Chapter Text
Tommy looked up to see this unassuming pink-haired girl, soft and kind looking, walking in the room, clipboard in hand. She smiled at Tommy.
"Hello, Theseus. I'm Niki. I'll be asking you a few questions."
"What's a Theseus ? My name is Tommy." Tommy ignored the part of his brain that said that his name was Theseus. It couldn't be, it couldn't be. His name isn't Tomathy, like He always said it was. But Theseus made his heart pang. He couldn't be Theseus. It hurt. It hurt more than Tomathy. He's just Tommy. "I'm just Tommy. Just Tommy."
The woman's smile faltered for a second before her mask resumed to where it was before. Niki continued, "Okay, Tommy. Is it alright if I ask you a few questions?"
"Hit me," Tommy stated nonchalantly, ignoring the part of his brain that hoped Niki wouldn't take it literally (He sometimes took it literally; Tommy had the bruises to prove it).
"Do you know where you are?"
"Mm. A police station. Are you guys sure you aren't... in a cartoon or something? Am I dreaming? This is a fucking cool dream if it is."
Niki didn't know what the fuck that meant. So, she opted to continue the questioning: "Are you aware of your rights?"
"You mean what the SWAT bitch said when they put handcuffs on me? Yeah. That was really uncomfortable. It reminded me of when He locks me in the basement."
"Do you know why you are here?"
"...for sitting on a couch?" Tommy asked, actually serious about his unsure answer. Tommy, in fact, had no idea why the fuck he was here. He just wanted to watch his cartoon while He was out doing whatever the fuck he was doing. He just wanted to ice the bruise on his jaw. He was given permission by his fri- his captor (God, why was there a dilemma here) to be out there.
"Do you know where Dream-" Niki started, but she never finished, because Tommy started to scream. Scream as loud as he could. He was screaming for help, to not be hurt, to be safe, and all Niki could do was watch as this teenager started to have a full on panic attack, curled up in the corner, begging to be spared.
Not to be hurt, to be spared. It hurt Niki seeing it happen.
Niki didn't mention Dream by name again.
---
Puffy should be happy that they found a missing kid.
But how the fuck was she supposed to be happy when this kid, this innocent kid, was found after years and wasn't the same. And now she had to call the Minecraft family with this news that would change the entire Minecraft family's lives.
The phone rang. Once. Twice. Three times. Before someone finally picked up.
"Hello, this is Phil Minecraft speaking, who is this?"
"Hello, Mr. Minecraft. This is Captain Puffy of the LPD."
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"You may want to come down for this, sir," Puffy informed, her eyes narrowing in on the security camera observing the teenager hiding in the interrogation room, on edge from his.. breakdown earlier.
"Don't call Him that," the teenager begged Niki. "Please don't."
Niki answered Theseus- Tommy, "I won't. How can I refer to Him?"
"Him," Tommy muttered. "He's nice... he's not nice, but he is-. Are you going to arrest him?"
Niki smiled calmingly, only replying with silence. The kid was smart, catching on quickly to what the silence implied. But still, Tommy said, "He's a good person."
"I'm sure he is."
"He is! He's kept me safe."
"Has he?"
"He let me out of the basement today and let me have an ice pack."
"I see. Do you like the basement?"
"Yeah, it's nice. I'm in there a lot. Once I got put in there for at least 3 days. I remember because He said I almost passed out!" Tommy clenched his head, his brain seemingly overwhelmed from this whole situation. It was protecting him from the trauma that was the fuckhole that was the Taken house, Niki thought, or it was him trying to cope with the fact he was outside of the hellhole. "Sorry," he mumbled. "This isn't very funny, is it..."
Niki smiled, trying to rein in her anger at the fucker that did this to a kid, but she had to get information to capture Dream, so she had to ignore her urge to therapize the child. Niki saw the photos of the basement. It was covered in dried blood, some of which had been there for years. There wasn't a proper bed, nor any A/C. The basement door had a padlock. There were scratches on the walls, scratches from Tommy, trying to claw himself out of there.
