Choke on Promises

by AliceCipher26

Summary:

Phil might have bitten bitten off a bit more than he can chew with his two boys and a new foster child that came from a horrific scene. Its going to take a lot of patients to get this kid back onto their feet with society as a whole especially with mutants still growing into the accepting society.

WARNING: this fanfic hold many angsty and triggering content. Read the tags and understand that this is the only warning Im giving.

Notes:

WARNING: this fanfic hold many angsty and triggering content. Read the tags and understand that this is the only warning Im giving. This fanfic holds many triggering things and Im not giving warnings before the chapters start. Or in the middle or at the end. You clicked on this. Read at your own risk

Chapter 1: She lied

(((((WARNING: Last warning, read the damn tags and notes above and turn back Im not dealing with angry comments. Read and continue or go away)))))

 

 

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Tommy lets out a shrilling scream and struggles against the heavy ice like restraints. His teeth bite into the thick gag with snot and tears running down his cheeks burning into his pale skin. He kicks and pushes against the table but again he's restrained as the man and woman smile down at him casting a dark shadow from the operation light above his head. It was so bright it hurt. Everything hurt. He wasn’t supposed to make a sound but it hurts so much he even welcomes death. The kid was eight years old and awake on a make shift operation table. It was so cold and dusty.

”don't worry, your son will be a normal little boy after this” someone says.

They grin and walk over to the table on the side of the room where another boy laid. Their son. Not Tommy. The kid was asleep under a medical mask. The child that was asleep was born a animal mutant. His legs were small little paws that were fuzzy. His hands had retractable claws and the fluffiest tail and ears. When he heard they were going on a vacation and also making his foster brother human, it was after they found out that Tommy was a universal donor match. His foster parents took advantage of the black market and Tommy’s healthy body. Taking the boys to a sketchy duo to switch their parts around. The doctors could only sedate one kid and of course the parents has chosen their own blood. 

The process is brutal, bloody and cold. They tied some medical rubber ribbon around both of Tommy’s thighs and had lightly numbed the area, it didn't help too much. Tommy was in fight or flight. Screaming and pleading to be let go only for the pleads to be muffled cries. His foster parents stay with their actual son as the surgeons use a thine wire and to saw through his flesh while the other holds his leg down with a heavy bruising grip. He watches as his blood sprays onto the doctors clothes and his leg, they grab a saw from the tools and cut it off at the bone. Tommy shrieks banging his head on the metal table trying to end it. The transfer the limbs to the other table. When the door opens and another table is rolled into the room on Tommy’s other side. A pair of red wings were laying on the table in Ice

“Hey, got a kid I can put these on?” The man that pushed the wing into the room ask and set up a sleep gas tank next to Tommy. Another surgeon clothed individual came in with a bowl.

”yea man. That screaming brat is a foster. They wont know.” The doctors say. The person next to him takes the gag out of Tommy's mouth. “Sir! PLEASE! Ill be good! Ill do all the cleaning! Please don't do this! I wont complain! PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME DO THIS!” Tommy screams out as the medical mask is placed over his nose. Tommy shifts and cries pleading to be let go. “Noooo! Don't take my legs. They’re my legs. Please… please I wanna go home…. I wont… you……” Tommy knocks out from the sedation. They turn it off and continue their work as quickly and thorough as possible so both boys could function.

The dark web had many doctors that could switch body parts of a mutant onto that of a healthy child. Its a dark practice but for the right price it will work. The mutant will take some experimental med to help grow the new limbs as their own. All of this pain simply because his foster brother is bored of staying in the house while Tommy could go to an actual school. Tommy is- was a normal boy, now having body parts that weren’t his.

 

It was true that Tommy was a child of the system. He’s also had the worst luck ever. He’s been in the system for four years and has gone through 12 different houses, this being number one of bad. They had tricked him, made him feel special for an entire week just to ask him to help their son with a surgery. It was ridged. They promised to adopted and love him as their own. It was all a big stupid lie to take away his human legs for paws that weren’t his. He would never have that amount of love that his foster brother has. He wasn’t their son. He wasn’t consider human anymore in their eyes, and it hurts, being reduced to a thing that gives it’s own body away. Please just make it all go away so he can see his mama and dada again.

That time never comes though. Cause Tommy groggily wake up in the back seat of his car covered in bandages in the other seat was his foster brother sitting with his legs. Both their arms still had IV and drip bags attached with a red bag as well Tommy can only think that its blood or some kind of medication. Tommy closes his eyes letting the tears slip over his little nose and pool against his cheek and leather seat. Everything hurt.

 

When the daylight breaks through the tiny window of the attic, Tommy let out a groan and tiredly rolls over to his stomach onto his other side. Just the movement hurt he looks over his bandage hands. He slowly sits up and moves the blanket on his dirty mattress. The tears start to poor down his face again upon seeing the bandages and fuzzy paws held together in splints. The memories flood into his mind like a wild river. The torturous pain and betrayal he had felt from his foster family.

Down below him there was laughter and giggling. “You did it baby! You’re standing!” The woman’s voice beams brightly. “Mommy my new legs and ears feel funny!” The smaller boy says. Tommy reaches a hand into his hair to touch where his ears were. There was some kind of sting holding the skin where his ears once were. His hands shake as he covers the now stitched area of his head. He tries to breath only to find himself whining painfully and holding his jaw. Something painfully moves on his back it’s restricted with the bandages but it doesn’t matter anymore. Parts of his body was gone just like that in a span of a week.

Tommy sits in the sun light of the tiny window hidden away from the world his legs were stuck in splints. His ears were fluffy and resting on top of his head. His jaw was swollen and aching. Everything hurt.

There were footsteps and the door being pushed open causing Tommy to cover his ears and jump. He trembles covering his head and looking away. “Oh, you’re up.” His foster father said with such disinterest it seemed like he was now judging the new hybrid. The Man sighs marching over to Tommy and grabbing his arm. He unhooks the IV from the deflated saline drip only to replace it and add medication to Tommy’s system through the IV. “Wait here Ill get you some food.” The man leaves. Tommy scans the room for his book bag and pulls out a note book and pen. He starts to doodle while rubbing his eyes clear from the tears.

The man comes back with a small plate of food and drops it at the bed with a water bottle, tommy opens his mouth “is he happy?”

”what?”

”Connor. Is he happy? Can he go to school and take my place?” Tommy asks. Tommy knew the kid was a bit younger than him and still naive in his black and white world unlike Tommy who can see many colors of the world and all the dark shading. The man rolls his eyes “yea, he’s happy.”

”ok… Im glad then. I hope he lives the life he wants with my legs.” Tommy says and stares down at his hands with the pen between his fingers. The man scoffs “damn right you better be happy for my son,” the man says and shuts the door. A small breath escapes Tommy’s mouth as his lip quivers and the tears slip down his cheek and roll along his chin. It burns reminding him that he’s alive and has lived through the whole ordeal.

They didn’t bat an eye at tommy. Simply fed and hydrated him and helped him get to the bathroom. They gave him medication but that was all. This small routine continues for two weeks when there was a surprise visit from CPS and the police. The police asked to see Tommy but when the family refused Puffy had marched her way into the house and ordered the place to be searched with a warrant. Luckily he was found rather quickly and the fostering parents where arrested. The extended family was applauded seeing their relative no longer a hybrid and the foster child had Connors limbs.

Of course Tommy hugged Connor and told him to go be happy before being separated. The two were taken to the hospital, Puffy held and cuddled him the entire way there while he sobbed and shook in her arms. “Shhh, Im here now. It’s going to be okay.” Puffy says gently. The Sheep hybrid had fluffy comforting white curly hair that was died into a rainbow. He knew puffy and trusted her. She knew this family and promised he would be safe. But like them she had lied to him and built the wall around him once again keeping his distance from her. None of his friends from school came to see him or reached out. He should have known better. He shouldn’t trust anyone. He’s alone and should simply keep his distance from everyone. He couldn’t really move with the braces on his legs. He had to lay there and leg the doctors do whatever they wanted keeping him in a constant state of tears.

”are you okay little one?” Puffy asked holding his hand. Tommy tries to blink away the tears and pulls his hand away from puffy “n-n-no more” he pleads. Puffy gently rubs her hand lift to touch his head which makes him pull away. Puffy’ s heart breaks watching the boy turn away from her and cover himself in the hospital blanket, he scratches at his arms and curls up “you promised it would be okay there”

”Im so sorry, I had no idea they would do that. it’s safe now.” Puffy reassures him and leans on the bed. “No it’s no… h-he’s happy tho, with my legs. My legs… my ears. My teeth. Ms.Puffy you lied.” Tommy claws at his arms and chest digging his nails into his own skin so quietly until the white blanket turns red with blood. Puffy jumps up and restrains his arms and shouts for help. “NOOOOO! Let me go!” Tommy screams as doctors and nurse rush into his room pressing their hands onto his body. Tommy panics seeing the bright blinding light with so many masked people. He sobs and screams trying to kick his legs. He pleads out “SAVE ME! MAMA SAVE ME! MAKE IT STOP I DON WANNA GIVE UP MY LEGS AND ARMS! GIVE IT BACK!” Tommy screams at the top of his lungs. The monitors go off blaring in his ears. It was too loud. Scratchy. The blanket didn’t feel good. The bed wasn’t familiar. He was wet with blood. Everything had hurt.

lies

They promised

They all lie

No one tells the truth

Everyone wants to use him.

It never ends unless he tries to go see his parents.

If he bleeds he’ll see his parents again, just like them

He just needs to bleed enough to see them 

 

Eventually Tommy was sedated and straps were added to his bed. Puffy takes a deep breath and scratches her head trying to figure out what to do. She had other children that needed her. She only knew of one other man that could help this little one that has been through so much. He mentioned wanting to foster typical cases, but tommy wasn't typical. No go. He was hurt very badly. She watches from outside the door as this sweet little boy who tried so hard to find a home in each house and not once used the flip phone she gave him to report the abuse he was going through. He told her that family makes each other happy, if they were happy with him being beaten and forced to clean the entire house, he would do so with a smile and hope in his eyes. Tommy never pulled away from her before. That family was so gentle and kinda and manipulative, they hurt one of her children, and boy they are going to pay. The doctors told her that because of the healing process and the medication it was advised that they dont surgically fix their legs since their bodies are accepting each other which got Puffy into more frustration.

Who can she trust with Tommy? She looks at Tommy’s sleeping body. How come she keeps getting these mind destroying cases. Ever since her first…. First…. FIRST!

Puffy steps away from Tommy’s room and goes into her contact to make that call, “hey. It’s me puffy. Im currently in the hospital. I was wondering if you could possibly come down and uh bring your boys when you have the chance. There’s a kid I think you definitely need to meet…. No, not like that. He’s in the system… okay I know you are busy to foster another, but he is a really special case…. Well turn on the news and tell me if you’re interested.” She barks at the man on the phone and waits their in silence for two minutes. “See you soon” she says and hangs up.

Tommy had drowsily woken up and looks around the empty room ”I want my mama and papa” he whimpers to himself and hides under his blanket alone in the blinding white room with the thick smell of bleach and alcohol swabs. His hands were restrained with leather so moving around was difficult “I wanna go home” he whispers out to no one while holding his two favorite stuffed toys tightly in his arms. Everything hurts more then ever. He didn’t feel good, his body ached and it was all just so much. He hated moving house to house, but he didn’t have a choice. Puffy said he had too until he turned 18. He has to wait ten years before he could be on his own. Puffy couldn’t take him as hers cause she’s mothering three kids by herself and cant afford Tommy. He covers his ears and tries to sleep thinking about his mom and Dad’s warm hugs and smiles. They seem all fuzzy, but that memory goes back to that day.

That other horrible day that started everything.

Chapter 2: Its Icky

Summary:

Tommy is in a hospital room recovering most comfortable he's been in a while but far from perfect.

Tommy stares at the food before him, with his stomach aching for it to be filled with substance. His two plushies had been in his lap the entire time also staring at the food. The sheets felt cold against his skin and his new fur and feathers. He hated the uneven weight on his body. He had a tail and wings. They were heavy.

 His stomach let out a growl and turned in his stomach begging for the food. “Shhh henry, you’ll get us in trouble again. We aren't allowed to eat yet.”

”Baby,” he jumps and looks at the door. If was his designated day nurse Ms. Diana. She was very sweet and made sure he was doing okay. She even brought him on walks around the hall in a wheelchair “what do you mean you can’t eat yet? You should eat you’re too thin” she says walking over and sitting on the bed. She puts her little kit on the desk by his food. “Let me draw your blood then you need to eat some food. Okay?” Tommy nods and gives her the arm without the IV to draw blood. He was all bruised and the pain only help remind him he was safe in the hospital. Ms.Diana was there at his side when he scratched into his body with his claws. She was the one to come in with a story. Its only been three days, but he was at least comfortable to nod or shake his head in front of her as to not annoy her. She always been at this hospital. Just like she promised.

”Do you want me to read while you eat?” She asks and pricks Tommy’s arm, he tenses but relaxed under the familiar sore pain. He nods wanting to be read more of the story. Once a few tubes of his blood was taken Ms.Diana moved the kit and lifts the bed a bit more so he can eat. She moved slow enough for Tommy to track her movement while grabbing the book. “We stopped at… chapter 4, right?”

Tommy holds up three fingers. “Three?” She asked and opens the book. She smiles putting on her glasses and waits for Tommy to put the first bite of food in his mouth and she reads to him Chapter 3 of Charlotte’s web getting so wrapped up in the kindness and love in the book he doesn’t notice a few heads peeking through the glass door. On the other side were two boys and a man along with puffy.

”Thats him, seems okay now” his name was Phil. He was a man with a lot of money and often spoils his two adoptive sons. Puffy nods “yea, he’s okay now but that’s because he’s with the nurse he likes, Ms.Diana has been reading him charlottes web while he eats and before he sleep. Only way to get him to eat without having to give him permission or feel like we are forcing him. The kid hears story and It triggers time to sleep or eat. The Psychologist suggested the first day he was here to associate eating with something he would enjoy. If he doesn’t eat then doctor put a feeding tube in him.” Puffy explains while watching the kid eat.

”whats with all the, t-t-the um, equipment?” Techno asks.

”uh well Im not really supposed to tell you.” Puffy says.

Wilbur hops into the convo “he’s the kid from the news right? Dad said something about you needing a deeply trusting family and thought back to us because you got me and Techno adopted.”

Puffy smiles gently but with great concern, she gives him a nod “yea. He may look like a hybrid. But he isn’t, we cant do anything unless its to amputate his new legs. Which would give him more stress with having no legs…. Phil, this kids had his legs taken and they tell me he asked if the little boy was happy to be normal” puffy wraps an arm around her stomach and bites her nails as all three of the boys turn to look at her. “Why would he want to know if the other kid is happy?” Techno, Phil’s youngest at the moment asked his old social worker. “I dont know why, the psychologist told them that families make each other happy, so this is not his first time dealing with a manipulative  fucker, all 12 of his homes have been like this. I dont trust him with any of the other homes, not after this. Ive thought about calling the others but they dont have the same education that you do.” Puffy says.

Phil nods “okay. I mean I wanted to hear you out and Im ready to take him as soon as you called me. But uh… boys you okay with another brother?”

 

”yes!” The two say together in a sharp unison.

 

There was whines which makes them all turn back to the kid behind the window. Tommy hits the moveable table and pushes it knocking everything onto the floor. The panic in his eyes and lets out lots of distressed sounds and grips onto his ears and screams. The nurse in the room gets up and tries to get him to calm down. “Honey you have to lay still or you’ll get hurt.” She says trying to remove his hands from his fluffy twitching ears. He grabs at the bandages on his chest and tried to rip them off. Puffy closes his eyes and turns away.

”oh man. Is he having a meltdown?” Wilbur asks. Techno scrunches his nose and covers his ears from the screams. Techno moves from the door and sits down, Phil sits with his son and tries to keep him from a melt down. Tommy cries shaking his head while the nurse tries to stop Tommy from pulling off the bandages and pushing at the fabric on the bed. “The fabric, like techno” Wilbur quietly slips his hands into his backpack and drops it onto the floor, he goes into the room and walks over with a fabric in his hand. “Hi.” He says, the nurse looks at him and is immediately pulled back to Tommy who was starting to tug at the bandages. Wilbur sits by Tommy in a chair. “I have something soft if you would like to hold it. It’s better than the blanket.” He says quietly. Tommy turns his head away not wanting to look at the stranger in the room.

”here,” Wilbur holds up the fluffy leather. It took a minute before Tommy glances over and takes a look at the small patch of leather. “Here you go” Wilbur moves his hand forward to hand it to him but the boy flinches pushing away from the sudden movement. Wilbur sits patiently as Tommy shakily studies him while chewing on his chapped lips. Tommy reaches over and gently takes the soft fabric he rubs it into his palm while rubbing away his tears. “Thats very nice of you, thank you young sir.” Ms.Diana says signing a thank you. Tommy silently copies with the baby sign language. 

Wilbur smiles “Do you want me to fix your fingers so you can feel?” He asked. Tommy looks at his small fingers before looking to his nurse “if you would like him to touch you then that’s okay. Im not sure how he’s gonna fix your fingers tho”

”i just need bandaids and small scissors to cut the plaster.” Wilbur says. The nurse nods “I’ll be right back. Please don't scratch yourself Tommy, that would make me sad” she says and gets up to leave. Wilbur smiles and takes out a pen and writes something on it. ‘Fix his hand with plasters’ Tommy read. He reaches his hand out for the stranger who gently cups his hand and unwinds the clothed wrapping that’s definitely gross. 

”um, my name is Wilbur. Like in the story you were reading, Im 14 years old. I’m a mutant, born and raised hatchling. I like music I play guitar and piano, I wanna start a band.” Wilbur says, Tommy looks at the book then to Wilbur. One hand was unwrapped when Diana came back with box of plasters and a small pair of scissors. Wilbur starts working on covering the stitches on top of Tommy’s hands. The warm hands were gently when maneuvering his little hands… Tommy noticed that Wilburs hands were… long, lengthy, long fingers. Tommy pokes Wilbur’s hand and turns his fingers around trying to figure out why his hands are so big. Theres also writing on his hand and smudges of ink.

Dirty brat stop touching!

A voice of a man rings in his head and he pulls away with his shaking hands, and chewing on his lip. “You’re so cute. Like a kitten” Wilbur smiles at Tommy brightly. Tommy instinctively shys away and looks for clementine and henry only to find them both missing from his side. He searches the bed for them and whines remembering why he was so distressed a few minutes ago.

”honey you gotta use your words” Diana says while Tommy tries to figure out how to tell her about Henry and Clementine.

”you’re looking for something?” Wilbur says and Tommy nods and moves his arms around trying to communicate, “okay. Its small right?”

Tommy holds up two fingers and tries to indicate what they where looking for. “Okay so theres two….” Wilbur watches as Tommy makes hand gestures and moves his arms to mimic animals. Diana was trying to guess what he was saying but Tommy was getting more and more frustrated. The door opens and a head pops in “w-w-Wilbur.” A pink hair boy calls for the fluffy brunette. Wilbur gets up and hurries over to the door and whispers to the taller boy. Wilbur looks down under the bed and then the seats. “Are you sure?”

The boy with the long pink hair and brown roots nods. Wilbur looks to Tommy “are you looking for your Stuffed animals?”

Tommy nods ferociously. Wilbur smiles “okay, Ill look in the play room down the hall. Maybe a nurse took them by accident. Im sure the nice nurse will help you look around the room. And you have the rabbit pelt so just hold onto it until we get back.” Wilbur says watching Tommy holds the pelt and gently rubs his fingers into the fluffy softness. Wilbur takes Techno’s hand and shuts the door after leaving. Wilbur smiles and looks at his dad “he was in distress cause he didn’t have his stuffies. Also he's so cute. He touched my hand, he has cute baby hands” wilbur beams and takes techno down the hall to go look for the missing stuffed animals. 

Wilbur smiles at techno.

Phil looks over at puffy while the two boys leave. “You mentioned he has had feeding tubes. What else has he been through?” Puffy takes a deep breath, “Tommy seems to always attract the bad people, bringing the worse out of man kind by doing nothing but existing. It was his fourth home, about five years old soon to be six.”

“Two years ago?” Phil asked astonished with what puffy is telling him. She nods “the uh. Couple was perfect for Tommy, nothing bad had happened but he loved uh, her cooking… he went into the back shed and was horrified and stopped eating…. They were cannibals. Tommy put it together and when they asked him to eat they ended up force feeding him. Luckily he had called the police and got out. The house before that, he uh. Was never allowed to eat.”

“… the fourth house” phil starts and puffy only nods to confirm suspicions “yea… yea that thing was there. Which means that they are still scattered and could start looking for him.” She takes a deep breath and hears the loud thumping of two boys “PHIL! HELP!” Techno shouts sprinting down the hall followed by two very angry men with woman close behind. Phil and puffy stand up letting the boys slip past. And hurry into the room to Tommy and quietly shut the door.
“Damn brats! Move they stole my daughters toys!” The man said.
“Sir just give them a moment, we will lecture them in a moment.”

“I dont care! Those are the toys my daughter cling to in her last breath!” The man shouts.
“Henry! Clementine!” They can hear Tommy from the room. The two men push them aside “don't go in there” Puffy warns as they enter the room straight for Tommy who freezes and forces his body over his stuffed toys.
“I need security!” Puffy shouts Diana stood up and blocked Tommy from the two men. “Don't you dare touch that sweet angel!” She warned.
The men shout back “those toys where given to our baby they are coming home with us!” They try to reach around and grab Tommy. Techno hovers his body over Tommy to protect him snarling with his tusks on full display. One of the men pushes Diana out of the way and grabs Tommy. Causing the boy to scream “NOO DONT TAKE ANYMORE!” He screams as his arms arms are pried from the stuffies that had just been returned. “Gross brats”

“Let go of hatchling!” Wilbur snarls a pair of large gray and brown wings stretches out. He lets out an ungodly loud scream and jumps over the bed throwing punches and pulling hair. He takes the stuffed animals not even noticing that they ripped. Tommy covers his ears and sobs while Techno also covers his own ears while keeping tommy covered with his body.
Security was quick to get in the room and separate the adults and Wilbur who shrieked and punched at the men. Phil held wilbur to himself as the door slams shut. It was too much. To much noise too much movement. They were mad. He shouldn’t have asked for his stuffies. He had been bad. So very bad. He should have just kept quiet and not ask for anything.

Tommy whines and cries trying to scratch at himself and hit himself. “No dont hurt yourself tommy” a boy says and suddenly he was falling asleep again

Chapter 3: Yet another

Summary:

Tommy starts physical therapy but Entitled parents and children suck.

Tommy was crying in his sleep as the adults in the hall were shouting. Techno had covered his ears as phil was trying to keep the situation to calm down. However….

 

“That belongs to my daughter who is now gone! You give back her toys!” The man shouts trying to take the toys as the woman behind them sob out. However puffy had held up the toys tag “so your daughter is named Theseus?” She asked showing the smudged ink on the tag. The two men were confused but when puffy points to the name of the room in which Tommy was staying in in bright blue on the dry erase board was written, Theseus/Tommy.

“That doesn’t matter.” The unknown father snaps reaching for the toy. Phil hissed holding the ripped toys behind his back “Don’t even try it. His toys went missing. And while they did bring your daughter comfort in her last moments. They belong to this little boy.” Phil glares at the man lifting his wings a bit in the narrow hall. Security holds out their hands to examine the toy. Phil reluctantly hands the toy over. The guards look at the ink and passes it back to phil “here you go. Sorry for the disturbance.” The security says and tries to escort the men and sobbing woman away but were hurled insults and cursed out for taking the side of a hybrid rather than ‘a paying citizen’. Phil relaxes, folding his large wings into his back and peeks into the room to his now middle child laid over Tommy’s sleeping bodies with his ears covered, and wilbur hissing at the nurses with the pale blue scales and feathers puffing up.

Wilbur was a mixed siren, the adaptation of a Greek siren with the feathers of a bird, but also the Reptilian fish like siren. Being able to switch from bird to water. Techno was a boar hybrid. But he was huge for someone so young and still growing. The doctors told phil that there are some unknown traits of another mutant gene but they have no idea.

Puffy opens the door “hey,” she says quietly to the nurses who look over with concern and not sure what to do. “Um nurses, please dont touch tommy or the other boys. They’re trying to protect him”

”but-“ a nurse protested but Diana places a hand on her coworker’s shoulder “the kids are ok. Everyone out of the room, lets give them some space” she said herding the other nurses out of the room. Phil takes a deep breath and makes his way inside leaving Puffy to hurry down the hall with the ripped plushes. “Wilbur?” Phil reaches out to his teenager. Wilbur hisses and paces around the room in front of phil. “Wilbur, deep breaths.”

“NO! IM NOT HIM!” Wilbur shouts causing phil to understand why he was being shouted at. Sadly the tensity was not helping techno who started clutching onto his ears his nails breaking skin. “Okay, am I talking to Revivbur then?” Phil asked.

“No shit.” Revivbur snaps at phil

”okay. Well Revivbur. We are obviously in the hospital, but Techno is overstimulated right now so I need to get to him. Will you be okay with watching over tommy?” Phil asked offering the alternative ego a task. Revivbur was considered Wilbur’s big, the alternate personality was older with an older mindset but heavily driven on fight and protect instinct in the teenager. Revivbur growls and glares at phil but huffs folding his wings into his back and sits down on Tommy’s bed by the kids legs, “thank you” phil says and hurries over to techno’s side. Phil knew better than to touch “Deep breaths, it’s safe now.” Phil pulls a chair over and sits to lower his height before the younger teenager.

Techno shakes his head keeping his body over Tommy’s, “shhh, it’s okay. Tommy is safe. Can you let go of your ears?” Phil asks gently rubbing Technos arm. It takes a solid minute before Techno removes his nails from his scalp, but he kept his hands flat over his ears. “There you go, you’re doing great techno. I have one of your emergency stuffies. Do you want to hold him?” Phil reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out Technos small pig plushies. Techno lifts his head just enough to glance around the room before looking over at Phils hands with silent tears dripping onto the bed and Tommy’s unconscious body.

Techno steps closer to his father taking the soft plush into his hand before sitting down on his dad’s lap. Phil holds his son gently as the kid cries onto his shoulder “it’s okay. You guys did so good protecting Tommy, I'm very proud of you guys.”

”Stuffies” techno whimpers through sniffles glancing over to tommy. Phil holds techno close to his chest “we can fix his friends, remember. Im sure puffy is looking for a sewing kit right now.” Techno rubs the heel of his hands into his eye while Phil pushes hair from Technos face, but the younger male whines and hides behind the long pink hair and weaves it through his fingers. “Do you think I can as the nurse for a washcloth and solution to clean these cuts?” Phil asks techno who simply nods. Phil shifts to get up but techno grabs hold of Phil’s shirt and whines burring his face into the mans chest.

”okay, I’ll ask when they come around next time.” Phil smiles gently settling back down into the chair and looks over to Revivbur who was holding Tommy’s hand while glaring at the door.

Eventually the two teens were calm enough. Wilbur came back after Revivbur deemed the area was safe. Techno continued to hide behind his hair and keep hold of Phils hand. Phil took his two boys home to get them ready for their new family member.

 

Tommy has been in the hospital a little long than he liked. His mouth no longer hurt anymore. But he honestly didn't mind the company of the nice nurses and doctors. Most of them are really nice and he always remembered his manners. Ms.Diana had brought him some sweets and Puffy had returned Henry and Clementine to him. They were all stitched up but he happily gave her a thank you. He had been on bed rest for long enough to start moving his new abnormal legs. When the doctor took off the weird alien equipment Ms.Diana and Puffy were there to hold his hands. 

“Can you wiggle your toes?”

Tommy moved his unfamiliar toe beans without a single spoken complaint.

”can you curl and flex?”

tommy moved his paws to curl and flex, watching as little sharp claws pop out. His eyes widen as he stares at the claws with amazement. He tugs on Ms.Diana’s hand and Puffy’s and points.

”yea. Those are your claws, they will help protect you and you can climb trees easier. Lots of fun.” Ms.Diana says. Puffy’s sheep ears twitch happily as she smiles. The doctors bend Tommy’s legs very carefully and stretches them out gently. Tommy whines as the doctors move his legs, “does it hurt?” The doctors stop. Tommy hums but shakes his head letting them continue testing his reflexes and movement. They asked tommy to lift his own legs without his hands.

“Well, I think we can start with actual therapy to get him walking. Today’s 30 minutes was enough. Tomorrow? We can get him into the therapy room. I want to get him into water therapy tomorrow, easier on the joints.” The doctor says. Ms.Diana smiles excitedly and was happily shaking Tommy's hand, which meant good, so Tommy was doing good? But he was just resting, resting was good right.

”baby, it mean’s your going to be able to learn how to walk again, this is very good news.” Ms.Diana says happily. Tommy pulls his hands free and silently claps his hands without making an emotion on his face. Puffy and Diana smile and quietly clap, the doctors join with the nurse in the corner. Tommy gives a small smile and claps a little harder from the excitement, but he stops as the doctor moves closer. “Alright. I gotta check your ears wings and tail. Can you roll onto your belly for me?” The doctor asked lowering the bed.

Tommy holds his stuffies in his hands as he was helped onto his stomach. A small whimper escapes his mouth as he gets comfortable. The doctors lift his new wings. Tommy feels their hands trail along his feathers. It feels weird as they poke and look through the red feathers before lowering them down. He stares at the feathers and soon hands were on his back. He closes his eyes only for a few seconds. It was dark, so very dark and cold. It smelled gross. Ms.Diana and Puffy were gone. His stuffies were gone. Everything was gone. All he hears is their voices. They touch and hold down his body by the neck.

”you could scruff him, it’s an instant submission hold. Works on all hybrids, and once we get the gland that produces the hormones in him one of the hybrids will immediately take him in.” The scary man says and grins over him. His foster parents scoff and roll their eyes “as long as my baby is human, I dont care. Remove all those stupid glands and put it in this brat. Just don't let him die. We still need his government check.” There was a sharp pain and he screams as nails dig into him to keep him still. They cut into his body and put that mask over his face.

 

“Help me, help me, help me” tommy whimpers and cries quietly. He was being held by puffy. His hand were wrapped into her hair gripping onto a chunk tightly as she rocked him and gently hums. It was a familiar song.

”if I know you, ill know what you’ll do, you’ll love me at once the way you did Once upon a dream,” puffy sang gently. Puffy was safe with him, Tommy relaxes into her warmth and eventually relaxes his hand out of her hair. He rubs his eyes and pulls a funky nose thing away from his nose. It was blowing a cold air onto his skin. “Shhh, we gotta put that back on. It helps you breath” puffy says and gently helps tommy put it back under his nose and she keeps singing. Tommy listens to her sweet voice, she wasn't the best singer. But it was enough. He liked that song, it came from a movie. He can’t remember which one. “Are you hungry for a snack?” Puffy asked and offered him jello and a spoon. Tommy nods and takes the snack from her. He eats slowly mashing the goo on the roof of his mouth and looks at the empty wheelchair.

”Tommy, do you want to do before dinner?” Puffy asked rubbing his back. Tommy shrugs holds out his hand and walks his fingers on his palm, “okay, lets go for a walk then.” Puff Carried Tommy to the wheelchair. Puffy gives him his She leaves a little sign on the bed table and takes Tommy down the hall. Tommy looks around the hall as people smile at him as they pass, or completely ignore his existence. It never happened when he had his old legs. Or body. Puffy pushes him around until dinner time, he noticed a few kids in a room playing. Tommy looks up at Puffy, she stops his wheelchair with a smile. Tommy rubs his fingers and Signs that he had a question with his finger. “What is it starlight?” Puffy asked. Tommy looks back to the room with the kids, puffy looks and chuckles “that’s the play room for all the kids who are staying here in the hospital. Do you want to say hello?”

Tommy looks to puffy and nervously looks at the kids again. He lifts his head to puffy and nods, puffy gently pets his head earning a small smile from the boy. They make their way to the room and gently knock on the door. A nurse looks over “hi, come on it” she cheerfully smiles and squats down reaching out her hand a little too quickly it made Tommy flinch and tuck his arms into his chest while holding his stuffies. The nurse seems a bit concerned but puffy steps in “this is tommy, Im puffy his social worker, he wanted to come check out the room with all the kids. He’s a bit skittish and nonverbal at the moment.”

”ah, hello tommy. Im one of the nurses for the children’s playroom today. My name is Linda, lots of nurses have been talking about how sweet you are. Ms.Diana talks about you a lot” She says putting her hand away. Tommy noticed the different scents than the hall. It was clean but smelled weird and Tommy couldn't put his finger on the smell. Linda happily walks Tommy’s wheelchair over to the group of kids. The children who were happily giggling and laughing had stopped to look at tommy. “Kids, this is Tommy. He wanted to come say hello” Linda introduced him, “and this is Tommy’s caretaker Puffy.” Linda says. Tommy waves but is met with stares of judgment. Puffy smiles a bit awkwardly “hello everyone, it’s nice you meet you. Would it be okay if Tommy played with you guys?”

”no!” A girl shouts making tommy cover his ears…. Oh… he was considered a hybrid now. These kids weren’t hybrids. He wasn’t like them anymore.

”go away”

”we dont want animals here!” The group of children snapped at the two.

”that’s a bit mean.” Puffy says and Linda looks at the kids “children that’s rude. Everyone can use the play area, hybrids included.”

“They we’ll play somewhere else.” One of the boys says with a nasty glare. No, their unhappy. Tommy grabs Puffy’s shirt and with a gentle tug he points behind him. “Tommy-“ He points again to the door. Linda gives an apologetic look to puffy and tommy “Im so sorry, they aren't usually like this. They are typically extremely sweet and welcoming. I guess true colors show.”

“What do you mean by that?!” A woman’s voice came from the door as a group of parents walk into the room “are you saying things about my baby?”

“Yes actually.” Linda crossed her arms “I was just explaining that the children are very sweet and welcoming, and I had to apologize to this child and his social worker because the children were acting strange and were mean to Tommy, and it’s inappropriate to call anyone an animal.”

Tommy shifts and turns in his seat to look at the adults behind him. The parents shrug and the woman up front crosses her arms “so? My kid doesn’t want to play with a hybrid, they are animals”

”excuse me!?” Puffy snaps her small hoof stomps on the tile floor and she huffs tilting her head down glaring at the group of adults. the woman shrugs again “I’m not forcing my child to play with someone she doesn’t want to!”

”at least be polite with explaining instead of calling another person an animal” Linda crosses her arms. The mother rolls her eyes “this is a safe space for children. Children! Not feral animals with diseases and germs. Now excuse us, we have to give our kids their medication and have our book club.” The parents went and picked up their kids. Puffy leaves with Tommy over hearing about a particular book and movie project. She rolls her eyes and takes tommy away from all that negativity, “dont worry about them cutie. You are amazing and sweet.” She says as they finish up their walk and head to the recovery room. Ms.Diana came in with yummy food and red him some more of charlotte’s web. Tommy played alone in his room with Clementine and Henry before falling asleep.

 

Tommy was gently shaken, but he jumps sitting up a little to quickly flexing out his wings. A whine escapes his lips from moving to quickly with his sore body. “Are you okay?” Wilbur asks. Ms.Diana was giving him his medicine through his drip bag. Tommy scratches his itchy ears and nods. “Tommy, this is Technoblade. My little brother. He’s a boar mutant. He can be really fluffy after a bath.” Wilbur chuckles.

”I’m not fluffy” techno says twirling his hair through his fingers. “Nice to meet you official Tommy. Puffy told us that you are going to be starting aquatic therapy today in a bit. She thought you would feel better with Wilbur being with you in the water. Since he likes swimming.” Techno says. Tommy looks up at wilbur although his face was still blank his eyes light up.

“Awww Tommy. You are so cute. Imma hug you.” Wilbur opens his arms and waits for Tommy to protest but the boy lifts a hand to embrace. Wilbur happily wraps an arm around the small boy. Wilbur nuzzles the soft fluffy golden hair. Wilbur smelled so comforting, and was warm. Tommy wished Wilbur can be around more. Tommy sees the plate of warm food on his bed table and stares at it. Wilbur pulls away letting Tommy sit better. “Boys do you want to read Tommy Chapter 5 of charlotte’s web?” Ms.Diana asked wilbur and techno with a smile “I have some work I have to do. We have a lot of people coming in and the nurses need a few extra hands. All you have to do is read a chapter while he eats. He wont eat if he’s not read to.”

the two brothers look to the book on the desk, “want to read techno?” Wilbur offered. Techno shrugs “can phil read?” He asked and the two look to Tommy. The boys stomach growls and he wonders who this phil guy is, “Is it okay if phil reads to us?” Techno asks Tommy. The boy shrugs but nods. Techno hurried to the door and opens it “phil? Can you come read while Tommy eats?”

”sure mate” a man in a green shirt and black pants walks in, he had shoulder length hair that was pulled out of his face with a clip. He had an earring of a green gem and gold. “Hi mate, Im phil. I’m Wilbur and Technos dad.” Tommy sinks down hiding behind Henry and Clementine. “Are you okay with me reading while you eat? I dont want to scare you” Phil asked. Tommy examines the strange man for a moment before giving a hesitant nod. Phil moves slowly taking the book and pulling up a chair. “Can we cuddle?” Wilbur asks. Tommy shrugs. Wilbur moves around to the other side of tommy and sits on the bed “if you’re not sure then we’ll just sit with you” wilbur says and techno sits on the other side of Tommy. Tommy hums and takes his first bite off food, and phill begins to read to the boys. Tommy eats his food while listening to the story but Tommy,Wilbur and Techno start to nod off as they reach the end. Tommy lays back and the two curl up with Tommy squished between them as the three boys slept. Phil smiles and lays the blanket across them, “still go the magic reading voice” he smiles at the three sleeping boys. Phil marks the book and looks to the door where puffy was letting out a yawn “that you do. I haven’t told Tommy yet. But I was hoping you and Wilbur would help him with his physical therapy. Maybe you can ask tommy himself if he would like to go home with you?” Puffy suggested. Phil smiles “yea. I’ll do that” After two hours of sleeping after breakfast, The nurses woke the boys to take them too the therapy pool. Puffy wheels Tommy over to the pool he wore a blue shirt and orange trunks. Three parents from the play room they all look annoyed as puffy parks Tommy’s wheelchair against the wall. The doctor walks over and kneels “hello. Im your doctor. I was told that we will be having some company in the water. We have plenty of space so no need to be nervous.” The doctor says. Techno walks out of the changing room and sits by puffy. The parents on the bench scoot away and whisper amongst themselves. The door opens and all eyes went to wilbur and phil. Phil had a good fit body and it obviously made all the moms gasp. “Is that thee Philza Craft?” A woman asks as phil shakes hands with the instructor and looks to puffy “you ready buddy?” He ask. Tommy shrugs as puffy wheels the chair over to the edge of the pool. Tommy had gripped the armrests tightly and whines looking at puffy now unsure about going in. “Why dont we start with just sitting on the edge with our toes in?” The doctor asked. Phil sits down on the pool deck right by Tommy’s chair he puts his feet in and smiles up at tommy “I can touch the bottom, we wont let you fall in.” Phil says and lifts a hand for Tommy to take. Tommy looks at the water again then back to phil and Wilbur. He glanced behind him to Techno. Phil grins “techno, if we put down a towel can you come sit on the edge of the pool?” Phil asked his son. Techno scrunches his nose “no splashing?” “No splashing. Just your feet.” Phil confirms and puffy goes to grab a few towels to lay down. Techno groans pulling off his…Feet? They looked like fake feet or shoes. But Techno had piggy hooves. Techno walks over with his book and stuffed pig. Tommy watches as he sits on the edge and lowers his hooves into the water and fixes his tail to lay at his side. Wilbur decided to slide into the water as his legs take form of fish tail. “Mermaid!” A girl across the pool shouts while pointing only to be hushed by her father. Tommy slowly scoots to the edge of his chair taking Phil’s offered hand. Tommy’s little paws touch onto the cold tile floor, the sensation feeling much different than what he was used to. Once he stands while still holding onto the chair his little legs aching and shaking all at once. He holds onto phil with both hand placing his weight into the man while trying to figure out the more comfortable way to sit down. He gets close but ends up ploping onto his butt. His paws lower into the water and his tail tucks itself at his side. “Yay!” Puffy cheers and they all clap for him, Techno didn't move from his book but gave a thumbs up. Tommy claps confused on why there is so much praise for sticking his paws into the gross water. Of course its cold and wet, it’s a pool. Tommy usually loves playing with water. But now it feels weird and off. Wilbur smiles at tommy “see not scary.” Tommy looks at his wet paws in the water then at wilbur who was holding onto the edge to keep his head above the water. Tommy nods scooting closer to the edge. He reaches for Wilbur while still holding onto Phils hand. “Oh hold on starlight. Phil has to get in with the doctor. wilbur cant stand in the water.” Puffy says. As phil and the instructor hop in doing their best not to splash techno. Tommy turns around and slips into the water on his belly. Their was a flash of light and chatter along with giggles that he can hear clearly. “He should be talking to his father.” “His children are hybrids.” “But how embarrassing this kid wont speak to the man that’s helping him. I would have smacked his butt” The chatter continues. Tommys ears feel weird but he continues into the water with the doctor’s help. Once he was in the pool standing on the bottom he covered his adorable fluffy ears with his dry hands. Now he just feels gross in the water. His fur feels like wet pants, his tail was heavy and his wings ached. People wont shut up. Wilbur swims to techno and carefully gets the others attention before whispering. The two look at the group of ladies on the bench and glare intensely at them until they notice and shut up.

Therapy continues quietly. Until it ends.

Chapter 4: Scary fish

Summary:

Wilbur can be… scary, good thing tommy doesn’t see it.

Tommy was sitting on a little pool bench on the surface of the water trying to coordinate his paws with the help of the doctor's instructions. It’s his third session. However, he absolutely has a meltdown if Wilbur phil or Techno isn’t there with him. Techno doesn’t like the water so him getting in is extremely rare and still hasn’t happened yet. Tommy kicks his paws in the water with Wilbur swimming around in the pool. the Doctor looks off, “hey can I leave you here for a minute, Wilbur is in the pool with you. I have to take care of something” The doctor said.

 

Tommy nods. “Okay, well keep kicking and then try walking around and jumping.” She says and leaves Tommy with Wilbur in the water to talk to a nurse. Phil was with a different doctor with Techno in another area of the hospital. Tommy keeps kicking the water making little to no splashing. He was happy that it was quiet today.

 

“Tommy?” A kid calls out and makes his way to the edge of the pool. Looking over his shoulder he sees his old foster brother, Connor (no not Connor eats pants). Connor smiles and waves at tommy “tommy tommy look im human now, I can go to school now!” He says excitedly showing off the legs Tommy once had.Connor started talking and saying a bunch of things but… Tommy went blank staring at his once milky white legs that were now attached to his old foster brother. It’s itchy, so he scratches the itch.

 

His legs.

 

It’s itchy!

 

Those are his legs

“Tommy?” 

Who’s talking to him? It’s too bright. It’s itchy

“Tommy, we can swim together!”

Itchy

Itchy

Itchy itchy itchy itchy itchy itchy!

 

Wilbur was starting to panic as Tommy stared at the boy’s body and was scraping at his own legs and arms. The claws were ripping into the kids skin. Wilbur grabs Tommy and tries to restrain him “you need to leave!” Wilbur snaps at the kid and the adults with him. 

“We just wanted to say thank you and that we were sorry” the man says.

“Get away from us, you’re making him upset!” Wilbur says doing his best to restrain Tommy’s arms causing the kid to scream while also making distressed animal noises.

“Tommy, breathe, you’re safe” Wilbur tries.

 

The kid looks concerned but Connors nurse spoke “come on, the kid is faking, he should be happy that Connor is doing so well”

 

Tommy thrashes around and soon the blood tints with blood. Wilbur holds Tommy close and lets out a distress call. Everyone in the room had covered their ears and many got out of the water. Tommy had covered his ears from Wilburs call and simply started crying into his friend's chest. Wilbur hums gently sitting on the bench while holding the shaking boy. “I'm gonna protect you. I promise. You’re going to be okay.” Wilbur says and gently sings to the smaller boy thrashing in his arms

 

Tommy cries and shivers in the water as Wilburs gentle sweet voice, Tommy holds onto Wilbur as the siren swims in a circle with Tommy laying on his chest. Wilbur thought the movement reminded him of an otter and a pup.

Tommy ignored the wet weight of his wings and racoon tail. The weight felt nice, keeping him close to Wilbur. And the warmth that came off Wilbur’s body felt good when cold. Tommy’s eyes start to drift.

“Wilbur? Tommy?” Puffy spoke over the gentle humming pushing past the nurses and doctors who were on standby. Phil joined her side with techno very soon. The water had a trail of blood that dripped from Tommy’s pale skin as the siren swam in a circle.

“Okay so how do we get them out?” The PT doctor asked.

 

“Wilbur isn’t going to let anyone he doesn’t like in the water.” Techno says. Phil kneels by the edge “wilbur. Come on over so we can help Tommy stop bleeding.” He says quietly only to get a hiss and some water splashed onto his legs.

“Wilbur-“

 

“This is taking too damn long,” a male nurse snapped and grabbed a long pole with a snare at the end. Phil stood up and grabs the pole before the man could even think about reaching it for Wilburs neck “dont you dare use that on my child!”

“Move man. That mutant is going to bleed out then we all going to get fired” the nurse snaps trying to get around Phil

 

Phil glares at the human “You manhandling my children is not going to help. You’ll freak them all out and Tommy is currently asleep on my oldest chest. So unless you want to risk him having another panic attack and having more wounds to deal with. Back off. Just give Wilbur a moment” the nurse scoffs and there was a splash in the water. The two adults look to see Techno keeping his arms up as he makes his way to the center of Wilbur’s circling. Wilbur Circled around Techno before slowing down. “Wilbur. Come on, it's icky and wet. Let's get him to bed with a movie…please? You know I have more body heat than you, at least let me hold him so you can protect us.”

 

Wilbur huffs and nuzzles tommy. Techno shivers a bit and grows even more annoyed with the fact that he's in the cold water. Wilbur slows and hugs techno closer with his tail to get closer. “Tech” puffy calls out and tosses him a fluffy towel which he grabs and pulls Tommy onto his chest. Techno does his best to dry Tommys head and chest. Tommy nuzzles into technos warmth as Wilbur pulls away and circles around them. Techno, although having some love for the little racoon boy in his arms, hates the cold water.

 

“Deep breaths techno. You’re doing wonderful.” Phil says and gets a small nod from his pink haired son and soon a sniffle as the younger holds back tears while his older brother swims around them like a shark hunting circle.

“Oh for Christ sake why is he crying?” The male nurse asked, earning a death glare from Phil, “he has autism. I'd like to see you take Initiative to pull one kid who's stuck in a protective mind set and another about to have a meltdown while another kid is bleeding out.” Phil snaps and adds “without dying” he says and turns back to techno. 

 

“Like this!” The man takes a syringe from another doctor and jumps in the water. “No dont.” Phil demands but Wilbur darts away and screams charging full force dragging the nurse under the water after dodging the failed attempt to grab the siren. “Run kid!” A doctor shouts to techno who shakes his head while shivering. Wilbur swims around whipping the man around with quick turns before using his tail to bat the man into the stairs and returns to circling around techno. Phil kicks off his shoes and slips in. 

Wilbur shows off his dorcel fine threateningly. Phil pulls the nurse out and passes the man off to the others who rush the guy to the ER. Phil does his best to keep his wings dry. 

