some lights get released into the sky. 

It felt foolish, but Tommy had always dreamt of releasing one of those floating lights into the sky himself, it felt like such an adventure in his dreams, he longed for the taste. 

Of excitement, of adventure.. of freedom. 

He ached for whatever freedom was, whatever that meant. His wings itched for flight, something he had yet to taste, he longed for the feel of the wind against his feathers, in his hairs and rustling his clothes. Tommy was stuck, empty, alone. 

Tommy sighed, ruffled his hair and went into the kitchen to put away the new supplies. Dream had brought a bunch of fruits, vegetables, some meat and spices. Most stuff they needed, although he seemed to have forgotten the dairy products. Tommy began putting away the vegetables and fruits, and despite the old ass tower he lived in there was indeed a device for refrigerating, which was used for fruits, veggies and other fresh stuff. Dairy was also stored there. 

Tommy wasn’t long putting away the supplies, deciding on cleaning the kitchen thoroughly to pass more time. He had already scrubbed the cabinets, most of the table, even cleaned the chairs. 

As he went to grab the mop from the supply closet, a loud noise was heard from the main room. Tommy froze up, hands grasping the mop tightly. Was Dream back? He never returned so quickly after an argument with Tommy, his punishments were never so mild. 

As he opened his mouth to speak, he heard voices, “Where the fuck are we?” One voice said, tone aggressive and confused. Another voice spoke- well they made a sound before speaking, “I panic-teleported us to the closest location with a building. That seemed to have been a tower, in some hidden valley.” A deeper voice commented. 

“Wonderful.” The higher voice replied, Tommy heard shuffling. He assumed they were moving, he needed to do something. He needed to protect his and Dream’s home. The bird in his head was yelling at him to run, to hide, there were predators in his home and he needed to get out, but he had bigger things to worry about and ignored his instincts. 

Tommy inhaled, his grip on the mop tightening as he sprung from the closet, whacking the nearest person on the back of their head. The other person, who was incredibly tall may he add, stared at Tommy with wide eyes, clearly in shock. Tommy took his chance, with shaking hands whacked the taller person on the head, watching as they crumpled down to the floor to join their partner. 

Holy fuck, holy fuck, did Tommy just kill them? He didn’t hit them that hard, but Tommy had no idea how much strength he possessed or how much a human could take a hit. He was panicking, and would not be able to do anything if they woke up while in his state. 

Breathing in and out a few times, Tommy successfully calmed himself down and relaxed. 

First thing’s first, he had to figure out if they were dead or not. He crouched down on the floor next to the smaller person, and put his hand up to his nose, feeling the air hit his hand in a repeating pattern. He also checked his pulse, as a just in case, and found it alive and beating. Thank the Gods. 

Now he had to check the other person. The freakishly tall, two-toned person with two-toned hair and a weird jaw? They also appeared to have a tail? Were they a hybrid like Tommy? Everything added up for them to be one, yet Tommy had no idea what kind. No features of theirs looked even remotely to what Tommy had seen in his multitude of books on hybrids. 

He checked his breathing, felt the same pattern as with the smaller person and checked their pulse, same thing again.

 Now for the hard part, what the hell was he going to do about them? 

He should probably tie them up, right? That sounded like a good idea, sounded like a smart idea, in fact. Tommy looked around, trying to figure out what he could even tie those two up with. He knew Dream stashed rope somewhere in the tower, he just had to figure out where they were. 

The hybrid looked like simple rope was too easy to escape out of, so Tommy needed to figure out something different for them, maybe, if he felt like it. He moved a chair onto the middle of the floor, a few meters away from the shorter person and went up to the attic to look for the rope he knew Dream had stashed somewhere. 

After a few moments of searching, Tommy finally found the rope hidden in some dusty old box way back in the attic. Tommy made his way back towards the main room, seeing both people still knocked out which was a relief. 

The rope was quite long, so Tommy would need to cut it a bit but it should be fine. Hopefully. 

Tommy grabbed the smaller person, and with a bit of struggle he got them in the chair and worked to tie them to the chair. Dream, for some reason, had taught Tommy how to tie a sturdy knot, something no human or hybrid, (unless you were maybe a piglin hybrid) could break through. 

Once he felt the knots were sturdy enough, he went into the kitchen to grab a knife to cut the rope, and once he turned around he saw two blue eyes staring at him.

“Hello.” The person said, voice a bit too cheery for Tommy’s liking. Tommy froze, feathers fluffing up as he was stared down by the tied up ram hybrid. “You live here?”