"I really like the basement," Tommy said, trying to move on.
Niki nodded, trying to resist the urge to shake the kid by the shoulders and tell him to wake up from this illusion that this was okay. It was not okay.
"Do you know where He went?"
"He said he was going to visit a friend, Schlatt, I think..." Tommy murmured. "Can we stop? My head hurts."
"Of course."
The interrogation hadn't gone well, but it also helped them into understanding what Dream Taken's next move was. It helped Niki to know and gauge how much therapy this kid would need.
It was obvious that this kid was fucked up in many ways because of Taken, and Puffy was not going to stop until the bastard was behind bars now. She'd seen her fair share of fucked up situations, but even she, who wasn't even a fucking therapist, could see the layers of PTSD from Tommy. Niki was the resident therapist and Puffy was surprised how she could keep a straight face without exploding in anger at the whole situation.
God, Puffy was upset, but she had to focus on the Minecraft family. She didn't know how to break this news to Mr. Minecraft.
Phil asked, "What's going on?" He apparently figured that Puffy got distracted from the recording of the interview, not that Phil knew it was an interview, just that Puffy was distracted.
"Sir, I would rather not say something this sensitive on the phone. Please come down as soon as you can," Puffy explained, hoping that the man would take the hint. She didn't want to just tell this father that his son was alive after years of believing he was dead, and she wanted to even less inform him that his son who was thought to be dead had severe… issues now.
"Alright. I'll be down in an hour, Captain."
"Of course, sir. I'll see you soon."
---
Phil didn't know why the police station had called him. Techno lived in the countryside nowadays, only visiting L'Manberg for family events. Tech hadn't gotten into a brawl in years. Wil hadn't had a fuck-up with substance abuse in a year, and he was living happily with his son, Fundy. Phil didn't know why in the world either of them would do something to fuck up their lives that had started to get normal after the loss of Kristin, Tommy, and Sally. What the fuck did they do?
He parked in the police station parking lot, walked straight on in, talked to the receptionist, and he was calmly escorted to Captain Puffy's office.
The goat hybrid was sitting there, her horns curled on the sides of her head, focused on some file or another. She looked up to see the blonde-haired man, smiling. "Are you Mr. Minecraft?"
"Please, call me Phil, Captain."
"I'm sorry for calling you down like this," the Captain said.
---
Puffy had no fucking idea how she was going to break this news to the father. How was she supposed to do this, say "hey, your presumed dead son is alive and in a hospital room right now?" - like that would be a good way to spill the beans.
"No worries, mate," the nonchalant old man brushed off. "What did Wil or Techno do?"
Puffy grimaced, knowing that this was not at all related to either of his sons. She knew enough about the Minecraft family, as it was on Theseus's- er, Tommy's file. "You see, Phil," the goat hybrid started. "This.. doesn't involve either of them, or you."
Phil stayed silent, confusion overtaking his features. Rightfully so, Puffy thought.
"We found Theseus."
Phil stopped breathing. They found Tommy? Even so, he knew one day this would happen, he didn't know when exactly or if he'd live to see it, but they had to find Tommy's body eventually, right? The old man smiled, seemingly unbothered (that was wrong, he wanted to scream and cry and ask how the world could be so unfair) and asked the Captain, "Where was he buried?"
Captain Puffy looked at Phil dead in the eyes and corrected, "No, no, no, Mr. Minecraft. You don't understand. We found Tommy… alive."
Phil's world started to turn. Suddenly, it was like his throat was dry as he croaked out, "Tommy's alive?"
---
Tommy was transferred to some hospital. It was mainly a mental hospital, but he'd been treated for his wounds and injuries at an actual hospital before being transferred there. Niki, much to his relief, had been with him the entire time. She refused to leave him alone, and any moment he was without her, he'd start freaking out to the point the doctors had to have her there.