 

“You’re doing great techno.” Phil says moving slowly while approaching the shivering boys. Tommys lips tinted a light blue. Phil stops as Wilbur charges at him. Phil gets ready and grabs hold of Wilbur's tail and lifts the powerful fin out of the water. “Go!”

 

Techno moves racing with Tommy to the stairs. Wilbur screams, disturbing the water with his sound and thrashing around. He lets go as techno steps out of the pool and races to puffy, completely drenched. Puffy picks up Techno and Tommy and hurries them off. 

 

Phil pulls Wilbur's tail working his way Up his son’s body. Phil felt the tail coil around his waist as he held Wilbur by his Shoulders. “Wilbur! Look at me!” Phil says as the 14 year old siren squirms and tries biting. “WILBUR!” Phil shouts louder. The young siren doesn't listen. Phil lets out a loud threatening clicking caw. It was loud and grabbed Wilburs attention enough to look at who’s holding him. Phil noticed Wilburs eyes had been fogged over but that soon went away while Wilbur stared at him and soon looked around and relaxed his tail on his Dad’s waist. 

 

“It's okay now, Ghostbur. Tommy and Techno are safe. We are safe. Pod is safe” phil adjusts his child to a better hold. He walks around in the water and starts hearing clapping but quickly motions for them to stop and be quiet. Luckily they do listen while Phil walks in circle’s cradling Wilbur close. Wilbur sniffs and nuzzles into his dad. 

“I did it again” Wilbur hides his face as warm tears slip onto phils shirt. 

Ghostbur, an altar for his fish side of his hybrid self. Usually the mer is already very friendly, however there's time where Ghostbur comes out in the middle of Wilbur being all protective. It's all tiring and confusing. 

Phil rubs his back “shhh deep breaths. You’re okay. You can’t control it buddy. You’re okay”

 

“But the kid was here. The one that took Tommy’s legs.” Wilbur rubbed his eyes “they wanted to thank him or say sorry, i don't know, and he started scratching and screaming. Dad it's not fair he was begging again. Like when techno-“

 

“Shhhh deep breaths wilbur. Let's get out of the water, yea?” Phil adjusted Wilbur and wrapped a wing around the boy before heading for the stairs and stepping out of the pool. He kisses Wil on his wet head as doctors cover them in towels as Phil takes Wilbur to Tommy's room. He smiles at Techno cuddling Tommy, the two were in warm hospital pajamas fast asleep. 

 

“Techno had a small meltdown but pulled through after getting clean and having dry clothes and stuffie” puffy says. 

Phil smiles and looks at Wilbur who was asleep tucked into Phils chest. He didn't even notice that Wilbur's tail had returned to dripping wet legs. Although the kid didn’t have any pants so thank goodness Phil's wing was covering him. 

 

The five of them sat quietly in the stake of silence as they wait for the younger to wake up. It took about two hours of warm cuddles and soft nuzzling to wake the tired boy along with Ms.Diana bringing in a hot meal for Tommy.

 

“Ms.Daina?” Tommy calls out with a groggy voice and tired eyes. “Hello baby, glad you’re awake. Try to move slowly.” She says carfully helping Tommy sit up. The first thing that Tommy noticed was the fact that techno and Wilbur were at his sides curled up sandwiching him between giving a hot yet comfortable warmth. Tommy rubs his eyes with the itchy bandaids and huffs his fluky ears pinning back. Tommy slowly takes them off while Ms.Daina was checking his vitals and giving his medication through the Saline drip bag.

 

She sat on the chair and grabbed the book. She opens it and just like normal she waits for Tommy to swallow his first bite of food and she reads. The routine is nice but they are half way through the book and they will need to introduce another book to him before he goes home.

 

Tommy finishes eating after the chapter. “All done” he says in a soft whisper.

“We gotta start getting you to eat larger portions,” Ms.Daina says and stood up. “You have a few more days before you’re cleared to leave the hospital.” She says

 

“NO!” Tommy shouts and slaps his hands over his mouth. Waking the two boys next to him. Wilbur reaches out and gently rubs Tommy’s back only to make the boy jump and tense up. Tears start flowing and curl in on himself, his body trembles with the anticipation of shouting, and now he is crying and waking the adults.

 

“Tommy,” Ms.Diana says, stepping closer and taking his hand “deep breath. Calm yourself, it's just Wilbur that touched you.” Diana said.

 

Tommy looks over to his sides to See Wilbur and Techno sitting up as the boys sit up and gently try to comfort him. Tommy sniffs and rubs his eyes and deep breaths. Puffy and Phil woke up to Tommy trying to calm down. Techno and Wilbur yawn, “can we keep cuddling?” Wilbur asks. Tommy sniffs and shrugs.

 

“Cuddles,” Wilbur says and pulls Both Tommy and Techno back into the bed. Tommy stiffens and his wings flare out, shoving both Techno and wilbur off the bed with a yelp and thud. Tommy Whines and was about to burst into tears, but Wilbur bursts out into laughter and soon Technoblade follows into that laughter. Making Tommy even more confused with why they are laughing.

Phil chuckles with Puffy and soon the two older kids were getting up and crawling back into the bed with Tommy. Wilbur stretches his wings and arms as he folds tommys wing gently and cuddles the small whimpering child.

“Wilbur, lets not crowd him too much.” Phil says and just as Wilbur was about to speak he’s flung off the bed onto the floor once again by red feathers. The room laughs and tommy keeps quiet.

“Well it looks like his wings are good for use now. I think we will leave that exercise to your new foster home.” Puffy smiles.

Tommy whines and panic fills his body. The tears start and the loud distressed racoon noises. Puffy moves over and picks up tommy and holds her. “Shhh, hey hey hey. It’s alright. Deep breath, shhhh it’s okay. You’re gonna like this family though.”

 

Tommy covers the scars where his human ears once were and panics while crying into Puffs shoulder. She gently holds him “honey you’ve already met your new foster family”

 

Tommy shakes his head, he was being sent away to those awful homes? Why are they sending him back? How come he has to go back?

“Tommy?” Phil kneels down before Puffy and Tommy. He waits patiently as his two sons stand at his sides. Tommy rubs his eyes and peeks out to Phil.

“Hey kiddo, I’m Phil. I'm going to be your foster parent.” Phil says with a soft smile. Tommy sniffs and rubs his eyes. They were his family? But they are so nice. Why would they want to have him in their home?

 

“Tommy, I understand that we didn’t tell you when you were supposed to be given to us. But we also did not want to overwhelm you. Techno and Wilbur would very much like to show you our home.” 

Techno nods at his fathers words and Wilbur joins in “yea, I wanna show you my guitar pic collection and all the songs that I wrote. And we can go swimming. And play together like we do here.”

 

“Can I show him all my weapons?” Techno tugs on Phils sleeve and gleams at the idea of showing off his collection.

“Piglet, you might scare him if you show him too soon. If he wants to come home with us, we should wait for him to settle.” Phil explains, techno turns to Tommy “come home with us” he gleams. Tommy jolts from the much excitement of the thought Of Tommy coming home with them, by them?

 

Tommy chews on his fingers and Wilbur smiles “please come home with us. We can have so much fun, I want another baby brother! Techno doesn’t have that much child wonder anymore.”

 

“Hey! I'm only 12, I can still have fun, I just don’t eat sand like you.” Techno says

Wilbur gasps “don’t rat me out to dad and Tommy. Plus Tommy never got a chance to play before. We can play le’manburg with Tommy and grow the Antarctic empire. We can take down Dreams army, and le’manburg with pogtopia.”

 

“Mmmm, no Tommy is joining the empire” techno says.

 

“No, pogtopia”

 

“Empire”

“Pogtopia”

“The Empire”

“Pog-Topia!”

“EMPIRE!”

“POGTOPIA!”

The two started to shout, making Tommy cover his actual racoon ears on his head. His ears started to hurt.

Techno glared “POGtopia”

“Empire!” Wilbur shouts out making Techno smile “okay, it’s official, glad we agree that he’s joining the empire”

 

Wilbur blinks then turns to Phil “Dadza! Techno hassled me!”

Phil just sits on his knees and chuckles “you kinda had it coming Wilbur. So let's settle down now boys, we don’t want Tommy to start crying again because you two are being loud.”

 

There was a quiet moment before the boys lowered their heads and looked at Tommy, making him tense up “sorry Tommy, we didn't mean to scare you” they both said.

 

Tommy lowers his hands as the ache lets up, he shrugs silently to the boys.

“We forgot that your ears are sensitive,” Techno says and fiddles with his stuffed pig's tail.

Tommy shrugs, still not sure why they were really apologizing. The two older boys blink also confused so puffy steps in While Phil gently rubs his kids backs. “Boys, Tommy was never really taught to say, I forgive you. I won't go into details. But his upbringing is a little similars to Technos but very different with the journey”

 

“He was raised to listen to the voices in his head?” Techno guess making Tommy tense up.

Wilbur crosses his arms “no tech, he was raised in cults”

 

“But the Journey is different. Meaning he didnt come from a cult”

 

“Chaotic robbery and arson?”

 

“Boys” phil tries to get their attention

 

Wilbur rolls his eyes “if he’s not from the cult and doesn’t have voices, then he must have been raised to stab things”

 

Tommy clings onto puffy and crawls out of her lap to hide behind her. He hides in her hair with his fluffy paws and tail sticking out of the hair. Tommy nuzzles into Puffys soft shirt and warmth. Her hand reaches behind her back and gently rubs his thigh.

What the fuck is wrong with this damn family, they crazy. Maybe they’ll snap if he says the wrong thing.

 

“Would you like me to share?” Puffy asked Tommy. Tommy thinks for a moment but shakes his head not wanting them to think he’s gross. “Do you still want to go with them? I can find you another home If you don't want to go.”

Tommy remains still for a bit “they wont hurt as soon as you leave?” Tommy asks so quietly the two boys that were four feet away didn’t even hear. Puffy could barely hear Tommy’s whispers.

 

“No. Techno was one of mine. And Wilbur’s case came from one of my friends. They aren’t like the other homes. Phil, Wilbur and Techno won’t treat you any differently then what you have experienced in the last week. If you like them enough, maybe this can be a forever home.” Puffy says as Tommy hugs onto her.  Tommy thinks for a moment, not noticing the two older boys had moved across the room and pokes their heads over to see Tommy’s tail slightly flicking around and wagging. The little fluffy blonde paws sticking out of the white and rainbow hair. 

Wilbur reaches his finger out, ever so slowly. The tension between Wilbur and Techno grows as Wilburs finger grows closer and closer. Their hearts pound in their chests. Puffy grins letting them. Wilbur’s finger reaches the destination….. HE POKES THE SOFT PINK TOE BEANS!

“Eee!” Tommy squeaks from his paw being touched so suddenly with his fur standing up and tucks his foot under him disappearing into Puffy’s hair. Silence. Techno reaches out for the other paw and gently presses on the soft pink plush earning another squeak out of Tommy to hide his beans leaving his fluffy blond tail exposed.

“Awwwww!” Wilbur and Techno coo and giggle “dad is beans are adorable. We have to take Tommy home!” Wilbur beams excitedly. Techno nods “please?”

“Well Tommy?” Puffy asked the boy, “wanna be fostered by your new friends?”

Tommy thinks again and shrugs but gives a very small nod.

“Then it’s settled, once you’re discharged, we will get you a wheelchair and crutches. I'll bring him to your home tomorrow Phil.”

“Great. I'm sure Wilbur and techno wouldn’t mind cleaning out the unused room and making sure there’s bedding and pillows.” Phil smiles.  Tommy nods, not exactly sure what to expect when he goes home. Everyone is different behind closed doors, and they hold secrets and several dark greedy promises to themselves.

Chapter 5: Home sweet foster home

Summary:

Tommy goes to his new home, the first day is not very pleasant

Tommy holds onto Ms.Diana’s hand as Puffy helped him pull on a leg braces and that for his wings to keep them neatly folded on his back. His favorite nurse gently lifts him up and places him back in the bed while puffy goes to get the paperwork. Ms.Diana places a plate of food in front of Tommy and grabs the book. Tommy shakes his head “not hungry” he says.

 

“Baby, you need to eat. You already missed this morning, have some lunch” she says pushing the plate closer. The warm beef and rice along with peas makes his stomach turn. Tommy pushes the plate away thinking back to that horrible discovery in house four. The cannibalism he was forced into. The similar stake like smell and the same sides that were on that day. Tommy shakes his head and Puffy looks over “Starlight, you gotta eat the food before we go.”

 

Tommy bites his fingers. He was being bad again, but he doesn’t want to eat this. Tommy shakes his head out of fear that the kitchen had tricked him, tricked everyone in the building. They disassemble the bodies to chop up into many pieces to serve the children. To feed him.

 

“Tommy, come on baby don't you want the story while you eat?” Ms.Diana asked. No, no he would rather starve than eat another little boy, or teenager, or a baby and mommy.

“Not hungry,” he says quietly. Puffy sighs ``Tommy, if you don't eat your dinner you’re going to be really hungry a little later. I don't want to spoil your dinner with the Crafts. So you gotta eat, even a little.” Puffy says

 

“And you didn't like the feeding tube” ms. Diana says. Tommy bit the inside of his lip. He reaches for his fork and tries a bite of the beefsteak. But the sight of blood and hanging bodies on stakes flashes in his mind and he spits it out onto the plate and retches. Puffy grabbed the trash so quickly before anything came up. Tommy leans over the trash can but with nothing much in his stomach it was a watery substance that came up along with spit. Tommy whines with tears building up knowing he can't eat it. His stupid body won't let him. He was stupid so very stupid. 

 

“Its okay tommy. Deep breaths we can try chicken if you want” Ms.diana offers but Tommy shrugs and his ears lower, pinning back flat to his scalp. 

“How about some juice and yogurt?” Puffy asks. Tommy shakes his head “no” he whines and looks at her with pleading eyes to not make him eat. 

 

Ms.Diana sighs “Tommy you have to eat something before leaving, i don't want to get the doctor to give you a feeding tube.”

 

Tommy whines but pushes the plate away. 

“Would you prefer using a temporary feeding tube?” Ms.Diana asks. Tommy bites his fingers, nicking them on his sharp baby kitten teeth. 

He shrugs, not really sure on what he wants. “Okay… i'm gonna go get the tube then” Diana says getting up. She checks Tommy's face for any kind of disapproval but he was all teary and keeping his head down. This was going to be rough. 

 

Tommy sat in silence until Ms.Diana came with the doctor. Honestly Tommy looks a lot better for the month he's been in the hospital but he's still scrawny and underweight. “Alright kid. Lean your head back” the doctor grabs his face and tilts it back. Tommy squeaks and grabs onto the doctor’s arm as the tub was forced up his nose. It was uncomfortable and Tommy whined. “Drink the water” Diana holds up a straw to Tommy's lips. He takes gulps of water as the tube slips down his throat. He coughs and whines “oh come on now its not that bad”

 

“Doctor, don't say that to a small child. All of this has been traumatic for him” Diana says and gets an eye roll. The doctor hands off the thick tube of slopp to Tommy’s day nurse before leaving.

Ms.Diana connects the tube and tapes it on Tommy’s cheek, behind his ear and down his neck. Tommy holds onto Clementine and Henry as Diana hums while pushing the blended food through the tub and into his stomach. Of course he was absolutely fine now knowing he doesn’t need to eat anymore. Of course the tub feels weird in the back of his throat, but he ignored it. After having a full stomach they get him in the Wheelchair and take him down to the lobby.

 

The group of ladies that were from the playroom were talking and smiling with each other. Tommy gives Ms.Diana a hug and teaches Puffy about the baby sign language she taught Tommy.

Puffy smiles and takes Tommy to the car and gets him strapped in. “Ready?” Puffy asked

Tommy gives her a thumbs up and they head off. Puffy plays some music softly so as to not hurt Tommy’s ears. Tommy bounces his head while listening to the mulan soundtrack with puffy.

 

“D-d-d-do, um… think they wi-w-w-will play with me?” Tommy asks, his voice a bit dry and scratchy from nothing but screaming and begging.

Puffy smiles “absolutely starlight. Wilbur and Technoblade have been working hard to set up your room. To make it comfortable for you. And Phil would like to make your favorite dinner, or take you out. So. I want you to be honest if anything happens. If techno or Wilbur scare you, Phil will make sure you stay safe. I know techno has a weapons collection but Phil monitors him so he doesn’t get hurt. And Wilbur likes music.” Puffy says sitting back in the driver seat. She pulls into a fast food joint and gets Tommy a milkshake and some fries. He happily eats the soft ice cream and fries. The tube was still in his nose but he didn’t care since it was taped down and he couldn’t swallow it.

 

Puffy grins and pulls into a development. Tommy didn't even realize that they were in a neighborhood already. “Okay. Let’s see” puffy looks around and then pulls into a driveway of a huge house. It was really big. And the yard had a lot of space and it was fenced. The houses were further apart, the house sat a bit further into the property making the driveway long and loop. It looks super nice. Puffy looks back at Tommy, noticing his tail was wagging while stimming his hands in a flapping motion.

 

She chuckles and parks the car. She gets out pulling his duffle back from the front seat. She sets out the wheelchair from the trunk and moves to get Tommy from the booster seat. Tommy is gently placed in the Chair. The front door opens and Phil hurries to the edge of the steps and slides a Wheelchair accessible ramp down the steps. He grabs Tommy’s bags from puffy as she pushes him up the ramp.

 

“So, how are we feeling today?” Phil asked, holding the door open. “I know I'm doing good. What about you tommy?” Puffy looks down to Tommy. Tommy nods silently and gives a thumbs up.

“Good. I didn’t know if you were hungry for lunch. But it is Wednesday, Techno and Wilbur are at school. They are excited to come home and greet you. They will be home a little later since they have stuff after school. We can pick them up if you would like” phil offers.

 

Tommy shrugs but his tail starts to wag. He hasn’t been in a car ride since the incident, not including Puffy’s car ride over. “I’ll take that as a yes,” Phil smiles. Tommy nods and glances over the pretty foyer and the staircase..es? 

There were two sets of wooden stairs with a gray carpet running down the middle of the dark wood. It matches the rug. There's some pictures on a little table. They look like Phil with Wilbur and techno, but younger. It was cute, they were playing in a garden.

 

“Tommy ate before we left the hospital and I got him a shake and fries on the way here for a snack.” Puffy says gently rubbing her hands into Tommy’s hair. Tommy leans into the touch and hums.

“He has a feeding tube, do you know how these work?” Puffy asked.

Phil shakes his head “no, I'm always up for learning tho.”

 

“I had a feeling. Let's talk in the kitchen.” Puffy says and Phil leads the way into the kitchen. Tommy was pushed to the head of the table with the two adults sitting on either side of him.

“Okay. So with Tommy’s feeding tube, It can stay in for about 6 weeks. But can be removed whenever he wants. But these are expensive so do be careful with how often you use them. It might be best if you go to the store to get meat with Tommy so he knows it’s animal or plant based and not…uh, a life form with high intelligence.”

 

Tommy tilts his head confused as to why Puffy started using complicated words. But she was right. If he knows Phil is getting meat meat and not… something else. He would probably eat it. Eating that meat again is not on his bucket list.

 

Phil smiles and listens to puffy on how to take care of inserting the tube and how to secure it. She tells him what can and can't be blended and how to wash the syringe. How much Tommy should be eating in comparison of what he was eating. 

 

“Lastly. His physical therapy. The doctors handed me paperwork about exercises he can do at home. He should be walking or standing about 20 min a day if his body can handle it, this includes stand up and sit motions. He can hold onto the couch or a hand. It can be spread out throughout the day. I know you have a PT doctor in mind, so I leave that with you. No stairs until given the go ahead. And he should go easy with picking up heavy things. Backpacks can be heavy. His chair should be able to have it hung on the back. His other medical conditions are listed. I also put uh what he experienced with the other homes in the files. Please read through carefully and don’t tell the boys anymore than what they know.” Puffy had explained handing over Tommy’s file. In the child’s eyes it looks thicker than what he last saw. Puffy must have been busy.

 

Tommy looks at the big kitchen. It was clean and open to the family room. Not far was the living room.

 

“So that’s about it.” Puffy says with a smile.

“Okay. Sounds good to me. Tommy, would you like miss.puffy to stay and walk around with us. Or are you okay to tour without her?”

 

Tommy hesitates but taps the table with his finger. Phil smiles warmly again “okay, Puffy, if you are free to stay a bit longer for the tour.”

 

“Absolutely.” She says “can Phil carry you. There are stairs and I don't want to have to carry the chair up and down.”

 

Tommy nods not wanting to cause a commotion over being carried. Phil pulls his chair back “ready?” He says and carefully picks up the 8 year old and carries the boy perched on his arm. “Family/living room, kitchen and dining room. We mostly eat in the family room in an Asian style seating. It's why the coffee table is so big. But if we have guests and holidays we eat in the dining room. We also have the basement, there's the study room and game room. My office, it’s off limits unless instructed otherwise.” Phil says while showing Tommy each room. His shows were the two downstairs bathrooms and heads upstairs. 

“This is upstairs.” Phil says and shows them the rooms and his room.

“And this is your room” Phil opens the door and walks in. PHil lowers Tommy onto his feet and holds his hands like a toddler first learning to walk. “Go ahead and move around. We can go wherever you want.”

 

Tommy looks around the warm room with two separate doors. He bends his new legs slightly and shuffles a paw to take a step. Tommy shuffles his feet a bit and holds onto phil as he moves around the room. He looks up to phil and lets go of one of his hands to point to himself, Tommy taps his chest with a finger.

 

“Yes. Yes this room is yours. It's bare but we can get you some blankets and stuffed animals. Maybe a beanbag and some books and toys. We can even put up a dry erase board if you would like. A desk and computer. Anything you would like.” Phil says as Tommy holds his hand again and waddles over to the bathroom. He opens the door and waddles into the walk in closet. He looks over the empty shelves. He waddles back over to the door and looks into the bathroom next. It was a full bathroom. There's soaps and towels and fluffy washcloths.

 

Tommy runs a few fingers over the soft towels and soon leads Phil to the bed. He holds onto the bed and looks at phil. He yawns and rubs his eyes. Tommy rubs his face into the fluffy bed and yawns again.

“Try to stay awake tommy. So you can sleep well tonight.” Puffy says. Puffy smiles leaning against the doorframe.

 

“We should head back downstairs.” Phil picks up Tommy who stiffened “oops. Sorry sorry. You’re okay. I'm just picking you up "Phil says, perching Tommy back onto his arm. Tommy relaxes enough and wraps his arms around Phil’s neck. Tommy was taken back downstairs and gently sat on the couch puffy picked out a few movies and offered Tommy to pick.

 

He chooses the princess and the frog. Puffy hands the dvd to Phil and kneels to Tommy’s height. “Alright starlight. I have to get going. Wilbur and Techno will be home soon. And your in wonderful hands”

 

Tommy motions a promise with sign language. Puffy nods “yea. This is an actual promise. And if he does anything, I’ll ram him into the ground and do so much more. That's also a promise” she says while Phil puts the movie in.

The two hug tightly and nuzzle each other. He watches as Phil sends Puffy off. Tommy waves as the door shuts. Phil takes a deep breath shutting the door and lets it out. “Alright, sit back and enjoy the movie, ill make us some Coco and popcorn” phil says and heads into the kitchen.

 

Phil happily makes them some popcorn as Tommy watches the beginning of the movie. The two sit when their ears flicker to the sound of the bus driving up to their home. Tommy looks to Phil who gets up “you can keep watching. I'm going to make sure Wilbur isn't loud.” Phil says and moves to head to the front door. Tommy eats a bit of popcorn and sips on his coco when the door suddenly swings open “T- mmm!” 

The sudden noise had caused Tommy to jump and spill a few drops onto the brown blanket. He panicked carefully, putting the cup down and trying to rub tissues into the blanket. He’s going to get hit. They’ll kick and scratch at him and yell. 

“Tommy?”

 

Tommy squeaks and covers his ears and head. “Are you okay?” Phil asked, sitting at Tommys side. The kid flinches and scoots away from phil “kiddo. What's wrong? Did Wilbur scare you?”

Tommy shakes his head, not daring to blame his foster brother. He holds his breath and bites his lips to not make a sound. 

 

“Dad?” Techno gently tugs on phils sleeve “the snack blanket is wet”

 

It was quiet as Phil ran his hand over the blanket. “Ah. Okay. That's okay. It's our spill blanket anyway. I don't mind. Just take a deep breath tommy. We aren't mad. I'm gonna touch you now okay?” Phil says gently and slowly reaching for the boy and rubbing his arm. “Shhhh its okay. It can be washed. Deep breaths mate” phil smiles getting tommy to suck in a breath and let out little racoon noises of distress, little red wing tuck and strain tightly against the small eight year old. 

“Okay. Okay buddy,”Phil gently picks up Tommy and pulls him under his wing. “Shhh deep breaths. It's okay. You’re safe” phil rubs his back letting tommy hide his face and sob it out.

 

“It’s okay, mate,” Phil says and gently pets Tommy’s head. The kid sniffs and sucks in air rubbing his eyes. He shakes his head rather quickly and flings his hands around in a flapping motion while also trying to use his sleeves to wipe away tears. Tommy sniffs pulling his hair and Phil pulls his hands off his head. Tommy’s hand manages to wrap around Phils shirt as the stimulation gets worse, Phil just gently makes sure that Tommy doesn’t pull out his hair or make himself bleed again. Light little kitten scratches are scraped onto Phil’s arms, he doesn’t seem to notice.

 

Techno hurries to the blanket corner and grabs the softest blanket he could find and wraps it around tommy “tommy see it’s soft.” He says trying to comfort his new brother. The soft blanket is gently rubbed into Tommy’s cheek. He tries to reach up and grab hold only for his nails to flex out and scratch over technos skin. Technoblade yelps and lets out a high pitched squeal retracting his hand away. Small droplets of blood drip down the pale skin.

 

Techno whines, tearing up with the wet blood dripping down his wrist. He holds the bad scratch as it stings. He was confused and hurt and now bleeding, he was only trying to help Tommy yet the brat hurt him. Frustrated techno grunts and paces before pulling Tommy off the couch and onto the floor, causing the smaller boy to yelp and shake while still stimming from the stress. “Technoblade, no,” Phil says and separates the two boys. Techno stomps his hooves and pushes at Phil “he hurt me!”

 

“Techno he didn’t mean to, He’s stimming, he still cant control his claws” Phil tries as his holder son hits and pushes at Phil “you promised! SHUT UP CHAT!” Techno yells and starts shouting at himself.

Tommy had covered his ears and glanced over at Wilbur who had a cold blank stare while tightly gripping down on his fluffy raccoon ears till they hurt. Tommy’s heart raced and felt dread washing over him as he watched Wilbur glare down at him.

 

“Wilbur?” Phil does his best to block techno’s movements. Wilbur glares at Phil “how many times do I have to tell you to not CALL ME THAT SHIT NAME!” He shouts and throws a pillow before stomping around the room and chucking a lamp at the ground. Tommy covers his ears and hides in his tail. Phil uses his wing to cover Tommy from the pieces of glass. Why was Wilbur now mad? What did he do? He can fix it, maybe he needs something cleaned, or a punching bag.

 

“Revivebur, I can't read. Minds, mate.” Phil got caught in the face with Techno’s fist. “Ow. Techno, do we need our corner?”

 

“NO!” Techno shouts and hits Phil and pulls his hair. Techno stomps his hoof and scratches up the floor. Revivebur grabs techno but Techno pushes his older brother off.

“Stupid brat! Just shut up!” Revivebur snaps and jumps on techno. The two wrestle and bite at each other animalistically screaming at each other. Feathers were pulled out and blood was spilled as they slipped further into their animal-like fighting.

 

Tommy is letting out more involuntary distress noises as quietly as possible, his wings curling in on himself. Phil panics and helps Tommy onto the couch and quickly grabs his two older children “Revivebur! Technoblade! Stop!” Getting in between the two. Techno squeals and runs away upstairs as Phil holds back his oldest who’s attention turns to Tommy “THIS IS YOUR FAULT! YOU HURT TECHNO! We were fine before you came here, you half formed mutt! Stay away from my family!”  The teenager shouts as Phil picks him up by his waist, minding the frailing wings and carrying the brunette off.

 

Tommy curls up on the couch crying knowing that he was alone. His wings cover his body while shaking. He covers his ears, switching his hands from ears to his mouth back over his ears and squeezing his eyes shut. He can hear technoblade upstairs marching around and yelling, throwing things. On the other hand he can hear Wilbur and Phil downstairs shouting and cawing at each other. This was so different from his other houses, so primal. He should have known better than thinking this house would be different. They hate him, he just got here and ruined everything, he should have asked puffy for a different home. But he was so hopeful he could have just a few happy memories here. All this just because he couldn’t sit still.

 

Tommy sniffs and forces himself to get up from the couch. Against all else he had forced his body to move and clean up the mess that was left behind. He should just do what he normally does. Clean and cook dinner. Clean the house. Clean everything, keep it all clean. It has to be clean so they will be happy, so no one gets hit. He ignores the pain in his body and cleans. Clean till it's spotless. Make sure it’s spotless. Do everything, be the skape goat to their anger. That way they’ll keep him. Just allow it but make sure to stay clean. Clean, everything needs to be clean before the mister comes back.

 

He doesn’t know where the dust pan is. What does he do with the glass? He has to put it somewhere to keep the place clean. The dread in his chest grows, where is the garbage can, or the broom. Maybe they expect him to…

 

Tommy lifts his hands opening his mouth. He wasn’t hungry  for much, but at least it will be quick, maybe a little painful. He’ll live, he's done it before and live right?  He stuffs it into his mouth, when a pair of hands grab him “NO SPIT IT OUT! TOMMY STOP SPIT IT OUT!” He’s pulled away from the mess and his jaw is forcibly opened making the shards of glass drop out of his mouth. Tommy drools and coughs releasing every last bit. He grabs at the shards and tries to put them back in his mouth. But he pulled away and the glass pushed out of his hand. He was dragged away. He whines struggling to get back to the mess that was caused because of him. His wings flail around as he’s held away from the mess. A hand covered his mouth.

 

There was running and a light turned on, Tommy didn’t even know it was dark out. But he had been caught, he wasn’t fast enough with the cleaning. Phil will lock him away in a closet, or techno and Wilbur are going to start hitting him.

 

“Wilbur what's happening? Is he okay?”Phil asks, confused as to why his oldest was pinning his youngest down. He hurries over and taps Wilbur to get him to let go. Wilbur compiles but Tommy scrambles to pick up the mess only to be pulled back by the paw painfully and held down. “He’s trying to eat it! Clean up the glass” Wilbur says as Tommy squirms under him. Phil grabs the trash can, and hurriedly cleans up the glass and tosses the liner.

“Okay, okay, all gone. Tommy it’s all clean” Phil says as Wilbur shakily lets go of Tommy sitting back on his heels. Tommy rolls over to his side and sits on his knees and blinks at the clean area. He didn’t clean it.

 

Silence. There was a deafening silence as tears pool in the small boys eyes.

 

“G-good job with cleaning” Techno says hiding behind a weighted plushie of a bear. What? Tommy looks at techno who was standing behind phil.

“Good… job” techno says and quietly claps.

 

“Yea, sorry for leaving the mess. But good job” Wilbur says, clearly shaking from where he was sitting with tears in his eyes. Why was he being praised?

 

“Thank you for cleaning Tommy, but you don't need to clean for us. We do that as a family. Can I pick you up?” Phil asked. Tommy nods and watches flinching when Phil moves too quickly. The man stops and goes slower when gently picking up the child and holding the kid on his chest. “Let's get you to bed, nice comfy clothes, in a nice comfy bed. Would you like to eat something?”

 

Tommy shrugs. Laying tensely in Phils arms as he gets up. His body felt like lead. It was painful to move. Phil gently holds a hand out for Wilbur. Who hurriedly takes it and glues to Phils side. Phil offers a wing to techno who shakes his head “okay, let's head upstairs to Tommy’s room” Phil says letting Techno go first. Phil follows Techno while keeping the other two close. It was dark outside. How long has Tommy been cleaning? It was bright outside and now it's dark. 

 

Once getting to Tommy’s room Phil sits the little boy on the bed. With the two older behind him “I'm going to go get you some food. Can you change into pajamas? Or do you need help?”

 

Tommy shakes his head as Wilbur puts his pajamas on the bed. “Okay. I'm gonna go get you some food. Do you want to eat through your tube or by mouth?”

 

Tommy shrugs and scratches his arm before tapping his tube taped down to his cheek.

“Okay. Are you okay with chicken and noodles?”

Tommy hesitated and shrugged timid at the thought of meat

 

“If I show you its chicken will you let me blend it for you?” Phil asks. Tommy nods. Phil smiles gently rubbing Tommy’s hand “be right back. Boys. Let's let Tommy change. Then you can talk to him and bandage him.” Phil says ushering the boys out of the room and quietly shutting the door. Tommy takes off his clothes and pulls on his sweatshirt and pants. He sits and waits tiredly. He holds onto Henry and Clemintime. 

The soft knock on the door pulls him out of his thoughts and the door opens. Wilbur and techno walk in and stand at the end of the bed. Tummy tucks his legs into his chest keeping his eyes off the older boys. 

 

“Um” techno tried but Tommy flinched curling in on himself more, his little wings covering his body. They weren't his. What if someone missed them. Or they were like him and were forced to give them up. He didn’t deserve pretty red wings. 

“Tommy?” Techno asked and poked his knee very gently. The fluffy blonde striped tail curled around his legs protectively. 

“Tommy, I'm sorry” techno says and sits on the bed. “I didn't mean to get all mad. I shouldn't have taken it out on you”

 

“Me too. I'm sorry tommy,'' wilbur stood in front of tommy “tommy. Um, we're really sorry. Can we start again?”

 

Tommy looks up and blinks between the two teenagers. He takes a deep breath and tries relaxing his body but his wings and tail don't listen to him. Tommy just nods trying to push his wings down so as to not be rude but Wilbur gently takes his hands “it's okay. Your instincts make your body react differently. It's like making a shield to protect. It will go away the more you relax. So just breathe for now.”

 

“Meeting revivbur like that must have been scary” techno says

 

“Oh yea…. The last time he came out was those stupid adults and Tommy had passed out. And Ghost came out in the pool. He hasn't met Friend yet…. Or phantom.” Wilbur says. 

 

Tommy tilts his head a bit confused. “Wilbur has DID” techno says. 

 

“It’s Dissociative Identity disorder. My brain kinda functions as separate different people. The uh me that was yelling earlier wasn't exactly me. But more like frustration and fear that boiled over and manifested in Reviver, that's his name.  He took it out on you and techno which wasn't fair to the both of you, again I’m sorry” wilbur says. 

 

“Reviver is kinda like an over protective big brother. He’s annoying and impulsive. But protective and older than me. I think he’s 19. If it’s morning time he’s also grumpy, Ghostbur is much sweeter and gentler. He won't lash out at you. Only to protect he refuses to hurt family and friends, he’s cuddly. Um. Phantom is like… a little brother. He's ten. He really likes sparkling things. He and Ghostbur really like blue things. And water. Friend, is a bit special. He doesn’t talk but he smiles and keeps me healthy and others. He's the oldest. 23 I think. He forgets he's in my body sometimes.” Wilbur smiles watching Tommy relax as he talks about his alters.

 

The three of them sit together and talk about their medical conditions and mental health like it’s the weather. Phil smiles, stopping at the door to hear his sons talk.

 

Techno hums “I have schizophrenia, and autism. I hear voices in my head. And sometimes they tell me to do crazy things. A lot of the time they say weird things like call me technosoft. They call phil Dadza and crow father. They say other things but it’s because of stuff I don't wanna get into. But just know that they like you, they shout at me to protect you. Even from Wilbur.” Techno says. Tommy tilts his head at the mention of trauma. But his wings fell enough to fall comfortably on the bed.

He wants to speak, and ask, but he stays silent knowing it would probably annoy them. Tommy reaches and tugs on Technos sleeve and points to himself.

 

“Hmmm. Are you curious about what chat is saying about you?” Techno asks. Tommy nods. Techno blinks down at tommy. The big blue jeweled eyes blinking back at him. The pale skin is still healing from injury. Techno’s heart skips from the cuteness overload and hears his chat yell at him about the adorable baby kit they see, calling him sunshine and baby kit, or hatchet. Wilbur crawls over to see why techno froze up and just smiles, “I think you broke him, hatchlet.” Wilbur says crawling back to Tommy’s other side. Tommy tugs on techno’s sleeve again trying to snap techno out of it. “Sunshine, racooninnit, hatchlet, starlight. Oh my god chat I get it. He’s adorable now, buzz off and stop talking about the cute baby” techno says, shaking his head and groaning. Wilbur laughs and tommy gives them a small smile.

 

Phil knocks on the door and gently opens it “is my mocking bird and piglet bonding with our coon kit?” He asks happily.

 

Wilbur smiles “yep! See he’s all relaxed now,” Wilbur points to Tommy’s wings Tommy looks over his shoulders at the red wings that were dropped onto the bed in a relaxed manner. “I can see that hatchling, his feathers will need some preening soon. But first let's get some substance in his tummy.” Phil walks over to the bed and kneels. He shows Tommy a container filled with noodles and breaded chicken. “I already blended some up. But it’s all chicken.” Phil says.

 

Tommy uses the fork to examine the food carefully before nodding and setting the fork down and taking the feeding tube. “We had this for dinner. I put some off to the side for you.” Phil says and pulls out the syringe filled with a tan goo. It was a big syringe which got the older two boys' attention.

 

“That's gonna be fed to tommy? Through the tube?” Techno asks.

 

“Yes, Tommy, are you comfortable with them watching or would you like them to step out?” Phil asks. Tommy yawns and rubs his eyes. He looks at techno and wilbur before letting a hum out as he nods, handing Phil the tube. 

“Really? Can we watch?” Wilbur says excitedly. Techno smiles hiding behind his plushie. Tommy nods and watches as Phil attaches the syringe. They watch slowly as the food is pushed through the tube and into their foster brother's stomach. About half of it was through when Phil stops and hands Tommy a cup of water. The boy sips some down and looks at Phil giving him a nod. Phil continues to push the food in “you’re going great hatchling, just a bit more. You’re doing amazing. If this was earlier I would have given you a piece of candy for doing so well.” Phil says. Tommy nods and sips his water again. He signs a thank you to them.

“No need to thank us sunshine. We are here to keep you and each other safe. God my three boys are too cute," Phil says and rubs their knees standing up and detaching the syringe. “Okay. We will let that sit in your tummy. And then we can tuck you in. I gotta get these two to bed, they have school tomorrow.”

Tommy nods and watches Wilbur and Techno get up from his bed. “Night tommy”

“Night Theseus.” 

Tommy waves and watches them head for the door, “I'll be back in a minute tommy.” Phil says and takes techno and wilbur. They head to Technoblade’s room first. “My roots are showing” techno says getting tucked into bed. He sounded nervous or timid, “yes they are. And I'm very proud of you both for making Tommy feel better. Very proud.” Phil praises and kisses technos head while tucking his piglet into bed. Techno hugs his dad and lays down for the night. Phil takes Wilbur to his room, but as soon as they get in, Wilbur shuts the door and lets out a distressed chirp.

 

Phil looks to his oldest who’s lip quivers and tears pool in his eyes “daddy.”

 

“Baby bird, what's wrong?” Phil takes his child into his arms and holds him tightly, letting the teenager soak his shirt with tears. “He tried eating the glass, he was trying to eat the glass.” Wilbur sobs clinging onto his dad. Wilbur cries into Phil as the taller blonde maneuvers them onto the bed and they lay their holding onto each other. Once Wilbur tires himself off to sleep Phil tucks him in and heads off to Tommy.  The little boy gets tucked in for the first time in forever and gets a comforting hug before sleeping. Phil shuts his door and takes a few deep breaths as he walks down the hall and flops into his bed. Boy was he exhausted.

Chapter 6: Taken

Summary:

TOMMY GET KIDNAPPED and meets a pretty woman

Notes:

Hey thank you for the comments and kudos. Im glad you guys enjoy it so much.

Tommy woke up in the morning to movement outside his door. Slowly he gets up and yawns rubbing his eyes. He carefully stood up and waddled painfully to the door very slowly one wobbly step at a time. Upon opening the door just a peek to see techno fixing his backpack and Wilbur grabbing a guitar case. “Dad can’t we stay home and play with tommy? I'm sure Mr Callahan would understand, please I gotta show Tommy all the cool spots and the burger van!” “No Wilbur. You and techno need to go to school, I have to take tommy shopping and you two have learning. So hurry up, come eat.” Phil says from downstairs. “Tommy is awake” Wilbur says and skips over To Tommy’s door and gently pushes the door open and notices that Tommy was leaning against the wall with a tight grip on the door frame and shaking legs. “Does it hurt to stand?” Wilbur asks Tommy looks down to his paws then back to Wilbur  and nods. “Up up?” Wilbur reaches out his hands for tommy. Tommy nods and leans in, reaching for Wilbur who picks him up and holds the boy on his chest and fluffy legs around his torso. Wilbur coos happily and takes the eight year old downstairs. Techno was at the table staring at the seats. “Where do you want him, piglet?” Wilbur asks, adjusting Tommy so he can put his bags down. “Mmm,” techno hums and points to a seat. Wilbur takes Tommy over and sets him in the chair as Phil brings out food. Wilbur sits next to him and Techno was across but in between Tommy and Wilbur while Phil was at the head of the table.

“Okay. Tommy, wanna use your tube or do you want to try eating?” Phil asks.

“He needs his story to eat” Techno reminds them. “Let's leave that up to Tommy” Phil says as his two oldest start eating. Tommy shrugs with the question. “How about a smoothie? It's yogurt and fruit.” Phil says getting up and heading to the kitchen. Phil blends some fruits together and returns with an empty syringe and a cup of a pink like drink. He sets it in front of Tommy and gets him eggs and toast. “It’s okay if you don’t eat everything. But make sure you get your fill.” Phil says and goes to sit. Wilbur Techno and Phil watch as Tommy sniffs and looks at the cup. He takes the cup into his hands and brings it up to his lips to try the icy cold beverage. He licks his lips and keeps drinking it down, he puts down the cup and looks at his plate. He tries the eggs and toast happily but avoids the bacon for now. Phil smiles seeing Tommy’s tail wagging happily while at the table. Even if the boy didn’t show any emotions, Phil could tell that the child was enjoying himself. He smelled happy, plus the cute purrs and tail wagging. Phil coos watching his boys eat.

Techno finishes eating and gets up “bus is here” he says as the bus comes down the road. Techno grabs his bag. Wilbur stands up and hugs Tommy quickly making the boy flinch but the cooing and nuzzling of his cheeks make it clear that Wilbur was just being cuddly, Tommy was still tense when being nuzzled, un sure what he should do, but he lets wilbur do as he pleased to Tommy’s face. “Wilbur, personal space” Phil says standing from his seat and walking over to tommy. Phil speaks up and walks up to Tommy “Shall we see them off?” 
Tommy shrugs again preparing to get off the seat. Tommy stood on his own two paws, the cold hard wood floor made his fur stand up. He looks at Phil who offers his hands which Tommy gladly accepts. The two of them move at Tommy’s pace waddling over to the door where the boys had been pulling their shoes on. A gentle scent of lavender hits his nose but also something that smells like rain, but salt, maybe a storm. Tommy closed his eyes leaning into the smell trying to figure it out, it smells good.

 

“Heheh Tommy that’s tickling me” Techno giggles trying to block Tommy from his ticklish body. Tommy follows the other scent making Wilbur giggle as Tommy sniffs into his neck and hair. “Haha Tommy, you’re so cute, but time to go.” Wilbur says, he blinks at Tommy and his gears start turning. The teenager grins mischievously and scoops up Tommy, making the boy squeak and runs for the door. “Hurry techno!”

 

Wilbur laughs running out the door with techno close behind and Tommy in arms “Wait a minute!” Phil calls out "Wilbur!" And hurries to find his shoes.

 

Wilbur was boarding the bus “new kid!” Wilbur says and hurries to his seat techno greets the driver with a good morning and goes with wilbur. All eyes peer over to their seat, the sudden attention makes Tommy whimper and hide in Wilbur’s shoulder. He’s not supposed to be on this bus, doesn’t he need a note? The bus door closes and it starts to move just as Phil makes it outside. Phil groans and sighs as he sends a text message to techno and an email to the school.

 

Techno shows wilbur his phone “dad said he’ll pick up tommy at the school and that you and I are going to clean the bathrooms when we get home” techno said before responding to their dad.

 

“Awe man! At least we get more time with Tommy," Wilbur smiles and nuzzles the boy sitting on his lap.

“Who is the new kid?”

 

“Theseus” techno says in his monotone voice and a gleam in his tired eyes. 

“He goes by Tommy, Techno likes how his name is from Greek mythology.” Wilbur explains rubbing Tommy’s back. And the little red wings cover himself.

 

“He’s so cute! He’s a double hybrid. Oh but you should tell the Dream team, so they can know, know. Dream likes things specific, OCD and bipolar stuff. Hey kid! I have a baby brother too. Tubbo! Get up here, there’s a new kid!”

Wilbur covers Tommy’s ears “Schlatt don’t yell so loud, he doesn’t like it.”

 

“Oops, well can’t take it back now, Tubbo hurry the fuck up” Schlatt calls out.

“I'm here! I brought ranboo” a boy with fluffy brown hair and… fluttering fairy wings? Tommy hasn’t met a fairy before. But he also has hooves, like Schlatt and small horns. “Tubbo, ranboo,” Schlatt scoots over and then points to the trio “new shy kid”

 

The fairy looks over at Tommy and a tall black…white? Cat?

“Hi, I'm Tubbo, and this is Ranboo.” Tubbo says Tommy waves and looks to techno and points to his hand while the teen holds it out. Tommy draws letters onto Techno’s hand making the two boys confused

“Is he mute?” Tubbo asks.

Wilbur smiles “no, he can talk. Just scared too. So he communicates through his hybrid noises. But he hasn’t done any chirping yet. But I know purring means he’s happy.”

 

“He wants to know what hybrid everyone is,” techno says “he thinks tubbo is a fairy.”

 

“I'm not a fairy! Gogy is a fairy!” Tubbo snaps and Ranboo giggles “I'm a bee and goat. Like big brother Jayjay. Bee’s are amazing creatures! And I'm the queen!”

Schlatt snorts “so you're a girl? Thanks for coming out to us man. We feel so honored.” Tubbo puffs his cheeks and hits his brother’s chest with his fists, the two lower their heads and head butts each other. “No way! I'm a boy not a girl! There’s nothing wrong with being a girl but I'm a boy. A married boy!” Tubbo says as the two goats knock heads.

Ranboo sits next to Wilbur “I'm Ranboo, I'm a black panther, snow leopard mix. I think you’re a Racoon bird hybrid mix right?” The duo hair boy asks. Tommy shrugs.

“He is. Dad wants to teach Tommy how to fly some time in the future. Look at his cute little baby toe beans," Wilbur points at getting Ranboo to look. Tommy was straddling Wilbur’s lap with his head in the older teenager's chest. Wilbur moves Tommy’s tail to let ranboo see the bean toes. Ranboo smiles and picks up his own paw, “I have toe beans too”

“Awwww!” Wilbur pokes Ranboo’s toes and pushes his claws out. Tommy curiously reaches over and pokes Ranboo’s paw and runs his hand into the soft silky kitty fur.