Tommy didn’t respond, didn’t dare move a muscle, take a breath. He was terrified, there was a stranger, a danger in his house, they were staring right at him, probably planning how to kill him, steal him to use him for his powers!

No, Tommy was panicking again. 

“Hey buddy, still here.” The tied up hybrid said, sending a small awkward wave as Tommy made sure to tie up his hands. He also tied him to the chair, and his legs. 

He made sure he wouldn’t be able to do anything. “Who-who the fuck are you?” He sputtered out, putting the knife in front of himself to look threatening. He probably didn’t, he was trembling and his knees felt ready to buckle right under him. 

The ram hybrid smiled sheepishly, clearly relaxed about this whole thing. “My name’s Tubbo! Can I ask you a question now?” Tommy opened his mouth to respond but got cut off, “You look young, do you live alone? What’s your name? Why do you live in a lonely tower?”

Tommy felt overwhelmed. 

He never expected human interaction to be so tiring. 

This.. Tubbo was distracting him. He still needed to tie up the other person. “Oh, you know a rope won’t stop Ranboo here.” Tubbo said, watching Tommy fuss and huff as he tried to figure out how to tie up a humongous person that was at least 3 meters taller than he was. 

Tommy looked at the ram hybrid. “He’s an enderman hybrid. Well- more enderman than human but whatever! He has the ability to teleport, so a simple rope won’t keep him anywhere.” 

Tubbo was a very talkative person. Tommy might be able to use this to his advantage. “What would work against him, then?” Tommy hoped Tubbo would take the bait. 

And lucky for him, he did. 

“Endermen are weak to water. It melts them, hurts them. Don’t you dare fucking hurt him.” Tubbo threatened, Tommy putting his hands up in mock surrender. Tommy wouldn’t dream of actually hurting someone, but he would use water to his advantage. Since the person could teleport and rope wouldn’t affect him, Tommy would probably need to use water to his advantage. 

“I would never hurt anyone.” Tommy said, Tubbo didn't look very convinced. “What’s his name?” Tommy asked, as he worked on putting the tall person in a chair. “Ranboo.” 

“Ranboo.” Tommy mirrored, the name sounding funny. “Add another B to the end of that and it’s Ran boob .” He said, a chuckle escaping his lips. Tubbo snickered, “I’ve made that joke. He always complains when I do.” 

For good measure, Tommy tied Ranboo to the chair, going into the kitchen to fill buckets with water. He wasn’t going to use them, of course! He was just going to surround the chair with the buckets and if or when Ranboo would wake, he would be able to hopefully scare him enough not to teleport away. 

“The fuck are you doing?” Tubbo chimed from behind him, the chair scraping against the floor. Tommy looked towards Tubbo, seeing how he had moved the chair to get a better angle. 

“It’s only a safety measure. I have no idea what you guys want, you guys could be serial killers for all I know.” Tommy said, tightening the rope around Ranboo’s legs. 

“Yeah, don’t worry about that birdbrain. Me and Ranboo can’t even hurt a fly, we only fight if it’s necessary.” Birdbrain? How rude. 

“No need to be a bitch.” Tommy murmured, finishing placing the water buckets down. 

“So,” Tubbo began, again. Tommy had never imagined someone could be so talkative, but then again, he only ever talked to Dream and Shroud in and in both cases he was the more talkative one. Maybe Tommy and Tubbo could be.. friends?

No, no! That’s crazy! The only friend he needs is Dream!

The bird in his head screeched in distress, clearly not happy with the fact that Tommy was for one, facing his danger head on, and two, was still in the presence of said danger. Tommy ignored his instincts, his wings still fluffed up and stiff. 

“Care to answer my previous questions?” Tommy sighed, deciding to sit on the floor in front of Tubbo. “I’m turning seventeen tomorrow. I- I live alone and in the tower because I.. don’t like people.” The lie tasted poisonous on his tongue. It felt bad to lie, especially when he had no reason to lie. 

Tubbo had shown no signs of being a person coming after Tommy, maybe he could trust him?

“My name is Tommy. It’s nice to.. meet you, Tubbo.” Tubbo shot him a smile, happy with his answers. “Wonderful to meet you bossman. Now, why are we tied up?” 

Tommy tensed. “Well, you are intruders, you could’ve been dangerous and here to harm me. I couldn’t take any chances.” That piqued Tubbo’s interest. “Harm you? Why would anyone do that? This tower is in the middle of the forest, in a hidden valley. Very few people would even know you’re here, let alone have a reason to harm you.”