Tommy liked Niki. Niki was nice. Niki didn't overstep her boundaries. She said she was a licensed therapist, whatever that meant. Even so, part of him missed Him. He missed the soft touches and the cuddles.
He ignored the fact that he could still feel the bruises. He ignored the fact that he was bleeding not even three hours ago.
Niki murmured into an earpiece of some sort (not that Tommy knew what that was in the first place). Hesitantly, she reached out, opening her palms to the blonde teenager.
"Tommy, do you remember your family?" Niki asked the teen, only prying slightly.
"I-I," Tommy started, stumbling. He felt a headache, yet still kept going. "I had older- older-" Tommy abruptly stopped, clenching his head in pain. He didn't want to remember. He had to remember. He didn't want to. He had to though. He wanted to forget.
All he needed was Him. All he needed was Him. He didn't have a family; he only needed Him.
All I need is Him. All I need is Him. I ONLY NEED HIM. I DON'T NEED A FAMILY.
"He isn't here, Tommy," Niki gently said. "You are safe. If you don't want to remember, we don't have to do this right now."
"No, I'm fine."
"If you say so, Tommy," Niki said, holding her hand out for Tommy to hold. Tommy took it, shaking and unsure.
"I… I have older brothers.. And Dad."
Niki smiled.
"I have a family," he muttered shakily. "I have a family."
Niki knew that the boy was nowhere near prepared to facing his family yet. So even if Phil was given visitation rights, he only ever saw his youngest through a security camera. For Niki knew that Tommy wasn't prepared for it, not yet.
Phil would wait for as long as it took. Tommy had to be okay first, and he was okay with that. (He wasn't okay. He wanted to hug his child and whisper assurances, to say sorry for thinking he was dead. He wanted to know his child was okay.) He could deal with it.
---
Every day was a new step in the right direction. Tommy was going through intense therapy. He'd gotten to the point where he could walk around in the hospital grounds alone (mostly; Niki had to be nearby). Tommy recognized (it was hard) that his normal, his life, wasn't actually normal. It felt weird to be somewhere where he wasn't hurt for breaking rules. It felt weird to be around people who cared - who actually cared. It felt weird. It felt so incredibly weird.
Even so, Tommy tried to live.
"Niki..." Tommy murmured to the pinkette one day. "...do you think I can meet Dad, Wil, and Techie soon?" At that, Niki only smiled, giving the teenager a hug. They'd only been here for a month, but the boy was making great strides. Working with him every day had been well-worth it.
"Soon," Niki assured.
Tommy would stay in his room, with an actual bed with actual items and it would feel weird. Because he never had things before, but now he had those sticky socks and crayons that he could color with. His body, over time, felt comfortable here. It would never be the basement (he still loved the dark; the darkness was safe - He wouldn't be there). The problem was that he couldn't stomach the fact that he still felt this longing, this love, towards the person who he knew hurt him.
He loved Tommy, right? He had to. He fed Tommy (Tommy ignored that He'd make Tommy skip meals). He gave Tommy things (Tommy ignored the fact that He took it back). He was only ever hurt by Him because he did bad (Tommy ignored the voice in his brain that sounded like Niki, telling him that Tommy never did anything wrong).
No, friends don't hurt each other.
But he's my friend-
Tommy fell asleep. It was too confusing.
---
Tommy woke up somewhere else.
This wasn't the hospital.
It was dark (he liked the dark), but his hands were tied behind his back. He was on the ground, rudely strewn across the floor. After a month of being treated well, this... this felt weird, this felt familiar. Tommy didn't know what he was feeling. He hated it. He hated Him. He wanted to escape. He was going to be hurt. Being hurt isn't normal. Tommy wants to be normal, with his brothers and his Dad. He wants to have freshly made meals three times a day instead of leftovers every once in a while. He wants to be free. He wants to leave.