“Schlatt and I have hooves” tubbo says pulling Schlatt hoof from under the seat and shows tommy. Schlatt falls back into the side of the bus as the little goat shows off his hooves.Tommy looks at the different sizes and the fact that Tubbo and Ranboo’s tails were crazy wagging and swaying. Tommy blinks and looks to technos legs that were covered in tan plastic rather than his normal pink fluff and hooves. Techno had noticed and held up his leg “I use hybrid leg covers sometimes. Less attention”

“Wilbur? Why is he so fascinated with our feet?” Schlatt asked. 

“I'm not supposed to say. But he came from the foster system.” Wilbur says

“Ah, so trauma?” Schlatt says and Wilbur nods. The bus stops and the door opens. Two more kids get on the bus. 

Schlatt stands up “oh perfect, Q, george. Come meet the new kid.” The two teens walk through the bus and find their seats. Tommy hides in Wilbur’s shoulder “whoa. What the fuck is that?” A cast hand reaches out and pokes the tube on Tommy’s cheek. Tommy squeaks covering himself with his wings hiding away. The hand pulled away. He stuffs the tube in his pajama shirt and covers his mouth. He completely forgot about it. It's gross and he should have hidden it.

“That's a feeding tube. It helps him eat, Q. Like George’s medication helps him stay awake.” Wilbur says rubbing Tommy’s back

“What? So there’s something wrong with his stomach?” 

“Quackity you stupid flatty patty, don’t be insensitive.” Schlatt says

“OI! Es Cabra capitalista! Don’t call me flatty patty you dumbass!” The duck flairs his wings and quacks.

“Q sit down, you’ll get yelled at again” George says tiredly as the bus stops again and three more boys board the bus. Tommy looks out the window and sees puffy. He taps the window and waves. Techno and Wilbur look and also wave. The ram hybrid looks up and blinks and she waves “why is Tommy in his pajamas?” She calls to them

“We kidnapped him. We are holding him ransom for fast food lunch!” Techno says through the cracked window.

She laughs “you boys are so silly. Have a good day at school and behave. Make sure Tommy doesn’t hurt himself. By dream, By foolish, bye corpse! Love you guys!” Puffy waves to her three sons. The bus picks up again as the three boys make their way to their usual seats. The three of them sit down. Two of them had a mask on. While the other had some weird neck guard attached to some bag. Techno peeks out into the alley “Dream, Foolish, Corpse this is our new foster brother, his name is Theseus” techno says giving that straight face but still beaming with excitement while saying Tommy’s legal name. 

Tommy grabs Techno’s swinging tail and holds onto it as he looks behind the seats at the two masked boys and the… shark. They look to be the same age as techno, and the shark was Wilbur’s age. Tommy looks to Ranboo and Tubbo trying to figure out why they are staring at him.

Tubbo just smiles and turns to Dream “don’t worry, think of this as a small meeting. Just meeting people, I think He’s going home after we get to school.” George says. Techno and Wilbur nod. “Phil will pick him up from our class room.” Wilbur says  “And bring us nuggets” techno adds. There was silence amongst the group. Dream tenses gripping the seat, the ripping of the plastic was enough for Tommy to tuck himself into Wilburs chest and hide away knowing he’s now not wanted.

“Calm down dream, he wont be starting school until next week. Wilbur and techno were excited to show off the new baby of the group.” George says and rubs the shoulder of the teenager in the green hoodie.

“I don’t want him here. We have a baby of the group. We don’t need more”

 

Tommy whimpers using his hands to sign something. His heart beats harder the more Dream speaks. The others try to reason with Dream but he’s pretty adamant about not wanting Tommy near him or the group.

 

“Hey FREAKS!” A kid from the front of the bus shouts. 

“Shut the fuck up normie!” Quackity snaps at the human. The driver looks back “kids behave”

 

“Fucking freaks. I'm surprised that you idiots are so stinking excited over a stupid Trash rat!” The kid laughs which is followed by other kids.

Tommy’s ears fall flat, he used to be one of those kids that sat up in the front. Of course he never laughed, but he also didn’t say anything, he just watched. Now he feels like an idiot.

 

Tommy sits up and faces the kid standing in the alley. He holds Wilbur’s hand and puffs out his chest. “What are you gonna do bitch kid? Meow at me?” The kids snap and march down the bus aisle. 

Techno tugs at Tommy’s shirt “come back don’t bother”

 

Tommy opens his mouth. Everyone covers their ears as Tommy lets one rip. And by rip he let out the loudest fucking distressed noise a racoon could make. It was so loud and suddenly the bus driver swerved from the noise.

 

Tommy stops and gets looked at. He holds his finger up at the bully. The boy stands straight ready to throw a punch but notices multiple kids glaring with the intention to kill. Tommy hisses still shakily gripping onto Wilbur for balance. The kid scoffs and runs back to the front “you’re dead Soot. Miss hail! they’re going feral!”

 

Tommy was pulled back into the seat between Techno and Wilbur, ‘okay?” He signs to his foster brothers. “Tommy, that was awesome!” Wilbur says.

 

Tommy hides behind his wing and shakes his head. He was just doing what Phil said, and what he should have done in the past. Keep each other safe.

“Oh prime. Fuck my ears” Schlatt groans and Quackity laughs and says something in spanish which causes Schlatt to jokingly push Q into the seat behind him.

Tubbo was bouncing in his seat “Tommy, I didn’t think you made any sound until now bossman.”

 

“Tommy, are you okay?” Techno asks the shaking boy. Tommy makes a writing motion. Techno pulls out a notebook and pen. Tommy takes them when handed and writes down a note. He leans into the walkway and holds it up towards the back, specifically two seats behind him. The boy known as Corpse blinks at the note and reaches over to tap his brother. Dream looks up from his phone.

“Sorry for ruining your morning routine without warning. I'll bring you some food to make it up to you, but I don’t know what you like.” Ranboo read out. All eyes trail to dream.

“God you are annoying… fine… I like pizza. Only cheese. But don’t take this as me accepting you” dream said venom on his tongue. Tommy nods and writes ‘okay. Cheese pizza. I'm Tommy. It's nice to meet you dream.’ Tommy wrote

“Shut up already. You’re such a loud mouth even without you talking” Dream glares and looks away. The bus ride continued as usual. Tommy mostly sat there and listened as they talked, or doodled in the sketch book, but he stayed on one page to not waste any paper.  Once the bus pulled into the school he noticed the kids getting up. Wilbur pulls his bag on.  “I wanna carry tommy” techno says pulling tommy closer “you got to cuddle him the entire ride over. My turn”  Tommy makes cute little happy squeaks as techno stands him on the seat and scoops him up.

“No fair! Schlatt I want to be carried too!” Tubbo pouts and reaches up for his brother. Ranboo gathers up his things to get off the bus when he is suddenly scooped up by Dream.

“Babies!” A normie shouts, earning death glares from the group. Tommy Tubbo and Ranboo are happily carried off the bus only for a moldy sandwich to smack Ranboo in the face. He whimpers and mewls, cleaning his face off and tucking into Dream’s shoulder “I'm only carrying you because I like cats” Dream says and leads his friends to meet up with a few others. Tommy points over and blinks.

Techno adjusts Tommy on his chest “that’s the Dream team. Dream, George, sapnap, and Karl and Antfrost. Quackity hangs out with them too. Sapnap and Karl are dating Quackity. Ranboo is like Dream’s kit sometimes. He won't admit that he just likes holding Ranboo cause he’s cute and little.” Techno says.

Wilbur smiles “hurry before dad finds us techno.” Techno and Wilbur run off into the school. Tommy holds on tightly to Technoblade as the boys ignore the staff trying to tell them to walk.

“Boys!” Phil spots his boys running. He hurries after his kids “techno, wilbur. Get back here you gremlins” 

Techno giggles as Tommy squeaks and purrs letting his brothers taking him down the halls “hurry” wilbur says and the two run to Wilburs class. 

“Mr. Callahan!?” Wilbur throws open the door. Causing the deer hybrid to beep out and jump kicking the wall behind the desk. “Wilbur! What have I told you about-… who is this sweet thing?” The teacher walks over.

 

“This is our new kit in our home. Tommy, this is the English teacher, Mr. Callahan.” Wilbur says. The teacher smile and shoots his hand out “pleasure to meet you.”

Techno could feel Tommy flinch from the fast movement, he rubs Tommy’s back and lets the boy reach out and shake his hand before hiding away as kids start to come in.

“We have to show him Miss. Kristian. Perfect excuse for dad to talk to her.” Techno says Wilbur beams and leads his brothers out of the room and ducks under phil and runs down the hall.

“You shits are losing gaming time after school!” Phil says and chases after the boys “give me my kit you gremlins”

 

“Noooo! Kit, is ours to corrupt!” Wilbur shouts as he leads techno down a hall into a class. “Miss. Kristian! Come meet tommy!” Wilbur says skipping up to a beautiful teacher. She had pretty dark brown hair, and sweet inviting eyes. Tommy can feel his tail wag but he was also sore, but he was having so much fun. It’s been awhile since he’s had fun with others like this. His old school wasn’t as much fun. There were always bullies, and people stealing what little food he had, along with the mean teachers that would answer every question with a snarky reply or question that made no sense. There were even drug deals between teachers and students.

 

“Oh my goodness. Wilbur Soot Craft and TechnoBlade Blood Craft. You boys have gone making trouble for your father again.” Miss. Kristian pulls up a chair to sit in. 

Tommy felt tired and out of breath from hanging on. His fluffy legs had gone limp in techno’s hold. He just wants to sleep.

“Kit is tired,” Wilbur says.

“I'm sure he is. Sit in a chair. I'm sure he’ll be more comfortable while I give you boys a pass” Kristian says as the bell rings. Techno sits down just as Phil enters the room. The man was out of breath and had his longer blonde hair a mess “wilbur, Techno,” he takes deep breaths and collects himself “you two are grounded.”

 

“Hi dad!”

 

“Hello Mr.Craft” Kristian smiles. Phil’s feathers fluff up in the presence of the beautiful Raven “h- ahem, hello Miss.Kristian. I see my boys have blindly lured me here. Again.” He smiles, earning a small giggle from the raven.

“They are smart. And of course with a new kit, it would be easy for them to bring you here.” Kristian says

 

Oh, so Tommy was brought to the school today to lure their dad here to talk to the pretty lady…. They’re trying to set their dad up with their teacher? Tommy looks up at his foster brothers and watches them give a cunning smirk as they watch the two adults ever so lightly, but it was obvious Phil is a simp for this gorgeous woman. Maybe Phil needs a better wingman. 

“Those two have been flirting for a while and Kristian only really talks to dad” wilbur says

“I swear if dad doesn’t make a move he’s going to lose her” techno whispers.

 

Tommy tugs on techno’s sleeve and gives a writing motion for the pen and notebook. He writes something down. 

“Miss Kristian. Dad. Tommy has a question” techno says. The two adults look over to the notepad.

 

‘Is your Saturday night free? Around 7:30pm’ it read

 

“No, I'm not busy.” Kristian says.

“No, but I got you kids to worry about” Phil grins and Tommy turns it around to write.

‘Good. Can she come tutor and have dinner with us?’ Tommy writes and Phil chokes on air, while Miss Kristian blushes.

“T-tutoring and dinner?” She asks, still flushed “uh, sure. I don’t mind. I’ll take the dinner as payment. But I'm just an art teacher. I'm not sure what I can tutor you in.”

She was an art teacher? Well shit. How did he not notice with all the art supplies laid around the room. Tommy thinks for a second and writes ‘in broadary’ 

“You mean embroidery? Making designs with thread on fabrics? Yes I can teach you that, do you also want to learn knitting and crocheting?”

 

Tommy nods but looks to Phil for any sign of disapproval. But if this lady was someone he liked he wouldn’t blow up at him in front of her. He won't hit him, he didn’t yesterday. But he really doesn’t want to start now.

“I didn’t know you had an interest in that hatchlet. We can go shopping for some yarn and threads.”

Wilbur and techno look at each other confused with what just happened. Tommy writes on the paper and yawns ‘I invited her over for dinner and to teach me. Best wing man Tommy kraken danger Innit’

“Why didn’t we do that?” Wilbur asks.

“You have sand for brains and dreams about sleeping with fish” techno teases

“Shut up techno. You’re the little brother you should be looking up to me”

 

“I am now a middle child which means all the rules are made because of me, and Tommy gets a pass because he is the baby.” Techno says. Wilbur thinks for a second “dad. Tommy can wear my old clothes when you get home. Especially my fluffy red sweater. He has to wear that. And techno’s old sweats. The black one’s”

“Aye, mate slow down. I will dress him in comfy clothes when we get home, but first Tommy needs to get home. I'm sure he is very sore from holding onto both of you, not to mention we don’t have his wheelchair.” Phil bends down “so say goodbye, you two have class.” 

Techno and wilbur get up leaving tommy on the seat. They stare down at him intensely. What did he do? Why are they all intense? Maybe he’s not supposed to go to phil. Maybe they want something. Wilbur chirps and Techno oinks at him.

What do they want? Maybe he shouldn’t have set up that date?

“Boys use your words, you’re freaking Tommy out.”

 

“We want a hug goodbye,” Techno says.

A hug? They’re being all serious for a hug even after they basically carried him and cuddled him all over the place?

Tommy shakily lifts his arms and closes his eyes. He met with a warm embrace from the two and nuzzles. Techno was quick to pull away “i just noticed, he needs a bath” he says

 

Phil laughs “you got so excited you completely blocked out that he smells like the hospital still.”

“Use my soap…. No, don't use my soap. He should… smell like vanilla. Or baby soap.” Techno says

“Okay, lets see if he even likes the scents first, tech” Phil says and carefully picks up Tommy who flinches and whimpers from the sore pain “it’s alright mate. You can just lay loosely on me. A warm bath will help with the pain, and some medicine.”

Kristian smiles “alright. Off you two go” she hands wilbur and techno a pass. Phil hands them their lunch as promised.

“Bye”

“Bye Theseus!”

 

The two ran off. Phil smiles at Kristian, “I guess ill see you this Saturday?”

 

“If anything comes up I’ll let you know.” Kristian smiles and waves Phil off as he leaves with a purring Tommy in arms. Phil happily takes his tired kit to the car and waves to the staff as he passes. Once Tommy was in his booster seat and strapped in. Phil smiles and holds up a bag of fast food. “You didn’t think I would leave you out now, did you?” He smiles. Tommy’s tail begins to wag. He also got food of course he was a bit hesitant to look in the bag. But Phil gently rubs his shoulder “you can eat what you like. If there is anything you don’t want to touch you can just leave it in the bag. And there should be a toy in there for you” he pulls out a cup holder and sets an orange juice in the holder before shutting the door and heading to sit in the front seat.

Maybe they weren’t going to hurt him. It certainly wasn’t like yesterday. It… was a happy day. Wilbur and Techno were so excited for him that they… kidnapped him and brought him to school. And Phil didn’t force feed him or hit him, not even telling him to clean the house.  Tommy purrs and pulls out the nuggets and gives them a try. Tommy chews for a second and the taste brings him back to those bad days. He spits it back into the container and moves on to the fries. Okay maybe not yet.

Chapter 7: Phils smile

Summary:

Phil helps tommy open up little by little and witness first hand what the hybrid community is really about. Stand tall as an individual but as a unit we conquer.

Phil had returned home with tommy. Phil smiles peering over his shoulder to the eight year old in the booster seat. Tommy’s head was lulled off to the side, sleeping away with a few fries on his lap. Phil takes a breath of relief and hops out of his car and gets the sleeping child out of the seat. Tommy stirs but phil hushes, ever so gently placing the boy on his chest and carried him inside. Phil hums softly and carries Tommy to his room and tuck the boy in bed “there you go kit. You had a big morning today.” Phil says pulling the covers over the coon kit. He places Tommy’s stuffies right next to him before running a soft hand through those beautiful blonde curls and leaving the room.

Phil smiles at himself and heads to Wilbur’s and Techno’s room doing as promised and grabbing the sweater and old sweat pants that his teenagers have long grown out of. Phil cleans up the abandoned breakfast and cleans the kitchen. His phone goes off causing him to jolt from the noise. The crow pulls it out and answers “hello?”

 

“Hey phil.” Puffy says with a smile

“Oh hello puffy” phil smiles and keeps cleaning up. Puffy smiles through the phone “I saw the boys on the bus, it was very cute. And Tommy looked to be having fun as well.”

 

“Oh yea, the kit is enjoying himself. He put a chicken nugget in his mouth today, so there is improvement. I think it was a good idea to hang out with him at the hospital before coming home with us.” Phil says tossing the used paper towel, and heading over to his office to check his emails.

“Have you gotten anything from Bad? The situation is getting worse.” Puffy spoke while he read through the emails.

Phil groans and sits back “yea. I took the whole week off of work and now this is popping up. This entire thing is fucked up puffy. We have been fighting this battle for the last couple of years since we appeared. I get that we are still new but they act as if one wrong step we are going to snap and kill.” Phil says sitting back into his seat.

 

His email was filled with things from work and he advocates party. Puffy being one of them. “I’m sure as much as you love tommy. You gotta also catch up with the work you let pile up.” She said knowing phil was already at the computer. The family man was a hard worker. All that he’s done is make sure that his kids have a bright future since their past has been terrible.

Phil looks up at the clock, 9:30am. No, he shakes it off trying to ignore the sudden urge to slip back into those bad habits. He has children to raise and a kit upstairs. Phil has been doing good all those years. “It’s 9:30,” Phil says. Puffy was quiet for a second “… I know. But push it away, take a deep breath and let's focus on the present. We have resources now, not as much as we want, but we have what we fought for. And more will come in the future.” Puff says

“I know,” Phil looks over a picture to their friend group. Their small little friend group with those who rescued them “it’s been so long. And those nights still haunt me… do you have anything on that cult?”

“No, I found nothing so far. I’ll keep searching. But there is a new political party that is advocating for hybrids to be moved into a new society away from humans.” Puffy says.

Phil hums and responds to a few work emails “let's make sure to keep an eye open. Let's get a volunteer group together for clean up work and to feed the homeless. With the spring around the corner there's going to be a lot of things that need to be done.”

 

“Sure, I'll talk to the others. Get that movie done.” Puffy says “and phil. Make sure you are also coping well. We are here for each other.”

 

Phil smiles and sends the email. “Thanks puffy. I'll be just fine, I got my boys.” They two laugh before wishing each other a good day and hanging up. Phil groans and continues his emails for a bit before reluctantly standing up to go shower. The warm water soothed his wings as he washed his body of any smell he carried.

After drying off and changing he goes to check on tommy. The boy was now awake and talking in a super whispered tone just enough for phil to pick up”

“Hehe Clementine, I'm a big man, the biggest man ever. And Wilbur and Techno kidnapped me this morning. I had a lot of yummy food. Oh and I think Phil likes this really pretty lady at the school, I think her name is Kristian. But she’s really really pretty. If there’s any chance that Phil doesn’t try to date her, Imma take the pretty lady for myself and rub it in his face that I, big man Tommy innit, Stole his beloved Kristian.” Tommy says very proud of himself. Phil smiles and walks away not wanting to intrude.

Tommy kept talking. “I met a lot of kids on the bus. One name is Dream, I don’t think he likes me. But I hope that If I get him pizza and maybe a kitty hat he’ll like me more. I don’t wanna give the gift to Wilbur or techno. They’ll eat it. So I have to give it to them when I go to school… I hope I’m doing okay. They haven’t hit me yet. And they didn’t make me eat any glass… or dirt… or the… meat. They don’t force me to eat the food. Hmmm. I kinda want curry and rice. I'm kinda scared to eat meat still. Maybe another day I'll eat it. I tried a nugget. But it was meat… Henry, do you think I’ll be able to eat curry again? Or at least talk to them like normal?… I want to. But it’s so hard. What if I talk too much and they hate the sound of my annoying voice. Like the others…. No. You’re right henry. They promised. They’ll keep that promise. And if they don't… idk maybe i'll just go visit mama and daddy. They’ll tell me what to do” Tommy says and hugs his stuffies and looks around the bare room. “It's much nicer than the attic…. Henry. My throat kinda hurts. Should we go downstairs and get some water? Techno said I needed a bath though. What should I do? I could clean. Mmm or laundry.” Tommy says and gently coughs from the dryness in his throat. He pulls his legs out of the bed trying to stand but grabs hold of the cover as he slips onto the floor with a sharp pain shooting through his body. There was a loud thud that followed after the cover. 

Tommy looks around and noticed the braces for his legs “uh oh”

 

There were footsteps coming down the hall quick and fast paced. Tommy hurried to get up and tried to make his legs work which they’re all wobbly. Conner's dad doesn't like noise. He's not supposed to be loud. Travis's, another house out of the 12, hate noise. Why is he so loud? He can't keep quiet.  And now he can't stand and is making a mess. He's so loud and annoying!

No! It's itchy! He’s too loud and will be punished. What next? His fingers? An arm. Maybe his head? What if they kill him!?

Tommy starts to scratch

There was a knock on his door “tommy. Are you okay hatchlet?” Phil asked. Tommy whines and scratches at his back. Phil opens the door slowly. 

“Oh hatchlet. Deep breath try not to scratch. You’re safe.” phil says seeing the boy on the floor scratching at the skin on the child's back. The sharp claws were making small kitten scratches but nothing that would need the emergency room. Phil steps in and walks over the fallen braces that rested on the foot of the bed. He sits and coos at the boy trying to get him to calm enough to stop breaking his skin. “Breath hatchling. I'm here. You’re safe.” Tommy hunches over while on his knees, head on the floor. 

“Deep breaths Hatchlet. Can you tell me about the bus this morning? Tell me who you met?”

“Mmm '' Tommy hums trying to find the word but none comes out. These weren't his old homes. Not Conner's family. Not Travis's. He had fun this morning when Wilbur cuddled him. He smelled like salty water, rain. And techno smells like lavender. He met Tubbo and Ranboo. There was schlatt. Q. Dream. George. The bus smelled funny. He screamed on the bus to protect Wilbur Techno and the others.

 

Tommy peeks through his bangs to look up at Phil, the man was calm, he looked tired though, but his eyes had a soft, concerned expression. He wasn’t mad, he should be mad. Phil said he wouldn’t be hit. Tommy lowers his head to the floor and moves his hands to tightly wrap around his sides, he stays down submissive and small. Phil sucked in a quiet breath “it’s okay tommy, you’re safe here. Can I help you back onto the bed? Or do you wanna stay on the floor?”

Tommy shrinks in on himself even more and shrugs. He really shouldn’t have the choice to choose. He kinda likes the floor, it feels… good? Familiar. He just wants to sit here for a bit and enjoy the cool wooden floor. It reminds him of the cellar, one of the places he was at least left alone for a bit, no pain or yelling. Just the cold dark, some glass and alcohol and him, he often cleaned the glass on the floor. Number three, the Travis house. Tommy was still four when in that house. It wasn’t a good time. The family had two daughters. They were older than tommy. One was a psychopath and the other a sociopath. The parents were workaholics and hated loud noises and would send the psychos to punish him if he didn’t do his chores in time or made any noises. Of course it didn’t help the fact that Tommy was blamed for anything breaking. When the parents got really fed up they forced Tommy to eat the dirt and glass he had swept up before tying his hands across his body and leaving him in a cellar for two days. Any child with a normal reaction would of course puke blood and scream. Puffy got a call from the hospital to come get him. It wasn’t a fun experience, but then again when is eating glass ever fucking fun. He didn’t really care for the tying of his hands. It felt like a hug for himself.

Tommy sat still and in silence for a bit longer than phil liked. He messaged puffy. 

‘Hey does tommy normally do this’ phil asked through text sending her a silent photo of tommy ‘he’s been lick this for a while’

 

Luckily puffy was quick to message back ‘tommy picked up that habit after the third house he was in. He crosses his arms and grips the back of his shirt. It honestly reminds me of a straight jacket’

Phil takes a deep breath ‘so do i move him? He is sitting on his legs’

‘Yea. Just lay him on his side for now he will unravel in a bit’  

Phil scoots closer to the boy “okay tommy. I'm going to lay you on your side, are you okay with that?”

Tommy shrugs and nods, keeping his head on the ground. Phil lays a pillow on the ground and gently places a hand on Tommys neck and lays him down. “Take it easy mate we’ll take a bath once you’re ready”

Tommy nods, laying on the pillow. He flinches, noticing Phils hand move towards his head. The gentle hand runs through his loose curls. It was calming. He starts to purr. The hand is warm and calloused. It had that welcoming parental roughness. It takes him back to his parents. Tommy’s arms release from his sides as he nuzzles into the warmth. Phil speaks up “I'm gonna pick you up now. Let's get you into the bath.” Phil picks up Tommy and carries him over to the bathroom. Once Tommy was tiredly sitting on the toilet lid Phil Pets his head “do you want help with bathing?”

 

Tommy shrugs but takes a moment to nod and lets Phil strip him of his sweaty clothes. The warm water had steamed the mirror like a warm breath in the cold air. Tommy’s body was littered with scars of life’s battles that he was thrown into. To many for an 8 year old. “We have to take out your tube. Do you want help?” Phil asks. Tommy shakes his head and takes off the tape sticking on his face. The small boy lifts his head and carefully pulls the tube out of his nose and throat. Phil had tissues ready for Tommy’s nose while the tube was placed on the counter. “Good job. That was great Tommy. Let's get you into the bath now”

The older blonde had picked up his coon kit and gently set the little bean paws in the water. However Tommys paws tuck in and shake off the warm water. Phil chuckles and lowers Tommy into the warm bath and gently wets his hands and grooms through the burgundy red feathers. The oil and grime coming off the feathers was enough to make the water gross. Phil picks Tommy up, drains the water and refills it to wash Tommy's hair with Techno’s shampoo and Wilburs body wash. He used his own conditioner on Tommy’s hair. “Feeling better?”

 

Tommy nods trying to lift his sore wings from the Wet soapy pool. Phil drains the tub and rinses Tommy off again to ensure that Tommy was free from soot bubbles.   Phil happily Puts Tommy on the bath rug and dries him off. “There we go, you don’t smell like a hospital anymore and you’re all clean.”

 

Tommy nods and itches his ear and shakes the water from his body. Phil laughs letting himself get wet “there you go my kit. Now let's finish drying you off and getting you dressed.” He smiles and Tommy shrugs again and nods. Phil’s gentle arms wrap Tommy in warmth and safety, it comforted him so much and was reminded that these arms were not for him, he was just a foster, a visitor. Wilbur and Techno can run into these arms as much as he wants, but as soon as he’s able to walk he won’t need to be carried in the safety of these arms. Phil had put Tommy on the bed and helped him get dressed in the warmest and softest clothes he’s ever worn. An oversized sweater that warmed his small body, and the sweat pants were a bit big on him but Phil rolled the pant legs up and pinned them out of the way. But Tommy was lost in the warm soft fluffiness. He purred and chuffed a little noise. A gentle loving coo reaches his ears, and he responds with a small chirp. Gently he was nuzzled and pulled into a warm hug. The smell of salty water and lavender comes from the comforting clothes, the warm vanilla comes from phil. Like the soap used on him. There was another chirp which he responded to happily. His tummy growls again, he chirps his tail wagging while asking for food.

“Alright my kit, let's get you a snack.”

Phil helps Tommy put his leg braces on and takes him and the wheelchair downstairs. He takes Tommy to the kitchen and straps Tommy in the chair. “What would you like to eat? Fruit? A sandwich? Mac n cheese?” Phil asked. Tommy shrugs and thinks, he just shrugs again. “How about some Mac n cheese. I have some left over. Oh, for dinner I have some work so techno will be cooking with Wilbur. Do you want to see the ingredients or do you want a new tube?” Phil asks. Tommy pushes the wheelchair towards the fridge. Phil opens it and takes out a container only for it to be empty. “Ugh wilbur and his late snacks. So the meats and ingredients that techno will use are stored in this small bin. Feel free to poke around. I'll make us some grilled cheese.” Phil says. Tommy looks over his braced legs and looks at the many different ingredients. Carrot and potatoes. There’s chicken. “Techno really likes to eat potatoes, we grow them in our backyard, he’s gonna start up again in a few days, might let you help him if you ask. He really likes farming.”

Tommy nods and pokes around a bit more before shutting the fridge and struggling to turn the chair to face phil. The man was cooking up two girl cheese sandwiches and set them on plates. “Alright” he says, placing them on the table and hurriedly rolls Tommy to the table “go ahead and eat.”

 

Tommy reaches for the sand which, and shakes the thoughts of his fourth home out of his mind.  “Have you heard the story about zephyrus?” Phil asked Tommy to look over at him. He shakes his head taking a bite of the sandwich. He sits and listens to the short tail of the god of wind. He eats his early lunch while listening to Phil talk.  “And that’s that.” Phil says stuffing the rest of his sandwich in his mouth, he dusts off his hands and snatches the plates before Tommy can and cleans up.  Tommy pushes the wheelchair back and moves it to keep his eyes on Phil who discharged the plates into the sink and walks back over to tommy. 

“Okay. Are you okay to go to the store? We should get you some clothes, we can get you a new toy if you’d like?” phil asked. Tommy shrugs, secretly excited just to be able to look at toys. He really shouldn’t be too greedy. Maybe a new outfit and some window shopping will be enough for him.

He nods, earning a soft coo of warmth from Phil, he chirps back. Phil takes Tommy to the front door and gets his hat and pulls on a pair of shoes. Tommy looks at his paws then to Phil’s feet. The other kids had hooves and claws or paws and techno uses plastic feet to hide his hooves. Phil grabs a small drawstring bag “do you want to bring Clementine and Henry? I can also bring a snack”

Tommy shrugs but shakes his head. Phil takes him to the car with a blanket. Tommy is buckled into his booster seat. And wiggles to get comfortable, his hands go into his blonde locks to twirl and play with; he doesn't even notice that his other hand reaches up and his fingers are in his mouth nipping and nibbling at his skin. Phil gently rubs Tommy’s head “fingers are yucky mate.” Phil gently pulls tommys fingers from his mouth and finds one of Techno’s stim toys. “Play with this buddy.”

Tommy nods using the hand he was chewing on to play with the toy. Phil smiles and heads to the front seat after closing the door and putting the wheelchair in the trunk. He puts on some tunes and drives them out to the mall. He noticed that a specific song came on that made Tommy floof up, and his tail wags to the beat of things. He sees an adorable smile creep onto the boy’s face.

Phil makes sure the song plays again, getting Tommy to wiggle and hum extremely softly to it. Finally getting the boy to make some happy noise he feels accomplished. And it's only the second day. He was so happy that his ears could pick up tommys soft noises. Phil grins happily, his heart filling with that pride and joy he knows all too well with each of his boys. That one moment that he knew with all the kids he’s met. He was doing alright with helping them heal. Tommy was lively, he didn't shy away thankfully because they met him at the hospital and warmed up to the family rather than having him dropped off.  Phil parks the car and looks over to Tommy who was looking out the window. “Okay, you ready to head inside?”

Tommy nods and unbuckles himself, Phil steps out of the car and carefully sets up Tommy’s wheelchair. The boy is lifted from the car seat and placed into the chair. Tommy gets comfy as a blanket is laid over his legs, his bag is placed on the handles and the car is locked. Phil takes Tommy through the parking lot. He holds onto the handles and watches people walk in and out of the large mall. He is taken to the door which swings open with the press of the button. Of course the first thing that hits him is the smell. He retches and covers his nose and mouth with his hand trying to mask the sweaty pungent smell. His stomach turns and twists. He really didn’t want to be sick when they just got there. It smelled like heavy mixtures of perfume and a sweaty locker gym with mold while also mixing with terrible gross food, and some good food.

 

Phil chuckles and pulls Tommy off to the side and pulls out a face mask and some sort of spray, upon squirting the two masks, he carefully pulls it on Tommy’s face and then his own. The scents seemed to disappear, letting him breathe a little easier with the new masked scent of something warm and sweet. It’s like a bakery.

“Is the mask helping?” Phil had asked. Tommy touches the mask and nods. “Good, let me know if it starts to wear off. Don’t be shy, this stuff is cheap and we can get you a few sprays if you’d like. There’s a hybrid store here. You’ll be purring and chirping away.” Phil moves slowly to pet Tommy’s head. The boy nods and his tail starts to wag from the warm weight on his head.

Phil takes Tommy through the mall and heads to the area where he usually gets techno and Wilbur’s clothes. Tommy kept his fingers in his hair and was rubbing the soft sweater fabric.

“Do you like red tommy?” Phil asks. Tommy shrugs and nods. Phil just smiles and takes Tommy into a store where there were lots of hybrids around with their hybrid children. There were lots of clothes and fabrics. The kids also wore a mask, like him and phil. 

“Okay, Tommy, do you wanna look around and point to things that you like?” Phil asks. Tommy once again gives a silent shrug and nods right after. Phil still wasn’t sure why the kit in his care never spoke. Puffy did say he was a very lively child. Maybe one of the previous houses he was in. He knows that Tommy can talk, rarely goes above a soft whisper. Maybe he should push the boy a little bit. “What do you think about blue? It would look nice with your hair. Is there a shade of blue that you might like?” Phil asks, looking at a few blue clothes. Tommy shrugs and touches one. It was soft and the fabrics were nice and thick. He didn’t really mind the blue, but it just wasn’t the right blue that he like, it was a little too light? Yea, he didn’t really care about this light shade of blue. He points to another shade of the same hoodie however phil was glancing at another shirt. Tommy moves the wheelchair forward and grabs the shirt but another kid grabs hold of it as he was pulling it down.

“Get off weirdo. I grabbed it first!” The girl shouts. Tommy shakes his head holding onto it, he lets out a growl.

“Let go, you freak! This is the last one! Daddy!” The girl shouts pulling Tommy’s wheelchair with her.

 

Phil grabs Tommy’s chair. “What are you two doing?” He asks. Tommy lets out a whine and lets go making the girl fall back into the tile floor. She squeaks at him and gets up and leaves taking the hoodie. Tommy’s ears lower; he looks back at the rack and searches through it. Luckily he finds another hidden in between and it's bigger! Big sweatshirt. He holds it close while Phil kneels down to Tommy’s side “why don't you hold onto that one tightly. Let's keep looking around, "Phil says, earning a nod and a smiling face. Phil takes Tommy around the store. Phil helps him pick a few new outfits and some blankets.

Tommy looks over at the small line and noticed the girl that took the hoodie from his hands. She wasn’t a hybrid. So what was she doing in a hybrid shop? Her father was on the phone while buying his things. Tommy looks up at Phil, the man checking his email before putting it away and smiling down at Tommy “what’s up mate?” Phil kneels at Tommy’s side. Tommy looks back to the two normies at the front of the line. “Ah, wondering why normies are in a shop for hybrids?”

Tommy nods with a little hum. “Well mate, this shop does sell clothes specifically for hybrids, but the shop lets non hybrids shop here as well.”

“WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THESE HOLES!” The man at the front shouts making everyone in the store jump and cover their ears. Tommy holds his ears and bites back tears.

“Okay, look sir, you can’t yell in this store, and again. This is a store that sells clothes for hybrids. Those holes are for wings, and tails. We have a normie se-“

 

“Well fix these clothes.” The man says.

 

“I will not, you can have the holes sewed up if you really don’t like them. We have clothes that are meant for non hybrids but you keep picking from the hybrid racks. Which are labeled and color coded.” The cashier says.

 

Tommy flinches as the man slammed his hands on the counter. Tommy curls in on himself with his hands covering his face mask. His little hands were tightly pressed against his face.

The other children cling onto their parents and whine. The little normie girl glares “why are you all making that sound?”

“You’re scaring them. Hybrid ears are sensitive. Your shouting is scaring them.” A parent says.

The man scoffs “I could buy out of this store!”

“So do it.” The cashier smirks “I double dog dare you, coward” the man scowls and picks up his daughter he pays and walks out with the bags. Phil rubs Tommy’s arm “it’s okay starlight. You’re safe.”

Tommy sucks in a deep breath and nods. Phil moves with Tommy through the line for when they check out. They move through stores and even go to a toy store. “What kind of toys and decorations do you want in your room?”  Tommy looks around at all the toys, he spots a pair of colored cows. A red, blue and yellow. Mushrooms, blueberries and a flower. “Cows”  Phil stops the wheelchair, it was quiet. Ever so quiet. Phil smiles and picks up the little trio of cows “do you like them? Would you like to hold them?”

Tommy nods and gently takes the toys into his arms. “And what about this little guy?” Phil pushes him over to a shelf with a lone anxiety plushy sitting there. A big red button eyed tarantula with black and gray fluff. Tommy smiles and lifts his hand but pulls back. No he wasn’t greedy. Phil picks it up and carfully puts it on the armrest. Tommy pets it and grins under the mask.

“Any posters?” Phil offers. Tommy looks at the different posters but shakes his head. He didn't know what posters he would want for his room. The two continued to walk around and gather Tommy’s own things for the house and for school. The two got a snack but Tommy stares at the food not sure how to eat without puking from the smell of the disgusting mall. He looks to Phil who pulls his mask off and eats. Guess there was no other way. Tommy pulls his mask off and takes a quick bite. He watches his little toes wiggle as he eats.

“Good?” Phil smiles and Tommy nods. The soft pretzel was delicious.

“Tommy, I know you’re skittish with meats,”

Oh no, please don’t feed him something weird.

“I was wondering If you want to try tofu.” Phil asked.

Tommy blinks and makes that silly weird face he makes when he cringes. Phil laughs and tries to hold back “it’s nothing too weird. Trust me, we eat it a little bit here and there, Wilbur and techno hate it though. They refuse to eat it. They call it fake meat. It’s soybean. It has lots of protein and it’s not meat. Wanna try it?” Phil asks. Tommy shrugs and his ears lower.

“Why don’t we get a sample from one of these restaurants? You can tell me if you like it.” Phil asks while finishing up his pretzel. Tommy nods, he watches Phil head to the trash to throw out his wrapper. Tommy looks down at the pretzel.

He’s so nice. He really doesn’t want to jinx this, or have this luck go to waste. Why is Phil being so nice? All the other families didn’t care when he was… what was it. A normie? He’s always had Puffy, but she’s a hybrid and Ms. Diana has been really nice, but it was her job. But she was really really nice and read to him while eating, the other nurses and doctors didn’t really care, one of them almost gave him the wrong medication… How did the story end? Did they get to the end?

“Tommy?”

The small hybrid jolts, snapping his head to look over his shoulder. Phil was smiling and warming at him and asked “ready to go try a bit of tofu?” Tommy nods, grabbing his water bottle. Phil releases the breaks of the wheel chair and takes Tommy along the rows of tables. The whole mall seemed sectioned off, splitting between hybrids and the normal humans. Tommy is rolled up to a man offering samples. However, Phil attempts to speak but the man walks away trying to get the attention of other “normal” people. Phil growls and snatches two sticks of the plate without the man seeing. “Here Tommy.” He hands Tommy a toothpick with a white cube glazed in a brown sauce. The scent of sweet teriyaki fills Tommy’s nose with delight, nearly masking the ugly scent of bodies, he can practically taste it. The small little hand reaches to take it, “fucking animals!” A voice snaps, slapping it out of Phil and Tommy’s hand. It hits the floor and a man glares. “We don’t feed your kind!”

Phil pulls Tommy’s Chair out of the way, “what the hell mate! It’s a sample! My kind is the same as yours!” Phil snarls back. He hands Tommy the second sample only for Phil to be punched and a hand grabs Tommy’s chair. A black wing hits the worker away from Tommy, “do not touch my child! The fuck is wrong with you mate, He’s in a wheelchair.”

“We told you we dont feed your kind.” The man says and suddenly there was growling from many people. The hybrids stood behind Phil and Tommy growling and a few held up phones. 

The security comes through the crowd “alright break it up!”

“You bird hybrid. You need to leave”

“I'm not leaving without an apology for him nearly hurting my child in a wheelchair” Phil says, folding his wings. Tommy had his wigs curled up and ears pinned back. 

“Apologize to my child. Or we are going to have issues. Phil glares at the security who looks to the crowd and then the mall worker “are you gonna apologize or not?”

The normie scoffs “fuck no. We don't serve their animal kind.”

Phil raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes. He snaps a pic of himself and types away at his phone for a moment before smiling “good luck explaining this shit to your boss”.  Phil flips the worker off with pride and heads over to tommy. “Come on kiddo. Let's get out of here.” Phil says hurrying Tommy off as many phones buzz and go off. Phil can hear the shouting and screaming of angry workers and crowds.  Tommy looks at the crowd of people walking and the sharing of screens. He looks up at his caretaker, he’s so cool! Tommy beams up at Phil with his tail wagging and purring. Phil gives him that warm signature smile that’s comforting to see and lets out a soft coo which tommy happily responds with his own chirp.

Phil loads their things and Tommy up into the car before driving off to get the older two from school.

Chapter 8: Spoken actions and Weekend fun

Summary:

Phil leaves his three boys at home to go worry about work and talk to some friends, tommy has a some what minor accident down in the basment.

Tommy watches where he sat at the table coloring in his new book. 

Techno and Wilbur were in the kitchen. More like techno and Revivbur. As it turns out they didn't have a very nice day at school, some dumbass named brian was picking on them and they got into a screaming match. The kid had taken wilburs favorite beanie from his head and techno planted a fist into the kid’s gut. 

Phil had helped take Tommy’s new things to his room but he had to run off to work for an important meeting that he couldn't miss. Being alone with his two foster brothers did make him nervous especially since their first meeting didn't go well. What if Revivebur still hated him? And wanted him gone? Tommy can easily break his neck falling down the stairs, or simply land in the emergency room. They could lock him up in a closet. Or tie him up and make him kneel on needles and shards of glass. Or try to drown him. They could even feed his body to an animal. 

“-Mmy. Tom-….. tommy!”  Tommy jumps gasping for air looking up at Wilburs soft facial features but his eyes are sharp, almost tired or having no fucks. There was a sucker in his mouth that clacked against his teeth. “Tommy. Deep fucking breaths man. You look like you’re gonna faint.”

“Revivebur, be gentle you weren’t exactly friendly when you both first met, remember? So don't scare the gold raccoon kit.” Techno smacking revivbur with a whisk and goes back to cooking. 

“Right. There was that… ah… well Tommy, what were you drawing?” Revivbur asked. Tommy blinks confused but pushes the picture over to his foster brother.

“Ah that’s… cute? Uh, that's me techno and phil.” He asked, holding up the picture and showing techno. Tommy squirms and bashfully covers his eyes. Wilbur blanks out and his eyes roll up and he blinks rapidly. Tommy tenses thinking that his drawing broke Wilbur. Techno takes the picture and leans over to get a look at Wilbur’s face, and looks to tommy. “Don’t worry, Revivbur is just switching with another altar. They will tell you their name when they come out. You might meet a little. ” The older teen blinks and looks down at tommy. He smiles and happily picks Tommy up from his wheelchair and holds him close and tightly. He smiles at techno with Tommy squished up into his chest.  “Are you friend?” Techno asks, earning a nod from his older brother. 

“Tommy, that's a friend. He’s really cuddly. Techno says as he keeps cooking and baking. Friend carried Tommy off to the living room and put on a movie plopping Tommy down on the couch. Friend smiles at the tense boy and nuzzles his nose against Tommy’s. Friend chirps and Tommy responds letting his face be nuzzled. Friend happily squishes Tommys cheeks with a hand and steps back to put on a movie.  Once Tommy was situated on the couch. There was an oink and squeal, the sound of hooves rapidly stomping on the wooden floor. Friend smiles at Tommy and goes to check on techno.   Techno huffs and oinks his ears drooping with frustration. However, Friend was able to figure it out and fix it quickly without Techno going into a complete meltdown. The three of them eat on the couch and watch a movie. Wilbur eventually comes back towards the end of the movie where they choose another. 

 

Meanwhile Phil was out in the filming studio. He had just finished the last scene of a movie for the book he wrote. He sent a text to Wilbur who was quick to respond and sent a photo of him. Wilbur and techno had a few papers of homework on their laps but Tommy was sitting cuddled up to the both of them. The two older boys protectively sit at Tommy’s side drinking hot coco. There was a second message 

‘ Tommy ate all his food but tense with revivbur but friend put on a movie’

Phil smiles ‘thank you guys. You're doing great with Tommy. I'm proud. I will be home late. Make sure to sleep in your beds. And get your homework done’

He hurries off to a meeting spot. He uses his wings to fly off to Bad’s restaurant. He flies through the cold wind to the location of his meeting. He lands softly and heads inside to a mix of arguments. 

 

“We need a back up plan if this doesn't work.”

“There are too many allegations against hybrids if we attack or even riot or protest, hybrids will be seen as predatory”

“They want to remove our children from schools. Other parents want us all removed from school.”

“They will cage us. Even if normies stand up they wont change”

“They will change. They have to because more hybrids are being born and we as a society are evolving.”

“The hybrids at schools are being picked on and most teachers wont do anything. Revivbur almost got into a fight with a teacher because they called techno a slop pig. The teachers aren't keeping a fair record. Some students stood up for us. Many just laughed.”

“Well glad to know i'm not exactly late.” Phil says walking up to the group. “Hey.”

 

Puffy nods “welcome. We have a lot of political shit we have to go over. As much as I love getting children their forever home. But holy prime the video of you being attacked has gone off. Tommy is blurred but it’s obvious he’s in a wheelchair. The people of the government know of you just, not who you are.” She says. 

Bad steps up “they have been making reservations here in my private back room to meet. Two days ago. They discussed removing all hybrid children from schools and making a ‘private facility campus’ a boarding school.”

“No way” phil says “they can't do that. They can't make the schools do that. They want to control our children with a facility. This is frustrating”

 

Sam leans back in his seat crossing his arms “we should take action. As a last resort we need to stalk up on supplies. We honestly might go into a revolutionary war like the french.”

“I can inform the school kids” foolishly says but puffy was quick to shake her head “no. We will explain to the other kids later, Foolish.”

“Punz and purple have finally settled in school. And there's many children who would love to join and support but won't be able to.” Sam says. 

Phil nods “and Tommy spoke. One word. He said cows. We can't turn their world upside down just yet. And we all know wilbur would pick up a gun and techno a sword.”

Foolish shrugs ``i don't really understand what that means but um. I overheard a few kids. Older. Teens. Say something about their parents acting wack with a pig skull.”

Phil nods, biting his lip. Puffy pushes her curls out of her hair and the room goes quiet. “The board of social work is trying to pass this off as a non issue for them. We need to send a message.”

 

“Could be our chance to leave a message,” Bad says “doves mean freedom…. We can pick an animal of war.”

 

“Horse is too big. Same with an elephant.” Skeppy spoke. “…the only animal I can think of might hit a little close to home for phil.”

“…. Do it. Leave it on the door steps. I'll tell Techno. Keep my crows watch over the school. Make sure our kids don't do stupid shit.” Phil says and scratches the back of his head. There is a need to watch, "Phil says. 

“I can wire Corpse and dream” puffy says. “See what the teachers say.”

“Make sure the boys ask for permission for recording. Fake recorder. They will most likely snap. They need a strong mind. Tap Techno as well. I have a feeling there's people from the cult in the school.” Callahan says. The room goes quiet. The tension was heavy and thick. Puffy looks at Phil with tearful eyes “he really talked? On the second day of being with you?”

“It was soft. And very sweet. He wasn’t asking or even saying a phrase. He just said the word cow when he saw three cute cows. Very cute and gentle. He chirps and purrs as well. The hybrid senses are doing well. He liked the smell of wilbur and technos conditioner. Hated the mall.” Phil smiles at puffy who happily cups her cheeks and clasps her hands together. “I knew he would be perfect with you. Just wait until he becomes a little shit. When he was four he cussed out his first family as soon as he could.”