Tommy didn’t respond, Tubbo continuing on. “Unless you’re a mega important person, like a certain lost prince of Antarctica, then no, no one is after you.” 

But people are after him, Dream said so. His entire childhood had been terror stories of how society was after him for his healing powers, how dangerous life was, how dangerous people were.

Dream had taught him that, had made sure it stayed imprinted in his very bones, all Tommy knew that the outside world meant danger. 

Could Tubbo and Ranboo help him?

“Why did you two come here?” Tommy asked, picking at his fingers, a habit he did due to anxiety. “We didn’t mean to. We were almost attacked and had to teleport in panic and ended up here. We thought the tower was empty before you whacked us on the head with a mop.” 

Tommy chuckled. “Yeah, sorry about that.” Tubbo smiled. “No worries, I’d probably do the same if I were you.” 

An awkward silence fell over the pair, as Tommy picked on his fingers and Tubbo scanned his environment. Tommy didn’t really know what to do, had no idea how to communicate but he did know Tubbo talked, a lot. And he could use that to fill up the silence lingering over them. 

“How old are you and Ranboo?” Tommy asked, looking up at Tubbo. “We’re both turning eighteen.” So they’re older, duly noted. 

“Why did you guys even come here? Who would want to be here?” Tommy asked, a nervous laugh escaping his lips. Tubbo raised an eyebrow. “Well, like I said, we came here by accident. We can’t exactly escape since Ranboo is knocked out and I’m tied up.”

Tommy chuckled. “How long have you been here?” Tubbo asked, Tommy hesitated to answer. Should he answer with the truth, or should he bullshit some lie like he did in the beginning?

“My whole life.” Tommy said quietly, Tubbo’s face twisting into a frown. “You’ve never been outside the valley?” Tommy shook his head with a wet laugh, “I’ve never left the tower.”

Tommy’s hands were shaking as he spoke, eyes welling up with tears, wings coming to wrap around him as they did whenever he was scared or emotional in general. “I’ve never left the tower. For almost seventeen years, I’ve never even felt the touch of grass.” 

“Damn man, you need to touch some fucking grass then.” Tommy burst out laughing at Tubbo’s sudden comment. “What the fuck man?” Tommy exclaimed in between laughter, Tubbo eventually joining him in his laughter. 

“So, is there any chance we could make a deal?” Tubbo asked once the two had settled down from their laughing high. “A deal?” Tubbo nodded furiously, a mischievous smile on his lips. 

“There must be something you want, to let me and Ranboo go, right?” Tommy nodded, Tubbo continued on, “so, what is it that you want? You mentioned never even having touched grass, maybe me and Ranboo can take you outside?”

Tommy didn’t say anything, stuck in though as he thought about the ram hybrid’s offer. If Tommy played his cards right, he could get Tubbo and Ranboo to take him to see the floating lights! Of course, why hadn’t he thought of that sooner?! This is perfect, he can use them to take him to the lights, and maybe, potentially, possibly make friends. 

“I do in fact have something I want.” Tommy said, inhaling deeply. He almost felt scared to even utter the words out loud, given how Dream reacted to his suggestion in the beginning. He exhaled, “I want you to take me to see the floating lights.” 

Tubbo raised a brow in confusion, Tommy continuing on. “The stars?” 

Tommy shook his head. “No, no, not the stars. These are not stars.” Tommy explained, hands moving in motion to his words. “I know what stars are, Tubbo. I’m talking about the floating lights that appear every year on only one day. My birthday. ”

Tubbo still looked confused. Tommy’s shoulders slugged in disappointment, his energy dying down. “Hold on now.” Tubbo then said, “I know what you’re on about! You’re talking about the lanterns! That the royal family puts out for the lost prince! Of course we can take you to see them!” Tubbo said, Tommy’s face lighting up. 

“Really? You can?!” Tubbo nodded, Tommy’s face beaming. 

“Are you sure that’s all you want though?” Tubbo asked, Tommy nodding. “It’s all I’ve wanted since I’ve remembered myself. Those lights have always felt like something special, and I really want to see them up close.” 

“You are really passionate about these lanterns.” Tommy nodded again, turning to Tubbo. “It’s been a dream of mine since forever, and it’s just within an arm’s reach now, why should I let go of that chance?”

“That’s fair.” Tubbo said. 

A moment of silence passed. 

“So, you gonna untie me bossman?”