"Hey, Tomathy," the familiar sickeningly sweet voice greeted, hand caressing Tommy's hair. He knew what was going to happen. He didn't live with Him for years to not know what He was going to do to him. For the first time since Tommy'd been in therapy, he realized that He wasn't Tommy's friend. Friends were like Niki, who were nice and supportive. Friends weren't like Him, who hurt him.
Tommy felt the kick to his ribs and he could only hope someone would find him soon.
---
Phil called his sons to come to his house as soon as they could when news hit that Tommy was once again missing. He hadn't told his two sons that Tommy was alive, because no matter how much they wanted to see Tommy, they couldn't yet. So, Phil never told them.
But still, but still, somehow Dream got to his baby. God, Phil wanted to slaughter the motherfucker, but Phil had to tell his family that Tommy was alive, before they lost him again. Call him selfish, but Phil didn't want to mourn alone for his baby, not again. He already mourned once for Tommy. He'll be damned if it happens again. Techno, being a successful potato farmer, had no issues coming since it was in the middle of winter. Techno had nothing to do except play video games and tryhard them. Wilbur, on the other hand, took a bit longer because he had to get his 7 year old son out the door somehow.
That's when Phil sat down at the dinner table, looking both of his sons in the eye, saying that Tommy was alive.
Wil, at first, denied it. For Tommy was one of the reasons his mental health declined so quickly, his death and disappearance was why he struggled for so long. His baby brother was taken and was dead. His baby brother who he read bedtime stories to with Kirstin when his blonde-haired brother was only one year old, before his mother passed from cancer. Before Sally was pregnant at 16, when both him and her were unprepared for a child. Before Sally died at impact in a car accident. When Wilbur's life was good.
Techno, at first, paled at it. Unlike Wil, Techno found comfort in knowing Tommy was dead. At least then, he was in the afterlife (or whatever happened when someone was dead) and wasn't suffering at the hands of his abductor. But now, Tommy was alive. Tommy was alive when Techno could've done something about it. Why did he quit looking for Theseus? Why did he quit?
He could have helped his brother. He could have saved him.
But before they could linger on their guilt, all they felt was relief. Because their brother, their family, who they loved dearly was alive. Theseus "Tommy" Minecraft was alive.
And the Minecraft family was going to save their youngest.
---
No one knows quite how it went. One moment, Dream was in a warehouse hidden from the world. The next, the entire Minecraft family had taken up arms and somehow found him (the police couldn't find Dream, how the fuck did they do it?). Somehow, Wilbur knew Schlatt (it will never make sense how), Schlatt had helped them find Dream, and then they slaughtered the green bitch boy. The LPD looked over it, citing it as suicide by cop. Puffy wasn't actually there, but the government frankly would never know that she was never there.
What was important was that Tommy, the poor child, was safe again - and Dream would never be able to hurt him again.
---
The ride to the hospital made Tommy cry, cry more than the big man would ever admit. He was almost dead on the ride back to the hospital, the wailing of the ambulance going around in the teen's head in circles. Tommy felt like it was going too fast. Niki said that He was dead, but Tommy never learned how.
He'd only been here for what felt like hours, but what was told was almost a full day. He was dead. Tommy was free.
He was free.
"I'm free... SUCK IT GREEN BOIIIIII!!!!"
Niki laughed, smiling at the younger's antics. He was finally acting like a kid his age...
"Can I see my family?" Tommy asked, hope filling his eyes.
He subconsciously knew that Niki would never say no, because after that hell, he was somehow still - he was somehow still standing. He believed that Dream wasn't his friend.
"Of course, after you get admitted to the hospital."
Tommy cried.
In that moment, he cried. Because he could finally see his family.
He was free from Him.
It was as if the dam broke and the memories that his brain prevented him from seeing, of his brother and his father, finally broke. He remembered everything and fuck, he missed his family. Even if it'd been years, he missed his family. Phil, Techno, and Wil - hell even that demon child, Fundy.