 

“The first family. It was uh. The religious one right?” Phil asked “they sent him to that abusive religious school for a few months.” Phil pulls out his phone and shows the photo. 

Puffy nods “yea. Once I picked him up he cussed them all out. And he didnt in the second house.”

“Aww poor little muffin. Such a sweetheart. Look at Wilbur and techno cuddling him up. Their friend group will grow more.” Bad coos his tail and wings flutter. “Oh I wish sappy was small again. My cub is getting so big.”

“Q and George were tiny. They had adorable little pouting faces. Especially Quackity. And George’s wings came in. My little caterpillar blossomed into a butterfly.” Sam smiles from under his mask and fixes the oxygen tube under his nose. Hearts flutter as the parents coo and swoon over their children and memories. 

“Oh remember when George met Dream and Sapnap. Ooooh George learned how to fly away and accidentally taught Dream how to fly” puffy laughs. 

Bad laughs “wrong wing technique but he flew. Sapnap called him a dragon. Silly little kimera.”

 

They laugh and have a drink of wine and some food. Laughing as they all eat some pasta. As it gets late the adults wrap up for the night. They head out into the crisp night. Phil waves as bad locks up and drives skeppy home. Phil spreads his wings and takes to the sky. He sores high letting the tip of his wings scrape against the cold icy clouds of the night sky. His mind trails off to when he had gotten Wilbur to finally take for the sky. The glow he had finally touched the sky and learned to reach for the sunrise and sing a song making his life a symphony of beauty. Wilbur learned. 

Technoblade learned. He learned the meaning of love. Life had more than anger and fighting. Wilbur took Technoblade to the roof to watch the sunrise. Taught his little brother the meaning of cuddles and play. That it was okay to be vulnerable to take and give love, to fight and protect a family. To trust. Phil was proud. So very proud of his boys and they are doing wonderful with the new kit. Being gentle and warm. The kit is opening up a lot more than Phil expected. He hopes that he isn't taken away. Ever!

Phil lands on the back porch and goes to the bird feeder where his crows were. “Twitch. Brian. I need you guys to watch over the hybrids at school. And I need some of you to keep an eye on the government officials. They’re gonna pull shit and I don't want any of the kids being used as an example. Keep them safe when they arent home.  Thank you guys' ' phil says and the crows caw at him. He scoffs “shut! I'm only trying to keep everyone safe. I don't want there to be anyone hurt. But we are suffering. Wilbur Techno and Tommy along with everyone deserves to be treated equally. Leaving the city is a last resort. Have a good night. And use the bird house. It's gonna be cold.” Phil says and heads inside his home.

 

The next few days with the crafts were uneventful. However, Kristian did start coming over, but was called away. Tommy was really excited to learn embroidery too, but Techno and Wilbur were more excited to see Phil make an absolute fool of himself in front of Miss.Kristian Death. However, lady death sounded more elegant. Techno said ravens symbolize death and so do crows. 

 

Tommy did peak over to the door when it rang, it was Sunday. Mid day and he had just finished eating. Wilbur and techno peeked over to the door as Phil went to go get it. The door quietly speaks open and Phil smiles “hello Nikki, Hannah, Sally. I see that everyone is starting to come over. Wanna use the pool again?” He asked.

Nikki smiles “you know us so well, but we also wanted to know if techno and Wilbur wanted to come play. Punz and purple are coming. We also tried ro Convinced Dream to join. But, I think Tommy owes him a cheese pizza cause he was on the bus. But hes hanging out with some of his friends.”

“Ah, the boys didn’t tell me that. We'll gather everyone up first, I have to talk to techno wilbur and Tommy before letting you guys in. Okay?”

“Tell wilbur I personally said hi,” Sally smiles, using her towel to cover her head. Phil shuts the door and walks over to his hatchets and piglet. “Ok, your friend group is here. Do you boys wanna play and hang out with them at the pool or do you want me to just send them to the basement? And Wil, Sally says hi.” Phil says.

Wilbur beams “sally?!”

Techno shrugs “can I read?”

“You can if you want, just stay away from the water so your book doesn’t get wet.” Phil says and braids techno’s long hair.

“I want to go hang out!.” Wilbur says and looks to tommy. Tommy looks between the two and just shrugs.

“You can say it verbally.” Techno says, but Phil gives him that parental look to be patient.

“He hasn’t said anything the entire time he’s been here.” Techno says

“I know piglet. But we gotta be patient. He will talk when he-“

 

“Ok” a voice whispers out

 

Silence. Heads turn to Tommy who spoke. Who whines under the staring. Techno moves his hand slowly, gently giving head rubs to Tommy “good job.”

“HE SPOKE!” Wilbur shouts, making Tommy flinch before being engulfed in hugs and nuzzles. Wilbur coos and happily runs to the door, throwing it okay. “TOMMY SPOKE HIS FIRST WORD IN OUR HOUSE!”

Tommy tilts his head. He’s talked before. Given he was in a panic or pleading. It's nothing new. They have heard him scream and shout. The children outside peeked their heads in and stared at tommy. 

Quackity scrunches his nose “I don't hear shit. Technoblade. Did Tommy really?”

“Hey!” Wilbur whines as techno nods. 

“He said okay. It was quiet and hushed. The voices like that he isnt screaming but not silent.him being silent is annoying”

“Techno we gotta be nice with our words” phil says. 

“But you said it yourself, it's hard going out of your way to communicate. You can't even hold a conversation with him” the pig hybrid said. 

“That was when I was frustrated and overwhelmed. I'm able to accommodate him through yes or no questions. Just like I accommodate you and wilbur.” Phil explains but techno frowns scrunching his face. He stomps his hoof on the wood loud enough to scare tommy. Techno huffs and hurries off to his room. Seems as if techno still has mixed feelings about Tommy. 

“It's okay tommy. Just take it slow. Pool time. Phil gets up. Wilbur smiles and leads the others to the basement pool. Phil holds both of Tommys hands and helps him walk to the basement. Tommy hasn’t walked down the steps he was honestly nervous. But Phil helped him take it slow. One fuzzy paw at a time. When they entered the pool the room was big and had a large window to let in sunlight. There were tile floors that were normal for a pool. There was a filter. In the corner of the room was a hot tub. The pool was bigger than what he thought. The pool was a good something, something feet long. Tommy didn't know. It was a big house pool. Upon getting closer he noticed that the numbers on the floor. A section had a straight cut off which dropped to 40 feet into the earth. The cut off section was at 15 feet. The numbers trailed back to 3 feet and the steps. 

Nikki and Hannah happily sat on the edge of the pool giggling. Tommy noticed an orange red tail in the water. The red head known as sally pops up. Upon closer look. The tail doesn’t seem real. Kinda rubber and fake. Tommy glances at Phil as he Is brought to a chair and sits down. “I gotta get your swimsuit. I'll be right back.” Phil heads back up the stairs. Tommy sits and stares at the three girls. 

“It's silly. Wilbur wont let me go to the bottom before he checks that it's safe. Even with all the obstacles that were built in. And the fact that he owns the pool.” Sally smiles “he’d make a good. What yall say. Mate?”

 

“Seriously sally? We are only 14. You shouldn't be thinking like that anytime soon. Dating is fine but mating?” Hannah said with some concern. 

Why weren’t they turning into fish? 

Nikki nodded “agreed. Plus what if you change your mind. Wilbur is a bird siren. We are human, And you have only known wilbur for a few months”

 

“But he’s so cute” Sally coos.

Wilbur pops up from the surface with a smile “okay. Water is safe.” He says taking sallys hand who puts something in her mouth and straps some sort of small tank on her waist. She goes with Wilbur and dives down. Two unfamiliar blondes come downstairs. Foolish close behind, and schlatt tubbo Ranboo and the others. Techno also came down wearing black swim trunks. The pig strides up to Tommy with a small blue swimsuit and nuzzles Tommy’s cheek quietly. Tommy was scooped up and taken away to the nearby bathroom. He was sitting on the toilet seat. As techno helped him get his shirt off. Tommy took his braces off and pants to pull on his swim shorts. Techno puts some kind of cup in his ears and grabs tommys ear making the boy flinch away and look at his foster brother's hand. Techno reaches for his ear again and they instinctively pin back as he pulls away. Tommy sniffs and pokes Techno’s hand. 

Techno silently opens his hand to show Tommy the small plastic disk. Tommy relaxes tilting his head letting techno have access to his ears. Maybe techno didn’t want to talk. Like him. Maybe techno wanted to try being silent. Or trying to prove a point?

Techno cleans his ears and inserts the small disks. Tommy giggles and covers his smile with his hands. Techno and Techno blink at each other. Red meets blue. Techno makes small oinks and nuzzles Tommy making the Raccoon giggle. Tommy holds Technos hand and gets up. His legs buckle and go weak, techno holds Tommy's arm keeping him up. Techno scoops Tommy up into his arms and leaves the bathroom carefully. There were lots of kids playing around. Wilbur was singing to some music on the speaker while swimming around with Sally and foolish. A shark and two fish. Hannah and Nikki were happily chatting and the two new blondes were wrestling with Quackity and schlatt. However the large goat was launching kids. Tubbo and ranboo screamed as Schlatt tossed them away into the water. 

Tommy taps on techno and points to the two blondes. Phil sat down in a chair reading a book, “careful with the younger cubs.” He says occasionally glancing up. Techno took Tommy to the pool steps and sat in the shallow water. Tommy sits on his lap. The water splashes at him and techno. Tommy raises a wing to minimize the splash on him and techno’s face. Luckily it wasn't much but techno holds Tommy closer as his wing closes. Techno nuzzles Tommy who purrs and nuzzles back. 

“So this is the tommy that you all have been talking about?” A bright blonde kid asked them to swim. 

The second unfamiliar blonde came up. He was older. Like technos age. Around 12 maybe 13? Techno nods and plops Tommy to face the two blondes. 

“Nice to meet you Tommy. Im punz and this is my little cousin purple. Although I just claim he’s my little brother. As you can tell. We both uh. What do you guys call us again? Normies?” Punz asked techno. Techno nods silently. 

 

“Yea we normies.” Purpled said. “But the friend group claims I'm a kit. Or pup. Dream and Quackity argue about it sometimes. I'm 9. Tubbo says your 8. Do you like stars?” Purple smiles Tommy shrugs. Purple blinks and looks to punz for help. Punz looks to Techno. Techno much like Tommy, shrugs. Pumz looks back to purple who shrugs. Purple turns to Tommy and shrugs. The four of them shrug at each other in a little shrugging match and giggle behind smiles at the confused shrugs. Soon all the kids were joining in with the shrugging confused to what is even going on. Phil videotaped and held in giggles. 

Schlatt lets out a loud burp, getting everyone to groan in disgust “WHAT?! You fuckers are over here shrugging away like if you stop the world will burn down! Not my fault you fucks stop playing to have a sheugging fest” schlatt grabs Quackity and dunks him under the water “drown flatty patty!” He says holding Q only for a few seconds. It was enough to make Tommy cling onto Techno. Schlatt removes his hands letting Q float to the surface and spits water at Schlatt. He flaps his wings and scurries out of schlatters arm and into the deep end. At least the water was warm. Tommy scoots out of Techno’s lap and slips into the water while holding Techno’s hand. Techno walks around with Tommy. Techno glances up at Phil who then gives a smile and nod. Tommy picks up one of those pool noodles that's also a water gun and squirts tubbo and ranboo in the back. 

“AH!” They squeak and playfully grin. They charge and tackle Tommy into the water. Technoblade picks up Tommy and tosses him into the water. Tommy resurfaces and shakes his head. He laughs and all the kids resume playing. 

Tommy sprays Schlatt and Quackity. He stays close to Techno who splashes Nikki and hannah. “Oh! Mr craft!” Nikki calls out to phil. 

Phil simply laughs “just call me phil. Or philz. What can I do for ya?”

“Does Tommy eat sweets? I wanna bake some cookies. Is he vegan or gluten free?” Nikki asked as the song changed on the speaker. 

“He has no food restrictions like that. He should be good with cookies.” Phil says. Wilbur emerges from the depths of the pool with sally. The two sing to the song. Foolish swims to the shallow end and watches. The two quickly dry off. Once they have their legs again. Wilbur Takes sally’s hand and spins her around. Tommy watches. Schlatt and Quackity join them in their own choreographed dance. Everyone else sings songs. Tubbo and ranboo jump around happily. Purple joined hands with the duo and Tommy was pulled into the dance of the musical spanish song. Tommy jumps a bit not exactly sure what he's doing as everyone is either singing, dancing or being as dramatic as Wilbur and doing both. 

It was filled with laughter and heavy breathing as the song ended. Tommy giggles and happily smiles. Technoblade gets out and tackles Wilbur into the water playfully. The two wrestled. 

Phil gets up from his chair and heads upstairs. He gets fruits and snacks and plenty of bottles of water. He enjoys the singing kids and loud laughter. He makes different sandwiches knowing the parents will send him 40 bucks to help repay their kids' food. Out of all of them he was the only one with a custom pool. The parents he knew were fed up with schools trying to separate the kids. Normie teachers talk about behavior of hybrids and how to “deal” with ferals actions. It truly wasn't fair for the kids. Or the non-hybrid students. Both parties need to be safe but treating hybrids like animals is a huge nope. Behavior should be taught by someone who understands. Which he’s thankful for mr. Calahan to actually redirect the students to ask questions. 

Phil grins as he carries the snack bowls on a tray to the door when he stops opening the basement door. The singing had stopped. It was quiet. Too quiet. Phil rushes down to the pool. The pool water had a fading red tint and blood led to the kids. Phil puts the snack tray down and hurried to grab the first aid kit. “What happened?” He hurried over to the kids who moved. Laying on the ground with an arm in his mouth and claws sinking into an arm was none other than Ranboo. The kit was biting into Tommy snarling and growling. 

“Ranboo got spooked and got stuck in his head. I think it was being thrown too much.” Nikki says. 

“Okay. Let's all back up and give Ranboo some space.” Phil says and sits as the kids back up a bit. “Tommy. Are you okay?” Phil asks. Tommy shrugs and lets it be. 

“This kid is tough. He’s not crying," Punz says. Phil takes a deep breath looking at all the blood on the bloody and bruised arm “Tommy, I need a verbal response please. Are you okay?” Phil spoke again, getting something out of the first aid kit. 

“… im okay” Tommy whispers just enough for everyone to hear. Phil smiles “thank you Tommy. You’re doing well. You’re probably gonna need stitches mate.” 

Ranboo growls pulling at Tommy's skin making the small kid whine from pain. Wilbur sings quietly and rubs Ranboos back. Phil opens a bottle of solution under Ranboos which overpowers the scent of blood. Tommy gags and all the hybrid children retch backing away. The thick disgusting scent had filled the air so bad you could taste it. Punz nikki hannah Sally and Purple scrunch their noses leaning away. “Ew fucking gross” sally says covering her nose. Ranboo releases Tommy and pulls his claws from the boy's arm. Ranboo coughs and immediately pukes on the ground. Punz moves Ranboos' hair out of his face. Phil closes the bottle and gets a towel to apply pressure to Tommy's right arm.  Hannah was getting cleaning supplies to clean the blood. Schlatt dumps chemicals in the pool. “Pool closed” he says putting the bucket of chlorine chemicals back. 

“Anything else hurt tommy?” Wilbur asks. 

“M tired. Fuzzy, "Tommy says. Quackity gets behind Tommy and lays the kid on his lap, as purple helps his older cousin with ranboo. Wilbur goes to help the wild kitty hybrid get cleaned up in the bathroom. 

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry.” Ranboo whines, tearing up. Tubbo got up and chased after them. Everyone was doing their part in helping clean up or take care of the two boys. Foolish was on the phone with dispatch explaining what was going on and requesting an ambulance only for the idiots to say they have bigger issues and will get to them as soon as possible. 

“Those bastards. Phil they hung up on me!” Foolish says.

“It's okay. I think the bleeding is stopping. That's good.” Phil says keeping the pressure on the wound on his upper arm where the claw sunk in. Techno cleans the bite wound and bandages it.

“Tommy, I'm sorry!” Ranboo says, wiping away the dripping water on his forehead and the hot tears. Ranboo whines and sniffs. Tommy smiles up at Ranboo. “Im okay” he whispers feeling tired. Wilbur rubs Ranboos back “see he’s okay. Scratches and a bite won't kill him. He’s been through a lot. This is nothing.” 

Ranboos lip quivers. Tommy reaches an arm up and Ranboo sits next to Tommy holding his hand. Tommy nips Ranboos hand. “Ow!” Ranboo pulls his hand away. “Now we are even, innit that okay?” Tommy says. Ranboo laughs “hehe okay. Fine. We’re even.” They all sit and wait for Tommy to stop bleeding. Once Tommy does, they all dry off and change. Phil helps Tommy with his shirt and uses medical glue to keep the wound closed. They use suture tape to ensure that the wounds stay closed. Phil takes out the plastic disks from Tommys ears and gently massages his head. Phil smiles at the purring child. Awww so cute!

Tommy was taken downstairs where he's gently plopped next to Tubbo and nikki. Pizza was ordered and the kids chilled with a movie.  “How do you like the craft house?” Nikki asks tommy.  “Mm..” Tommy glances at everyone around him. They seemed focused on the movie. “They’re really nice,” he whispers, “I like everyone here. Everyone is really nice. Even um… Dream”

“Oh that's right you did meet Dream.” Nikki smiles and Tommy nods “yea. I wouldn't have liked me either. But he used his words and not his fists. I like that. I gotta get him a cookie and some pizza. Purple tubbo and ranboo are lots of fun.” Tommy says “technoblade said that me being silent was annoying but then he stopped talking. Do you know why?”  Nikki chuckles at tommy “It might be because he was just curious to why you don't talk. But you talk beautifully. I'm sure they would love to hear your voice more.” Nikki states. Tommy nods, turning back to the Movie. The weekend was fun. 

Chapter 9: Concrete habits and blinding lights

Summary:

Tommy watches techno suffer through his own truama. He’s also silently dealing with his truama

Tommy was excited for today. It was Monday morning.  He slips out of bed before his alarm goes off and shuts it off. He showered carefully minding his aching legs and muscles. Tommy made sure his arm bandaged and clean before making sure his hair wasn't a mess. He was dressed nicely in his cargo pants and a blue shirt. He wore a red sweater that was all warm, the one Wilbur told him to use. The soft texture and scent of the family fills his chest with gentle purrs. He waddles to his bed and carefully packs his bag for school. He put Henry and Clem inside and gave the cow a small scratch and boops Clem. He zips up the bag and wobbles to the door to Phil who was already standing out in the open hall biting his thumb, his eyes glance up to Tommy and he smiles relaxingly “eager for school?”

Tommy opens his mouth but just smiles softly and hums with a nod. Phil’s heart squeezes at Tommy’s little smiles. Phil happily reaches his arms out and lets Tommy waddle into his grasp.  The crow picked up his raccoon hatchlet and hurried to grab the boy's wheelchair.

 “I was debating letting you go or having you stay. But since you're excited, I guess you’re ready.” Phil adjusts Tommy and knocks on two other doors “boys it’s monday, time to get up. Wilbur you have theater rehearsal, Techno you got fencing tonight.” Phil says and takes Tommy downstairs. Once Tommy was placed at the table with some waffles and a smoothie there was a frightening scream from upstairs. Phil moves to the bottom of the stairs as Techno runs out of his room, his hooves clicking across the wood. He was pointing and making squealing sounds while pulling at his hair. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. 

“Whoa, Techno, deep breaths” Wilbur says standing from the table trying to calm Technoblade. Techno stomps his hooves, and points towards his room again before running down the other side of the upper floor and into Phil’s room. Phil hurried up the stairs and peaked into the middle child’s room with his oldest right behind him.  

 

Wilbur looks into the room and tenses, “what the hell is that?” Wilbur asked as his father walked into the room and opened the window. On the window sill was a stuffed pig wearing an animal skull, there was a knife in the little thing and covered in a red substance that looked like blood. He takes pictures on his phone. Phil looks around and gets one of the towels and picks up the poor stuffed pig. He places it on the ground and shuts the window before ushering Wilbur out of the room and gathering techno’s things, he shuts the door.

“Wilbur, can you keep Tommy company while I call the police and take care of techno?” Phil asks, kissing Wilburs head.

“Sure” Wilbur says and hurried to sit with Tommy in his seat. Phil hurried to his room quietly knocked and opened the creaking door “techno, it’s just me. It’s okay. You’re safe.” Phil says and shuts the door. His son peeks out from the closet. Phil can hear the pounding of his son’s heart and the heavy breathing. The piglet quietly shuts the door and curls in on himself. 

“It’s okay piglet. Dad’s here.” Phil says and sits down not too far from the closet. That damn cult. Technoblade peeks out and crawls over to his father climbing into the warm comfort. Phil rests his head on the pink hair “it’s gonna be okay” phil whispers kissing Technos head. 

The two sit and wait for a long time. So long, Phil kept the kids home for the day, they all had an extended stay at home. Phil did call the police and luckily a few police showed up for statements. Phil gave them pictures and showed them the room. They bagged and took every piece of evidence they could. The remainder of their day were filled with cuddles, fluffy textures and play time. Phil was on the phone about his work. This cult is dangerous and he truly did not want to send his kids to school with his instincts screaming at him to keep the kids in his nest. Memories of that cult fill phils head. His meeting of techno. That scared a 9 year old. His scared boy. His piglet. Phil takes a deep breath and cuddles his piglet throughout the rest of the day. 

 

The following day, Tommy was being carried by Techno onto the bus. Phil hands Tommy’s wheelchair onto the bus. “Okay, techno wilbur Tommy, I trust that you all look out for each other, have fun at school my cubs.” Phil ruffles each of their hair. “Take the bus home, I have work late. There’s food in the crockpot. Eat at 6:45. Okay? Text me when you get home and ease up on the snacks. Tommy’s home room is Miss.Cliffs room," Phil says, stepping off the steps. His three boys nod.  “Don’t worry dad, we will wheel Tommy around.” Wilbur says technoblade waves to phil with Tommy on his waist. The three of them smile and hurry off to their seats. “Be safe, text me!” Phil says watching the doors close. His concern grows with the uncertainty of Tommy's first day at the school. The boy's first day at the craft house wasn't the welcome he hoped for. But at least Wilbur and Technoblade are there to help walk Tommy through. 

Wilbur and techno plops tommy next to Ranboo and tubbo before sitting in their normal plastic leather seats. Schlatt was eating his breakfast sandwich with Quackity to the walkway spot. Tommy is plopped down on the seat with Tubbo and ranboo right behind Schlatt and Q.

“Happy fucking morning” Schlatt said with a coldness and venom to his words, clearly not in the best moods. 

“Morning Schlatt, what's got you in a twist?” Wilbur asked.

“Fucking idiot of a father needed bail. Again! I need to make up for the money. I need to get a job as soon as I turn 15. Bastard is going to give me gray hairs, maybe i can find a job with mom’s permission?” Schlatt rips into his sandwich. Tommy looks to Tubbo who was eating a beagle “hey tommy, how’s your arm?” Tubbo spoke, taking a bite, the mentioning made Ranboo whimper “I’m sorry”

“B-better. It’s fine, it will heal” Tommy whispers, holding his bag on his lap. Ranboo smiles softly “okay. We heard that the police came to your home, what was that about?”

 

Tommy shrugs “s-s-something about a stabbed stuffie. I-im not sure. It spooked techno, I don’t think I’m supposed to talk about it without permission.” Tommy says looking down at his golden paws, he curled and flexed them. They still felt foreign to him. But they were… his. At least now they are since they’re attached to him and everything.  “So. What happened with your paws? Techno said you were a normy” tubbo asked. Tommy tenses. Right normie. He was a normie. He didn't have paws like them. It wasn't his, never his. His were stolen. They were never his.  The vision of his foster family whispering out to their son. The hands and metal that chained him down. The tight pintches of rubber around his legs. The limbs. The limbs that aren't his. The cold bloody limbs. The pain he wished he’d forgotten throughout his life. The cellar. The cold water. The meat that was shoved into his throat. Torment and hitting. The pain of it. The pain of seeing. Punishment after punishment. It's not safe. Nothing is safe. It will never be fucking safe! Why is it never safe? Why can't it be safe?

 

“Y….he….Hey!”

A voice. Tommy blinks. Someone… was holding him. Softly. It's warm.  “Breath child. Just breathe. In…and out. In…and out.” Tommy takes a deep breath and follows the comfortable voice. It was… okay. He's gonna be okay. Tommy was pulled from his head. He blinks looking… What was covering his eyes? Carefully he touched his little hands to the warm of skin pulling them away. “There you go, kit.”

Tommy blinks and glances up at a white masked face. The only feature being a smiley face in black paint. He blinks again. It was Dream. 

“Keep breathing. Can you tell me five things you like Mom taught me that it helps”

“…h-henry. Clementine…. flowers… colors… stories?” Tommy whispers out. Dream nods, tucking the kit under his arm “I like stories too. Who is Henry and clementine?”

“My… my stuffed cow. And chicken. I had them for a long time.”

Dream nods. “Nice… wanna talk about what happened? Or were you just triggered?” Tommy blinks up at dream and flinches seeing that Techno Wilbur Ranboo and tubbo were all looking at him and everyone was looking over the seats watching. They all seemed concerned, but there was a gross scent of people lingering in the bus making it ruin the moment. Tommy shrugs “w-what's triggered?” He asked quietly, a bit confused while looking around for a switch or button.

“No,” dream pulls Tommy to sit straight, “triggered. Its… it’s like…. Technoblade, define trigger.”

 

“What do you think I am, a dictionary?” Techno crosses his arms unamused with the fact that Dream pointed the confusion at him. There was silence amongst the group as they all blinked at him, The teenager sighs “it's a stimulus that makes you remember bad memories and trauma. Like my reaction that happened yesterday with… the stuffed animal. It made me freak out. And just now, you got triggered and got stuck in your head. And Ghostbur is doing his best to not grab you away from Dream” Techno points his thumb to Wilbur who was all fluffed up. The older foster brother was fidgeting trying to keep his hands down. GHostbur digs into his bag and pulls out a few knitted blue bean bags. They were small and soft looking, but they also had a crinkly fabric.

“Awww, ghosty is offering his blue to Tommy.” Foolish smiles, Corpse peeks over his older brother and hums “mm, that is cute. Kit is very cute.” The kid with the deep voice spoke, making tommy tense from the noise but relaxed.  Dream reaches to grab one of the blue, however Ghostbur pulls away, puffing his cheeks. “I'm gonna hand it to him you siren hussy” dream says. Ghostbur reaches over Dream who lets out a kitty-like growl and hiss “Fucking annoying.” Dream grumbles.

“Hey. We are all fucking annoying.” Jschlatt says. “The kid and kit especially.” He scratches his head “I need an energy drink, it's so early in the morning.”

Tommy takes a bean bag and Ghostbur happily beams with joy as the baby bird squishes the crinkly blue. It seems they all got off topic rather quickly. Good cause Tommy didn’t want to talk about the foster system. Oh. He owed dream pizza and cookies. He gently tugs on Dream's hoodie and digs into his bag and pulls out the pizza and cookie he packed. He puts it on Dreams lap.

 

The older boy blinks and looks at Tommy, “you actually giving me pizza? Oh, um-“ Dream was about to hand it back but the Wagging and bright sparkle in Tommy’s eyes made him hesitate. “Thanks. Now talk to the other cubs.” Dream gets up and moves seats, the fluffy tail that was around him, he didn’t really notice. It snakes back into Dreams sweatshirt and he sits with George who tiredly leans against dream.

“Oop, there he goes again, George having pretty privilege above all. All hail the pretty fairy.” Quackity raising his hands and bowing his head getting the other older kids to join in with the teasing. George glares and scrunches his nose “Shut up Q, I don’t have pretty privilege” he yawns.  Schlatt  snorts “you dumb fucking idiot, if you didn’t have pretty privilege, and Dream and Sapnap at your side 24/ fucking 7 like attack dogs, the girls and guys would be all over you. You aren’t even threatening, your angry face is fucking cute!”

“Hey, don’t pick on george!” Dream snaps and reaches into George’s bag to give him his water bottle and meds “you forgot your meds didn’t you?”

 

“Oops, thanks dream” George says taking his medication making everyone groan and freak out with laughter at their point. Tubbo and Ranboo get back into their spots next to Tommy. “Sorry about triggering you, bossman.” Tubbo says. Tommy shrugs but nods.

“Take your time to calm down.” Tubbo smiles. “Did you know that nukes can completely obliterate cities and severely damage states. It's so dangerous that they burn everything and poison the air for months. Imagine if we could put that kind of power into a tiny life form like bees, that would be mega dangerous.”

Tommy looks to Ranboo as Tubbo goes on a rant about bee’s and nukes. “He does that. Kinda silly, you should see him when we play video games.”

“Ranboob is hilarious when playing horror games. I want to be able to get the Back Rooms so we can all play it together. And my own minecraft account. I'm saving up my chore money to get it. But dad and mom are a little behind on payment. Imma complain.”

“Don’t complain to them.” Schlatt says.

“You’re not the boss of me!” Tubbo stands on the seat and hits his head to Schlatt. The older man doesn’t react too much. “Oh you son of a bitch. Im gonna tickle you until you shit your fucking pants!” Schlatt grabs tubbo and pulls him over the seat. “Noooo! Peanut butter dick!” Tubbo squeals from the attack and laughs.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU ANIMALS!” The normie kid from before shouts. Tommy lets out a chitter and peeks his head out. “Hey! You kids calm down, I do not need any more loud noises while driving.” The bus driver shouts. Ghostbur writes on his wrist in pen before slumping forward for a bit and stares off. Techno was reading his book. Tommy looks at the bean bag in his hands and puts it back on Wilbur’s lap. Techno watches Wilbur for a moment and waits for him to come back to life just as the bus pulls up to the school. Tommy watches his foster brother blink and glance around. He seemed calm but kinda irritated, his eyes seemed to drag like he was sleep deprived. Like a wrong’ un.

“Reviver?” Tommy spoke softly, getting the alter to look at him. “You barely know me and you can already tell it’s me. How sweet. Miss me Tommy?” Reviver gathers his bag and checks his wrist. He grins and ruffles tommys hair. 

 

“Whoa! How did you know it was Reviver before he even spoke?” George asked.

Tommy shrugs and whispers “he’s a wrong’un. Looks sleep deprived” The group snorts and laughs. Reviver gives his royal resting bitch face not amused with being labeled as sleep deprived. “Well at least he got my name right. Unlike the rest of you.” He glares.

“Que? No man, sorry, it’s hard sometimes. There is no direct physical change so it’s hard to tell you apart from the others without asking.” Quackity says before studying the burnet’s face “oh now I see it, how you carry yourself is a bit different you sleep deprived bastard”

Reviver lunges, reaching across Schlatt and jumping into the seat to playfully attack Quackity. As soon as the bus parks and opens its doors Quackity races out with Reviver chasing after him. Techno rolled his eyes and got Tommy “foolish can you grab His wheelchair?”

 

“Sure. Give me a second.” Foolish gathers up his bag letting Corpse go first, the shark grabs the wheelchair in the front. Tommy pulls on his bag and stands up. He holds techno’s hand for support however the hoglin hybrid just scoops him up and carries him off down the unloading plastic seats.

“No fair!” Tubbo and Ranboo shout and once again being scooped up. Schlatt grumbles “you little shit owe me for carrying you.”

“Ill do dishes tonight.” Tubbo says. Schlatt rolls his eyes with a grin “fair enough.”

Ranboo was purring away in Dream’s arms, nuzzling and mewling. Dream held George's hand as they got off while purring. Once Technoblade hopped off the bus. The air… was not sweet. In fact it kinda smells weird from the last time he came to the school. It was sticky? Maybe humid and off. It made his skin crawl. Tommy looked up at the sky and noticed that it was a bit cloudy. It reminds him of Wilbur.

“You smell it too? The storm?” Techno asks. Tommy shrugs “yes?” trying to be a bit louder than a whisper but it still felt off. It was his voice, he was allowed to talk right? They never said he couldn’t but tried to get him to talk more.

Techno smiles and ruffles his hair “it’s okay. If you get scared you can come running to me or wilbur. It gets loud so don’t worry about interrupting us.” Techno says. Tommy nods and two shadows flew over them. He looks up at the cloudy sky to Reviver, chasing a quacking Quackity through the sky. The two… less than elegantly sore through the sky. It was filled with sharp turns and flapping wings and Quackity loudly quacking and honking as Wilbur chased him.  George stretches out his wings, those pretty blue butterfly wings, he flutters off.  Tubbo squirms to get out of Schlatt arms and fly around. “Bzzz!” Tubbo buzzed and zips past tommy. “Come on Tommy!” He says and Ranboo chases him on all fours.

Tommy tenses and shakes his head, even though he wants to join them in the sky. He holds his tail as his wings press tightly to his back, almost straining the joints. Tubbo shrugs and goes to fly after Ranboo who ran off. “Animals!” A kid shouts but is immediately scolded by the school staff. Every hybrid was running, flying or enjoying themselves before having to go outside. There was wrestling and playful chasing. Everyone was mingling. It is happy. Technoblade wheels Tommy inside the school to the semi familiar hall from his brothers running away from his father. “First we go to the office to get your class. You will most likely be with Ms.Abigail.” He says taking the Raccoon kit to the office.  “Good morning Technoblade. I assume that this is your new foster brother. Nice to meet you. I'm Mr.Captainsparklez. I work in the front office. As you can see, I'm a normie as you all put it. You can call me captain for short. I'm a guidance counselor here.” Captain said with a welcoming smile.

 

Tommy opens his mouth to introduce himself, but could find the words he settles for a smile and small nod. Luckily Technoblade was there. “His name is Theseus. Tommy for short. He’s 8. And likes cows. And chickens.” Techno says in his bland voice, but there was a bit of excitement in his ruby eyes.

“Whoa, really? Cows are very cute, you’re lucky. I hear that some classes are going to the farm for a field trip. Lots of animals there that I’m sure you’ll like.” Captain said. COWS! Tommy excitedly wags his tail and the red wings flutter, small chirps come out of his mouth. The back office doors fly open to another staff member, a hybrid. They relax, closing the door after seeing that it was excited, chirping of a hatchet. Techno oinks and laughs. “Haha. Tommy you gotta be careful or you’ll fall. Mr.Captain, do you know which class Tommy is in?”

Captain rolls his chair over to his computer and types away. “Uh…. He is… With Ms. Abigail. With Ranboo Tubbo and Purple. Nice and easy to locate. Keep in mind she’s very on top of things and manners. So be sure to greet her properly… unless you want to greet her like Wilbur.”

“I HAVE ARRIVED!” Wilbur flies in and lands folding his large wings behind him. He moves quickly to get closer to Tommy but the boy flintches pulling away, making the older brother stop. “Oops sorry, right, gotta move slow.” Wilbur apologized, taking a step back until Tommy relaxed. “You okay?” The tiredness from his eyes was replaced with energy and sweetness. Definitely Wilbur.  Tommy nods with a soft smile. Wilbur moves slower leaning down and nuzzles Tommy and hugs him “hehe aww Tommy~ you’re too cute to not cuddle” Wilbur spoke and coos. Tommy responds with purring and chirps.  “Thank you Mr.Captain! Come on, let's go show Tommy around again.” Techno grins patting Wilbur’s shoulder. Tommy waves To Mr.Captian as Wilbur and Techno happily wheel him away. Tommy leans his head back and bleps at them. Wilbur smiles “you seem much happier. Do you like school?”

 

Tommy shrugs. True, it has its ups and downs. He does his hardest to be a wonderful student, be on top, that always makes them happy. Show them that they aren’t wasting their money on him. Although he prefers pottery class but wants to learn threading and embroidery. Wilbur holds Tommys hand “the wittle baby hands”

Tommy puffs his cheeks and frowns 

“Aww! Tech look at his cheeks! So cute!” Wilbur awes at Tommy and shakes Techno gently. Techno grins at them “you were all chirpy and sparkly when you first met me.”

“You were cute. But you also bite. But you are still my cute baby brother.” Wilbur smiles and nuzzles Techno. Techno huffs and takes Tommy to a door “no. I'm not the baby anymore. Tommy is the baby. I'm just the middle child. Tommy, this is my class. Okay? I have classes with Sapnap and punz and nikki.  Everyone my age is in this hall”

Tommy nods and studies the hallway while Wilbur hurried him away “my turn!” Wilbur takes Tommy down another hall. “This way. That's the gym. And there's the pool. I'll be there once in a while. Good place to learn to fly. Oh and this way. Our Cafeteria. The nurse office is by the front office. Where you met Mr.Captain.” Wilbur says and takes him to another door down a hall.  “This is my class. Mr.Calahan teaches me. He's also a hybrid, from the first meeting, remember? George Schlatt and Foolish are in my class. Second graders have the same lunch time as the rest of us. First grade, kindergarten and preschoolers eat together. The cafeteria is big but the grades are kinda small.” Wilbur turns Tommy around. “This way is to your class” 

Tommy blinks up at the two brothers and reaches up to hold their hands. They smile gently at him and he bleps. They blep back at him. The trio laugh and giggle as they come to Tommy's classroom. The kids were putting their bags away and entering the classroom with a sweet good morning to their teacher. Who was on the older side but also had a sweet smile on. She looked human. She didn't look mean but kinda… respectfully in control?

“Good Morning Ms. Abigail!” Techno spoke at once making Tommy look between the two of them. Wilbur clears his throat “A pleasant morning to thy dutchess Abigail!” He says giving a dramatic bow and lifting his wings to be noticeable. Tommy tilts his head confused and Techno rolls his eyes with a smile before punching his brother's arm getting him to stand straight. Ms.Abigail smiles and giggles “Good morning boys. How are you two doing? Staying out of trouble?” 

 

“Yes MsAbigail. We’ve been focused on the new hatchlet in the house, "Wilbur says. 

“Hmm. Your bus driver would say otherwise about you bringing your baby brother onto the bus without prior permission. However now that he's coming to school I do hope you don't “kidnap” him again. And No disturbing Miss Kristin during school hours with your father” she says tilting her glasses down and peering over at Wilbur and techno. 

“No Ma’am, Won't happen again….maybe.  We get to see Tommy more frequently than dad does. Is there is Physical education today? Tommy isn’t allowed to move around that much yet. I wanted to see if he could spend time with me and a few friends.” Techno says his tail is swaying. 

“Wilbur and I” ms.Abigail corrected. “I Will check and see. Now. I would like to know this kit's name.” She bent over to greet Tommy. His voice freezes up, it's his name. It's just his stupid name. Why can't he speak?! She’s waiting. Say something!  Techno speaks up “Ms. Abigail. Theseus doesn't talk until he’s comfortable. It took a few days for him to whisper things to us. But he won't go louder than a whisper.”  Wilbur rubs Tommy’s shoulder “he goes by Tommy. The Hatchlet is very cute. He also stims sometimes. And panics”

 

“Well it’s very nice to meet you. I'm Ms.Abigail. Your teacher. I had your brothers and now I have you. Lets head inside so that you can meet your classmates.” She says standing straight and letting them all inside. Wilbur had wheeled Tommy into the classroom. The bright posters and colorful decorations. There’s grammar and spelling posters. A nice blue and red rug. Kids talked at their desks.

“Tommy!” Tubbo jumps up from his blue plastic chair and waves. Ranboo and purple smile giving a big wave. Tubbo beams and hopping off his chair and running over to them. “Tommy!”

“Hey kid” Wilbur happily ruffles tubbos hair “take care of tommy while we are in class. He kinda went quiet again.”

Tubbo beams with excitement “Okay! Ms.Abigail has been using sign language during class. We have been learning family roles and occupations. We can help teach him.” Tubbo bounces around with the little clicking of hooves on the tile floor bleeping “We can sit with him at lunch! We can talk about the fucking bees!” Tubbo says earning a look from their teacher. 

Wilbur smiles at them “you guys are so good. But yes. We have to get going," Wilbur says with a chirp. Tubbo  gets back in his seat and Ranboo nods “okay. We’ll play with tommy”

Techno smiles “thank you. We’ll be back around lunch time.” He grabs Wilburs hand as the bell rings. The two wave as they walk to the door. Wilbur and Technoblade smile bidding farewell to Ms.Abigail before giving another wave and hurrying off. 

“Alright class. Let's hurry up and get started. “ Ms.abigail said and started using sign while saying “we have a lot to go over today. Are we ready to start?”

Tommy flinches at the small tap on his hand. Ranboo smiles “look” he says holding up his hands. “Yes. I’m. Ready. To start” he says going through the motions. Tommy does his best to copy to motion. “No like this” tubbo corrects Tommy. Tommy watches and does it again. 

“That's right!” Purple says. Tommy does it once more. Tubbo grins “and this means that we aren't ready.” He says and goes into the Sign to show tommy. Tommy tries a few times.

“Good job Theseus. You’ll pick up more ASL/BSL as we go.” Ms.Abigail praised him as she walked to the front of the class. “Let's start today with going over homework,” she said, opening the markers.  The strong fumes of the marker hits Tommys nose causing him to scrunch his face. Tubbo and Ranboo giggle “it's okay. You’ll get used to it”

 

Tommy shrugs and quietly reaches into his bag to pull out his pencil and notebook that Phil got him. He had a lot of writing from his old classes. Lots and lots of writing. This class is nice. It's nice. So very nice with nice students and a great teacher. He doesnt deserve this. He's a rat. An imposter. Why are they so nice to him? He’s a foster rat. They should be mean since he’s greedy. He’s leeching off their kindness. It's wasted on him. Why? Why why? He gets his own room and clothes and tasty food and warm snuggles.  He gets to attend this nice school. They’re talking to him. This isn't his. It was never meant to be his. He’s a fake. He wasn't meant to be in school. When has he gotten so greedy? He’s not perfect, they’ll hit him! Reviver will be mad. Technoblade will be mad. Mr.Phil will be mad. And they’re hybrids, what if they hurt him or lock him in the dark. What if they switch him? Maybe if he gives everything back they could-

Something soft curls around his arm and there is a vibration on his lap. Tommy looks down at the small weight in his lap and blinks. Black and white ear. Fluffy hair. He wore a face mask. Oh. Tommy pulls at his hand however it's stuck. NO DON'T TAKE HIS LEGS!

Tommy’s eyes shot to his hands. They weren’t tied down, he was grabbing onto the armrests of his wheelchair. “Take deep breaths Tommy, you’re safe.” The voice came from off to the side. He turns to see Tubbo with Purple reading a chapter book. They were propped up on a bean bag with a stuffed toy laying over their lap. Ranboo was laid across his own lap. Tommy sucks in a breath and lets it out. He managed to pry his hands from the armrest and pet Ranboo’s head trying his best to not touch the ears. He didn’t want to be rude.

Ranboo lifts his head. “Are you feeling better?” He asked, blinking up at tommy. The blonde nods “t-thank you” he whispers so quietly that only the ears of a hybrid pick it up over the pattering of rain. Ranboo smiles through his mask “no problem. You stared off for the first few lessons. Once we saw that you had disassociated we asked to use the quiet rug for the rest of the class.” Ranboo said and sat back. 

“S-sorry for petting you” Tommy whispers. 

“It's okay! I like pets. They feel nice. And you didn't pull my hair. Do you wanna get out of your wheelchair?” Ranboo asks. 

Right. He was at school. On the rug there are books and pillows. There's plushies, and the dark sky with soft yet heavy pattering of rain. Tommy unclips the belt keeping him in the chair and removes his leg braces. Ranboo holds out his hands, ranboo happily takes his hands and helps Tommy out of his chair. A bright flash rips through the darkened sky. Eyes widened and hearts pound. It happened before their ears could pin back. Tears filled eyes and Tommy's eyes burned with pain. The following thunder shreds the silences. The children scream and howl covering their ears before being enveloped in darkness and blinding light.

Chapter 10: Monsters roar at the windows

Summary:

The monsters roar and surround the school taunting the children of Tommy’s class.

Notes:

Sorry i took forever.

The classes and halls were filled with screams and panic. Lightning and thunder rumbles out. The rain becomes heavy making the kids panic. A branch is thrown against a window making the kids jump with panic. “MONSTER!” A girl screams and soon all the kids are screaming. Kids from the other classes heard and panic echos down the hall with shouts of a monster 

 

“Now kids. Quiet. Settle down. It's only a thunderstorm, it will pass.” Ms.Abigail says getting the kids to quiet down. The thunder was loud, getting all the hybrids to scream and whimper covering their ears. Tommy holds his ears down as his ears rings His tail curls over Ranboos leg and so does the big cat hybrid. 

Tubbo whimpers and starts to cry “big brother. I want my brother!” Tubbo cried and sniffled. Ranboo whimpers, grabbing Tommy and pulling him over to Tubbo. Tommy blinks and holds the hand of tubbo. “H-hands,” he says. His eyes adjusted through the tears and light. Right. Raccoons are nocturnal, they see well in the dark. His classmates all link hands. Tommy flattens his ears and starts to walk for the door.  With a bright flash and sharp thunder blinds Tommy making him curl in on himself his wings curl around his body. 

 

It was still dark, very loud and the school was scary. The hall monitors were on their walkie talkies. Ms Abigail was walking around the class trying to get the kids away from windows. Tommy tightens his hand in hand with all the whimpering hybrids.  Big scary room. It's scary. He whines with blurred vision as a memory hits him. He bites his lip and chews on the inside of his mouth.  “Walk you pathetic thing. For nothing will be impossible with God. Making up such creatures is despicable. Luke 1:37… now pray and repent!” The memory of being kept outside in a thunderstorm hits him with his 7th house. The flying twigs, leaves and objects. The claws scratch at the windows and the monster screams at them. Cold wind and rain made his clothes stick to him. He frees his hand and he starts to scratch at his neck. His clothes are suddenly tight and gross. He wants them off.

 Another blinding flash hits and soon the sound of a window cracks echoes. The sound of distressed children scream throughout the building. Tubbo bleeps and screams loudly out making loud ram noises of distress soon after Tommy and Ranboo start screaming and chirping out and screaming. Purple followed with crying. Where do they hurt?

 

Tommy curls in on himself and scratches at his skin, he shakes his head failing his arms. There's crying and screaming. It’s always his fault! They’re gonna kick him out. They’ll blame him because they're loud.  How does he make this better? Why isn't this better?! He needs to be better? Why isn't he-

“ Why can't you play right?! Do better. Be perfect. All these lessons are to show your perfect so be perfect. You’ll thank me one day and you’ll take care of me. One day. You’ll bring in lots of money and be my prodigy. Your foster parents want me to make you perfect so I will make you perfect! Now go silence those other brats!”

No, he didnt wanna. He doesn't want to. Tommy wants to go back to his room. Tommy whimpers in his silent repercussion. No he has to be silent. He can't speak. He’s not allowed to speak! She would hit him if he talked. He didn't have a room. He shared a dormitory with his classmates. He hated that school. This one was nice. He didn't like boarding school. 

“ YOu idiot, monsters will eat you if you leave. Monsters ate all the bad children. If you don’t do as told and be perfect, I will make sure those monsters eat you up and chew on every single limb until it’s mush! You don’t want to be a meal do you? Eaten by mean monsters” 

No! Wilbur and Technoblade were nice. A little scary. But they weren't mean. They walked him to class. But he screwed up the first day. He should have been perfect, be silent! So the monsters don’t eat him! He was a big boy with big boy pants. Why is he screaming? There's no pain. Was he screaming it doesnt sound like it. He should be quiet. They like quiet.  The smell of rain mixed heavily to the halls of human scents conquering the heavy stench.  Nails scratched at the ground there were clicking noises and high cries of something. TOO MUCH!

Something hit against his legs making him curl in more his wings curl over his head and torso to shield the pattering rain. It gets dark. So fucking dark. Didn't help much that he's too small.  no monsters. No more monsters. Go away monsters. No scary monsters. “Don’t eat me.” Tommy pleads forcing his voice against his lungs. He can't breathe!

 

Snort oink

Chirp 

… Do monsters oink? Or chirp and coo? He heard it again, oinking and chirping, it was comforting. It happens again…. Techno and Wilbur, oink and chirp, did they come to rescue him from the monsters? Tommy tries to respond but he can't. He can't respond. He reaches a few fingers out and is met with a warm hand. There was warmth around him. His ears ring painfully but there was warmth. The lavender scent. And the ocean? Salty storm with a valley of flowers. Tommy peeks open his eyes. He was on his knees, arms over his bare neck with his head pressed to the icky carotid, tail curling up his wings covering his body. His ears stopped hurting and the ringing stopped. “It's okay. Let go” the hands gently moved his fingers. Sharp. Did he cut himself? Did the monsters scratch his head? His ears? No his hands. He was scratching and stimming. When did he curl in on himself? Tommy moves his hands and lifts his head. Wilbur and Technoblade were there. There was another flash blinding Tommys eyes making him duck down before the thunder screamed out in a monstrous way. It was still dark. So very dark and scary. It hurts. 

 

First days suck. He must be cursed. 

“Tommy? Tommy, it's okay. Look. We have Henry and Clemintime.” Techno says. He jolts to the softness being pushed against his arms. He can feel them through his sweater. Tommy peeks. Sure enough there were his plushies and familiar textures. He rolls to his side, snatching them into his arms. 

Techno and Wilby were there. So there are no monsters? Tommy sniffed holding his stuffies tightly. His legs hurt. “Up?” Techno reaches out his arms. Tommy rubs his eyes and reaches out letting techno scoop him up. Tommy immediately clings onto him. The other hybrids were picked up and carried back to the classroom. Ms.Abigail had the students on the carpet. There was a lamp. One of those high class lamps used for camping and hiking. They were set up on the tables around the carpet as she read a nice chapter book. It was very dark outside as rain heavily poured down. 

“No monsters. Techno will scare them off.” Wilbur whispers and techno follows his brother to their teacher Techno keeps close. Techno speaks “thanks Ms.Abigail. We’re gonna take Theseus to our classes”

 

“You and the other. Send me an email. Be careful with him, phantom.” She says  “okay! I will" Phantom excitedly takes Tommy and giggles “hehe Techi. He's so light. And small. Super cuddly” wilbur, Or phantom gently sways tommy. “Don't squish him. Theseus still needs to gain weight. That's why he's so light. Wait by the door. I'll get his lunch” techno stands up and goes to the cubbies. Wilbur happily carried Tommy to the door. 

Whoever was holding him was still Wilbur. He said that his brain works like different people. Tommy takes a deep breath soaking in the older male's scent. His parents took him to the beach once. When was that again?

 

“Aww someone is sleepy. Techi look. Little kat is tired”

“Kit, the term is kit or hatchlet... fledgling or nestling works” techno corrected the little alter.“Techi, we get to keep him right? Can we keep kit? Phil is letting us keep kit right?” Phantom asked happily.

“For now yea. Theseus is our little brother. Phantom, you have classes. Go to Mr Callahan. I'll see you at lunch. And then I'll take tommy.” Technoblade spoke, getting a happy nod from Phantom. Another roar of thunder makes Tommy jolt and hide in Wilburs shoulder. Tommy whines, his body shaking with fear. “Okay. Come on hatchlet. Let's go to Wilbur’s class. You can sit on my lap and draw.” Phantom said and hurried off. Techno heads off to his classroom.

Phantom hums as he heads down the hall humming away. The two return to Mr.Callahan’s class. He opens the door. The teacher had his ears pinned back while writing on the board. “I want you all to make sure that you get this down. Make sure you understand that stories have a deeper meaning. I want you guys to think-… welcome back, come have a seat and tell me your name.”

“Phantom. And this is Tommy, he’s my little songbird brother. Isn’t he cute!” Wilbur holds Tommy out excitedly showing off his little brother. Theseus tucks his paws up tail between his legs. Tommy lets out a chirp. Wilbur held him close again and nuzzled the shaking boy. He happily heads to his seat and sits with tommy. Phantom preens tommys wings and fixes his hair. Mr Callahan continues his lessons. Phantom gives tommy crayons and paper. Tommy rubs his eyes and shifts his stuffies into an arm. He tries to draw but gets distracted with the loud storm and the lightning hurting his eyes. “Nature is a true lesson. Live or die, what will you do, Tommy? You have to live. We are humans, born to adapt. So adapt you little fuck. Let nature teach you the meaning of survival. Don’t be ungrateful, you little shit. Take in nature and sleep in the storm”

Tommy covers his ears and leans into his foster brother. He really shouldn’t be taking advantage of his foster family’s kindness. “Is the storm getting to you?” Phantom asked and gently pats his head and smooths down his hair and his ears. Tommy purrs, turning his head to nuzzle into Wilbur. “My cuddly little kit. Techno and I will prote-“ Phantom is cut off by a huge slab of lighting. He hugs Tommy closer and nuzzles into his soft blonde hair. Tommy wraps his arms around the older male. He can feel Wilbur slumping forward a bit and stares off. “Psst! Tommy” a small voice spoke. Tommy lifts his head and yawns looking over to the other side of his head. Tubbo waves to him while cuddling up against Schlatt. Tommy waves and yawns again “I'm tired” he says, placing his head on wilburs chest. 

“Im bored” tubbo whines. 

“Shhh.” Schlatt hushes his little brother and adjusts him on his lap “shut up you fucking gremlin. I have to write notes”

“Im telling mom”

“You can get the fuck off me now-“

“No!” Tubbo shouts, clinging onto him making the students glance at the duo. “Okay. We will have the rest of the class be a free period due to the black out. It's been 30 minutes and still no power. We will keep you guys here until it is safe for your parents to pick you up” Mr Callahan said. Wilbur sits up like he just woke up. Wide eyed and taking in a deep breath. He blinks and holds Tommy. “Hey Tommy.” 

“Hi,” Tommy whispers. “You’re wilbur?”

Wilbur smiles and nods “yep.”

“Free period” Tommy says. 

“Okay. Are you doing okay?” Wilbur had asked for a nod from Tommy. The two hold onto each other. Wilbur ends up standing and moving to the back of the room and crawls himself under a table. He was propped up against the wall with a pillow and Tommy on his chest. “I don’t like storms either. They remind me of the night my mom died. I was little, and scared. She didn’t wake up and was really cold. I was so scared. I tried for so long to get her to wake up. I got her favorite medicines, even though I ended up taking them at some point. I got hungry. Like really hungry… there were a lot of storms… then I took to the streets more. Then puffy found me, and the others. My head friends. Revive took care of me running around, Friend made sure I ate and ghost helped me get home. I didn't expect that dad would be so open and take care of me so well. I was puffy’ s first case and certainly not her last. I never told dad about my mother.” Wilbur nuzzles into Tommy’s hair

“Dad really did everything to help me get better… I thought he was using me for his own public image, but he kept me hidden away. The public only knows that he has sons’. Not our names or faces. Crazy but he really did keep us safe. You’ll always be safe with us tommy. Forever and ever.” Wilbur said and kissed the blonde curls. Tommy was safe in the arms of Wilbur.  Warm and comforting. No monsters would think to scare Tommy, he is safe with Wilbur. The monsters could not yell over Wilburs protective words. The teachers earn the phone notification as the thunder rumbles. “Okay. We will be moving classes now. Please walk and make sure you have everything. If you have younger siblings please make sure that the next class is appropriate for their age. Health class is not appropriate for them.” Mr Callahan spoke as Wilbur climbed out bringing Tommy with him. “Come on tommy, I have to take you to Techno, then I'll meet up with you for lunch.” Wilbur takes Tommy's hand walking over to his desk. Tommy was still sore and slow with his walking. After the two had collected Wilbur’s bag they end up making their way to the hall with the other students.

“Bye bye tommy. Tell our friends I said hi.” Tubbo waves. The dark halls held the many students and teachers holding lamps. They must have black puts often if they are this prepared to have students move between classes. The storm is still very angry. Wilbur walks past a hall as a flash jumps at Tommy and the monsters scratch at the windows he squeaks clinging onto Wilbur’s hand and whimpering. The thunder roared, but Wilbur was there. Wilbur will tell the monsters to stop yelling. Or at least be quiet. “It’s okay Tommy, just loud.” Wilbur said, leading Tommy out of the hall and to the next where techno was already there With Nikki who had Ranboo tucked into her side. Ranboo had headphones over his head “Hi Theseus, hey wilbur.” Techno greeted

“Aww, no hugs?” Wilbur whines and chirps sadly. Technoblade blinks and opens his arms. Wilbur happily reaches out and engulfs the older teenager into a warm gentle hug. Wilbur coos and hums in delight before backing away. The flashing and screeching of wind makes both technoblade and tommy jump. “You okay?” Wilbur had asked the now middle child, who nodded silently before speaking “I’m… I’m fine. Just spooked. It’s just rain and lightning.”

“It's okay to be scared. Tommy is scared of the monsters outside. He thinks they’re gonna hurt him, "Wilbur explains. Technoblade shrugs “but it’s not monsters, it's the weather.”

 

“We know. But the branches and sounds make it seem like there’s monsters. And It’s scary for tommy” wilbur motions to the hand that Tommy is tightly clinging to. Poor boy was shaking again. All wide and teary eyed. The tears wouldn’t move with his eyes so wide. “I hold golden boy” techno says, reaching his hand for the kid, with an instant bright blinding flash that blinded Tommy for more than a second. The monsters scratch and taunt Tommy threatening to get in. Technoblade lets the kit jump to his side and cling onto his waist and thigh while also holding onto Wilbur’s hand. “You gotta let go of wilbur. We will see him next period.” Techno rubs Theseus’s back and head, gentle fingers smooth his ears. “Sunshine you’ll get Techno wet with tears. Dad packed a cloth in your bag.” Wilbur opens his backpack and pulls out a cloth. It was a small handkerchief. The material was handed over. Tommy takes it and hides his face in the soft material and plants himself back into technos side. “There, and there should be an extra in the pockets of your bag.”

“Thanks Orpheus.” Techno spoke with a grin. “Again with calling me greek nerds?” Wilbur said. Technoblade gives a soft nod “Theseus, actually has a Greek name. It's cool. And hes gold boy”

 

“He's a shiny little sunshine…. Oh right, class. I gotta go. See you both later "Wilbur says and runs off for his next class. Techno takes Tommy's hand and gives Nikki a smile as the two head to their class. Since the lights were off they all decided to sit around and talk about a few debating subjects about the school. Techno was in a way eating it up until the girls got into a huge fight about the sport teams. Tommy whimpers clinging onto techno as the girls screamed at each other about school cheerleading.  Techno retreats to the back pulling Tommy along. Tommy is pulled on top of techno’s lap and cuddled in as their class is calmed down by the teachers. “They should just be better with this.” Techno said. The calming lavender lulls Tommy to a peaceful sleep. The fear of memories and monsters melts from his body. He doesn't stir once the storm clears enough for the children to be picked up. Phil had gently shielded his boys from the rain with his wings and umbrellas as he took them to the car and soon drove them home. “Where are you boys okay today?” Phil asked as he drove through the hammering rain. “Yea. We are okay," Wilbur says, rubbing his thumb over technos hand and Tommy’s who was still asleep. Behind the dark clouds seems to be a beautiful ray of light and rainbows. 

 

Chapter 11: Unjust reality

Summary:

You gain some. Loose some. The world is unfair to all and doesn't care all the time. Phil knows this concept all to well. Not everything is in his control. Sometimes the world just wants to torture children.

Tommy Yawns as he Wheels himself to the bathroom and slowly stands. It was painful to move. In fact he didn't want to. But his blatter needed release. Had hurriedly done his business and washed his hands. Tommy brushes his teeth which luckily dont hurt as much. His jaw was still sore and discolored with bruises. The cold water kinda soothed the ache. Tommy looks at the toothbrush and runs it under cold water and sticks it back into his mouth letting the ache leave as he continues to wet and chew on his toothbrush. The storm was terrifying last week. So much that everything was closed for two days to clean up. But it's warm out now and school is starting to end. They should have like two more weeks before school is out. But lucky him the monsters didn't get him or his…. Paws. Yea paws. His fluffy little paws. And red wings that were not as dirty or dark. Surprisingly they had brightened in color. 

 

“LAUNDRY BEAR WEEK!” Tommy jumps out of fear from the loud noise right behind him. He drops his toothbrush trying to keep his achy legs steady as he collapses without the support of his braces. He clings to the toilet for support from his weak body. His heart pounds in his chest as panic sets in. Maybe they were mad at him for chewing. He was bad. He's gonna make them mad!

 

“Boys. Come on now you little shits, you know Tommy shouldn’t be scared right when he wakes up.” Phil spoke coming into the bathroom. “I know you’re excited but this is Tommy's first crawl day with us. How about you go set up the living room and ill help Tommy get his braces on.”

Crawl day? Laundry bear day? What the fuck is that?

“Sorry. We’ll get everything set up. We got excited” techno says, twirling his hair. 

“It's okay my piglet. You both forgot, go get the living room set up. I'll bring tommy down once he’s okay”

 

The two look at Tommy and nod. “Not mad?” Techno asked, grabbing hold of wilburs hand. 

“No kiddo, I'm not mad. Now head on down. We have a mess to make” phil said. 

“No glass!” Wilbur shouts out. Phils smiles “only plastic and paper today” Phil reassures Wilbur remembering back to the first time Tommy was around a mess. Wilbur smiles “okay. See you downstairs tommy!” Wilbur waves taking Technoblade downstairs to go set something up. 

“Alright tommy. It's okay sunshine. Come here” phil reaches out slowly and  carefully picks up tommy pulling the small boy onto his lap. “Lets get your fingers out of your hair, '' Phil says, carefully removing tommys hands from the tight grip on his hair and ears. He didn't even notice him tugging on his ear. But it feels bad. Wrong. He doesnt wanna let go! HIS EAR!

 

“Okay. Okay tommy you can hold your ear. But gentle. Gentle with your ear babybird” philza said. Baby bird. Baby birds and sunshine sound nice. He likes those names. Those names are happy things. They have been calling him those happy things. They always sound nice coming from the family of three. There was the sound of the two arguing and soon screaming. Wilbur and Techno had started arguing. The doorbell rings, making Tommy flinch hard. He tears up, flapping his hands and shaking his head. He whines and soon Techno is screaming bloody murder stomping around and yelling. 

“BLOOD! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!” Techno screams. Phil picks up Tommy and hurries out downstairs. “Wilbur, I need you to take tommy!” He pulls his oldest away from technos melt down. 

 

“NOOOO!” Techno screams and hits phil making the man open his big beautiful wings for balance. “NOOOO!” Techno screams. 

 

“Shhhhh. Its okay techno.” Phil uses his wing to shield wilbur from technos strong fists. 

 

“NOOOO!” Techno screams and stomps his hooves and lets out a hog like squeal. He runs around the room stomping and stimming. Phil tucks wilbur further under his wing and waits as techno screams and runs. They stand there silently until techno stomps over and pulls at phils arm and tugging at Tommys shirt making the boy lose his balance and yelp quickly to cling onto Phil “No!” Techno shouts. He Wraps his arms around tommys waist “piglet you have to sit down if you want to hold tommy. He’s stimming”

“No!” Texhno says trying to pull Tommy free. 

“Sit first. Then hold”

Techno growls pattering his hooves. Tommy wraps his arms around Phil while techno tries to pull him away. “can you get the door while i take care of these two?” Phil asks. 

“Okay?” Wilbur pulls away. Techno screams barreling to Wilbur and wrapping his arms around the older teenager. He pulled away to the pillow blanket corner and pushed down. “No!” Techno stood over wilbur and snarls. He runs back to Phil and grabs tommy. Or attempts. Tommy was still sore and stimming and Phil was not letting Tommy go. 

“Piglet, he needs his medicine and breakfast.”

 

“NO!” Techno bares his teeth and snatches tommy. Small little Tommy was just confused with what was going on. Technoblade was mad and Phil was letting him take him away. Techno takes the raccoon child to the pile and sits with Tommy in his lap. Wilbur blinks as techno pulls Tommy close against his chest. The two confused boys let techno snuggle and cuddle before Phil sighs and moves to get them all breakfast and drinks. Techno snorts for phil making tommy grab his hair from the sudden loud squeal. Tommy whines and starts to cry. 

“Piglet, I have to get you guys food” Phil said, hurrying with the waffles, eggs and syrup. He readied the medicine in little cups and brought it over to the trio. Techno takes his plate adjusting Tommy to his empty side, as they all sit and eat. Tommy sniffles and eats his waffles. He breathes and calms down. His stimming evens out so he could effectively eat.

“Okay. Anyone hurt?” Phil asks. Techno was focused on the food as Tommy sniffles while eating. Wilbur shakes his head, “I'm okay,” he said to his father. “Are you sure? That must have been scary "Phil said as there was another knock on the door. 

“I'm okay. You can get the door, "Wilbur said, eating his food. 

“If you insist but know im open if you need to talk” phil had offered his time to Wilbur who simply nods and eats. He really needs to reward this kid for his patience and empathy. Phil quietly makes his way across the room and around the corner to the front door. He spots the group of kids looking through the glass. Quietly he opens the door “shhh” he hushes them with a finger to his lips. Which they nod.  “Happy laundry bear week” they whisper. 

 

Phil smiles “happy laundry Bear week. Techno had a melt down and Tommy had a scare. So it will be a little bit before they come out. I'll send Wilbur as soon as he's done and dressed.”

 

“Okay.” The kids said and scampered off. Phil smiles and shuts the door with a sigh. He rubs his temple and checks the time. 9:22am. He lets out a breath and goes to clean up the mess. Sweeping up the broken mug, which was one of technos favorites and cleaning up the kitchen. He kept spares of technos things in his office. He had three more mugs of the adorable pig wearing a crown. It was a pretty crown of metallic gold paint with the handle made to look like a sword, and a smiling pink pig. There were painted jewels on it. One of the first gifts Phil had gotten from Technos the young teen watched and copied phils breakfast routine. Which included a mug of juice or water. He sits down and waits for techno to snap out of it or let go of his brother. He gets up again and gets the first aid kit and hurries back to their side. “Hands, my little mockingjay,” Phil said. 

 

Wilbur puts his plate down and shows Phil his hands which luckily weren’t injured. Then his feet. Nothing but a small cut by his ankle. Phil disinfects with some spray and bandages it. He kisses wilburs head and lets the kid eat. “Mmm!” Techno huffs. Phil smiles and kisses technos temple and lets the middle child get back to eating with content of the affection. Phil looks down at Tommy “would you like a forehead kiss?” 

 

Tommy blinks and looks to techno and then wilbur. “You can have one if you want.” Wilbur said. 

 

Tommy glances back to phil. He hesitates and shrugs but follows with a nod. Phil smiles and gently kisses tommys forehead. “Thank you” he says quietly and hurries to finish his food. Phil sits back with a soft smile. But inside he was beaming with the joy as a proud dad “I'll give you more. If that's fine with you” Phil spoke happily

Tommy nods “please” he says quietly 

“Okay! I'm done. Can I go now?” Wilbur asked, licking his fingers clean. 

“Uh wash your hands. We have to explain to Tommy what Laundry bear week, Crawl week is. So go get the gloves, "Phil says. Wilbur hurries to go wash his hands. Once Tommy is finished Phil takes his plate and technos. 

“Im okay” techno says and gets up to wash his hands. 

Wilbur comes back “i bought a cleaning wipe for tommy” phil smiles “thank you my little mockingjay” he says and helps clean tommys hands. Once they get comfortable on the floor tommy techno and wilbur take their medicine. 

 

“Dad! Tell Tommy the story now!” Techno says with excitement while drinking his water. Phil smiles and clears his throat, “laundry bear day is now a nationally recognized holiday to every hybrid. It started a very long time ago.”

 

“How long?” Tommy asks in a hushed voice

“Very long. Way back when our continent was found.” Phil said. 

“Founded by the Le’manburgians? For freedom" Tommy says. 

 

Phil nods “yes. Very good tommy. Yes. And the leader is-“

 

“Lord Wilbur Arson Soot the first.” Technoblade said. “I liked his big brother. The blade.” Techno had a small sparkly in his eyes. 

 

Phil grins “yes well. Wilbur had two brothers. The oldest was his father's student. The Blade, A man of anarchy and the people proclaimed him a god of war and blood. The youngest, whose name was Theseus Innit Coon Simon. Their father was Philip Watson, death followed him as his wife. Wilbur had in fact left home to seek freedom with his younger brother. He was a true revolutionary man. However it was not mentioned until 30 years ago That Wilbur and his family are actually hybrids.”

 

“They are?” Tommy asked. 

 

“Yes. Their father was a bird much like me. The Blade was a hoglin hybrid. A creature who inhabits areas that are extremely hot. But they went extinct a long time ago. Wilbur was a fox hybrid. And had a son with a salmon who also was a fox. And Theseus,"Phil smiles. 

 

Tommy beams, pointing to himself “my name.”

 

“Yes. Your name. Theseus was a golden furred racoon. And in German raccoon translates to laundry Bear. They did this because of Theseus and his best friend's great sacrifice to the continent. The two blew it up, ending their lives and their enemies. So for the week. We indulged in our animal side. We use all our limbs if our bodies let us. Kids usually crawl around on hands and paws…hooves. You get it.” Phil says. He took off his house shoes (slippers) letting his clawed feet breathe. He pulls his long hair from its ponytail. 

Wilbur helps techno get the leather gloves on his hands before throwing his own shoes off. “Outside!” Techno shouts. Tommy does his best to get his stiff legs to stand up. Phil ends up picking him up tho. Phil gets a leather belt with a pouch with Tommy on his hip. There were also halters. Tommy points and pokes the mesh. “It's a halter. We wear this for protection so I can travel with you since we won't be using the car this week.”

Phil takes Tommy back up the stairs to help him pick out comfy clothes. Phil then hurried to rush Tommy downstairs and out the door into the bright warm morning of spring with the gentle scent of fresh grass and flowers. The kids were running around tackling or playfully grabbing at each other. Tubbo was hopping around switching from standing on his two hooves to also on his hands. Tommy watches his friend charge and hop around ramming his head into Schlatts or knock his friends down. Not techno or dream. George was propped up against a rabbit with antlers, and quackity. A jackalope?

“Okay. Time to touch grass” Phil says holding Tommy and starts to lower him to the ground face down with his body parallel. To the grass. Theseus tucks his hands in and whines keeping his limbs tucked. He’s touched grass before. He didn't like it. It was dirty and filled with rocks and dry. It pricked at him and tan color.  But this grass was green. But still he doesn't want to. 

“Come on Tommy you gotta try it.” Phil encourages the small boy.  Tommy shakes his head. Phil tries to lower him more but is met with squirming and whines. Tommy is lifted back up. Phil tries again this time having tommy head up. The kids lifts his legs in a straddle as he’s suspended which got phil to snort and laugh “aww come on mate” Techno rushed into the house and came out with a blanket. He lays it out smoothly “daddy” he calls to phil. Tommy is placed on the blanket carefully, his only protection from the grass. However he’s surrounded by the grass now. 

“I wanna fly!” Wilbur tugs on phil. “Okay okay. I wanna say hi to the parents first” phil said. 

Parents?

Tommy turns his head to the adults, and Puffy! Tommy waves to puffy. Who looks over and waves. They all look at Tommy and coo. The animal-like noises make Tommy flinch and his wings curl around him. A chirp echos out and Tommy calls back looking up at phil. “Can they come say hi?”

Tommy looks between Phil and puffy. He nods gently. “Come on over! But don't spook him, '' Phil said. 

“Immediately attached as always” a sweet voiced man spoke. Practically skipping over. The adults gather around and sit. “Hi. You must be tommy” the tall, honey -voiced man said. He gives a little nod and looks around for Phil who was off chasing techno and wilbur. He turns back to the man then looks at puffy. 

“Tommy. This Is Bad. And you know Mr. Sparkles, this is Sam and Ponk. We will be meeting more friends later this week.” Puffy says. Tommy looks between the adults. Puffy was a sheep/Ram. Bad was…something. Sam was obviously a centaur of a large cat. A lion? And ponk was a normie, he smells like lemonade and strawberries. 

“Hi” bad says again “im sapnaps daddy.”

Sam smiles “George and quackity are my kids. We also take care of karl.”

Tommy waves and scratches at his arm nervously. “Oh honey don't scratch you’re gonna make yourself bleed.” Bad said Sam looks up to screaming kids “hey. No” He calls out to quackity who was trying to chase and bite Dream’s tail. Sam pulls a shoe from his pocket. A flip flop and throws it smacking Quackity on the head. The Duck let out a surprised quack “I said no quackity!” Sam said it was a bit sterner, getting the duck to leave Dream alone. Tommy giggles a little. 

“I'm surprised that Phil has time to take care of this lawn. The grass is pretty nice.” Ponk said “and the soil is rich.”

“I think it's the fertilizer. Even techno likes it. And this little muffin is so sweet. Puffy. I want another muffin” Bad said with a small whine. Tommy looks at the man's sad face. He scoots closer and leans his head on Bad’s arm. “Awwww… puffy I want a muffin!” Bad whines.

“It’s not fair that Phil gets a little cutie”

 

“Hehe, you have to renew your license and talk to Skeppy and Sapnap.” Puffy says with a smile.

 

“Bad, you and phil are going to become her go to parents with every child” Ponk said

“At least I know how to stop. Unlike a specific bird.” Bad teases with light laughter. The group of adults chuckle. Tommy rolls onto his knees and crawls to the edge and stares at the grass. It was green. Like really green. And the soil looks dark, and… fluffy? Is fluffy the right word for this. It didn’t look hard or dry.

“He looks like he’s never seen grass.” Tommy’s ear flickers over to Ponk who was whispering to puffy.

“He was on a farm. But it was nothing but mostly dirt and crops. The other houses didn’t let him touch the grass or their yard was completely shit.” Puffy said. Tommy lifts his hand and pokes a few blades of grass. Grass was grass, it shouldn’t hurt him but he cant help it. Tommy reaches in and collects a chunk of dirt and watches it crumble through his fingers.

“Mom?” Dream asks trotting up to his mother. “Yes duckling?”

“Is XD and Citá meeting us?” Dream asked.

 

“We are going to meet them tomorrow honey, they are getting the beach house ready for your friends and us. Camping on the beach. They have drista with them.” Puffy says. Tommy tries to stand all on his own. Sam offers his huge hand for assistance. Tommy grips onto the big fingers and is pulled up. Tommy takes a breath, shuts his eyes and tensely steps onto the grass with one foot. Letting his paw imprint on the dirt and grass. He waits for the pricklies and sharp rocks. Even glass. But nothing happened. Upon peeking open his blue eyes he pats the ground with his foot before stepping onto the grass. It was soft on his furry paws. There was a lot to do. It was soft. Like really soft. Not like a blanket fuzzy soft but his paws felt okay. Tommy peeks his eye open and looks at his paw. It was in the lush green, and didn't feel gross! Tommy kept his hold on Sams hand balancing enough to put his other food on the green riches of the world. His eyes dilate and purring erupts from his throat as his tail excitedly wags. There's snorts and laughter from the adults. “Phil!” Puffy calls. 

The bird man stops chasing the other kids and looks to see tommy. In the grass. “TOMMY’s IN THE GRASS!” He shouts with excitement and hurries to land. Tommy jumps and scurries back onto the blanket to hide amongst the adults. “Oh no no no. I'm sorry sunshine. You can play in the grass.” Phil hurried over to the blanket. Tommy shakes his head with his wings curled around his head and body. Phil sits in the grass “oh. Tommy. I'm not mad. I'm happy that you stepped on the grass. I would love to see you do it again when your ready”

Tommy shrugs and walks over to the edge. He glances down at the grass. “Wanna hold my hand?” Sam offers his hand. Tommy nods gently, taking it. He does a toddler side step onto the grass again. Placing one foot. Then the second. He takes a deep breath and looks at Phil who is definitely still smiling. The man had opened his arms “hug?” He asks. 

Hugs. Tommy definitely likes hugs, he reaches out to phil with one hand but seeing how his foster father was further away he would have to let go of Mr Sam. Tommy whines wanting that hug so damn bad. 

 

“You can do it sunshine!” Phil says. Tommy whines reaching for phil his hand slides out of sams and he hurries his swaying tail over to phil who embraces him and delightfully stands to toss him into the air “YAY! Your amazing kiddo!” Phil says. He’s had praise before. But this was fun. It wasn't scary or a good job. He did something awesome. He walked on the grass. Now they celebrate. 

Tommy chirps and chitters out wagging his tail and flapping his wings ``higher please.” Tommy asks and Phil throws him pretty darn high. Tommy squeals as he's caught and twirled around.

“How about some flying with me and Wilbur.” Phil had asked. Tommy shrugs, not sure if he would even like flying. 

“Let's give it a try. I promise once you’re used to it you'll like it, "Phil said, lifting his powerful wings. Tommy glances over at the kids who are playing and chasing in the grass. With a gust of wind Tommy latches onto Phil who is holding up one of those halters. Tommy moves his arms to help Phil maneuver his body around. One the halter was clipped around his torso. A strap between their shoulders. Phil takes his own halter and straps it to Tommys. 

Wilbur Quackity and Dream meet them in the sky. They circled around the duo “is tommy finally gonna fly?”

“I don't know. Right now I'm just gonna fly him around and see how he does. He’ll need to adjust to the change in height. And moving his wings" Phil says, pulling Tommy off his chest and holding the boy steady by the hips. Tommy whimpers finally facing down at the scary ground. His ears pin back and tail tucks in. He tries to reach back to grab phil. “Easy buddy. I'm right here. I won't let go.” Phil says. Tommy whimpers trying to grab phil. Wilbur calls out, “tommy. Tommy.” 

Tommy tries to spot wilbur who was flying around them. “Dont look down you gotta look forward”

 

Tommy shakes his head and chirps out of fear. Flapping his wings to turn and grab onto phil. 

“Okay. Okay okay. Let's start lower to the ground then” Phil says lowering himself and Tommy to the ground. 

Tommy grabs onto phil as soon as his paws touch the soft grass. Tommys arms hold tightly onto phils waist as his face is buried into the man's thigh. Tommy was still small for his age. Phil pats his head “it's okay mate. You’re safe. We can take it slow. How about we try crawling on our hands and paws first?”

Phil lowers his body. Wilbur brings over a bar that was posted into two blocks “thanks mate” he said, grabbing Tommy and fluttering his wings as he jumps onto the horizontal bar that was two feet off the ground. Tommy was placed in the grass as Phil perched. Tommy looks up at Phil who gives Tommy a gentle smile. “It's okay buddy. We can start on the ground,” Phil says and helps Tommy with a pair of gloves. The velcros them on and maneuvers Tommy to be on his hands and paws. 

Ranboo trots over but tubbo charges tackling Tommy into the soft grass. “Hehe. Tommy! Play with me!” Tubbo says and bounces around happily as Tommy sits up. Ranboo hugs Tommy gently with a smile “you’ll get the hang of it. Come on.” Phil picks Tommy up again and sets him on his paws and hands with a soft smile. It wasn't too bad he guessed. The grass was still soft. Not itchy. He blinks and looks at Phil who was still above him. 

 

“Has Tommy been scruffed yet?” Tubbo asked, grabbing Tommy's arm and shaking him. Tommy bleps and blinks. Once he shakes it off Tommy takes a small step with his hand and moves his little paws. He ends up face planting into the grass. He spits out any grass blades and rubs his face. Tommy looks to ranboo and tubbo who run off and playfully jump on each other and pulling on each others tails. They laugh until Tubbo rams his head into Ranboo’s side, knocking him over. However Schlatt runs up from behind tubbo and shouts at him, stiffening the ram and causing him to fall over all stiff. Tommy giggles and makes his way over and flops onto tubbo.

Tubbo giggles and relaxes to hug his friend before slipping out from under him. “Tag!” Tubbo taps Tommy and runs off. Ranboo and Tommy giggle and run. Tommy does his best with running on all fours. He moves his little furry legs getting ready to reach out to grab his classmates. Tommy reaches and face plants into the grass but he shakes it off and runs after them. Tubbo laughs and dodges and runs onto the pavement to loop around, he had dodged tommys attempts causing the little one to fall towards the ground. His little wings spread out and he gives a little hop, flapping his wings hard so he doesn’t face plants. 

 

“Whoooo! Go tommy!” Wilbur shouts as Tommy lifts a few inches off the ground just enough to get his balance back. Tommy stopped and turned around. He had traveled a distance with those few inches. Tommy giggles and hurries over to Wilbur with his arms out. Wilbur scoops up Tommy and hugs him. “That was good tommy! Can we do that again?”

 

Tommy holds onto Wilbur and just nuzzles into him for a bit. The teenager smiles holding the little raccoon for a bit before squatting down to perch. “Come on now. Let's go play” he says trying to slide Tommy off his body. Tommy clings on with all the clinginess he can muster in his little body. 

“Ack Tommy, when did you get so darn strong?” Wilbur asks, trying to pry Tommy off. Tommy just giggles quietly and pulls Wilbur into a tighter hug. He purrs as Wilbur tries to wrestle him off. 

 

“Techno! A little help?” Wilbur calls out and Tommy just giggles nuzzling into the warm body making Wilbur bark out in laughter. “Stop that it tickles!”

 

“Theseus.” Techno trots off and grabs under his arms to try and lift Tommy off. Of course with both older brothers trying to pry the little one off of wilbur. Tommy simply giggles trying to cling onto Wilbur more. 

“Let go, you adorable gremlin!” Wilbur shouts and chirps. 

“Hehe. No!” Tommy does his best to hold on. Eventually techno pried Tommy off and tried to set him in the grass but the young kit jumps on techno and latches on to the pig hybrid with a big smile and pure. Techno groans and snorts trying to get Tommy off him as the oldest laughs. Techno pats tommys head but still tries to pull the raccoon off. Since Tommy wasn't giving anytime soon. Techno looked around and spotted Ranboo Tubbo and Purple all huddled together under a tree cuddling. Techno smiles making quick steps to the young group. “Be clingy to them. Tubbo likes hugs” techno tries to pull tommy off 

Tubbo perked up at the sound of his name “i do?”

“Yes you do” techno says, managing to pry a squirming tommy off of his and plops tommy in the center of their little circle. Tommy jumps onto the nearest body. Poor poor purple. Tommy nuzzles into purple and purrs against him as the boy laughs and tries to shove Tommy off. “No tommy! Not me, hug them!” Purple points to the two hybrids. Tommy reaches his arms out trying to grab tubbo and Ranboo but slips a bit giving Purpled the chance to run free. The three boys laugh and run away from tommy. Tommy chances after them with a big grin not caring about his hands getting dirty in the rich soil. He laughs, prancing after his friends and fluttering his wings. “Tommy! Run from tommy or he’s gonna latch onto you!” Purple shouts running past Quackity Sapnap and Karls cuddle pile. Sapnap sat up to look around only to be tackled into the ground with a koala hugging Theseus. He squealed and tried to pull the boy off him.

“Oh no, I’ve died” he says and flops back onto the jack rabbit. Tommy gets up and runs after Wilbur and Ranboo laughing and giggling. Wilbur was quick to get away but Tommy did a mighty leap flapping his wings to get more air only to graze Wilbur’s talons. With his fingers. A mighty four feet of air. Tommy was suddenly scooped up and held tightly as raspberries were blown onto his tummy making him chirp and laugh loudly. “NO! Wilby save!” He calls out from Phils grasp and squirms. 

“Nooo my little hatchlet” phil holds tommy closer and nuzzles him. The raccoon purrs and clings onto phils arms trying to nuzzle back.“NOOO!” Tubbo tugs on Phil's shirt sleeve “no give him back we were playing!”

 

“Awww. Can I cuddle my kit a little longer?” Phil asked. 

 

“No gimme! Tommy, I want to play.” Tubbo says and bleeps out. 

“Okay '' Tommy says but flinches as a car pulls up with a loud honk. A normal human steps out and smiles “sorry i'm late!”

“Hi papa!” Sapnap sits up waving. “Hi kiddo!” Bad got up and hurried to hug his… husband. “Who is he?” Tommy asked no longer whispering. Soft talking but not whispering. 

“That's Skeppy. He is Bad’s husband. The two love each other but tend to get into arguments.” Phil explains. 

“Did you have a wife?” Tommy asks. Phil tensed up a little but relaxed into a gentle smile. “I did. I had a wife.” Phil walks off and perches on the bar that wilbur had brought over. He holds tommy on his lap. “What was she like?”

“Loving. She was very loving. She was helping Wilbur before he became my son. She was patient and kind to both normies and hybrids. She was teaching everyone how to work together. She introduced us and then she got into a huge accident. Told me to continue building our family before passing.  So I took Wilbur and got him into the system and off the streets. And adopted him. Down the road. I was pulled into some stupid shit and met Techno. Technoblade also needed a loving family so I took him in. And a few years later. We got you in my care.” Phil says nuzzling into tommys gold curls. 

“And you like miss Kristian now”

Phil coughs and clears his throat. “We all know. Man up and ask her on a fucking date, old man” tommy says getting phil burst out into loud belly aching laughter while holding tommy close. Tommy has slapped his hands over mouth as Phil gently puts him down in the soft green and lays on the ground trying to gather himself. He swore at phil. He swore at the man and called him old. Thats naughty. He did a bad thing by swearing and calling him old. Of course the adults and children look. Tommy was shaking and pricking with tears still confused as to why the avain would laugh so hard at his comment. 

Phil chuckles, taking a deep breath sitting up and gently pulls Tommy close into a deep hug, “okay. I'll man up and ask her out. Thank you for that laugh tommy. I needed that sunshine.” He smooths Tommy's hair. 

“… n-not mad?” Tommy whispers. Phil smiles and shakes his head “no. I'm not mad.”

 

“But I swore and called you a bad name. I was bad, "Tommy says. 

“I don't mind that. And it was silly.” Phil sits against the perch bar with tommy. The quiet wind blows through their hair. Tommys fingers reach up and play with Phil's hair, tangling his fingers into the vanilla scented hair. The hair reminds him of his moms. The color was lighter. Her hair was a bit frizzy. She smiled as she hums. Cooking and cleaning. They liked playing outside. Mama liked flowers. She would freeze fruits for him. “Tommy?” Phil spoke up only noticing that the boy had stared off. “Tommy?” He calls the boy again. But Tommy just twirled phils smooth blond hair in his fingers and stared off. Phil just smiles and picks up Tommy to go sit with the other adults on the blanket. 

“Welcome back. Is he okay?” Sam asked. 

“Yea. I think Tommy is dissociating. He's just thinking and playing with my hair.” Phil sits down and adjusts his body. He takes a deep breath and relaxes in the warm sun. The adults sit in quiet with laughing children running around them. 

“This is nice,” puffy says. Technoblade trots over to phil “dad? There's a van that's lurking around the street” phil perks his head up and looks down the street to a van slowly driving past “how many times?”

 

“Four” techno said. 

 

“Kids! Go inside, we have play time!” Puffy calls. The children stop and run for the house. “Yay! Activity!”

“Are we playing with foam?”

“Baking?”

Tubbo and ranboo asked. “Are we making slime?” Purple asked. Punz looked to dream curiously as the hybrid had closed the shades nervously. Wilbur locked the other doors and garage as techno shut windows with Jschlatt. 

“You’ll find out” puffy says as the adults hurry to pick up their things and get inside to lock the front door. 

“It zipped past. Coast is clear.”

“No. I will go check it out. You kids stay.” Phil passes Tommy to puffy. 

“I go too!” Wilbur says. “Wilbur” phil spoke not wanting his oldest to go.

“Im going”

 

“Fine but stay close” Phil says as he takes Wilbur and they leave the house. Phil and Wilbur take to the sky. Wilbur makes sure he stays close to his dad. The two circle around their neighborhood eventually spotting the van. The two go higher and watch as it slows circling back around. It passes their home again. But this time it stops for pictures. Phil lands on the van with a glare. Spooking the humans. Wilbur lands on the roof of the van. 

“Shit.” The human and hybrid spoke. 

“You better have a good reason as to why you’re watching my family and friends,” phil says. 

“Ah. So this is your house?” The driver says. “Who are you? Do you not know that this is a private development? How did you get in without a password? Why were you watching us?”

“Ah well. We are. Paparazzi. We want photos of you philza and your kids. The media wants to know about your children” the passenger said. Phil reaches around grabbing the cameras and going through it he deletes and removes the card and memory card. “You were stalking my children. My children to be exact. Who hired you?” Phil fluffs his wings. 

“We aren’t obligated to say that!”

“Daddy, I have the cops on the phone and their faces on camera.” Wilbur says. 

 

“Whoa! Hold on we dont need the cops.” The driver says. “You are trespassing!” Phil shouts and lets out a loud screech flaring his wings. 

“We’ll leave!”

“Not until you tell me everything! Who sent you to spy on my children?!” Phil hisses at them. 

“Some guy! We don't know his name!”

“What does he want?!” Wilbur asked

“Pictures. He wants to know about the kids. The pig, the siren and the blonde raccoon. We don't know anything else we swear! Called them perfect specimens.”

Philza narrows his eyes, his wings fanning out. “Get out of here. Do not come back. And you better make sure that you and any other investigators don't come near me. Hatchling. My kit or my runt. You will find yourselves in jail in seconds! UNDERSTOOD?!”

The two nod. “Get off my property!” Phil jumps onto the roof and grabs wilbur “FUCK OFF!” Wilbur shouts as Phil carries his son into the sky. And watches as the van takes off. They follow making sure that the van leaves the gated community. He lands and looks at the guard. Who was fast asleep. “Hey.” He says tapping the table waking the young guard. “Uh?!” 

“You fell asleep.” Phil said. 

“Oh im sorry.”

“I dont blame you. Its a boring job. But you need to bring something to keep you awake. I had to chase out trespassers, "Phil said. 

“I'm so sorry. Won't happen again” the guard said. 

“Thank you” Phil said and hurried off to get home with wilbur. “That was scary,” Wilbur said. 

“It was. Are you okay?” Phil asks him to wrap his arms around his son and holds him close. Instead of going inside he gently lands on a tree and just holds Wilbur in his lap. Wilbur buries his head into phils shoulder and nods, but then shakes his head with tears pricking out from his eyelashes “no.” He whimpers and hugs onto his dad. “It's scary. I- it wasn't-” The young hybrid cried trying to find words as Phil held him tighter and wrapped his wings around them. 

“Shhh. I'm here. You are so brave to come with me. So very brave. I love you so much. My hatchet. My very brave hatchlet. Don't worry, you're safe. We are safe. Shhh my patient brave little bird. We are safe. You are safe with me.” Phil rocks him just allowing his son to feel small and little. 

 

Wilbur whimpers, letting his mind slip off. “Dadza, can I have  friend? We want our sheep”

“Aw of course honey. Am I talking to phantom?”

Phantom nods. Phil smiles gently “of course. One of these days I'm gonna get something nice for each of you and wilbur. You all are wonderful and doing so well protecting each other and your brothers. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm ignoring you guys. It's not my intention, "Phil says and plants kisses on his son's head and rubs his back. 

“Can I sleep in the nest?” Phantom asked. Sniffling and trying to stop the tears “Of course you can, little one. Do you want Tommy and techno with us?”

Phantom nods. 

“Okay… dadza, do you miss mumza?”

“...Yes. Very much.” Phil says a bit hesitant to answer. He rubs his tearing eyes trying to hold it together while talking to the alter. “Thank you for saving us, again. I'm sorry I was stupid back then. I was really really stupid”

“I don't blame you or the others. Accidents happen. Growing our family was her wish. I will continue protecting and providing for you and your brothers. No need to be sorry…” phil sighs holding wilbur tightly. He thinks back for a moment. “Was Wilbur with me when chasing bad guys or was it someone else?” Phil asked, Phantom rubs his eyes and sniffles “not wilbur. But not others. I don't know them. Scary, Reviver not know them”

 

“Oh okay. It’s okay, let's head back inside, yea?” Phil says. Welp wilbur is getting a new alter… he thinks. The older blonde stood on the branch and carried his son back to the house. He knocks and the door flung open by bad and puffy. Phil hurried inside to take care of wilbur. Of course Techno needed him as well along with Tommy. Techno was holding Tommy tightly as the little one stimmed and scratched crying to get out of the hold of the older boy. Techno was just frozen out of fear, stuck in his own mind tightening his grip on tommy and mumbling. Of course dream had backed himself into a corner and was snarling with Ranboo under him with the other kids confused wondering why they were inside with no activity. Phil tried to get Phantom to let go of him so he can get his boys into the nest while Puffy was trying to calm her own son. Sam bad and Skeppy along with Mr.Sparklez tried to get the confused kids out of the room, that was until Quackity started quacking out loud piercing together what had just happened “ Daddy they gonna take us away ¡Nos van a secuestrar y quitarnos las extremidades! nos van a llevar!” Quackity panics grabbing onto Sam tightly. That got all the kids shaken up. Karl spoke up before Sam or any of the others did “they gonna take our limbs off?!”

 

That does it. Now all the kids are panicking and hugging onto the nearest adult. Purpled grab hold of Punz while Philza move through the room to try and calm Tommy and Techno who were freaking the fuck out. “Shhh, techno it’s daddy. Deep breath, you're safe.” Phil says gently trying to reach out and smooth his hair down but the piglet steps back and trips over a pillow pulling Tommy down with him. Philza tried to grab them however he was too slow while holding Phantom. The two fell back and smacked their heads into the hard wooden floor. Tommy screams out in loud shrills pleading for forgiveness and techno covers his head and screams as well shaking his head, he smacks his head into the wall. Phil had no choice but to place Phantom at his side to help Techno and Tommy. “Techno, tommy it’s al-”

Something hard collided with his head making him groan in pain. Wilbur was standing before his brothers all defensively. “I WON’T LET YOU TOUCH THEM!” he screams at phil. Phil holds up his hand as Wilbur hissed. “Reviver, I'm not trying to hurt them. Let me help them.” Phil tries to explain.

“NO! I owe you money, not them! Don’t bring them into this!” Wilbur shouted and snarled.

“Wilbur , Wil. listen to me. You aren't on the streets anymore. Look around you.” Phil tried to get the teenager to look around but he was dead set on Phil’s motions and everyone else's. Wilburs claws were drawn out ready to cut. He can hear puffy in the other room.

“What's happening?” purple asked.

“They are having flashbacks of their traumas” Phil says, moving slowly.

“Ahhhh! Please please ill behave just please stop! No more. Don’t take them don’t take them away” tommy screams and claws at his arms and back “NOT AGAIN!”

Techno wasn’t any better “blood, blood. Voices. Stop, TOO LOUD! No! Daddy!” He screamed for phil and tried to run for phil. Wilbur grabs his brother and keeps him away “NO DONT GO TO HIM HE’LL FUCK YOU UP WITH DRUGS!”