He missed them.
It was only until Niki managed to usher Tommy to the hospital (after convincing him it would be safe) that they realized the extent of his injuries, the injuries that were hidden underneath his red and white t-shirt and jeans. She, or any of the other policemen and women would have done something about it sooner if they knew how bad it was.
---
Phil, Wilbur, and Techno waited anxiously out in the waiting room of the hospital. They had yet to receive real news, to hold their brother in their arms, and talk with him. But they saw his medical records (Phil was still his legal guardian), and how fucked up of a situation he was in.
He had bruises, new and old, scattered all across his body. One of his ribs had been broken and healed incorrectly, making it difficult for Tommy to breathe properly. His jaw was dislocated, crudely moved to where it "looked right" but it didn't mean it was put back properly. Tommy's body had scabs and scars from years of abuse. Hell, there was even a missing tooth somewhere. Not to mention, there was a fucking stab wound. A stab wound, from a knife.
Wilbur didn't even want to imagine what notioned his little brother to be stabbed. He didn't want to imagine it.
On the other hand, Techno just felt furious and upset that he couldn't have been the one to shoot the bastard (Wil got the glory, the overglorified e-boy) that had done this to his baby brother, who used to run around and say "Techie! Techie! Play with me pwease!" when he was just a toddler, learning how to run.
This didn't even count for the fact how deficient he was in vitamins, nutrients, and how malnourished he was. He was a walking ghost. The doctors barely believed that he'd survived that long. Phil could barely believe that his son survived all of this.
Any other human would've given up.
In a way, Phil was glad that his baby was so fucking stubborn.
The doctor called the Minecraft family to visit their hospitalized, not-so-dead officially-dead family member.
Tommy cried when he saw them. They cried when they saw him. No matter how gentle they tried to be, none of them could resist hugging their lost family member tight despite his injuries.
"Hey, Big W," Tommy greeted Wilbur, only getting a pained laugh from the brunette. "How many women have you gotten since I've been gone? Not as much as me, I bet."
"You're really joking right now, gremlin?"
"I AM NOT A GREMLIN!"
It was a routine that Tommy didn't know he missed (to be fair, he forgot). It was a banter that he hadn't done in years. Yet, it came out of his mouth so easily. They laughed. Tommy laughed. He laughed, genuinely. His brain was still in overload from all of this information being shot at him within 24 hours, but at the very least, he felt safe and happy.
When Techno ruffled Tommy's hair and said, "Welcome home, Theseus," Tommy smiled, holding his father's hand tight.
Phil only smiled, only watching his family reunite. Techno and Wilbur deadpanned at their father and with matching deadly smiles stared at Phil. Phil sweat a bit (rightfully so). Wil told the old man, "We'll talk about you hiding Tommy being alive later."
"Wil, can I kill him?" Techno asked.
"Not yet, not yet."
Tommy laughed, only hugging his brothers closer despite the pain he was in. He missed this. He missed it so fucking much.
"Philza Minecraft, I do not recommend being close to death; it is not very pog," Tommy stated, trying to be funny. He was met with silence. "Too soon?"
"No shit, sherlock," Wil deadpanned. "You scared the fuck out of us."
None of them expected that it would go back to the way it used to be. Tommy would have flashbacks, he'd cry and scream, but he was getting better. He was with his family. They could joke and watch Up on family movie nights. Techno even took a break from his potato farm to spend time with Tommy. Wil introduced Fundy, who Tommy vaguely remembered as a toddler when he was younger. Fundy, on the other hand, was enamored with Tommy.
It didn't take long for Tommy to reconnect with old friends (Tubbo and Ranboo). Sure, it wasn't normal and people walked around eggshells with Tommy. Tommy's life was far from normal, but they were working on it. They'd never go back to the way it was before he was taken. Tommy accepted that.
But they could damn well try.
Even if it was seven years late.