“Wilbur let him go!” Phil says. But Wilbur grabs techno who screams out and squeals, and Tommy who chirps and chatters in distress. Wilbur runs with terror in his eyes. 

“WILBUR NO!” Phil shouts and chases after his kids. He just wanted a few days without any episodes. Just a few where they can be happy. It didn't feel fair but when was life ever fair? Phil had lost his wife yet gained his first tauma filled son. He got pulled into some cult and barely escaped with his wings intact. Damn bastards wanted to mutilate his body to “improve” technos. Its how he got his second trauma filled child. He wanted to relax. And a few years later his third came into the picture with puffy pleading for him to take the small boy. For whatever reason. It doesn't seem like his family can catch a break. Techno is screaming for him. Wilbur is running from him. Tommy thinks he's being dragged back into whatever hell he was once in.
It wasn't fair. But then again. Life isn't fair. And nowhere was 100% safe. Not even your own mind. Memories leave haunting scars that take a long time to heal

Chapter 12: Note

Hi everyone
With how the world is playing out. Uh. Give Shelby love and support for coming out about her experience. Um I have never watched her before. So speaking as a Wilbur watcher. Im honestly very confused still. I’m in college about to graduate. There’s lots of questions and my own opinions that no one will want to hear because the news came from twitter. Twitter is a hateful breeding ground. Uh so I ask that you not only give Shelby support but encourage Wilbur to be better and seek more help.
As much as it sounds weird, the work I’m going in councils everyone from every different background. That includes abusers. What Wilbur did was terrible and I really want to smack him upside the head.

I also want to encourage people to understand. DONT post your story online unless you are sure that it is safe to do so. Always tell someone you trust first. Take precautions before going public with it to the world.
Also place triggers. I got triggered pretty bad over the whole situation since my stories are a form of journalism for my own trauma and I now feel mentally violated and wish I didn't know.
I was going to update. But know I can’t cause everything went out the door.

God I miss technoblade. He passed and everything went to shit. Also dream is a hypocrite. He never should have posted about Wilbur with his own allegations and his account falling to make himself look good. I also have questions on why none of Wilbur’s friends had asked questions before cutting him off. Like did they talk to him or Shelby for a full understanding? Is there proof besides words? Why hasn’t shubble taken legal action? He didn’t address the abuse besides his perspective, so what caused him to continue thinking that it was still consensual after her shouting at him? Biting is an abnormal behavior for an adult male. Usually it’s pared with other actions. So why just biting?
AND WHY THE HELL IS TWITTER BRINGING TOMMY RANBOO AND TUBBO!? STOP PICKING AT THE WOUND AND MAKING CONSPIRACY SHIT! It’s annoying as hell. Twitter be reading into shit that ain’t there.
Give love to Tommy. Don’t press him to talk.

I’m so confused. Please don’t shout at me. I’m a curious soul. I’m going to continue my stories to the best of my ability. I genuinely don’t want to hear about it more. I’ve cried a lot, and my grief for techno returned just as I was getting to the end of it. I have to start over. Again my stories are like journaling for my own trauma and thoughts. You might see his character biting.

Chapter 13: Crow in the spring Of May

Summary:

Philza has his boys asleep on him. He’s thinking about his own promise and goes down memory lane.

Phil lays there as still as possible. He kept his breathing steady. Keeping his hands around his kids. As much as he wants to curl up and cover his boys with his body, to shield them from the world in his large wings. He didn't. It would honestly freak them out he could tell that it was around 6am with how the sun gently peeked through the dark house. He hums gently, lifting his head to look at the three little ones tightly curled up against his body. The trio was bandaged up for all the scratches and bruises. Techno on his right. Wilbur on his left. Tommy somehow wiggled himself to sleep comfortably on phils inner thigh. Phil did try to move him but the boy just stirred and moved back onto his thigh and sucked on fingers. Phil figured his teeth were hurting and opted to not wake Tommy again since he chose that position. But of course he sent pictures to the parent group chat to ask. 

‘ Is this normal?’

Bad and puffy sent laughing emojis. 

Puffy: ‘so cute’

Bad: ‘i miss when my little muffin did that’

Phil: ‘feels weird’

Puffy had sent a photo of her cuddled up with a dream who was also resting on her thigh and corpse against her waist. Foolish had curled around Corpse into their moms side. 

Puffy: ‘its like instinct for younger hybrids to sleep by the legs’

Ponk had replied by sending a message.

Ponk: ‘morning fuckers. But yesterday scared all the kids, so’  

Ponk sent a photo. Phil snorts. Sam was asleep in his den of blankets and pillows. George was laying against Sam's lion hip. Karl was very obviously curled up under the back leg with his head on George's lap. And quackity was straight up under sam. Or his upper body. Phil can see Quackity’s navy blue sombrero pajama pants, yellow fluffy tail and feet. 

 

Phil: Do they do this every night?

Bad: awww cuties

Ponk: Only when they are scared but rest while you can. We have the beach and camping to get to. Now go to sleep!

 

Phil grins and lowers his phone only for it to buzz once more. He lifts his head to look at the dim screen. 

 

Puffy: it will get better. You’re doing great. If you need a minute let us know. Might do them good if they met May.

 

May.

Phil puts his phone down and stares at the ceiling. The sunlight drips across the white textured ceiling painting it orange and pink. 

May. The blooming spring and fresh flowers. A breath of life and calming nature. His May. A love he promised to cherish. May. The woman who put her body in the way to protect their oldest son. The incident. May, she had a look of bliss on her face while holding Wilbur. tightly as her rose blood spilled from her, soaking the bandage. All through her treatment, not once did she allow their chick to leave her side. He was theirs. A street kid so hooked on drugs so desperate for assistance and comfort safely tucked away into their arms all the way through death. 

Phil pulls Wilbur tighter against his body and shares his warmth with his boys. “Dad?” Techno tiredly rubs his face against phils arm and sits up. The boy yawns and rubs his eyes. Phil reaches up and scratches his back. “Good morning. Are you feeling okay?”

Techno nods and yawns and looks at his dad. “I’m better…. You were bleeding.”

“I’m okay, piglet.” Phil reaches for his shirt and lifts his shirt to reveal the large scar going down his side. Ribs to hip, like a seam. Techno looks at it before slowly touching and trailing his fingers over the numb damaged tissue. The skin was a slightly different color texture compared to the perfectly normal skin and reminds techno of puffy pain for some reason. It was definitely a large injury from their battle. It takes techno back to when he first met Phil. 

It wasn’t pretty. Techno was a bit younger than Tommy’s age when he met Phil. 

Techno was too little when he was sat on an altar of bones and cold metal dressed in a white robe and gold chains to keep him there.  A bloody pig skull sat on his head as the cultist whispered. He had silently cried as he was forced to watch as those in charge started to kill off people spraying their blood onto techno. The voices came after that ritual. It felt like torture hearing them scream at them all the time. They had forced techno to eat the heart of his beloved horse. A horse he helped raise. They forced him to fight other kids claiming it was needed for their true vessel. The fighting was non stop. He was always coated in blood. It had stained his pink hair. Or that’s what was said. Piglin hybrids can develop pink hair as they grow older. Usually it’s in strands or patches. But techno had developed an entire head of pink hair that grew in quickly.

The bodies that piled under his hooves. His birth family amongst the blood pile. He became their vessel. A being of worship. The blood god. He was taught to listen to the voices. To take what he wants. So he took what he wanted.

Then Phil came when there was no one else left to take. And try all his might. He couldn’t take the wings of the crow, he couldn’t take away the wings of death. The authorities came during a second ritual of praising. They were going to sacrifice Phil. He didn’t allow it, however, upon protecting his fatherly friend. He had injured him in the process. It was a bloody rampage after that when authorities came and arrested survivors. Phil had pulled techno close and hugged him tightly, the two so very happy to get out alive. The ritual didn’t go through, but now they want to finish it with techno only 12. He’s Phil’s piglet.

“My piglet. The physical fight is over. It’s okay. I promise. I’ll protect you.”

It was the first time he had sobbed so loudly and pleaded for forgiveness. And the first time he kept a hold on anyone since his family’s death by his own hands. He didn’t leave Phil’s side for a long time during his recovery. And then Wilbur came in to see his dad. Wilbur B lined for techno and hugged him. It was a swirl of emotions and tears. He was given a family once more. 

Techno pulled away from the scar, “does it hurt?”

“No. It doesn’t.” Phil lowers his shirt and tugs techno back down to snuggle. 

“You're not leaving us right?” Techno asks while playing with Phil’s shirt.

“No. I’m not leaving you kids. You need me. And I need you.”

Techno wraps his arms around Phil snuggling into Phil’s body “are we still going to the beach?”

“Yes. We are still gonna go. Just don’t wander far from the group. Being in public makes me nervous now. So let’s just be careful.” Phil kneads his fingers into technos frizzy curls and nuzzles his piglet.

“Probably wouldn’t worry so much if I could fly… even Tommy has wings.” Techno shifts his eyes down to Tommy’s messy red feathers. 

“Piglet. I worry because your my child and I want you and your brothers safe. I worry that I should be doing more, that I rely on you and Wilbur too much. Your kids still. You deserve to be kids, mate. And I wish you guys didn’t have to go through such trauma. It’s unfair to you guys.” Phil says getting his piglet to look up at him. “I like being relied on. Makes me feel helpful.”

 

”Mmmm,” Wilbur stirs and snuggles into Phil more, “Dad you're such an old sap, you help too. Just because we are kids doesn’t make us stupid. We can help you and Tommy.” Wilbur rubs his face into Phil’s shoulder. Phil smiles “you boys know I don’t think you're stupid. You're helping more than you think, I just don’t wanna sub consciously take you kids for granted. and- OW!” Phil looks at Wilbur who had just bitten his arm. “Mate. No biting. You know that’s a no no habit. Do I need to get you a chew pendant?” He asked his oldest. He jolts, getting bitten again. “Ow, aye mate come on now. Go get your pendent.” Phil pulls his arm away from wilbur. 

the boy huffs getting up “it’s not the same texture.” He pouts and gets out of the nest and heads upstairs. Ah, that biting habit. He has only seen that habit when May was around. His oldest was so frightened about everything he had no idea how to show his love. Ended up biting classmates. Kid chewed off his own fingers once. He tried biting technoblade once. There’s a reason Wilbur doesn’t bite techno. It still makes Philza laugh.

The two were playing chess. Or trying. Wilbur never understood how the game works or checkers. So safe to say he did not like the younger kid beating him in every single game. Wilbur frustratedly flipped the game board over and grabbed technos arm and bit down. Drawing blood. Phil had jumped to help before techno screamed, but he saw techno’s reflex from back in that arena. The boy still had those monsters in his head. Technoblade had punched Wilbur that day. It was a day much like when Tommy first came. The two were reliving memories and snarling to fight each other. He had separated the two to calm them down. Techno wanted to impress wilbur. But Wilbur also wanted to show off. Phil did what his wife did to him. Showed the two each other's strength. He put on a dance game on the Wii and let the two go at it. And to say they could have tied was a lie. No matter how much they explain it, Wilbur won that day with dance, and techno won chess. 

Wilbur came back down nawing on a toy. This toy is a small silicon pendant ring. It had so many bite marks and was old. He obviously needs a new one with it’s thinning. “How long have you been using that?” Philza asked.

Wilbur crawls back into the nest and curls up in his spot again “a while.” He grumbles “M‘tired still.” He says nipping and using his teeth to chew away. Phil Scratches Wilbur’s and Techno’s heads “we still have some time left.”

Those words feel thick and poisonous in his mouth. Even with a sweet intention, to keep his boys cuddled up nice and warm. But his, May. She really did save their boys. And him… “thank you, May.” Phil smiles. Techno lifted his head and Tommy sat up “who’s May?” Techno asked as Tommy tiredly blinked trying to keep awake with a bobbing head.

Phil smiles “she’s who I promised… She's my promise to you boys.”

Tommy blinks at him. “Don’t choke.” Tommy lays back down. Phil smiles “ don’t worry Tommy. I don’t think you can choke on promises.” He says watching as his boys fall back to sleep. He shifts a bit, getting feeling back into his limbs. No, they are gonna be just fine.

Notes:

TW: suicide, SA
Sorry short chapter. Im working on a QSMP story as well. Kinda hard when the characters dont have group lore besides island lore. I think I’m okay with all the allegations. Maybe not? I don’t get it. They say they dont want drama, yet they keep talking about it. That kinda contradicts the cease and desist that they want. If they didn’t want drama in the first place they could have handed this privately without triggering the entire community. Some kids committed…. Unaliving themselves, I think? There was a whole twitter thing. I don’t have details.
If you are planning on coming out to the public, please. For the love of god. DO NOT give the name of the abuser or description unless they are locked up and you are legally protected. It is very unsafe for anyone to give names or discriptions.
Protect yourselves and be aware of the environment you are going into. Stay safe.
I also added the bitin thing. Wondering if I’m gonna keep it.

Chapter 14: Boy dressed in gold.

Summary:

Tommy is excited for their trip to the beach house. But he has a few conflicting feelings. He tries to recruit Wilbur and an unexpected friend to help.

It was late morning when they finally got up to eat and get ready. Techno had helped Tommy into his braces and held his hand to travel up the stairs slowly for Tommy. Techno had grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste before heading into tommys room and private bathroom to brush their teeth. They do it silently and brush their hair out. Techno braids his hair before helping Tommy with the back of his head.

tommy smiles, his tail wagging and sometimes curling over technos leg. The two kept silent. Surprisingly something they are finding comfort in with each other and having a nice little bit of silence.

”techno. Tommy.” Wilbur said. The two turn their heads “do you want red swim trunks? Or blue? Or pink?” Wilbur holds them up.

”r-red please.” Tommy spoke trying to rub the tiredness from his eyes with a small yawn. “Red for tommy. Techno?”

”red.”

”..red for techno… I guess we all get to match today. Cause I'm wearing red too.” Wilbur said, tossing the other swimsuits back. Almost irritated.Tommy and Techno glance at each other then to wilbur. “Did you not want us to match? I can wear pink if you want.” Techno offered. Wilbur grumbles “no it’s fine.”

”So you want to match?” Techno asked.

”no, it’s fine. Ill just change the one im wearing.” Wilbur says folding the swim suits.

“So you don’t want to?” techno asked again

”It's fine techno, just drop it.” Wilbur stood up.

”I can wear blue.” Tommy whispers

”I said it’s fine!” Wilbur snapped, sticking his chewing pendant in his mouth and marching out of the room stepping with heavy stomps. “I think we should pack another color.” Techno said. Tommy just nods “what's Wilbur’s favorite color?”

”teal i think.” Techno leaves the bathroom and goes to pick up the blue swim suit from tommys drawers, obviously it wasn’t teal. But it was a shade of blue. He folds it neatly and sets it on the bed. “Get dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.” Techno said and left the room taking Tommy's swimsuit to follow after their older brother, “Wilbur, are you okay?”

”techno. Just drop it already!” Wilbur shouted back. Tommy plops onto his bed to get his clothes on, his small hands holding his little paws…. His paws… they weren’t his. But they are now? Why is it so confusing? They are on his body, but they aren’t supposed to be his, but they are because they are on his body. It belongs to another person. Conner’s legs. These were still Conner’s legs. On his body. He’s not like them. He’s not like techno, Wilbur or Phil. If they came from another person, are they truly his? They could have switched it. Why didn’t they switch it, correct it. Tommy wasn’t a hybrid. He shouldn’t even have.

”tommy…” someone called out to him. His fingers squeezed his paw pads. It's so very soft and pink. If he squeezed hard enough maybe they’ll burst. Conner must be laughing and smiling with the other humans. Were hybrids a new evolution of humans or devolution? Were they turning back into animals or are they adapting to the world? How can he live amongst them when he was normal. He’s not supposed to have paws and a tail. No wings either. 

 

”Theseus!”

Tommy blinks, looking up at wilbur. He had a small bag over his shoulder. “Hi.” Wilbur said before clearing his throat, ”Sorry, I got irritated a little while ago. You okay? You spaced out.” Wilbur asked and sat on the bed.

”mmm.” Tommy looked down at his paws “wilby, can I ask you something?”

Wilbur grins, draping his wing around Tommy to hold him comfortably. ”sure? As long as it's not where babies come from.” 

“Babies come from a mommy and daddy… but that’s not my question.” Tommy reassures Wilbur who chuckles. Tommy sinks himself deeper into Wilbur’s side. The soft scent of the teenager soothing some of his nerves. The older teen tilts his head and pulls Tommy closer, “alright shoot.”

”um… uh…” Tommy twiddles his fingers, starting to feel his nerves again. It was an imposing question.  “d-do you um… never mind… it’s not important.” He grumbles trying to move away but Wilbur’s wing holds him closer. 

”Oh come on, sunshine. Spit it out” Wilbur said. Tommy’s ears lower, he feels foolish, “do um… do you ever think about if you belong with Phil and Technoblade? If you fit in?” Tommy asked. Wilbur gives him a confused look, “um. I don’t understand what you mean. Do you not want to stay with us?”

 

“No!” Tommy shouts, making Wilbur tense up, “yes! No, ugh! I wanna stay, I don’t-… never mind. It’s too hard.” He pulled his legs into his chest to hug himself. His tail curled around him and he let out a huff of frustration. Wilbur was born with wings and scales. He wouldn’t get it. Even with all those people in his head. Wilbur wouldn’t understand what it’s like being a fake. An ugly duckling. 

“Is it a hard question?” Wilbur leans forward to try and meet Tommy’s eyes. The teenager can obviously see the tears collecting in his eyes. The small fledgling nods, “it’s too hard. You won’t get it.” He sniffs. 

“Maybe Phil might know?” Wilbur suggests. Tommy simply shakes his head, “no, he won’t. He’s a grown up. He’ll just hug me then go tell puffy.”

Wilbur leans back on his arms, “what about Technoblade?” He asked the kid. 

“No offense but, techno isn’t very good with these kinds of things.” Tommy said, looking at Wilbur with his head on his knees. Wilbur snorts at the comment, “well okay then…. I can ask Friend if he might be able to help.” Wilbur offers. “Or Revivebur. They are adults so maybe they will understand?”

Tommy rubs his eyes and lifts his head from his knees with a nod, “please. If they aren’t busy in your head.”

Wilbur smiles and lays back on the bed, “okay give me a minute.” He said. But there was a knock on the door by none other than Phil and techno, “almost ready mate?”

“No. Tommy has a hard question for friend and Revivebur.” Wilbur says, closing his eyes. 

“Can it be in the car?” Techno asked. 

“Nope. Has to be here. Did you remember water bottles and food?” Wilbur asked. Phil smiles “yes mate, I packed all your favorites.”

“And tommy diet?” Techno asked, tugging on Phil’s shirt. Phil nods “yes. I even have one of those hand blenders if he prefers a fruit smoothie than peanut butter and jelly.”

“Go snuggle techno for a bit. Well let you know when we’re ready.” Wilbur waves them off. Phil smiles “okay. Don’t take too long. It’s an hour drive.” Phil said and looked at the technoblade, “I wanna know the question.” He says.

“No. Go. My question.” The teenager sat up waving them off. Phil smiles and holds up his hands and ushers techno away and closes the door. The wing returns to Tommy’s shoulder, “alright. What did you want to ask kid? Friend is listening and ghost but I don’t know if those idiots will fucking understand anything.” Revive spoke kinda coldly but he was open about it. Tommy holds his tail and tries to figure out how to word it. “… this is not mine.” He says holding the tail. His wings move, his paws and nails flex, “these aren’t mine.” His ears droop down sadly. “These belong to Conner.” Tommy said “like you. your body is Wilbur’s. Not yours. I don’t fit like Phil, techno or you and Wilbur. I’m not a hybrid. I’m not real.”

Revive can feel his confusion growing. “What do you mean by that?” He was too confused and unable to comprehend what was just said. “Sunshine, those are your paws and wings. They’re on your body so they’re yours. You're real. Like me and Wilbitch. We share our body but-“ Revive keeps talking. And it’s making Tommy even more frustrated and confused. Tommy doesn’t show the emotion. His fingers graze over the scars that mended his leg to Conner’s leg. His nails dig into the pink ringlet of skin. Was it Conner’s skin or his skin that made that scar?  

It won’t matter. It’s too hard.

Tommy tilts and flops his body over Reviver’s lap, his gold tail tucked between his thighs and wings tightly pressing into his back. The teen sighs and runs his fingers through the soft hair and over the fluffy ears. “Too hard.” Tommy says, nuzzling into the warmth. 

“Then we’ll try again another time.” Revive said. Tommy shakes his head, “no. I don’t want to.” He said, going back into his whispering tone. The thoughts were too hard. They remain still and quiet, the faint chirping of birds. Wilbur eventually blinks back before the two get up and make their way out of the room. Tommy remains more confused and frustrated than ever. Reviver picks up Tommy and carries him out of the room with the braces under his arms. The question seems hard for a little one such as tommy. Maybe he can ask Puffy to help him. Once Tommy was in his car seat, Reviver helps Tommy get his leg braces on so that his small legs won’t be hurting when they get to the beach house. Tommy holds onto the strap and looks around for a second and whines a bit. “No.” He whimpers, getting the older brother's attention. “What now?”

”Henry and Clem. Not here.” Tommy said a little panicked that his two friends weren’t in the car, now he would have to go back and even after revive-Bur brought him all the way downstairs to the car and got him settled in his car seat.

”I got them.” Techno spoke holding up a string bag. “I got all of our stuffies, and Daddy’s so he won't be left out.” Techno said to put the bag on the seat. “And we packed other swimsuits in case you changed your mind.”

Reviver grumbles, “did you get the teal one?” He asked with a roll of his eyes.

Techno nods, “you can choose teal, red, or yellow.” He said and nudged the teenager into the front seat where Phil was sitting and getting the GPS ready and making sure they had car snacks and drinks. Wilbur had his grape Fanta, while techno had a bottle of doctor pepper. Phil turns and holds up three bottles to Tommy, “kit-ling, do you want Coca-Cola, Fanta, or a Mountain Dew?” Phil asked his fledgling kit. Tommys eyes trail over the three bottles, studying each one before carefully pointing to a bottle. “Please?” He says. Phil smiled offering the cola to Tommy who struggled with his seatbelt to reach it. So he tugs on Technos sleeve. The pink haired hybrid glanced up before taking the bottle and handing it to Tommy since his arms were too short. “Thank you tech, thank you Dadza.” Tommy spoke and stuck the bottle into his smaller cup holder that was attached to his seat. He wiggled in his seat to settle down with a flutter of his small wings to get comfortable. He smoothed down any of his feathers just as Revivebur and Phil did.

”alright. I know we aren’t supposed to use the car, but with the distance. I’m not flying all of this for the Weeknd.” Phil spoke starting the car. Tommy squeaks as the wind blasted into his face. Techno scrunched his face until Phil turned the fans down with a chuckle and turned to Revivebur. “Got everything Reviver?”

”you remembered…” he smiled at Phil, “yes. I have a backup charger and cooling packs and sunscreen, gloves. Goggles. And… Techno, is Friend in the stuffy bag?” Revivebur asked. Techno takes a peek into the bag and nods, “yep. He’s here. Your blue is in here too. Do you wanna hold him Icarus?”

There was a moment of quiet, “Yeah.” Revivebur reached back as the younger passed up a blue sheep. “Phantom wants to hold him.” He said holding the sheep with his fingers rubbing over the soft blue fluff as his other hand pulled out a phone with his fingers dancing across the screen. Technoblade held his stuffed bear in his lap before offering Tommy his own friends and a tablet to keep him occupied. Phil smiles, starting the car and backing out. Tommy holds the device carefully as it turns on. There’s a password. Tommy offers it back to techno, who glances before typing it in. 

Crow dad. 

Tommy tilts his head when watching the password be spelled out. Why crow dad?… oh. Philza is a crow and a dad. It makes him giggle quietly as he is given the tablet back. There was soft music playing from the radio. Tommy was playing a few games or coloring. Techno had his own phone that he read from and Wilbur was humming to music while typing away. It’s quiet and peaceful. All was well during their small yet long drive. 

 

Even after they stopped to get food from a burger place. Tommy ate his junior burger with less hesitation, but it was still there. Phil wanted to wait at the joint an extra 10 minutes to ensure Tommy didn’t puke it back up, filling conversation with excitement of the trip. Wanting Tommy to try again with flight hops and little glides. Tommy seems a little more enthusiastic about trying to fly again. Reviver can see the indifference and war of thoughts raging through the kids head. The boy had that hard conversation in his head again. The teenager can see it when Tommy’s claws scratch at his skin. Techno has to carefully move to stop the small hands so the kid won’t scratch open fresh wounds and bleed on himself. That would make him bloody and wet. Tommy eats a French fry. 

“I like chips.” Tommy says, sticking the fried potato slice in his mouth. 

“They’re fries.” Technoblade said looking up from his phone. 

“Chips.” Tommy said, grabbing another and stuffing it into his mouth with his cheeks puffing up from the food. 

“No, fries.” Techno takes his fathers bag of chips, “these are chips.”

“No. Those are crisps.” Tommy narrows his eyes and steals one of technos fries. The piglet squeals, swatting the tiny hand away from his food. “Eat your own! You're as bad as Wilbur.”

Tommy stretched up his nose to show his distaste for being compared to the other teenager. “I’m not bad. You just don’t eat fast enough.” Wilbur pouts and steals one of Tommy’s fries. Tommy shoots Wilbur a scowling face. A very silly and deep frowning face. Wilbur chokes and coughs at the scrunched deep frown face mad on the small blonde. Wilbur was trying not to die as the boy stared down at him. Phil laughs as technoblade lets out an airy light laugh while they watch the oldest brother laugh his ass off and nearly choke. A sense of pride filled Tommy, getting the three of them to laugh. 

“I’m funnier than bird boy!” Tommy proclaimed proudly. Holding his hand in a peace sign. 

“Bird boy?” Wilbur asked, trying to breathe. Tommy nods “yeah. I’m awesomer than your feather butt. I’m gonna grow up and be better than birdza!” Tommy points to Phil and steals a chip from the man. Phil laughs and boops Tommy’s nose, pleased with Tommy opening up more now that he’s comfortable with them as a family, “I’m sure one day all three of you will be bigger than me. My proud, awesome, Special boys.” He coos at them. The boys gleam proudly at their father. 

“Oh yeah.” Wilbur turns to Tommy. “Did Revivebur help you with your question?”

Tommy shakes his head. “No. It’s too hard. Thanks for trying.” Tommy pats Wilbur’s arm. 

“Well I tried. You still have techno you can ask. Or philza.” Wilbur said finishing his food. “Wanna try asking techno. Dad and I can stay over here.”

“Don’t offer me as if I agree.” Technoblade spoke not looking up from his book as he eats. 

“But you did wanna know about what he was asking. And it was kinda hard for me to understand. And we have time before the car ride again.” Wilbur smiles happily. Technoblade gives a conflicting look between his older and younger brother. He turns off his phone and gets up from his chair, “okay fine. I’m curious.”

Tommy smiles and crawls over Wilbur’s lap to get out of the booth. But as soon as he stood up he grabs hold of the table as his body suddenly plummeted to the ground. The family jumps to grab the small kid to help him into a chair. “Whoops.” Phil said and chuckles, “you alright mate?”

Tommy nods as he is being placed into Phil’s now empty chair. A sharp ache pulses through his legs and even lower back. Phil goes into his fanny pack to pull out some of Tommy’s pain killers. “Does it hurt?”

Tommy nods, “achy. And pulsing.” He said quietly to not pull anymore attention to himself. The looks they were getting from the other customers. That’s probably why techno sat them the way they did. So Wilbur and Tommy couldn’t see some of their annoyed faces. It makes Tommy’s ears drop, his tail curls and wings curl around him. Somewhere whispering while others tried to avert their eyes. But one pair was scowling at them. They looked ready to kill them as soon as they left. Tommy started to scratch at his arms. Panic picks up in his chest. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He’s a normal boy. Tommy tucks himself into a ball. 

“Tom?”

The two were snickering and chuckling. “How much do you think I could get for his fur and wings?”

“Aye man we could just cut them off. Ain’t he that kid from the news.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Another father steps in to reprimand the two. Tommy holds his ears down. It’s not safe. It’s never safe. It’s not safe anywhere.

“Baby take a sip.” Phil holds a straw to Tommy’s lips. The kid looks at Phil and wraps his mouth around the small tube to slurp up the lemonade, and surprisingly his pill. “How about we get out of here before you talk to techno. We can stop at a gas station.” Phil offers. Tommy silently but quickly nods. 

“WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TO SEE THOSE THINGS!”

“They aren’t hurting anyone!” 

“Damn brat is a fake!”

The shouting makes the boys jump and hug onto Phil tightly. The crow wraps his boys up in the black feathers and guides them away. Fake. Tommy was a fake. He wasn’t real. Nothing of his is real. It’s all fake. A child dressed up in fur and feathers. Phil doesn’t bother in getting his boys buckled when a woman runs out with milkshakes and extra fries to hand Phil. He thanks the woman before hurriedly getting in the car to drive off down the road.  The ride was silent. The soft sound of nails scratching against pale dry skin. They keep still amongst the silence of their own worry. Philza eventually pulls into a gas station and parks. He fills the car as his sons remain quiet. Until Wilbur’s eyes widen, his body shifts around to look at Tommy. Curled up in a ball and hugging himself tightly and tears soaking his knees, “Tommy.” He called to get the blonde’s attention, “I think I understand now.”

 

Tommy’s wet eyes shift up to Wilbur, Who had a look of concern but softened into something of comfort. “I know why you wanted to talk to Revive-bur. Come on. Let’s try this again.” Wilbur opens the door and goes to get Tommy. 

“Techno. Do you want to stay here? We are talking about feelings and how brotherly we are.” Wilbur teases  

“Ew sappy stuff. No. I’ll stay.” Techno says “someone has to protect Phil and our stuffies. In the name of the Antarctic empire. I must keep the emperor safe.” The piglin proclaims. Wilbur gives a sloppy salute to the pig and scoops up Tommy to carry him away to the side of the store. A quiet place to sit and talk. Wilbur wraps an arm and wing around Tommy. The warmth melts some of the confusion into sadness and pain. Pain, Tommy really wishes he never had to think about even though it lingers; continuously being a consistent thoughts in the back of his head. And now Wilbur knows as well. Tommy wasn’t a real hybrid. He’s a normi who was force into a series of unfortunate events and had to live as the terrible choices that other desperate adults made. Choices he shouldn’t even know were possible to make. The adults always explained that the hybrids get snatched to be treated like animals, but they never mentioned becoming a lab rat.

Tommy was human, not a hybrid. He wasn’t born with wings or a tail like Phil, Wilbur or techno. He was made. And he didn’t fit in with the rest of the family. It explains why he wants to talk to one of the altars of Wilbur, another perspective from someone who might also feel as if they don’t belong. As charmed as Wilbur and the rest of his altars are, it wasn’t the same. They belonged with Wilbur because they felt that each piece was part of Wilbur. They were a group of Wilbur. Although some have complained about being too big for a child or being too young to go out to the streets. It wasn’t as if they were trying to force the others into anything, it was simply a complaint. Something the altars voice but try to accommodate since they are all different. Wilbur doesn’t even have female altars. 

But Tommy was here before him. Tears splatting onto the concrete and head full of confusing thoughts, ideas, and horrible memories. Simply because he was finally with a loving family, but he was a fake amongst them. He doesn’t carry the genetics to have hybrid children in the future. Just normal kids. But the people he finally feels at home with, carry powerful wings, strong tusks, and glittering scales.

 

Wilbur holds Tommy closer.  A hand pulls Tommy’s head to rest into his side as the blazing sun beats down on them. Gentle finger tangle into bright golden strands of hair. The hold was comforting, “Yes. Sometimes, I do feel like an imposter. Not with my altars. But. I do.” Wilbur drifted off a bit. Tommy looks up at Wilbur with curiosity. “I feel like… I shouldn’t be here. With Phil and techno. You were kinda asleep but early this morning, Phil was talking about his wife. Or dead. Wife… she died because of me. She saved me. And I know that dad doesn’t regret… having me.” Wilbur spoke, tears pooling down his cheeks. “He doesn’t regret having me. Sometimes I think it would be better if dad didn’t like me because I got mom killed. But I know he wish he could have done more to save Mom and help me. Mom was so nice. She read me stories, and helped start singing. Dad taught me guitar. But I’ve loved singing because mom and I would make stupid silly songs… I miss her. It’s not fair you and tech never got to meet her. We may not feel like we belong or feel like a burden. But we don’t have to belong. Dad wants us. We want you. And we want techno.” Wilbur smiles at Tommy but is taken aback at the sight of those big blue pouring eyes with large fat tears. He didn’t mean to make the kid cry even more.

Tommy sniffles and hugs Wilbur tightly nuzzling into the brunette’s chest. It takes a moment for Wilbur to close his arms around Tommy again and pull the kid into his lap. “You're not a fake Tommy. This isn’t a costume. You’re one of us. Through and through. You’re wanted. We want you. You’re safe with us sunshine.” Wilbur spoke ever so sweetly, a voice that laced the meaning of words in sticky honey of promises. Making Tommy’s tears harsher and soaking Wilbur’s shirt. He doesn’t mind, considering his alters are reaching through Wilbur to also hold Tommy. They were here through Wilbur. Tommy cried into Wilbur’s chest for what felt like a lot, but it was needed to help the confusion and doubt melt from his shoulders and from deep within.

Wilbur has known he was wanted by Phil for a long time, sharing similar feelings as the golden boy. And Tommy came to Wilbur for this. That and Tommy figured out techno was more logical than emotional. Their middle brother would have confused Tommy more and unintentionally stirred more doubt and confusion. 

They sit on the sidewalk holding each other for some time. Some people peek around the corner to see where the crying is coming from but leave them be as kids are crying and snuggling. Phil watches the two from the car and smiles. 

“Aww look at them bonding.”

“At least it’s not me getting snotted on or feathers pulled.” Technoblade said. “I am kinda jealous though. You guys have wings. I can’t fly or perch in trees.”

Phil reaches out and runs a hand over technos head and holds the back of his neck. “We’ll figure something out, piglet. Maybe we can try paragliding. Or I can fly you around.”

Techno gave his dad a look, “Bruh. Tommy can’t fly yet. You can’t carry both of us. And Wilbur has never carried anything more than a cat when flying. Slow falling isn’t the same as flying.”

“Right.” Phil grins “Cause we can let you just slow fall. You have to slow fall, with style!” He said proudly making technoblade grumble and cringe. 

“Not the Toy Story references!” Technoblade grumbles. Phil just laughs as the car doors open. “Techno look and alien!” Phil says. It makes techno sink further into the seat. Tommy sniffles and hiccups as he buckles in and Wilbur right next to him with red eyes. Philza offers them their extra milkshakes and fries before they hit the road again. 

The princess and the frog soundtrack turns on causing the two older kids to smile as Tommy subtly wiggles in his seat and hums to the tune. Wilbur joins in soon they were all singing mama ode’s song and dancing in their seats. 

A proper song bird. 

Notes:

YAY! College is over I have graduated! I hopefully can continue posting as long as work doesn’t take up the majority of my time. Took me a minute to get back into this work but I’m glad you all like it.

Chapter 15: Die hard habits and memories.

Summary:

They make it to the beach house filled with a lot of people and stimulation. Oops now there’s fighting amongst the kids

Notes:

Thank you for being patient. Now feed on this. Please leave kudos if you like it!

Tommy sucks in a sharp breath lifting his head Henry’s fluffy tummy. The cow has been Tommy’s pillow for the long trip down to the beach house. By the time that they had arrived it was close to supper time, and Tommy was being woken up to Phil gently trying to unbuckle him. The man had a soft smile and picked him up from the seat with Henry and Clem tucked away into tommys chest. The kid rested his head softly onto the man's shoulder and snuggled into the warmth. The raccoon licks his lips and yawns, Phil coos softly as Tommy hides his face into Phil’s neck to block out the still bright blazing sun.

 

It was hot out and even as his boys tuck themselves under his black wings, the shade casted from the ink feathers does not abolish the heat. “Let's get you guys inside.” Phil says walking them up to the door. Tommy opens his eyes, the light blinding him for a moment before being able to see the large house that should hold everyone. There was a path that led to the back of the house. Tommy rests his head back onto Phil’s shoulder, there was moisture forming under his shirt and on his forehead. 

 

Phil knocks on the door and waits for the patterning of small paws, claws or hooves. The door swings open, in all his glory, “finally.” George said and let them in, we’ve been waiting for you. Everyone is out back, I’m playing manhunt with dream and sapnap.” He said as Phil stepped in with his tired boys. The interior was pleasantly decorated and surprisingly cool. Small shivers cause Tommy to fluff up and nuzzle his nose into Phil’s neck, to take in the soft rain forest scent of the faded shampoo. Wilbur takes Techno’s hand and runs off to go find the others. Tommy was content with his current spot on Phil’s chest and shoulder, just feeling like a small little one.

 

”Do you want me to take him?” Sam asked, “I can go get your things from the trunk.”

 

”uh… tommy. Can Mr. Sam hold you for a bit?  I have to bring everything in.” Phil rubs Tommy’s back and raking fingers through the bright feathers. Tommy purrs and coos, melting his body against phil. The idea of sleep floating back into his head and into his eyes. “Here. Pass him. I haven’t held him, other than his hand.”

 

”Okay, his wings are sensitive so please keep that in mind.” Phil lifts a tired tommy from his body, the boy whines and attempts to grab hold of phil again but another warm body grabs hold of his sides and lays him on the new shoulder. Once again the hand creases through each fluffy feather causing him to chirp and purr. Cooing into the warm chest, allowing his heavy eyes to drift close. The scent of citrus lime, mixed with mint. A strange combo for shampoo. Tommy nuzzles into the neck and yawns.

 

Sam purrs, “he’s so cute.” The feline hybrid rested his head on top of Tommy’s and sways gently. “Quackity and George didn’t like being rocked like this when they were little.”

Phil chuckled and pulled his hand free from the bold crimson feathers, “I’ll let you cuddle him while I bring everything in.” Phil spoke happily and went back to the car to get their things.

 

Wilbur on the other hand went to the group of kids who were in sittin on the couches playing Mario cart. Schlatt and tubbo were going against each other, the room split in half to cheer on one of the brothers for each side. Although tubbo was winning by a hair. Techno sat by Nikki, “hi Nikki.” The pre teen said. She smiles, “hello techno. Hey wilbur.”

 

“Hey, I take it that they are tied?” Wilbur asked, sitting down with the group. Sally scoots in right next to him and leans up against him. His cheeks turn pink as he placed an arm around her waist. The kids, except tubbo and Schlatt, jolt upon the shrill screams coming from outside from the bear cub and butterfly hybrid as they race away from the bat cat hybrid. “COME HERE! GEORGE SAPNAP! COME HERE!” Dream chased them with a fake axe painted in red. Heads turn to the door as the front door opens. Antfrost, was covered in red paint holding a blue rag also covered in paint. “I can't tag in till I wash this.” He said heading to the kitchen sink. The group of kids snicker and laugh out.

Tubbo loudly bleeps and tosses the controller and makes a pout face with his little arms crossed and a scrunched face. Schlatt makes a sly face grinning down at his little brother, “hehe, i won.” He said. The kids laugh and switch players. “So wilbur.” Sally wiggles even closer to the bird fish hybrid, “what do you think high school will be like? Are you going to join the theater club?”

 

”I’m not sure. I mean, it obviously isn’t gonna be like highschool musical. And it sure as hell isn’t going to be friendly and inclusive. No matter how much we want it to be. Thinking about it makes me kinda nervous.” He says watching Nikki and Jack play the game, giving it their all. Sally shrugs, “I think we will all be okay.”

 

”Yeah, but sometimes people grow further apart and we make new friends… I don't really want new friends, I like what I have now.” Wilbur holds the girl close to his side. She’s petite and cute, full curly red hair adorable freckles and eyes the shimmer in the rich green. 

”I’ll punch the idiots that mess with you.” She said and leaned closer to his face to press a soft kiss to his cheek. Wilbur goes bright red in the face and his wings fluff up from the shock with a sharp chirp escaping his mouth. His wings shift and jolt as a stupid grin spreads over his face, he lets out another chirp trying to be mindful, but he just got kissed by a really cute girl! A girl he really liked. He excitedly wiggle and chirps and then-

“ow! Wilbur!” Sally snaps at him and a sharp smack hits across his face. He blinked, freezing up, she was holding her hand with teeth indents on the back of her pale freckled hand, luckily no skin was broken. He opens his mouth a bit stunned with himself as he rubs his stinging cheek. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t even realize I was biting you. Are you bleeding? Do you need ice?” He asked as a few of their friends looked over.

”Dude, did you bite her?!” Foolish asked.

 

”I didn’t mean too.” Wilbur says now panicked that he had just fucked up his chances with one of the prettiest girls he’s ever met. He tries to form words to explain himself, they stare at him with worried conflicting expressions. They have no idea how to even react. He fucked up. He fucked up. He really fucked up and bit a girl who kissed him. How the hell does he even explain this to any of the adults?

”I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Wilbur jumps up to run off. Wilbur runs through the house to the backyard and rams straight into George. The two smackheads and fall straight into the sand in the backyard. 

Wilbur groans pressing his hands to the now forming bruise and bump. “Fuck. Ow.” He groans rolling to sit up. George sat up before flopping back down. Wilbur stares at George and the deep blue bruise on his head. He whines and looks back to the now gathering party of kids. Wilbur ducks down covering his head and wings curling around him. 

 

“Stop!”

Techno grabs everyone leading the herd and stops them. He stands in front of them with his arms out, “you're freaking Wilbur out.”

 

“He’s freaking out? He bit Sally, "We're freaking out!” Foolish said. Technoblade shakes his head, “no. Everyone needs to stop.” Technoblade says and snarls to keep their attention on him. 

 

“What the hell man?” Sapnap said walking up to George. Before Dream could even say anything, techno lets out a loud warning roar and snarls baring his teeth. The kids back away with their ears covered and go around the corner as the adults come running. Phil pushes through the adults but techno snarls at them and goes to Wilbur to take his hand and run off. Phil goes after his boys. Tommy lifted his head from Sam’s shoulder now confused as to why everyone in his foster family was running away. 

 

Phil chased after the boys down to the ocean where Wilbur pulled off his shirt and kicked his shoes off to race into the water. Techno backs away so the water doesn’t touch him. Wilbur swims off to get further out only to turn back peeking his head above the salt water to his father and brother. He gets closer and his father walks into the water. His wings lifted, “darling. Are you okay?” Phil reached a hand to touch the bump on Wilbur’s head. 

 

A moment of silence falls before he finally speaks. “Sally kissed my cheek.”

 

“Oh. Well that’s wonderful. Right?” Phil smiles. 

 

“I got excited. But I ended up biting her. I think everyone is now mad at me.” Wilbur says. He looks to the house then to Phil. “I didn’t mean to. It just happened. I don’t know why. I just. Her hand was in my mouth suddenly.”

 

Phil nods. “Okay. Maybe we can talk to a therapist about your biting. But you didn’t mean to do it. It could just be the animal part of you. Do you think it might be an altar?”

 

Wilbur thinks for a moment. He doesn’t remember biting her. Just that it happened. He usually doesn’t remember after his altars take over. 

Wilbur shrugs, “But phantom is 10. He doesn’t bite. And the others are older. They don’t even like me using a chew toy. And I got better. I swear!”

 

“I believe you, song bird. I know it’s strange and difficult. But no one is hurt. Besides a bruise. I can set up an emergency appointment with your therapist. Would that be helpful?” Phil suggested keeping calm. Wilbur has gotten better from his biting. It had turned into chewing habits although he does occasionally to be a little shit like earlier in the morning. But he hasn’t bitten anyone since technoblade had smacked him when they were a bit younger. Sally also smacked him. It left a mark on his cheek but the cooling salt water is taking away that sore sting. 

“Maybe?” Wilbur shrugs. 

 

 

On the other side of the beach, Tommy had gotten free from Sam after they saw techno and Wilbur run off. He fastened his leg braces and waddles after them slowly, taking the short path of soft sand to the beach. In all honesty the amount of sand his paws are sinking into are causing his joints to hurt after a few steps. His lower back aches and his eyes burn from the blinding bright setting sun. Ever since his unwanted incident with the previous family his eyes had started to get super sensitive to the light. Tommy had dropped to his hands and crawled quickly through the sand leaving a small trail behind him. 

He crawls for about five minutes as he finally starts to reach Technoblade who had kept his distance from the cool water. His pink fur had specks of sand and his pink hair was messy from the wind. But even with him standing and watching Wilbur speaking to Phil, he looks so cool. Even with the sweaty skin and hairs sticking around his face. Technoblade is so cool! Tommy sits in the soft sand and reaches up to hold his hand. Tommy can feel the rough thick skin and calluses. Phil said something about technoblade collecting weapons. Knives and blades. Tommy wonders if Technoblade knows how to fight with an actual sword. 

 

The sudden gesture makes techno jolt and look down at the raccoon fledgling who was now holding his hand. 

“You startled me.” Techno said and held Tommy’s hand his larger fingers encasing the cold little fingers. His thumb rubs over Tommy’s smooth soft baby skin and the small scars. 

“Is Wilby okay?” Tommy spoke quietly to the piglin. “You guys ran away.”

Techno nods, “yea. Wilbur is okay. He just got upset. He accidentally hurt Sally and George. He’s scared everyone is mad at him.” The older kid explained. “Wilbur bites sometimes when he’s super excited. It hurts though.”

 

“Oh, he hasn’t bitten me before.” Tommy proclaims and shows his hands. There was however a large healing bite mark from when Ranboo had bitten Tommy at their pool. The cat hybrid is still sending Tommy apologies from the incident. 

Techno nods once again, “I don’t think he could bite you. He subconsciously knows I’ll punch him again…. What did you and Wilbur cry about? At the gas station?” He asked bluntly, still curious about the conversation since it didn’t look like simple brother brother bonding. Technoblade sits down pulling Tommy into his lap. 

Tommy shifts his wings and leans against techno. His eyes shifted to Phil who was further in the water and holding Wilbur. “Mm… I don’t fit in. Cause I’m a fake. These aren’t mine.” Tommy said, patting his legs and fluttering his wings. 

“But they’re yours now. So it doesn’t matter.” Technoblade said. Tommy was correct with intuition, going to Wilbur rather than Techno. The second oldest boy wasn’t as emotional as Wilbur. Or rather a different understanding of emotions. 

“I’m not a real hybrid. I’m fake. I’m like a robot.” Tommy explains again and looks up at techno who was looking down at him. “You mean you weren’t born a hybrid?”

Tommy nods. Technoblade’s eyes shift up to Phil and Wilbur. “I don’t have wings. I think you're lucky you have wings. It’s super cool.” Technoblade said. Tommy stretched his wing to grab his deep red feathers. “Do you want them? They are not mine. You could-“

“No.” Technoblade quickly declines that idea. He hates that Tommy would just offer him those beautiful wings. Even now they look so good with golden hair and blue eyes. “Those are your wings Tommy. Even if they are modifications to your previous body. They’re an extension of you. Don’t ever offer to give them away. They could save your life one day. Maybe one day I’ll be able to fly.”

“With a jetpack?!” Tommy asked excitedly. Techno smiles, “yeah! Then I’ll be super fast. Faster than dad.”

“Then we have to have a race and see who is faster. You, me or Wilby!” Tommy proclaims happily. 

Techno rests his chin on Tommy’s head as the wind blows their hair off their shoulders. His arms tighten around Tommy to hold him close, “Yeah. But first you have to learn to fly and you have to stay with us. Forever. I don’t like being the only little brother.”

Tommy blinks and hugs techno. “I think I’ll always consider you and Wilby my brothers.” He says purring into Technoblade. But the pig hybrid grin maliciously, “Then as little brothers we have to annoy Wilbur and dad more. Now I have a partner in crime.” 

Tommy laughs, “okay. What should we do first then?” Techno tilts to Tommy’s ear to whisper his silly ideas. Making the kid giggle and his wings stretch out to technos sides. 

When the craft family returns to the house techno was carrying Tommy with the kid’s legs sticking out making his paws retract and flex his claws. He was doing the same with his hands. Wilbur had his head down, hand in hand with Phil. 

“You guys alright?” Bad asked. Skeppy was already in the freezer offering ice packs. 

Phil smiles warmly, “yeah. We’re fine. Anything happen while we were away?”

“Nothing major. Tubbo had a meltdown because he kept losing. George and Sally got fixed up. Ranboos' instincts flared again but Dream got him under control.” Skeppy informed them. Bad gets four paper plates down from the cabinet, “but dinner is ready. Who wants what?”

 

“Any potatoes?” Technoblade asked immediately. 

 

“Uh. Nope. Sorry” bad gives a concerned smile. “Carrots?” Techno gave a hopeful look and his big puppy eyes that no one believes he has come out. A quiet plea for at least one of his favorite veggies. Bad just lightly chuckles and coos at the boy, “I’m sorry techno. We were going to save the carrots for-“

 

“Do the thing.” Technoblade says and lifts Tommy to face. Phil and Wilbur make a face of confusion. That was until they stiffen upon seeing Tommy flop his ears down suddenly go all teary eyed and his lip quivers a little. “Please uncle bad? I want some too.” Tommy whimpers. His level of cuteness hit the threshold. Skeppy drops the ice packs and stares. “Aw. It’s too cute! You sweet little muffin!” Bad shouts taking Tommy into his arms and nuzzling him. “Alright. You muffins win. I’ll make you guys some carrots.”

Bad said over Tommy’s purring and nuzzling. 

Technoblade beams but then smirks looking at Wilbur. The 14 year old blinks looking at his 12 year old brother before grinning like the shits they are. Bad holds Tommy as he gets the bag of carrots. Tommy flutters his wings and smiles at Wilbur and techno. The two give him a thumbs up. “The kids are still in the lounge room playing games. I think they switched to uno.”

 

“Uno!” Techno and Wilbur shout excitedly. “Come on Tommy!” Techno reaches to take the boy back. Bad slips Tommy into the bouncing boy's arms and lets the three run off. Bad smiles but then gets brought back to reality with Phil. “What just happened?” Bad asked. 

Philza sighs and scratches his head, “I have no idea.” He says and takes the ice packs from Skeppy. “That was adorable.” Skeppy said, still confused with his trance. Bad was grinning ear to ear and vibrating. “I want another little muffin!” Phil and Skeppy laugh.

 

Wilbur follows techno and Tommy to the game room. He takes a quick deep breath dusting any remaining grains of sand from his clothes and entering the room a little slower than technoblade. 

“NO FUCKING FAIR!” Sapnap snaps and quacks as he’s forced to pick up the many cards. Quackity was sitting at his side just watching as Sapnap picked up all the cards he could. 

“You came back!” Sally excitedly ran to Wilbur and hugged him. Wilbur had lifted his arms before wrapping his arms around her. “Yeah. Sorry again. I don’t know why I bit you.”

 

“I’m fine. It just startled me. Did I trigger you or something?” Sally asked, stepping back. Wilbur shakes his head, “no. I just haven’t actually bitten someone since techno was a foster. He also punched me.”

 

Sally gave Wilbur a smug face, “I can’t tell if hitting is a kink of yours.” She raised an eyebrow. Wilbur went pink in the face. Sally giggles, “well I don’t mind biting either.” She said making Wilbur nearly shoot steam out his ears. His hand covers his eyes to hide away. The friend group was snickering. “You're going to kill me.” Wilbur says, trying to ignore the snickering. But Wilbur frees his eyes from his own hands and points at Sapnap, “you’re no better with Karl and Quackity! Like shit man pick one!”

 

Sapnap gasps and huffs, “don’t pull me into this man!”

Tommy sat with Ranboo who pulled him on his lap. The two watch between the boys as they all bicker and spill their love secrets which weren’t secret anymore. Even the kids started spitting out their parents' love lives.

When dinner was called by Skeppy, the diamond man peeks in and sees all the kids wrestling and shouting about how amazing their parents are and how in love the couples are. 

They were fighting over the love their parents had for each other? Skeppy was too confused to ask or stop them. It was kinda sweet seeing the kids argue about the love their parents hold. He leaves them alone to argue just as schlatt carried Tubbo back. The two brothers stare for a bit before he looks at the girls. Nikki, Sally, Hannah, technoblade and Karl had gotten up and went to Ranboo and Tommy. Hannah offers her hands.

“Come on. Let’s get to the food first before the boys steal all the good stuff.” Hannah said. Tommy sits to his knees. Legs wobbly and sore. Ranboo gets up and takes Nikki’s hands. Hannah helps Tommy up but Sally picks him up easily. “Awww I want a cute son like Tommy. I’ll spoil them to the moon and back.”

Tommy smiles and bleps out his tongue. The girls coo over him and Ranboo before. Tommy hugs Sally and looks over her shoulder to Wilbur getting heated about Phil going to marry lady Kristian. 

 

The small group goes to get plates of food. Technoblade makes Tommy a plate since he was unable to actually walk. The sand did a number on his legs and joints making them sore and his legs numb and shake. He felt tired again. 

“Do you want ice for your legs?” Nikki asks Tommy. 

“Yes please!” Tommy says, wagging his tail trying to give his brightest smile to hide his exhaustion. He couldn’t really do much other than eat and listen to the lively conversations as the other kids filter in. 

“So Tommy. Do you like having your brothers?” Sally asked, scooting closer to his little body. 

Tommy nods happily. “I love both techno and Wilby. They’re awesome. They don’t hit me or make me eat dirt or arms or fingers. But I can help with chores. They haven’t asked me to. And da- Phil hasn’t said anything or forced me to sleep outside or in a basement, They call me nice names and play with me. I’d give up my legs again if-“

A hand presses over Tommy’s mouth. Heads turn to techno. The boy shakes his head. “You said you wouldn’t talk like that again.”

Tommy’s ears flatten as technoblade moved his hand to point at Tommy paws. “Those. Are. Yours. Those too!” He points at Tommy’s wings. “Now stop it.”  Technoblade says. Tommy smiles, “see. They’re the best.” The kit said eating his veggies and noodles. Technoblade took notice that Tommy wasn’t eating his meat. He got up and heads to find Phil. “Ever thought about having a sister?” Sally asked. 

Tommy shakes his head quickly. “No. I don’t want sisters. The last few sister I had made me eat bugs and glass.” Tommy spoke bluntly. He leans closer to Sally and whispers, “Are you trying to look good so Wilby will finally ask you out?”

She blushes a little and whispers back, “is it obvious?”

“No. My ninth and tenth house, the lady would show me off to get um… uh pity points from men. Then steal their money. And ten used my foster kid status to make him look good.” Tommy whispers back. “You won’t hurt Wilby right? Or steal his money?”

Sally giggles, “no way. I really like Wilbur. And I like talking with you. But I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking him away from you or techno.”

Sally explains with a soft smile. That’s thoughtful. But Tommy can kinda see right through her even if it was part of her intentions. Tommy cups his hand to his mouth. “He likes your pretty hair and sparkling eyes. I can tell he likes singing with you. But he’s a wrongun, I’m not sure if he’ll ask you out. You will have to do that. Gotta be a big woman and ask him.”

Sally smiles and ruffles Tommy’s head as technoblade returns. “Thanks for the heads up.” She winks at him. 

Tommy nods before he turns to techno. “Hi techi.” The raccoon noticed the three books in technos arms and the adults holding small plastic cups with pills. 

“Meds.” Puffy says. Techno takes Tommy’s untouched food into his hands. “Tommy. Do you want your feeding tube? You're not eating much.”

Tommy gave a pitiful look and scratches at the back of his hands nervously, “I ate my veggies and noodles. Can’t I skip meat?”

Techno shakes his head, “You need protein. Protein is meat. I can read you a book while you eat. Or dad can get your feeding tube.” Technoblade explains while squatting down. 

“I'm not hungry anymore.” Tommy tries to excuse it. 

“You still are. There wasn’t enough to fill you.” Technoblade says and notices how Tommy tries to crawl over Sally’s lap and escape. Techno frowns at Tommy’s attempt and grabs his tail and paw. Tommy lets out a small squeak and sorely shakes his paw to throw techno off. Sally laughs at Tommy’s useless attempt at escape as the boy flops over her legs. His small wings shifting on his back. “Don’t wanna!” Tommy says as he gets pulled off Sally’s legs and picked up into technos arms. “No. Bad meat. I don’t wanna eat it!” 

“It’s not bad meat.” Technoblade swiftly takes Tommy out of the room leaving the untouched meat patty on the abandoned plat. They go find Phil on the patio waving a fly away from his drink. “Dad! Tommy won’t eat!”

“No! No, I'm full. I don’t want to eat anymore!” Tommy wraps his arms around his brother's shoulders and cuddles into the piglins neck and hides in the pink hair. He’s hit with the wonderful scent of vanilla lavender. “Eee! Haha Tommy that tickles!” Technoblade laughs, stomping his hooves and trying his best not to drop Tommy onto the patio. They continued to Phil who was smiling at the two. The older blonde reaches his hands out for Tommy. “What’s this about our kit not eating?” Phil asks playfully, taking Tommy into his lap. The boy purrs, hugging onto Phil but his wings shift and flutter and he becomes at war with having his back against Phil, or hugging the man. Tommy lets out loud chirps and chitters trying to gain comfort in his position while also cutting off Technoblade before a word is spoken. Phil just chuckles, pressing his hand between the two red wings seemingly calming the chick enough to hear techno. 

“One more time mate?” Phil asked Technoblade, not caring of the other adults listening in.

Technoblade groans, “He won’t eat his meat. He’s gonna wake up hungry. And he won’t ask for food cause he doesn’t wanna wake us. Then he’s gonna starve all night and his tummy will go all hollow. And if he doesn’t eat meat then he’s gonna get all skinny and weak and then he can’t run or walk or fly. And the-…” technoblade grabs his shirt and mumbles a little. 

Phil makes a worried face as Tommy looks over his own arm at his older brother. “And what tech?” Phil asks, keeping calm with the entire interaction. It’s a worrying topic. Now that they know how aware technoblade is of his situation. 

Techno’s ears lower, “my… my worshippers will get him. I don’t want him to go there.”

Phil takes in a deep breath and smoothly reaches to pull his 12 year old into a hug. 

“Aww mate, you're so sweet. We won’t let that happen.” He explained trying to gain more faith in his middle child. Technoblade hugs tightly around Phil, “But they're still trying. The voices say to go back. But they want me to stay with you, Wilbur and Tommy.” He whispers and hides his face into Phil’s torso. “I don’t wanna say anymore.”

“Ah… oh. Bad? Are there any packages of unopened beef left?” Phil asked, turning to the other adults. 

Bad makes a confused face, “uh yea? I don’t think it’s healthy for kids to eat raw meat though.”

 

Tommy makes an appalled face of pure disgust. Technoblade had frowned, “ew.”

Tommy nods, “Yeah, that’s fucking gross bitch.”

Most of the adults choke or spit out their drinks. Two newer adults that look very similar to each other wheeze and laugh with Skeppy and Ponk. 

“Language you muffin! Skeppy don’t laugh, he's gonna end up swearing as bad as Phil and Wilbur.” Bad scolds Tommy and his partner. The table was laughing and puffy was trying to hide under the table. But Mr.Bad seemed upset with Tommy. Really upset.

“I’m sorry.” Tommy hides into Phil. 

Phil smiles, “oh. No no no. Sunshine, it’s alright. It’s funny. We all call BadBoyHalo a bitch and he yells at all of us.” He reassured his young fledgling with a nuzzle. Tommy glances at the other adults who were still laughing or giving thumbs up, he looks at technoblade for a confirmation. He just nods, “if he was actually mad you’ll know.” Technoblade said. “Now about your food!”

Tommy frowns, returning his face to Phil’s shirt. “Why don’t you show Tommy that the package of meat is animal. Then he should be more willing to try it.” Phil says. Technoblade pulls Tommy back into his arms. He trots off with Tommy bouncing with each step. “Bye dad.” Techno spoke quickly. 

“Bye.” Phil waves and rests an arm on the table. His mood turns a little glum, “I wish I could just keep them in my nest. Techno is so perspective it’s really hard to keep them from finding things out.”

Cìta scoots closer to her brother, “well you can’t hide everything. No matter how much you want to hide them away. Kids will get burned by the chasing fire.” She says poetically only to get weird looks. “Oh, come on! It’s poetic!”

XDee raised an eyebrow, “whatever weirdo.”

Phil simply laughs and glances into the window. His heart squeezes and melts witnessing techno feeding Tommy. Schlatt was obnoxiously reading one of technos books as Quackity and Wilbur played their guitar’s dramatically. At least today was a pretty decently good day. “Sam! George fell asleep on the bathroom floor! I can’t get in!” Antfrost shouts to Sam. The lion sighs, getting up from the table, “I’m coming.” He says. 

Yeah. Today was a pretty good day.

Chapter 16: Flight of the raccoon

Summary:

Tommy goes missing and finds a new friend to bond with.

Notes:

Thanks for your patience! Please leave kudos and comments if you like.please leave comments and kudos if you like this work

Tommy stares at his sleeping brothers and friends. It was the dark night, a time before the blinding hot sun had the chance to heat the cool night away. Or it was 2am and Tommy can’t sleep because he’s a raccoon. His medicine has been helping his body adjust more and more. But he doesn’t like being the only one awake. Tommy has been sleeping less and less at night. He’s still a little nervous to tell Phil, but he doesn’t want his da-

Phil, and foster brothers to panic. He climbs down from bed and tiptoes out of the room. Techno was snuggled up in the nest and he can’t see Wilbur. phil was on the blow up mattress on the floor. He must be in a different room snuggling schlatt or doing gross couple chatter with Sally. He closed the door before walking down the hall and steps down creaking stairs. His ears flicker picking up snoring and 

shifting of bodies. he can’t hear Wilbur. He sniffs the air but can’t pick up that forest rain scent. His legs were still sore as he yawned. There was a soft linger of tiredness as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. But it wasn’t enough for him to try sleeping. 

Tommy wanted to move around a little more. He walks to the small playroom where most of the kids left their bigger devices to charge. He noticed how messy the room was. There were snack wrappers and crumbs. The controllers and couch cushions were everywhere and it was kinda dusty. There was a broken cup on the floor. Tommy’s ears pin back as he steps into the room and starts cleaning up. He can clean up. It’s fine. He can take care of it. Phil won’t need to know and everyone is asleep. They don’t need to know. He just has to find a broom and trash can first. Tommy picks up a controller and grows appalled by the gross stickiness of the remote. 

“Ew.” He whispers. He’s gonna need to find wet wipes. 

Tommy can’t remember when he fell asleep in the cabinet of the wash room. He has somehow grown comfy with Henry and Clem along with his new stuffed friend Shroud, his weighted spider plush that Phil had gotten him. Tommy rubs his eyes to the darkness around him. Light was peeking in through the cracks. It was a small short hallway to the kitchen. He can see Phil fluffed up and wings shaking anxiously. He had spent hours cleaning the room and discarding trash. He had cleaned the leather seats and controllers from any existence of sticky fingers. 

“Did you find him?!” Phil sounds panicked. 

“No, I haven’t seen him.” Sam said. There was clacking of hooves. “He’s not in the garage and the kids can’t find him outside.” Puffy said also in a panic her breath was short and huffy, as if she’s been running. “This isn’t like him…. Phil, you did nothing wrong. I assure you.”

“I-. I know it’s just hard. Wilbur and techno are blaming themselves. technoblade is frantic about his followers and Wilbur thinks he scared him away with his biting. He’s been missing for god knows how long. What if-“ Phil pauses and chirps out distressingly. Is someone playing hide n seek? Without him?! Tommy rubs his eyes before tiredly gathering his friends and cracking open the little door. Phil looked really scared and Sam was moving around the kitchen. 

“What if he did get snatched away?! I’ve been working so hard to get that cult shut down. So hard to get us hybrid rights so we could all be safe. I don’t know what to do! What if he drowned?! I can’t lose my kit! I can’t do this again. Not with my fledglings I can’t lose any of my boys.” Phil says, clutching a chunk of his hair into his fist. 

 

“We will find him. We has eyes searching everywhere. And Sally and Wilbur were outside in the backyard early in the morning. They would have heard him if he went to the beach and Dream heard him around four before he fell asleep. So he couldn’t have gotten far. Quackity Kristian and George are flying around looking for him. Foolish and Wilbur are in the water. and everyone else is running around.  Puffy spoke softly. Kinda like she does when Tommy gets picked up from houses. She’s really gentle like that. But she often whispers promises she won’t keep. Was Phil scared? 

Tommy pushes open the small little door more. His ears focus on the many pounding drums in their chests and Phil’s tears splatting onto the wooden floor. 

“Where is he?” Phil curled his wings around his body. 

Tommy, tucks back into the cabinets and looks to his friends for a silent meeting. He stares at his plushies tiredly as they have their small meeting. So everyone was playing hide n seek. And someone was missing, and daddy was crying and panicked. Wilby and techno were also searching. He should be a good friend and help. But fist he should go hug daddy.

Tommy nods while using his little fingers to make his fluffy friends nod back at him. The three plushies are gathered into his arms as he slowly crawls out of his sleeping spot and patters over to Phil. He drops his friends to give Phil a big hug. The avian jolts and chirps looking under his wing. “TOMMY!” He drops down to scoop up Tommy into a tight hug. Puffy and Sam gasp and relaxed taking deep breaths to calm their hearts. 

“I wanna help you look, Phil. You don’t have to cry anymore. Hide n seek is tricky.” Tommy says, trying to rub away Phil’s tears. He didn’t wanna scratch Phil with his nails. But he didn’t expect Phil to sit on the floor and hold him so tightly. Sam and Puffy allow the crow some space. “Tommy, where were you?” Puffy asked. Tommy points to his cubby space he was tucked in. “I got sleepy after I cleaned. It was. Um. It um. Popopous.” Tommy stumbled over the word. 

“preposterous?” Sam asked. Tommy nod. “I woke up. And you guys were playing hide n seek without me, and Phil is crying. So. So. Someone isn’t playing right.” Tommy proclaimed. It makes the two adults relax more. Sam moves away “I’ll grab the others.”

Puffy sits down as Tommy wraps his arms around Phil’s head. The bird man coos and chirps nuzzling into his kit's soft pajamas. “Tommy,” she spoke softly but sternly. This tone meant he did something bad. It was serious. “Honey, we weren’t playing hide n seek.” She said, taking another deep breath before continuing, “We were looking for you. Phil was scared that he couldn’t find you. He missed you very much. When did you come downstairs?”

 “Two.” Tommy whimpers. “I couldn’t sleep anymore. I cleaned the game room. I didn’t eat glass, or dirty wrappers! I promise. I was careful! I used the garbage can. I um. The clock said umm…. Four, thirty eight. Then I don’t know.” Tommy said and pets his dads head. He’s never been missed by anyone before. It feels nice and bad. He doesn’t like them crying but they care enough to cry they don’t want to send him away. His other 12 homes never cried for him. They were all angry at him. This is too confusing, and he’s too tired and hungry to think. 

“Can I eat breakfast with Phil?” Tommy asked puffy as his tummy rumbled, she couldn’t hold back a snicker. “Darling, did you not eat anything when you cleaned?” Tommy shakes his head, “No. I didn’t eat the dirty stuff and glass. Phil said not to. I think it scares Wilbur and techno when I eat alone.” He spoke as his tummy rumbled and ached. He’s hungry. 

Phil sniffles and rubs his eyes. “Let’s get you some food fledgling.” He says his eyes are red and puffy from crying. 

“I’m sorry Phil.” Tommy said, hugging his dad around his neck. 

“It's alright kit.” Phil sniffles and relaxes. “Ugh. Please. Wake me up next time. I don’t want any of my babies to be missing again.” Phil cradled Tommy tightly to his chest before he stood up with his claws clacking on the hard floor. 

“Sunshine!”

“Theseus!” 

Wilbur and Technoblade come racing and stumble into each other as they approach Phil and Tommy. Their father engulfs his children into those pretty ink feathers as his boys nuzzle and purrs while rubbing away tears. “You disappeared!”

“We’re sorry!”

Tommy pats their heads. “Why are you sorry? I was sleeping.” The two stop and bewilderment plaster onto his older brothers. “You were sleeping?” Techno asks the younger. Tommy nods and leans over Phil’s arm to point at the open cabinets. Surprise and relief had swept over the family and friends that were entering the house now sweaty and gross from running around. 

“I fell asleep because I cleaned the game rooms. I liked cleaning on my own.” Tommy said. Wilbur goes back to panic as he grabs Tommy’s plump baby cheeks. Techno pushes up Tommy’s shirt to press his nose to the boys tummy. The boy blinks in surprise and whines as his older brother forces his mouth open and trying not to giggle with pink hair and snout tickling him. “DID YOU FUCKING SWALLOW IT?! Dad! There was broken glass!” Wilbur shouts as the rest of the kids enter with the adults. Phil holds up a hand to stop Wilbur, “Relax. Breath. He didn’t eat anything. No glass was consumed, we have to calm down a little. I don’t want you to have an alter shift while stressed out like this. Deep breath Wilbur.” Phil curls his wings tighter around his older boys. Wilbur lets go of Tommy’s cheeks taking a few deeper breaths to calm down. Techno steps back, “I don’t smell any blood in his tummy. But he’s hungry.” Technoblade says. “I wanna make Theseus food!”

Puffy chuckles. “How about you help Bad make everyone lunch later today. We have a plate of pancakes, bacon and fruit for Tommy.” Technoblade gets a little spark of memory and looks at Tommy, determination in his eyes. “It's a pig.” He says touching Tommy’s fluffy tail. Tommy blinks a little confused at what techno meant by proclaiming pig hybrid. When it finally hits him. Tommy leans closer, “no yucky meat?!” He asked. 

Technoblade nods. “I checked all the meat we have. Pork is pig, beef is cow. Chicken. And there’s fish. And Skeppy went to the store to get tofu, potatoes and carrots. So you don’t have to worry.” Technoblade spoke. 

Tommy wraps his small loving arms around his brothers and hugs them. “Thank you. I’m sorry I scared you.”

“It’s okay. Just. Wake-“ Wilbur slumps forward staring off. Phil smiles sweetly. But Sapnap tilted his head and crossed their arms, “what other meat is there to eat?”

Quackity grins like a little shit. Karl makes a face. 

“Ewww! You're nasty!” Dream said, walking past them and shaking his head “get a room.” He yawns as he goes to the couch. 

“There’s plenty of room here.” Quackity snickers. Schlatt was snickering. “Flatty patty.” He says walking past the three. Quackity quacks and starts shouting in Spanish. In which the goat and duck walk around the corner while shouting and laughing in different languages. Wilbur lifts his head and blinks. He smiles at his family. The raccoons' stomach growls loudly making them all laugh. “Let’s get Tommy breakfast.” Phil said. The house relaxes into their playful banter. 

Everyone is lounging around in swimsuits or summer clothes outside, racing up and down the beach. Phil was in a chair under a canopy typing on his computer with Tommy Tubbo ranboo and purple not far from him making wet sand castles and towers.  “Can you hand me the water bucket?” Tubbo asked ranboo who hands it over. 

“Me too?” Tommy asks. 

“Sure, just a second.” Ranboo says letting Tubbo go first. Tommy waits patiently. He waits as the two talk about their little dutchy. Tommy gets closer and makes his puppy eyes. “Ranboo. Please can I have the water bucket?” He asked sweetly, Ranboo and Tubbo stare at him for a long moment before the purple bucket is handed over to him. 

“WOW, what? Your puppy eyes were. What just happened?” Ranboo blinks out of his daze. Tubbo pushes Ranboo’s cheek to get the wild cat out of the way. The cat meows out trying to flip over as he’s flopped into the sand making Purple laugh at Tubbo seeing how a goat bee had easily moved the big cat out of the way. 

“That was,” Tubbo excitedly grabs Tommy’s face, smooshing His cheeks between his sandy fingers. It makes Tommy want to push off the goat and scream. “You’re so cool!! You Have like, a superpower! Does it work on adults?!”

Tommy nods before pulling tubbos hands away to pick up two frisbee’s. They looked like record discs. 

“Tommy, give them here.” Dream says running over with an arm stretched out to snatch them. Tommy’s smaller arms wrapping around the two frisbees. “No!” He snaps. 

Dream stops moving and glares. “I need them. I’m being nice.” He said and when Tommy shakes his head. Dream quickly tries to snatch them. Tommy screams as he scrambles to jump away. He holds the discs in his mouth and runs away trying his best to get through the soft sand on his hands and paws. His small wings flutter and flap with panic. Dream was hissing and chasing after him. “Give me the frisbees!”

Tommy jumps over Sam and Ponk. Bad sat up allowing Tommy to circle around him with Dream hot on his tail. Tommy flutters and stands up dropping the discs in his hand and chucking them to Tubbo. “Tubbo!” He shouts before face planting into the sand.

“Are you kidding me?!” Dream raced away from Tommy now that the goat had caught them and took off running and trying to fly away.  

“Are you okay?” Quackity asked Helping Tommy get up. The blonde shakes the sand from his sweaty hair and rubs off the grains of rock. “I kay.”

“Are you sure?” Quackity asked. Tommy nods trying to spit out the salty sand but ends up crunching on a few that got stuck on his teeth. It was a weird texture and taste. The dusty salty. 

“Tommy spits it out as best as he could but looks up when he hears screaming. “Tommy!” Tubbo shouts racing to get away from the crazy cat and bat hybrid. His best friend drops them from overhead. Dream slows himself looping around to go after Tommy. They land in front of him and Tommy scrambles to pick them up sticking them back in his mouth to race away. 

“Tommy. Slow down your going to strain your legs!” Phil calls out but he can’t slow down. He has to get away and fight to keep his discs!

 

Tommy and Tubbo play this game of back and forth. Duking Dream as they run around for about ten impressively long minutes. That was until. Dream had enough and pinned down Tubbo. “Give me the discs or I’m pushing Tubbo into the salt water!”

 

“Noo! My wings get itchy with salt water!” Tubbo cried out trying to wiggle free. His transparent wings flutter and hum while being compressed under the cat. “Ow. Dream that hurts.” 

“Tough shit!” Dream snaps. 

Tubbo huffs and kicks his legs before shouting out, “Auntie! Dream is being rough!”

 

“Dream!” Cita yelled to her little brother from her folding chair. she had lowered her sunglasses just enough to peer over the rose gold frame. She was sunbathing in the heat next to puffy and skeppy. Corpse and their younger sister Drista were playing in a plastic kiddie pool nearby with XD. Drista stays with XD and Cita since they have full time jobs.  Dream sat up and huffs with frustration with his sister's tone. “I’m trying to be intimidating! They’re not fucking sharing it!”

“That’s fine, but use gentle hands. You're bigger than him.” Cita spoke and silently raised an eyebrow, her white tail sways lightly grazing the sand. She gently licks her fingers and purrs. Unlike Dream and XD, their older sister didn’t have wings. Corpse doesn’t have wings either but he’s missing an ear on his mask. Dream grumbles easing up on tubbos back. “Better?!” He snaps at the goat. Tubbo nods, “yeah, I’m okay.”

Dream had turned his attention back to Tommy. “Give me the frisbees!” He hissed, holding out his hand. “Or say goodbye to a non itchy goat boy.”

“Tommy! He’s gonna throw me in the sea!” Tubbo whines out, wiggling his hooves.

”oh no, you can’t do that to tubbo. Whatever shall i do to help my super pog champ friend! Perhaps… I’ll break out into song!” Tommy shouts out loud and proud and before he could even start, someone calls out to tubbo. 

“Tubbo!” Tommy turns around to a few kids running up to them. Tubbo pushes Dream off and runs to go hug them. Ranboo raced past joining Tommy in their group hug, “Crumb! Bill, Freddie, Amisey!” The two hug the four new kids. One being a cat hybrid. A calico cat. The other a long eared bunny? 

“Hey! You kids play nice and don’t go too far! We are eating in an hour.” An adult not too far off with their own little group was setting up. Dream had stood up and held up his hands as a ‘what the fuck’ gesture. “Uh. Hello. We were in the middle of a game!” He shouts to Tubbo who ignores the annoyed cry. Tommy looks at the frisbees and hands them to Dream. Dream looks down at them. The cat purrs, taking them into his hand. “Thanks.” Dream spoke. 

“You were super fast. Do you run a lot?”

 

“Uh yeah. XD has me in parkour classes.” Dream said. Tommy’s tail sways, “I know piano.” Tommy spoke quickly. 

“Tommy!” Ranboo called and waved him to the group of kids. “Bye dream.” Tommy he turns to join his friends when a sharp pain runs through his legs and lower back. It pulses and burns, his paws spasm and twitch. He hits the sand, Face fist once again. “Ow!” The raccoon cried out in pain while his wings flicker and tighten, shaking uncontrollably. It hurts. Every movement makes his legs and back hurt. Like a reminder that these limbs weren’t his. He was a fake. A fake son. Fake hybrid. Even his little body says he’s fake. 

“Mr.Phil! Tommy is hurting!” He heard Purple shout out. There was a beat of wings and movement. The sand was digging into his skin each second becoming uncomfortable as it clings to his damp skin. It itches! He’s on his stomach and everyone could touch his wings. They could be pulled off! They could be taken away again. 

“I’m here Tommy.” Phil lays on the ground with him curling a wing over Tommy. “You’re alright kit. Let’s keep our hands still. We’re alright.” Phil said softly, laying his arm along his spin. The weight felt nice. Flock was there. Dad was here. No! This is terrible! He pulled Phil from busy work! Phil has to work on important stuff!

“Take slow deep breaths, you're having a bad Phantom limb spasm.” Phil says. But Tommy doesn’t want to breathe deeply. He wants to be held by flock. He chirps sadly and whines. He’s being bad by pulling Phil from his work. 

“Try rubbing the area. That helps me.” A voice spoke up. Tommy looked up to another little boy with short tight curly brown hair and bright brown eyes. He didn’t have a tail or ears. But one of his eyes was slitted and… snake like? From the side of his lip. Two fangs popped over the baby fat. One hand has claws while the other was a normal human hand. He squeaks as Phil’s hands grab his calf and paws to rub circles into his sandy fluff. There’s sharp jolts of pain that make him whimper and whine. Tommy decides to punch his legs to make them work again. Phil takes his hands and folds them into his chest, “Fledgling, let's not do that. I know it hurts but give it a moment.” Tommy lays in the grainy sand and waits with the jolts of pain until it subsides into an ache. Tommy props himself onto his elbows the annoying feeling of sand presses into his stomach and worms its way into the hem of his swim trunks. He looks up to the deformed kid before slowly sitting up onto his knees the kid leans down and offers his hand. “Hi. I’m Eryn!” He said. Tommy looks at the normal hand. There were a few scars on his fingers. 

“You're like me?” Tommy takes his hand to examine rather than using the help. 

“Like you? Well I'm a lizard hybrid now. I was born a non-hybrid. I got kidnapped and changed. But I’m living. Kinda scary but I’m okay.” Eryn said. “My foster family is super nice. They’re learning and we like playing around.” The younger hybrid was cut off when Tommy stood up and hugged him tightly. He purred with his chest filling with happiness. There were other like him. There were others that knew something similar. He wasn’t alone. His eyes burned and his throat filled with coos and citters. Eryn wrapped his arms around Tommy while Phil fluttered to his feet. 

“He is just like you then.” Tommy’s foster father proclaimed making the newer kids tilt their heads. “He wasn’t born this way. He was made.”

Eryn’s eyes widened “Really?” He asked tightening his arms around Tommy. “I never met someone my age that went through the change. I can have a friend I can talk to!” Eryn’s eyes weld up with tears. His and Tommy’s lips quivers as happy tears as they hug each other tightly. The heavy scent of salt water and sunscreen invaded his nose more than ever. A friend just like him, an amazing foster dad, loving brothers who care, new friends that don’t care about his history. Tommy feels blessed to even have this opportunity. Another kid just likes him to hug. 

“Uh,” Ranboo spoke, clearing his throat which doesn’t phase Tommy from his loud purring and bushy gold tail bushing up the sand with each joyful swing. “Guys this is Tommy. Tommy you know Eryn, that’s Bill, Freddie, Aimsey, and Crumb. Their families are in the neighboring beach houses. And aimsey is my actual neighbor.” Ranboo explains over Tommy’s purring. 

 

Eryn attempts to let go to be polite but Tommy pressed up against him purring louder so his arms wrap around the kid. “Uh,”

“Tommy gets all clingy sometimes. Serious touch deppration.” Tubbo smiles. 

Ranboo grins, “Deprivation.” Tubbo gives Ranboo his resting bitch face, making the group snicker, “That! Anyway, Tommy is clingy. We make a game of it. But probably better if we go get popsicles and build a giant sand castle.”

Crumb shoots her hand up, “can I bring my new cat bucket?!”

“As long as it works.” Tubbo said. 

“My buckets work just fine!” Freddy said annoyed and huffed. Bill grins, “I have dye water to dye the sand.” He said and ran off to go get his kid friendly sand dye. Crumb patters after him to go get her sand pail. Aimsey raised an eyebrow while watching Tommy purring away, “how long do you think he’s going to be like that?” She asked to go in to poke Tommy’s side. Purple shrugs his arms and fixes his sunglasses. “He’s really clingy. So a while. Tubbo and Ranboos dutchy is that way. I’m building

 

“Before you kids go off and play.” Phil dusts himself off. “Could I go introduce myself to your parents? Especially Eryn’s parents. I have a few questions.” The request makes the kids smile as they lead the way to the second group of parents. Fred and Bill didn’t have anyone in their families with features. Tommy is so happy that they're all nice and happy and welcoming. Phil had introduced himself happily shaking hands as Tommy hid in his shadow. 

“Mrs. Harris! This is Tommy!” Eryn said, pointing to Tommy who shyly peeks out from Phil to look up at the adults. They smile and wave. 

“He’s like me!” Eryn beams, “he has wings! And a long fluffy tail. And-“

“Eryn,” the reptilian’s foster mother cuts him off, Tommy ducks further away hiding in black feathers. “Let's not over share. He might not want us to know so much. Okay?” She spoke sweetly, reminding her son to be mindful. Eryn nods, “okay. Tommy, these are my foster parents. They’re really nice. We can set up a huge sleepover with everyone someday.” Eryn said smiling at Tommy but twisted into confusion as Tommy kept pressed against Phil as they stared at him and waited to respond. They’re waiting for him again. “Tommy?”

 

Phil chuckles quietly, “my son gets very shy and nervous around adults he’s unfamiliar with.” Phil rubs Tommy’s head. “It’s alright mate. Take it slow. Deep breath, let’s start with your name.” Theseus swallows. The paws he stands on, flex into the sand before one starts to lift and dig its claws into his fur. His claws scratch at his legs. “Theseus. Go by Tommy.” The boy spoke hushly. “And how old are you?” Phil asked. Tommy opens his mouth but his voice chokes and stops. So he holds up eight fingers. Before scratching at the back of his hands. His dad separated his hands to press them onto his ribs as he took a deep breath. Slow and calm. Like the cooling waves washing over sand. Like the roaring heat beckoning him to sleep under. Like Wilbur’s comforting hugs, and techno soft story telling, and philza carrying him in caring arms. Tommy keeps still as he listens to Phil breathing. The avian's rib cage slowly expands and deflates under his fingers.

The words of conversation go over Tommy’s head in a fog. There was something cold pressing into his hand. Tommy’s eyes focused onto his hand where a dark green colored frozen ice stick is pressed into his hand. A popsicle. 

“I’ll have to find compression socks for him.” Phil spoke clearly. Tommy’s ears flicker as he blinks and wiggles his nose to sniff out the scent of the sweet treat. His small fingers shift to wrap around the transparent plastic. The supposed solid ice was actually turning slushy. There were scratch marks on his wrist and back of hand. How long had he been hugging onto Phil?

“Thanks again for talking with me. I’m sure the kids would love to have play dates.” Phil spoke. 

 

“Yes! Here is my number! With how shy Tommy is it might be best if we start somewhere he’s familiar with. I don’t want him to be triggered and not get the chance to play with them.”

Tommy peeks out to the families before them; their focus was on Phil now. Tommy truly wishes he could remain as calm and collective as Phil sometimes. He always seemed to be able to continue things and never get nervous. He lifts his head from his dads back letting out a soft yawn. 

“Again. Thank you. We should probably head back.” Phil spoke up. 

“Yeah. Have a good day Phil.  I’ve to meet you Tommy.” The group waves to him. Tommy waves shyly as Phil wraps a wing around him and leads him back to their area. Tommy looks at the popsicle in hand. “They’re pretty nice. I’m glad you found more friends.”

Tommy nods, holding onto Phil’s hand remaining pressed close as they walk through the sand. There was a sense of comfort with dad’s hand and the salty breeze blowing through his red feather and pushing sticky gold strands off his wet forehead. His wings shift and itch to be spread out and moving. 

“Yeah, dad, can I try flying again?” Tommy asked quietly the waves covering most of his words. Thankfully Tommy caught his own slip up when Phil hummed looking down at him. “What was that mate?” He asked again. 

“C-can I try flying again?” Tommy asked. Phil smiles brightly, “sure mate, let’s go get you your meds first and water then we can give it a go.” The avian sounded excited that Tommy wants to try again. He chirps and takes Tommy to their stuff to dig out Tommy’s pills for the afternoon. Tommy takes a gulp of his water and opens his mouth for Phil to drop them in. Phil instinctively pushes the pills down Tommy’s throat with his fingers, much like a mama bird. Tommy jolts and bites down on reflex. 

“Ow!” Phil tore his hand away letting Tommy make a face before gulping his water. “Why’d you bite me?” Phil looks at his fingers. 

Tommy finished swallowing, “You pushed them in my throat.” 

“Did I? I’m sorry starlight. Are you hurt?” Phil asked. Tommy shakes his head, “I’m okay. Felt fucking weird.”

It makes Phil chuckle a bit, “it’s how I got Wilbur and Techno to take their pills when they were younger. Normally avians feed their young like that until they are about 4 when they can start feeding themselves. It’s better than the old fashion way where we regurgitate it back up half digested into your mouth. That's kinda messy. So we just mash the food and use our fingers now.” Philza had explained. Tommy makes a look of disgust and steps away from Phil. 

“What? It’s natural for our kind. Hurry up so I can finally teach you to fly.” Phil puts on his shirt and hat. Tommy gulps water. Before putting his bottle back in the cooler. “I ready!” He says as Phil scans over the beach spotting Wilbur with Quackity and schlatt. Techno was with the sunbathing girls, napping with a book next to him. 

“Bad!”

“Yeah?” He looks up from the big cooler he had brought out. He was holding a large Tupperware of cut up fruit. “Can you and skeppy watch out for Wilbur and techno? I’m taking Tommy up.” Phil flexed his wings to stretch. Tommy looks over the large wing span and lifts his own smaller wings arching his back to copy his dad. The stretch feels nice. His feather in full flex. He gives a little flap before retracting. “Sure philza. Your little muffins are safe with me.” Bad said, “want me to save you some pasta salad? I have a separate container without meat for Tommy.”

“That would be great. Thanks bad!” Philza said happily scooping up Tommy and speed walking away before jogging and having his wings take him and Tommy off the beautiful blue sky. Tommy squeals and laughs holding onto Phil for dear life as they fly higher into the cooling winds. “We’ll start with some basics. There’s a lot more to flying than just flapping your wings. Phil spoke as he slows down. Tommy turns to the horizon. Tommy’s chest filled with excitement at the view. “When we fly. It is always with purpose. That purpose changes, a selfless reason. Or for something selfish. But there’s always a reason, and never a wrong reason to fly because it’s a part of us. And now a part of you.” Philza spoke kinda sounding-

“Old.” Tommy spoke. “Oldza.” He grins and giggles as Phil sighs in defeat. “Alright mate, let’s get started.” Tommy quickly grabs hold of Phil as if threatened, “But don’t drop me suddenly!” 

“I won’t kit. Trust me, you're safe with me.” Phil hugs Tommy tightly planting a kiss to his head. As long as he has his daddy and brothers, he’s safe. “I trust you, daddy.”

Chapter 17: Change of good and bad.

Summary:

The past returns to cause problems during his path of healing. His loving family will fight for him.

Notes:

Sorry I’ve been gone for a bit but I’m alive. Leave comments and kudos. Check out my other works!

Over the next two days, Tommy took a liking in his lessons, and his flight goggles. The sea blowing through his hair and the sun heating his back. Wilbur would fly with him from a distance and Phil would be right under him. He feels kinda upset that techno can’t join them. The hog hybrid has mentioned wanting to experience it. But can’t with Tommy being a new flier. Wilbur is still unable to carry anyone but himself while flying and Phil has to focus on teaching Tommy. Phil doesn’t want Wilbur to plummet to the ground below. It leaves techno being a ground pig with no way of joining. However he’s never alone, in fact, techno would wave or do his own thing sometimes. He always has his family. Family is everything. 

Tommy would spot techno chasing Quackity around or wrestling Dream. He often read or slept under the sun without a care in the world. Except BadboyHalo, the piglin does not like Bad. Tommy would laugh at techno as the boy ran from Bad. Something about how nice Bad is that freaks out technoblade. Wilbur and Sapnap tease Technoblade about it all the time since it only happens when Phil isn’t really around. Tubbo claims that Bad is an actual demon from hell. But he was casted out because he was so nice and didn’t want to torture any souls. 

 

“Da-. Uh Phil?” Tommy said, tightening his arms around the older blond's neck. “Can another hybrid grow wings when they're as old as techno?”

“Uh, no. Unless they come from a situation like yours, but they have to be born with wings.” Phil stated the fact. Tommy’s wings were given to him without choice. Because his last foster family, as Wilbur puts it, Were the most bastard of bastard fucks ever. Even if he was still human and a normi, they would have loved to play with him. Tommy is very fun and apparently a perfect gremlin in their group. 

 

“So techno can’t grow wings?” Tommy asked with a gust of wind brushing through his hair and wings, the wind whispers and whispers over his ears. “No silly. Technoblade can’t grow wings. Why do you ask?”

 

“Just wondering. I’m a big man with big questions!” Tommy says happily as Phil pried Tommy’s arms off him and pushed the boy above his head with a single hand. Tommy opens his wings and beats them in a steady pattern. If techno can’t grow wings, and he doesn’t want Tommy’s wings. Then he’ll make wings for techno. He’ll be super happy. He needs to make something nice for Wilbur so he’s not left out. But Phil has everything he could want. What on earth could he make for Wilbur and Phil?

“I wanna make techno, and Wilbur.” Tommy proclaimed. “I wanna keep it a surprise.” 

“Really mate?!” Phil spoke excitedly. “What do you want to make?”

Tommy leans towards Phil’s ear as he drifts to the ground and whispers his idea about technos surprise to the crow father. Phil just smiles. “That’s a wonderful idea. I’m sure Techno will love it.” Phil takes a few steps in the sand and helps Tommy drop from the heat of his back. “We can work on you flying on your own when we get back home. Do you have any ideas about Wilbur’s gift?”

 

Tommy thinks hard for a moment, his cheeks puffing up and eyebrows scrunched. Phil holds back a snicker as tommy thinks. Wilbur likes singing, art and dance. He likes Sally. But he also likes everyone. Wilbur also really likes sweaters, but Tommy can’t knit, and what if his alters don’t like Wilbur’s gift or they feel left out. He doesn’t wanna ask for Phil to buy it with his hard earned money or talk to techno about it. However…

Tommy brightens, snatching Philza's hand and bounces, “I got it! I got it!” He shouts happily. Phil flinched and smiled, “okay okay. Tell me!” He bends down so Tommy may stand on his tiptoes to whisper what he would like to try. 

“That’s a wonderful idea. I think he will love that!” Philza beams proudly at his youngest. “We can pick everything up after your doctor's appointment on Monday. Nurse Diana has been worried about you.”

Tommy stomps his little feet and squeals, “I get to see her?!”

Phil lets off a bright smile, happy to see Tommy so excited, “Yes. Puffy even called to make sure she was working so we could see her.”

Tommy hugs Philza tightly, Phil wraps Tommy up in his warm wings and kisses the boy's head. “I’m glad you're excited to see her, kit. She might be busy so we might not be able to see her.” He explains. Tommy’s tail throws itself around smacking against Phil’s legs. Tommy has met many people in his life, some stayed, but others had left him behind. But there was always nurse Ms.Diana. Somehow she was always around when Tommy came in with injuries. Or puffy secretly has a summoning call that makes her come work to see him. Puffy definitely has some sort of magic that makes his favorite nurse on shift. Ms.Diana is the best nurse in the world. And no one could be better than her. And Phil is amazing. Everything just feels perfect. Like this could really be his happy-

 

“Tommy?!” 

 

Dread fills his stomach and a chill runs about his body. His wings curl around him and his fur prickles. That excited delighted sweet voice. “It is Tommy!”

His head turns to the boy running across the beach in the blinding light. His legs. His legs. His toes and feet picked up sand and sank. His legs. His teeth bites into a gag he scratches at his face to get it off. He wants to scream. He stiffly shuffles to his dad to hide behind his feathers

Connor giggles showing off his new legs. Tommys legs those are his. They were ripped off and sewn on. His fucking legs. “Tommy Tommy look now we can play. I’m normal.”

 

“Hi mate. Uh where is your family? You should probably go back to them.” Phil tries to shoo the kids away while keeping Tommy hidden. The raccoon hides in the black feathers whimpering to himself. “They’re not mine. They’re not mine. They’re not mine.” Tommy attempts to convince the bad memory to go away. 

“I wanna play with Tommy. My grandma and grandpa are coming down with mommy and daddy. Tommy?” Connor was more confused as to why His old foster brother wasn’t interacting with him. He didn’t want to. He wasn’t like that anymore. He wasn’t a normi. He wants to stay. Daddy won’t love him if he goes back. Wilbur and techno won’t play with him. He wants to stay. Please, let him stay with his current family. Tommy hugs onto Phil rubbing globs of tears into the crowd swim shorts. 

 

“Look mate, Tommy is tired and we were about to head inside to clean up. He hides when he doesn’t want to play anymore. I’m really sorry. Maybe another day.” Phil excuses Tommy as lightly as he can before picking Tommy up. 

“Connor! Don’t run off!” His father said walking to them. More memories come to light. Tommy covers his ears to hide away. He doesn’t want to remember them. Connor grabs Tommy’s tail and pulls. “PLAY WITH ME TOMMY!” He laughs. Tommy yelps and Phil has to try and gently pull him off. “Don’t pull his tail. That hurts him.” Phil said moving closer to the house as he pulled the kid off. Connor follows, trying to convince Tommy to follow. He pulls out one of Phil’s feathers and yanks at Tommy’s paw. Again Phil has to remove the child from his son. “Mate, please leave us alone.”

 

“Mommy! Mommy! It’s Tommy.” Connor shouts as Phil pulls away. 

“Is it now?!” She grins slyly. “Make sure you thank him.” She said. Connor giggles happily. “thank you Tommy.”

The father smiles, “we really can’t thank you enough Tommy. Because of you our boy is happy. Almost Perfect. He needs a nerve donor and we just-“

 

“Stop.” Phil cuts them off to the smell of blood as Tommy digs into his scalp. Crimson seeps into his nail beds. Phil hissed at the old family, “Leave my family. My son is not some tool! He is a child. You are hurting him. Now leave. Do not approach us again!” Phil turns and quickly walks towards the group. 

 

“But we need his help again. Connor needs a nerve donor.” His mother said. The grandparents were confused as to why they were harassing a bird and his kit. 

Phil turns his head to glance down at their legs. Monitors. Typical. He keeps walking.

“Please Tommy! Help me!” Connor shouts. 

 

“Don’t worry honey. We’ll talk to a judge.”

“Puffy!” He calls the social worker. She lifts her head and sunglasses. 

“His old foster family is here. They’re asking to butcher him again.” Phil hiss. The adults jump up quickly gathering the kids. Puffy throws her sunglasses off and stands up grabbing her phone. “OH HELL NO!” She storms over to the family. The hybrids noticed her disdain and quickly gathered everyone closer to their towels and chairs. 

“You people need to leave that family alone!” She snapped at them. They quickly pick up Connor. “Puffy. Connor is suffering, he needs a nerve repair and he.” The boys father picks up Connor. “He still has animal instincts. If we can just switch the nerve endings-“

 

“Then you should have thought twice before butchering two boys. Now leave.” Puffy huffs. 

 

“Please?! Miss.Puffy, I want to be normal.” Connor pleads to the social worker making a pouty face that wasn’t as cute as Tommy. He was trying to hard. “I’m sorry honey. But Tommy has given everything he can. He wants to be left alone. You don’t want to hurt him right?” Puffy asked. 

 

“Don’t answer that.” The kid's mother said taking her son. “I’ll have it court ordered.”

 

“Just donate your own.” Puffy crossed her arms. 

“We want tommy’s. It’s just one tissues in the brain. He’s an orphan no one will care if he dies. Or become stupid.” Their mother waves it off. 

Puffy glares at the family. “I care. His father and brothers would care. His friends. Tommy is a little boy. I’m not allowing you to continue butchering his body for your family pride. I know how you hid Connor away from the world. Being a hybrid is nothing to be ashamed of.”

 

“Of course it is. You're all animals. Your kind should be lab rats. Not my boy. Our child won’t be ridiculed anymore. We are getting that nerve one way or another.” They leave the area. Puffy quickly returns to the group of crying and panicked children. Adults serenading in fear. It’s widely know for the normies to pay off judges and make up lies to get what they want. The Hendragars would be no different, especially after hurting Tommy so inhumanely. 

Clicking the recorder off her phone, she approached the group quietly. The kids were around Tommy and Phil huddled together as he screams and sobs into Phil’s chest. Wilbur breaks away with techno to approach. “Puffy?” Techno spoke up. “Dad wants to start the adoption process.”

 

“I know he does. But the law won’t let him. Tommy hasn’t been in his care long enough.”

 

“But he called Phil dad.” Wilbur said squeezing technos hand. “They won’t take him right?”

 

“No,” puffy kneels down. “Tommy is a ward of the state and his trauma is plastered everywhere. They need my permission in order to do that surgery. I’m not letting anyone butcher him again. Not even himself.” Puffy explains. 

 

“But he would be safer if daddy had him.” Technos ears lower. “Please puffy?”

 

She sighs before looking at Phil. He rocks his boy. Slowly calming Tommy just enough to remove his nails from the gold curls that tainted red. He moves and blocks Tommy’s hands when he reflexively attempts to scratch at his small limbs. “Okay. I will appeal to the court and see what I can do. For now just stay close to Tommy and Phil. This is going to be a long while.” 

The boys nod with heavy hearts. Wilbur sniffles, “I don’t wanna lose my second baby brother.”

 

“We will do everything we can.” Puffy stood up. She’s gonna need an action plan. And a good one. Judges can be easily corrupted and so can lawyers. This is going to be a fight.

 

“Puffy.” Techno taps her hip. “The opportunity for defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.” He said calmly. What? The farrowing of her brows. What on earth is techno talking about? Wilbur makes a face at techno. Obviously his brother knows as his tears dry up nearly instantly. Annoyance and disbelief plaster over the fledgling's face. “Really technoblade?!” The bird siren huffed and chirped out, “your quoting art of war at a time like this?!”

 

 Techno ears lower, “But puffy is going into battle for Tommy. It seemed like it would help.”

“Now’s not the time. Dad and puffy have to figure out how to keep Toms from being butchered!” Wilbur snaps. 

 

“But Wilbur, In the midst of chaos there is always opportunity, all warfare is based on deception.” Techno says making Wilbur groan out, the other kids also groaning and grumbling. “This isn’t any different, Will-I-am.” Techno crossed his arms. “I like my book.”

 

“Techno. This is a fight against that pathetic family. This isn’t some historical battle with swords and rifles.”

 

A light flickers. A small burst of energy and light happens in her chest. Those words held wisdom and courage that she needed. Not only will she fight, she will get Tommy under Phil’s protection permanently. Or at least try to. “No. Techno is right. This is like a battle. Thank you boys.” She ruffles their hair and quickly gets on the phone with her agency.

Wilbur stares confused as the ram steps away to comfort her own kids. “What the fuck just happened?” He asked rubbing the tear stains

Technos eyes sparkle as he holds his brother's hand, “The wisdom of the classics. The spirit of Sun Tsu stands with her.” Wilbur scrunched his lip and nose, rolling his eyes. “You sound fucking stupid.”

Techno gasps and lightly kicks Wilbur’s leg making Wilbur pick up his leg and dramatically fall into the sand, “I do not! You drama loving nerd.”
“Dad! Tech beat me up!” Wilbur shouts. 

“No I didn’t. Sand eater! I’m about to though, mentally!” Techno at that moment decided to flop on top of Wilbur, once again recite every single fact he knows about anteaters. The siren chirps and squirms fighting to get up. The kids looked at them laughing. 

Sapnap swings an arm around Dream and George. “You better not start-“

“I’m not doing anything, I’ve been a good lil muffin.” He beams with happiness. 

“Oh god. I will get my sword!”

 

Sapnap juts his eyebrows up and down a few times. “Oh no. Dream is gonna punish me with his very special sword.” 

The kids all laugh. Tommy even joined in. His sweet giggles brighten the mood while everyone tries to annoy each other. The sun shines brightly upon the group of families and friends. Until Nikki and the girls started to sing, breaking the playful banter into song and dance. Dream sang along while handing George and Tommy water. Tommy thanks him and manages to grab his tail which he swiftly smacks his hand, just enough to make the boy let go. Tommy drinks his water cuddling into his dad. Curiosity strikes him. Tommy laced his fingers into the man’s ink feathers. “Why does everything turn into a musical?”

Philza shrugs unsure as to why. He’s always just let them. “Techno and I have a theory that it’s a theater kid curse. It’s been like this since they joined the theater. But it’s harmless so we don’t have to do an exorcism.” 

The idea makes Tommy chuckle, then another memory seeps into his head, making him wiggle to get closer to Phil’s ear, “If you do have to do an exorcism on Wilbur, please don’t hit him with a..  a thing.  or belt. Those really hurt.”

 

Concern comes back to Phil as his focus shifts back to his youngest and the bleeding, “I’m sorry, Honey I was just making a joke. We would never hurt your brothers. And Wilbur is just quirky. Singing helps soothe his nerves. What thing? When was this?”

 

Tommy lays his head on Phil’s collar bone continuing to speak hushed, “um. House 6 and 7. They had a room in the basement. I didn’t wanna talk about it around techno. It had all this blood and gold cup. There was a skull and bones and lots of swords and weapons. They said something about a vessel and something taking me over. They hit me a lot with a bone. Then the next house sent me to a Christian boarding school. They hit me with a…a cross. And splashed water in my face while chanting about some hog deity and his brothers. It was stupid. But I didn’t wanna talk about it cause techno and Wilbur might get triggered.”

 

“Well I’m glad your comfortable enough not to tell me. And I know you have only been with us for a short while. But I want you to stay mine.” Phil hugs the boy like one of his most precious things. It’s warm and comforting like always, yet so different. 

Tommy’s hands scratch at his scars, “Can I really? Can I stay with you forever? It won’t change?”

“There will always be change, mate. There’s nothing we can do to stop that. Change can be for better or for worse. Good or bad. But this change will be good. It will stay good for quite some time.” Phil says relaxing fully and reflexively moves the boys claws away from the surgical scars. Phil just keep moving Tommy’s hands away as they watch the kids bicker or dance with each other. Wilbur and jumping around with techno over his shoulder. 

“PUT ME DOWN!” Techno pounds his fists onto their older brother. Tommy just giggles. What a change in tides. 

Chapter 18: To love is to sacrifice

Summary:

The craft family becomes engulfed in their past and forced to do more than face their ghosts.

Notes:

First post of 2025. Happy new year everyone. Again sorry for mistakes and that it’s short. I’m currently in a career change so I’m a bit busy. Enjoy!

Tommy held tightly to Wilbur’s hand as they walked through the store. They needed to make a small run and Wilbur wanted to go get sparklers and fireworks which techno went to go get. Tommy wanted to go and bond with Wilbur more. 

“Wilby. What kind of snack do you like?” Tommy asked hushedly as they pass a couple looking at the fruit. 

“Snacks. Uh. I like crisps and peanut butter crackers. I like chocolate too and-“

 

“What kind of snacks do Sally like?”

 

“Does.” Wilbur corrected Tommy sweetly before batting at his ear and rubbing his curled hand over his ear. “Uh. Umm. She likes candy cherries. And gummy bears. Chocolate popcorn. I think she likes drinking-“ Wilbur is cut off by Tommy running off up to skeppy and tugs on his arm. “Seppy seppy!”

 

The man bends down, “It’s, skeppy. What is it?”

 

“Please, I wanna get chocolate popcorn. And peanut butter crackers. And flowers. And fancy apple juice.” Tommy spoke while holding skeppy hand. The man coos at the view of Tommy’s little hands only able to grip two of his fingers in each hand. 

“And why is that?” He asked. 

 

“Cause. Cause. I’m. Um.” He glances at Wilbur who was looking at the fruit snacks. He pulls skeppy close and whispers. “I’m making a surprise for my big brothers. I wanna make them happy.” 

 

“Aww. But I’m pretty sure you could draw them a shitty-“

 

“No! That’s shitty!” He shouts a little too loud and quickly covers his mouth. Wilbur speed walks over. “Tommy why don’t-“

 

“Nooo!” He pushes at Wilbur. “Bad said to get um. Crackers. Go get crackers. Your favorite ones!” 

He says pushing an confused Wilbur down the aisle. The siren avian looks at skeppy who just waves him to go. 

“And Apple juice. The fancy apple juice.” Tommy demanded of his big brother. 

“Alright alright. I’m fucking going.” Wilbur holds up his hands walking away with a small grin. Tommy hurries back to skeppy. “Daddy said I could! He said it’s a good idea!”

 

“And Phil said it was okay? Cause he’s paying me back.” Skeppy said. 

 

Tommy whimpers and scratches at his hands leaving marks. “I not lying! I promise! Daddy said so. He said so. I want it to be perfect.” 

 

“Kiddo. It doesn’t-“

 

“Yes it does!” Tommy sniffles as his tears build in his eyes. “Wilby and tech are my best brothers and I wanna give them something special. I don’t know what daddy likes though. He has everything…. Except a wife… and little girl. But I’m a boy.”

 

“Alright alright. No need to cry.” Skeppy squats down as Tommy rubs his hoodie paws into his eyes. He gets picked up by techno who snorts and nuzzles Tommy. Tommy coos back hugging techno. 

“Why is Tommy crying?” Wilbur asked speed walking back to his younger brothers. “Well. Tommy wants to surprise Phil with something as a thank you but he doesn’t know what to get him.” Skeppy informed the two brothers while Tommy hides away in technos hoodie. 

“You wanna get Phil a gift? Hmm. I think you did a lot by getting Kristian and Phil to agree on dinner.” Wilbur says. 

 

Tommy sniffs again before lifting his head, “But they haven't done it yet.” 

 

“I mean. True. But they will.” Techno says. “Daddy is stressed out. Maybe we can get him his favorite candy.”

 

“Gummy worms!” Wilbur shouted in a child-like declaration at random with his hands clapping in excitement. Making other shoppers stop and stare at the childish actions. He paused for a second and cleared his throat putting his hands down, “Sorry. Phantom got excited and took over for a second. But I agree. Dads favorite candy is gummy worms. Not the realistic ones. Those freak him out.”

 

Techno nods putting Tommy down, “He has been wanting some nice lotion for his hands. And daddy gave Wilbur a visa with money on it as a monthly allowance.”  The piglin said, holding Tommy’s hand. “I have 50 on my card. I’ll pay for it. It can be a gift from all of us.” Techno said. Wilbur takes Techno’s free hand, “We’ll see you at check out, skeppy.” Techno says as they trail behind Wilbur happily holding onto each other. After the encounter at the beach the group had doubled down with kids staying in pairs. Especially with Tommy and the younger kids. He wasn’t allowed to be away from an adult without both of his big brothers or other kids that were older. Lucky him, he was the youngest of the group and no one minded him tagging along; He had to hold one of their hands at all times so he wasn't snatched away. And techno was allowed a small pocket knife that hung in a camouflaged necklace. Phil told him he wasn’t allowed to wear his legs because he may need to run away quickly with his brothers, his joints wouldn’t be able to fully extend for a quick escape. Phil also said that they needed to text him every 30 minutes. Wilbur has a timer.

 

”Which one should we get dad?” Wilbur asked as they stopped before the shelf of moisturizers. There were a lot of different types and brands. Techno and Wilbur jokes about the one that is for delicate old people's skin. But Tommy reaches out for one with pine trees and rain on it. Tiny fingers pop open the lid, the soft comforting smell enters his nose. “I like this one.” The kit holds it up to his brothers. the two lift the bottle to their noses to smell. The fresh smell, definitely their dad kinda smell. “That's a good one tommy. It says it reduces stress.” Wilbur says. “Let’s do this one.”

 

Tommy watches as his brothers look among the shelves. His ear flickers down the aisle to where he spots Connor. With blood on his hands and a pig plushie. Behind him was his mother. Grinning ear to ear with a syringe. She motions for him to come to her. 

Blood drained from his face and dread seeps in. They were here. They wanted them. Tommy had fallen into their trap. And like before. They were going to hurt Wilbur and techno. He didn’t want his family to get hurt. He loved his family. He hasn’t even given them their surprise yet. He wants to give them a gift. He wants to make them feel loved. And daddy wasn’t here. He had a video call so he had to stay. 

He wanted to say goodbye. He wanted to hug them. They wanted his brain. And Tommy knows they’ll make sure that it’s their child coming back. Not Tommy. But they’re hands are bloody and they have a pig. Techno will be so scared. What does he do?

 

Tommy looked up at his big brothers before tightly embracing them both, spooking them a bit. “Tommy?”

The boy looks up at them. Tears in his eyes. The large tears couldn’t stop. They looked concerned as their baby brother tightened around their waists. “I love you guys, you're the best big brothers ever.” Tommy says and buried his face into their stomach. He whimpered and cried.  He wanted to stay. He wanted to be with his family. If he could give his legs to stay he would. He would give his wings and stay with his family. To be taken in and loved forever. He just wants his dad and brothers. 

 

“Tommy.” Wilbur’s voice becomes more serious. Of and kindly. Wilbur kneels down. No. Who was this? This wasn’t Wilbur. “Tommy. What is this about?” He asked. Tommy sniffles and whines. He shakes his head doing his best to not look back. “I-I don’t wanna upset you and techno. I’m sorry. Please, I'm sorry.”

 

“Tommy.” Wilbur holds his head. “You answer me right now young man. Why are you crying?”

 

Tommy rubs the tears trying to calm his breathing. “Behind us. In. In the store. They’re here. Wilby they want to take us away. If I go they leave you and techi alone.” He pressed his hands into his eyes to try to physically and miserably fail to stop any tears. Wilbur- or whoever was talking  didn’t shift his eyes from Tommy. “Techno,”

 

“I know. Skeppy is too far. I can smell them breathing.” Techno spoke.  

 

The alter stood up. “Can we take them?”

 

“No. Your body is too weak and they’ll take Tommy.” Techno spoke. “They can hurt a lot of people if we don’t comply.”

 

“If they take Tommy then they’ll perform that surgery. He may never wake up.” The alter picks up their kid brother and pats his back to help calm him. The fear and panic in technos eyes. “It’s everyone.” Techno turns and looks at the staff. They turn away but peek at the corner of their eyes. “I can smell the blood on them.” Techno takes Wilbur’s phone and quickly doing something before it gets snatched. They turn to the person. Tommy hugs himself closer to the altar. 

 

Mr. Hendragar. Connor’s father. “I think it’s time to go boys. Let’s not make a scene.” He holds each end of the device and bends it. The poor thing snaps in half. The altar pulls techno back. Their fear spikes as they try to step away and turn to run only for the two to freeze as their path is blocked by three other adults. The tail of feathers fan out and wings curl around the younger brothers to shield them. Techno holds onto Wilbur and snarls. 

“Now boys. Come quietly.”

 

“No. No you can’t do that thing to Tommy-“ techno stands his ground. 

 

Mr. Hendragar smiles, “don’t worry. We have the best doctors. Tommy will come back just fine, holy vessel. We have use of him awake and moving. And that of your older brother. As long as you cooperate, and behave. We’ll leave that diamond man alone. And your friends.”

 

Techno holds Wilbur’s hand. “No surgery. Tommy can’t-“

 

“He needs to be completed for worshipping. All we do is in preparation. Now come. Before this becomes messy-“

 

“We stay together!” Techno demanded his hand trembles as he fought through every memory and every bit of pain the shadows of his past that had once brought him to meeting his father and brothers. “They won’t fight. My brothers won’t-“

 

Mr. H chuckles. “They will not be in the arena. And you can stay with them. Our professionals will give you every detail. We even flew them in from the land of MCC. Now enough stalling. Time to go boys. We cannot avoid the inevitable. Only fight through.” He spoke now towering over the boys. Techno wanted to fight back more. To scream at the man. But he had his brothers to worry about. Unlike techno they can’t fight. They’re weaker. But the phone in the man’s pocket rang. 

Mr.Hendragar grumbles, pulling it out and answering. There was shouting and grumbling. The man’s face shifted into confusion. Shock. And then. He grins like a mad man. Seconds ticked like minutes. Slowly. One by one. 

“Techno?” Tommy whimpers quietly. Techno gets closer. “They want us to be some stupid idol. Just keep quiet and we’ll just act the part. Dad will rescue us. I hope.” He said as they look back at Mr. Hendragar. 

 

“I understand. We will bring the beloved vessels back to the home of worship.” The human spoke and hangs up. “Come, holy children. We are going home.” He said. They gathered around them and gently nudged, prompting them to start walking. The boys held tightly onto each other. They pass Skeppy who was held in an aisle with the manager and worker. The horror on his face as he watches the three boys go. 

 

“Tommy!” Connor runs over. His mother joined his father. Techno huffs and roars as the kid reaches for Tommy and latches around the oldest brother's leg. Their baby brother stiffens, curling his wings and tucking his tail. The siren, unlike his father was not as patient or needed to give that much of a fuck to be gentle. This boy had hurt their precious sunshine. The brat demands more from Tommy. And they won’t have it. They want them to be vessels. Then they will get what they want. Another alter rips its way forward and snarls kicking his leg out and snarls as the boy falls to the ground. “Get the fuck off me!” He snarls, adjusting Tommy easily to his other arm. The boy's mother runs to her child. “What’s happening?” He asked and Tommy knew that voice. Tired. Irritated. Completely done with everything. 

Revivebur!

Techno spoke curtly, “Captured. By cult and Tommy’s abusers. His hands were shaking in Reviver's grasp. “Now children. Don’t be like that. Let’s go. Or we start picking off your friends back at the house.” Mr. Hendragar spoke. They had no choice but to follow. Techno just hopes he remembers the emergency app worked. They shuffle the boys out of the store quietly and into a limo painted in white. From there Tommy’s stimming had suddenly picked up into feather and fur plucking and progressed into scratches. 

 

Tommy is seated between him and Wilbur, his hands being gripped firmly so to halt the kits plucking and scratches. However his stimming is bad and all over the place which is making techno stim out by knocking his hand into his head and tangling his fingers into his hair. He isn’t even sure as to why they shuffled them all into an obnoxious gross smelling limo. It smells as if it was blasted with cleaning supplies. Connor leans over to his mom. “Mom. Why are they being weird?”

 

“The holy vessels are just excited.” She replied to him, smoothing her son's hair. They weren’t. They were being driven far away from home to some weird ass monument temple built into the side of a mountain that was far from the city. They were already out in the country. Why the hell didn’t he see this coming? It was so subtle he didn’t know. He’s gotten too comfortable. If he hadn’t been so scared then he could have protected Theseus and Orpheus. 

“Piglet. Breathe we will get through this.” The new alter spoke sweetly. Motherly. What happened to his parents again? Did he kill them? Was it his fault?

“Who-?” Techno whispers as his brother smiles sweetly. “I am female. But I haven’t picked a name. Hm. I think I’m 15. How about you just call me. Poppy. Until I find a good name for myself.” Poppy explained. So this altar was female. Wilbur has had male alters but one female won’t be weird. But he scoots closer to Tommy and the squish Tommy between their bodies in a comfortable and loving pressure. Tommy’s stimming calms down enough for both youngsters to lean on poppy. 

“Don’t hurt our dad and friends.” Techno pleads. 

Ms. Hendragar smiles. “Then you better behave.”

 

Poppy sends her a sharp hard glare. “Keep your brat on a damn leash or so help me I will bite off his tiny fingers and turn them into stew!” He. She? She hissed at the annoying mother who pulled her son closer. Poppy rolls her eyes and tries looking elsewhere. But the windows were blacked out. Where the hell was dad?

They noticed when the car had stopped. Techno and poppy lifted their heads in an attempt to find out what was happening. Fear was surging through their minds as they try to keep themselves from stimming since it wasn’t really working. Reviver and poppy have been arguing in Wilbur’s mind about who is in the pilot seat. But that all changed when the door opened. 

“Sorry I’m late.” Another woman and man carefully slide into the care. The smile as Wilbur takes over again. He pulls his brothers as close as possible. His lungs gasping for air in his terror. His heart pounds in his chest beating hard. Wilbur pulled his younger brothers practically into his lap and covered them with his wings. Any sense of calm had flown out the window as Wilbur curled tightly into a ball in the corner of the car limbs shielding his brothers. Dressed in a cashmere long coat. An obnoxiously boring black suit underneath. The man who was responsible for his mothers death and so much pain. So many nightmares. The drug lord. 

Evan Amridian. 

 

 

 

 

Back at the house. Phil had finally gotten off the video call with his work. They were going to change a few things in the script and he didn’t really want to, but his main goal was to provide for his sons. Speaking of. His sons had agreed to message him so often if they were going to leave the house. Especially due to the incident that Tommy got caught in. Tommy’s old family is crazy. But also weird. They are risking a lot just to get a nerve from Tommy’s beautiful brain. Puffy has been talking about preparing papers for Tommy so he can be officially adopted. Since puffy had stepped in they haven’t seen the little family for some time. The grandparents as well. He’s hoping they are keeping their distance but it’s still strange with how fast they kept away. Phil was prepared to face more harassment. To defend his sons to the very end. Hell, he’s ready to claw out throats.

 

Phil picks up his phone to check for Wilbur and technos updates. Which he should have gotten. However, They’re 14 minutes late and a different notification had shown onto his screen. A name he has yet to see in years. Years long before his and his wife’s meeting. Before the birth of his sons. Inked in digital purple. Laced in the memories of the past. Stood an old nickname forgotten in time. 

 

“Beloved Death Angel of mine. We have a situation. While we have not gazed upon each other's eyes. I do hope you still have hands for string and row. Three beloved children have been taken and will stand before me. They seek more than one but two more that follow the blood rotten trail. They aren’t done piecing together younger brothers. Return my crow, so we may rescue the three souls of love and innocence woe.”

 

The text read. He sits back feeling the anger and sorrow for  his sons. Wings curling around himself to seek comfort. Tears spill down his cheeks. His poor sons have been taken back to that horrible cult of blood. He hadn’t known of any others. But it is told that the blood god has brothers of madness and chaos. It is said that they would start their games. Like children. An old cult or new. The cult of Death is calling him home to help rescue his boys. The goddess he once served is willing to help him once again. 

He will get his boys back even if it means returning to painful memories. He’s a father after all. 

To love is to sacrifice. 

 

 

 

Chapter 19: The broken

Summary:

Learned Helplessness can be countered with proper help.
Phil’s heroic mask of the good father breaks. Someone has to help him piece it back together

The car ride was long and silent. No one had dared to move or speak except Connor and his parents. Tensions were thick but they couldn’t do anything. They sat in thick naming silence until the car finally parked. Tommy held onto Wilbur as they were pulled out of the car. Rough hands grabbed their limbs pulling them from their corner. The bright heated day blinds them as they are forced from the cool car. The adults leave the car and surround them on their sides. Connor hums to himself holding onto his mothers hand. Before them were straight lines of people slightly bowing down. Their hands bloody and white cloaks with red stains like they walked in blood. Tommy looked to his older brothers who trembled. No. He has to be brave. Their his brothers. And it’s his turn to protect them. 

“Let’s get moving, my league. Your pro-“

Tommy puffs his chest turning to face Mr. Hendragar. He reeled back his leg and as hard as he could. Kicked the man in the shin. Making the man stumble and hop back. Tommy hissed and lunged, biting the big scary man’s leg. “YOU BRAT!” He points a gun and Tommy let’s go, falling on his butt as the man shoots. The loud sound makes them all jump and cover their ears. Tommy scurried back to his big brother’s side. His small arms wrap around Wilbur’s waist as he watches the group make a fool of themselves by falling to the ground. Tommy looks around his surroundings realizing that the area was in fact the historical resting place of the founders refugee camp from their war. The icy air that blows through the trench cooling their exposed bodies. Tommy and Techno shiver and press tighter to Wilbur. “You brat! I’ll-!” Mr. Evan snarls pointing his gun at Tommy. Wilbur hides them in his wings. “You will remember to do nothing!” A voice booms from the entrance. A woman in red walks up to them almost gliding. “You will do well to remember that the vessels are needed in perfect health. You can not harm them.” She stood firmly and carefully pushed the kids behind her. The three moved without resistance as the lady stood firmly as their shield. 

“Modern weapons are forbidden from inside the temple.”

“I’m only here because you need my drugs. To prepare the oldest.” Mr. Evan’s said. 

 

“Yes. We will need the boys to mentally be in their element.” The woman said. “Now be grateful you are able to take part in the birth of the vessels.” Her voice held malicious as the robed people help him due to his foot. Evan glared, “that brat,”

 

“Was doing as he intended. This is the start of the other two.” She spoke. 

 

“Priestess, is the operation ready?” Mr.H spoke up standing tall. Tommy should have kicked him harder. 

“You understand the risks of doing such a thing here correct?” She asked

Tommy tries to peek under her cloak. There was a burn on her face and a bit of her lip was shriveled showing her teeth in a permanent snarl, but she was pretty. Tommy points. “Pretty woman!” He says cutting off the adults. Tommy tugs on her robes while Wilbur and techno look horrified. 

“No. Tommy.”

 

“Pretty lady?! Pretty lady?!” He calls for her. The group scowls but she only glanced down. “Yes?”

 

“Are you married?!” He asked bluntly. Techno and Wilbur shift uncomfortably. The strange question surprised everyone. “No. I’m not-“

“You should be married to a big man who will take care of you. And you said no one can hurt us. But drugs hurt Wilbur and Techno gets hurt when we get hurt. So no drugs!” He demanded his hands still shaking. Wilbur bites at his nails and hand. 

“Is that so?” She asked. 

 

“Y-yeah. And and. They took us from Daddy. And um. He’s an Angel. With big black wings!” Tommy threw his arms and wings out. Her eyes widen with fear. “YOU TOOK THE VESSELS FROM THE PROTECTION OF HER ANGEL?!”

 

Oh shit. Tommy was only exaggerating. He looks to techno who also seemed confused. Wilbur kept biting himself till they bled. “Relax Priestess. We took the children when they weren’t in his care. And there’s no way the philza craft is the angel of the Divine Death. We will proceed with the operations and our plans regardless-“

 

“We will use only enough to calm them. To keep them in a state of mind where it is calm. I refuse to allow damage.” She snaps at them and turns to the kids “come children. We must prepare you for the final ritual.”

 

“Are you gonna kill us?!” Tommy asked. 

“No. None of you will be killed.” She puts her arms out and gently guides them into the dark trench. Tommy holds onto techno as they walked. “Um. Techno? Did I do good?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah I’m surprised that it worked” techno says. “But I’m not sure what they will do with us.” He whispers but the lady leans down. “I will ensure this is as painless as possible. I really did try to stop it but no one really agreed. It is good to see you again sweet boy.” She says. Techno takes her hand. “Scared.” He says. 

“It will be over soon. This time, you and your brothers will be asleep. I’ll be sure to pamper you boys as best as I can. I promise.” She whispers her promise. 

 

“Don’t choke.” Tommy whispers back. The walk into the cold dark winds was not well liked. Tommy started to shiver along with Techno. Wilbur whimpers but is pulled into the priestess’s side. “Don’t hurt them.” Wilbur whimpers. “Don’t.  Don’t take them.” He takes her hand and bites. She doesn’t flinch. “Techno? They won’t take my brain right?” Tommy asked. “Wilbur is really scared.” Techno squeezed Tommy’s hand. “You’ll be alright, Theseus. Just stay close.”

They walk for a room and stop. Wilbur will wait here. “There are pillows and things to keep him calm.”

“No!” He shouts but the door opens and he gets grabbed. He screams and fights. Techno and Tommy reach out only for the lady to pick them up and continue. Tommy cried and flutters his wings as Wilbur chirps. Techno snorts and oinks pulling at his hair. “Don’t hurt my brothers.” He pleads. 

“Techno. Just a little weed to keep him calm.” She said. The echoes of Wilbur’s screeching carry throughout the caverns. It doesn’t fade. The cries of distress and sobs never fade. Tommy has to cover his ears and press his eyes closed. The idea of Wilbur being restrained hits his head making him scratch. “I want daddy.” He sobs out and cries. 

“Shh. It will be all over soon.” She said softly as they come to another room. There was praying or chanting or something. “The sacrifice betters our vessels. May the transfer of blood strengthen their will.” A group of people said as they come before that horrible horrible thing. He screams and scratches kicking his legs and fights to be put down. He screams for his daddy and brothers. That damn silver table with straps there’s two now. He claws at himself and the woman’s arm fighting to get free. One of the doctors takes techno to one of them he cries as they cut his clothes. Then he punched one. He growls and those his fists round getting multiple to jump and strangle them onto the table. Tommy’s clothes are also wrestled off as he flails. The icy cold pressed into his sensitive tummy. “No! Please don’t take them away. Don’t take my legs.” He struggled against the hands as they tighten the straps. 

“We don’t want your legs.” Mrs H said from the door. 

“Don’t!” The priest snaps at her. “You will have your turn. Now hush!”

She said before kneeling down and wiping Tommy’s snotty nose. 

“I’ve been good.” He pleads. 

“You have. You’ve been good. It will be quick. We’re just giving you and Techno new wings. Wouldn’t that be fun? To fly as a family?”

 

“But I have wings now. No it’s gonna hurt!” Tommy’s tears puddle under him. His eyes shift to techno who was trying to fight the weird sleep gas. “Please don’t! I be good!” His little heart pounds in his chest. He doesn’t wanna give more. “Techi!” He screams out as his brother's eyes close. The beauty red fades like the setting sun. They maneuver Techno and strap him down. Her bony fingers run over his hair and ears, bringing his attention back to her. “Just breathe sweetheart. It will be over soon.”

She said pushing a familiar rubbery mask to his face. “No! Please!” He squirms. He can feel something moving around his wings and along his skin. “WILBY!” He screams and cries out. The room starts to get foggy. His eyes are heavy and he’s so sleepy. It’s heavy. Their about to take away his brain and they turn him into a zombie and he’ll never see Wilbur or techno again. He never said goodbye to daddy. He has to give his daddy one last snuggle. Just one more before he never wakes up again? Just one more hug or kiss. Or hair ruffles. Just one more. Just call him his baby one more time. “Pretty lady. Please?” He pleads to her but his eyes drift and roll in exhaustion with each blink. “Sleep sweetheart.” She commanded. 

One last tear slips over the bridge of his nose and drips into the puddle on the cold silver table. Surgical ring lights glow and buzz above him.  “Let’s get the procedure done.” A doctor cleans. Tommy’s scalp and picks up a scalpel. They all shuffle out to let the doctors do their thing. 

 

By the time techno woke up. He can hear the cries of their older brother. “NOOO!” He screams kicking at the adults trying to restrain him. They hold his arms and push him down. “Get the blue.” That big drug lord bitch spoke as he grabbed Wilbur’s hair as someone walked over with a syringe. “Either you take this or you’ll join your siblings with your limbs replaced. Stupid crazy bitch.” He shouts as they all wrestle Wilbur to the ground. He lands with a thump on this stomach. His eyes shift to techno. “Wil.” Techno tries to shift his body but a heavy weight pressed on his back kept him down. It feels soft. But the pain ruins the texture. Sharp stabbing pain. He gasps and groans, shifting his arms. “No. No no. You need to sleep.” Someone said.

“Wil.” Techno lifts his legs to get himself up. However exhaustion and pain rain over his body causing him to slump back into a blanket that covered a padded surface. Technos’ eyes slowly drift as Wilbur’s screaming fades with the darkness. 

 

A voice whispers in the darkness. “This was not what we had wanted. Her divinity is coming to visit us, and the boy will be out of it. She wanted to be able to speak to them.”

 

“He’ll be fine in three days.” That man. The one named Mr.Evan that Wilbur was so scared of had spoken. Techno opens his eyes trying to peek his eyes open. A blurred picture of the man squeezing Wilbur’s jaw and cheeks. “He’s just a little doll now. He wouldn’t know anything.” He leans his face closer to his older brother but the priestess steps in pulling his big brother into her chest harshly speaking, “Do not, sully the holy vessel's body!” She glared taking his big brother to a flimsy pad and helping him lay down. She sweetly tucked him in. “The vessels are our divinity. The goddess would not accept them if tainted. Techno shifts his arms immediately noticing the I’ve in his arm. 

“You and your holy message. Let’s wake them up. Hear them scream. I didn’t track these little freaks down for you for nothing. I want my share.” He taps his own chest. 

 

“You will have it as soon as her lady ship delivers it. For now leave them alone.” The priestess spoke. The man huffs before forming off. Techno heavily blinks his eyes before she walks over to him. “Shh. All is alright. Sleep.” She smoothed down his hair. “Priestess… I want daddy.”

She gives a pained smile, “I’m sorry. Now sleep.” She says as the land of darkness beckons Techno back to sleep. He whines and shifts a bit on his tummy. Something shifts on his back. It feels really weird but he’s too tired to actually look. He sleeps.

 

He woke again to shrill screams and cries of his baby brother. It was just like before when they met. The wordless sobbing. This time it came from behind him. Technoblade first noticed how crazy wilbur looked. His wide eye staring and mumbling. Occasionally he would giggle only to go back to

Mumbling and nail biting. His pupils were blown and blue. But techno doesn’t have time to focus on the fact that she had lied to him. His priestess had broken her promise on keeping Wilbur on only weed. He’s seen the effects of it. This was not fucking weed. Technoblade slowly forced his body to sit up. “Tommy.” He whispers as he gets to his knees. But when he turns to face the little sunshine that has so wonderfully dropped into their lives and bettered their family. His eyes grow with horror. Tommy’s hands were in leather mittens, snuggly buckled away like two small kittens. His ears were pinned back as the priestess raked a small silver comb through new fathers bound in wrapping and poles. Those weren’t Tommy’s wings. Tommy didn’t have gold feathers. His feathers were red. Like his favorite color. Him and Tommy shared that favorite color. He did like gold but red was very pretty. Tommy looked so good with red feathers. 

“Shhh. I know. It must hurt. It will be okay.” She said gently tending to Tommy’s new wings as gently as she could as he screamed and cried with his eyes closed. But it’s all wrong. She’s not doing it right. She’s not…. She isn’t sounder. No. No that’s not the word. What’s the word. What’s that’s fucking word?! Techno hits his head as the voice whispers their silly annoyance.

 

Flock flock flock flock!

Our new flock. 

Our pretty fledgling

Look at our wings

Protect the babies

E

E

E

E

Flock

Protect flock

 

Flock… flock is for birds. Or sheep depending on the hybrid. But he’s not a bird. He’s a pig. Daddy’s piglet. And they’re his sounder. But his baby brother was in pain. And the bandage around his head seemed to be tinting pink. Techno shuffles off his pad and crawls dragging whatever the thing is on his back with the many many really icky and itchy wires. Tommy is so loud when he’s like this. He scratches as tears form in his eyes but he keeps moving. He has to fight through everything like usual. 

Techno crawls to His runts side silently reaches for the comb in his priestess's hands. He takes it. Then tosses it over his shoulder. He’s heard many and many times how those combs don’t actually work. He gently pets Tommy’s back. He runs his hand right down the kids spine very gently. The boy chirps out in distress and chitters before quieting into whimpers. His back is so bruised up. The base of his wings have new wounds and stitches. Where did his little red wings go?

Techno keeps to himself as he gently fixes and preen feathers from their keratin encasing. Tommy lays still on his tummy. Even starts to purr. He can’t speak. Can’t really find words. Doesn’t want to find words. But he has a lot of questions. Because these aren’t Tommy’s wings. He misses Tommy’s pretty red feathers. The gold does match his hair. But the red was so nice on Tommy. Techno rubs the oil from the base of his feather all over the soft gold. Little baby fledgling is supposed to have red feathers. Where are his red feathers? What did they do to them?!

 

The priestess watches Techno sniffles and tends to the little ones' newly attached wings. Tears spilled down his face. She knows he’s upset. Of what she isn’t too sure. All she can do now is wait. She shouldn’t mention what happened to them just yet. If they get pulled off, they have to start all over again. They will be moving to the second location now that the trio have slept in the trench of their past life. Now they just need to go to the winter temple. Where the gods had first become brothers. The tundra woods. The meeting of gods will take place. Death will bring her mighty angel and bless the cult of blood, madness and chaos. 

The gods of destruction. Where siblings. And death, their mother. 

 

 

Meanwhile, Phil had left the beach house in a hurry and drove back home. In order to get into the cult he once left from. He will need to show his repentance. To do that he will need his mask. “Where the hell did I-“ he dug through his closet before hurrying to the attic. He drugs around through the chest of old items. Swords that had helped started techno’s weird collecting of weapons. And May’s old clothes. Her sweaters. Wilbur really liked her sweaters. It’s like she walks with him. 

They were really taken from him. 

They’re gone. 

Taken, from the safety of his flock. 

Phil sits staring at the old clothes in the dark dusty attic. A small window lets in a ray of light. His boys were taken away from him. He had just gotten Tommy. Everything was going smoothly. If only he had killed that imbecile instead of showing mercy to that jackass. The fucking prick. Hendragar. Justin Hendragar. The prick was always wanting to see Techno fight more. His piglet does not deserve to be ogled on some temple pedestal drenched in crimson blood with bodies drained by his own blade. His oldest did not deserve to be used as some drug dealer on the street. Tommy, his baby, his fledgling kit, didn’t deserve to be passed around like some object to put on display and molded into what they wanted, forcing him to give until he has nothing. They are children. 

His children. His babies. 

His mask. A ceramic crow skull painted in a dark black. It was given to him from the woman of his past. The dark wings. A symbol of his promise to the god. He was a stupid teenager with no family that actually paid attention.  They were more like roommates. Just there. Never really talked. 

 

Instinct hits hard when a creak starts but never finishes. His feathers bristled as he whirled around thrusting a sword out at the body who made such a noise behind him. The black birds caw and screamed from outside. She holds up her hands. Black lips slightly parted and her hat and veil covered her body. She wore a black sundress with a black rose on her hip. Each finger looked as if it was dipped in purple paint.  “My beloved angel.” She spoke carefully. 

“Death.” He sneered shifting on his claws as tears streamed down his face. The distress of his missing fledglings is getting to him. They were taken from him. His flock is missing! He was so careful too. Staying in public. Became a public image. Worked hard to provide. He tried so hard. 

“Easy Phil. I’m trying to help you. Remember?” She said. Almost familiar. Sweet and soft. Like she’s speaking to a child. He takes a breath and lowers a green blade and gets its sheath from the dusty floor. “My blade needs sharpening…. My middle child-“

 

“Technoblade would be upset at you for not maintaining such a beautiful blade.” She spoke for him, making him sharpen his glare at her. Distrust. 

“I did not spy on you or your children. Our followers and I went into hiding after it had started to split into the blood god cult. There was an attack and we had to hide in plain sight. Our encounter was completely a coincidence. You know I would never harm your children, dear crow. But you need help now. We can help, if that is your wish. If I go alone, the boys will be hidden from you. They are alive currently.” She explained. He grips his sword tighter. “But are they safe?” He asked. 

Death. The beautiful lady claimed the goddess bows her head. “No. My followers have infiltrated and are doing their best but. Surgeries have already been performed. They tried to stop it.” Death explains she lowers her head. “I’m so sorry. You left and I wanted to respect your choice. But I don’t know your sons as well as you and we ran into each other. I need your guidance just as much as you need my connections.” She explained. Phil blinks and rubs his nose. He tried taking deep breaths. But the fact remains. 

 

His sons were taken. 

 

It was quick and sharp. A temper with malice and rage he hated the constant battle. He hated patience. He hated how few memories he has with all of his boys being happy and interacting as a normal family. He hates how much he lacks control. He wants to be selfish. For a just a little more than a day not have to worry about medical conditions or hiding from cults and drug lords. He wants his perfect time with his wonderful, talented and bright sons. Greed seeps into his heart and mind as Phil screams grabbing anything that can lift to throw. He needed to scream. To be mad. He loved his boys. He wants to have snuggle piles in the nest. And watch more movies and see Tommy finally get to wrestle Wilbur and techno. He wants to see Wilbur on a stage singing his heart out. And techno winning his competitions. He wants to see Tommy befriend his entire grade and eat without second guessing. He had promised so much to Wilbur. To techno. To Tommy. 

 

May

 

His wife. His beautiful wife who died because of some imbecile pulled a gun on an unarmed child. His first promise. It’s drowning him. He’s alone without anyone and he’s drowning in frustration. He has to start over all because he let his boys go to the damn store. They were kids. They’re just children. 

Now they’re gone. 

“Deep breath.” A voice hushed while pulling him into her chest. He sucks in a single stuttering breath of air. The ringing in his ear slowly fades as he breathes. “There you go.” Death says petting his head as he rested on her lap. He can see the massive mess of his attic. He sees a hat on the floor and a veil under it. It’s tempting to look up and gaze upon the face of their deity. Yet Phil doesn’t move with his racing mind. He stares ahead studying the destruction he caused. “I think you forgot how to ask for help. You were once one of them. A lost hurt little kid who needed help. Is that were this frustration is stemming from.” She said with fingers combing through his straw colored hair. 

 

“There’s always a price.” He whispers back with a broken tone. Phil’s tears slip over his nose and soak into her dress. 

Death hums softly, “I suppose it depends on the situation… it’s alright to be selfish on occasion. You have been too selfless. Those two words are different. There was no price when you took in Wilbur and techno. Tommy hadn’t paid a price when letting you help. Would you like there to be a price?” She had asked. He stares at a broken frame. A picture of May when they had their small wedding. “Yes.” He whispers feeling finger slowly comb through his feathers. Loose feathers are wiggled free. “A date. The same date your youngest son had set up for us. Last time I had an emergency but I would still love to have our date. It can be a family date. Or I can ask Sneeg to come watch the boys. He’s guarding the house at the moment. He’s gotten so much stronger since you have left, but not as much as you, my crow.”

Her offer was strange. Sneeg was his best friend from his teen years. Someone he hasn't spoken to since his own leaving of Death's cult. Sneeg was like his own brother. They should be demanding him and barking orders and making him return.  How come she-… it takes Phil a moment before allowing himself to turn his head up gaining a shock of familiarity. His eyes burned and ached from how heavily he was grieving, but there was relief. Out of everyone being able to see him in a state of desperation and vulnerability. He would pick-

 

“Kristian.” He spoke quietly. The woman he’s started to like since techno started school. Their beloved art teacher. She’s always been there for her boys, her connection ran deeper with them than with any child he’s seen. Wilbur and techno started trying to get them talking for a while. He sits up and hugs her tightly. She takes a moment before hugging him. “It will be alright. You can lean on me for help. We’ll bring them home.”

Phil sniffs pulling away rubbing his eyes. She had insight. He needs to know about his boys. “You said surgery. Is Tommy alive?! They wanted his brain nerves. Did they really cut open my kit? Wilbur and Techno, are they safe?”

Kristian makes a sadden grim face. “Yeah surgeries and toxification. Sadly none of your boys were spared. Tommy is alive. The surgeon I had to sneak in did drill a hole into his skull and successfully replaced the nerves of the kids. Tommy will officially grow as a hybrid with full instincts attached. He’s being given sleep medications to make recovery for the first few days easy. Technoblade will be in pain and like Tommy he will have body image issues and extreme guilt. And Wilbur won’t really be himself anymore. At least not for a long while.”

 

“What?! Why? Kristian,” Phil holds her shoulders, “what are they doing to my boys?!” He panicked. She holds his hand while taking a deep breath. The suspense is suffocating. 

“They had to take Tommy’s wings from his back,” She said and he can feel his heart squeezing. His babies wings. His beautiful red wings. He was just learning how to fly. He was doing so well. He was so happy with his wings. “and transplant them onto Technoblade.”

His heart drops into dread. They gave techno, Tommy’s wings? Why?!

“And Wilbur?” He asked, ignoring the tears racing down his cheeks. 

“He was placed in a room with burning weed at first, to keep him calm. But…” Kristian pauses. She sits straight, “Evan Amridian. Had snuck into the room holding them, and injected Wilbur with a concentrated amount of blue. He’s been given fluids and medication to dull the effects. He’ll be okay. It will seem like a bad acid trip. From what the spies have told me.”

That bastard! Phil grinds his teeth as tears spill. He killed May. That wanker took his sons. That bitch is hurting and drugging his boys. He stands gripping the mask and sword. “My goddess, my sword is yours as my body-“

“No!” Kristian snaps standing up. She holds his face. “You will not swear that suffocating oath to me. I won’t allow it!” She said, rubbing her thumb in circles. “Please don’t use that oath.” She takes his hands. “You aren’t a guard anymore. You're a father first. I said I would help you get them back. We will get them back. I promise Phil. We’ll get them back.”

 

His fists clenched tightly around his sword. “Kristian.” He whispers, feeling his heart pounds and arms shake. Simple word that feel just so broken and desperate, each child needed this simple word. Have asked countless times. He speaks softly, “Help.” 

She smiles pulling him back into a tight hug. “Of course. I’ll help you.” 

Chapter 20: Gathered Crows

Summary:

Philza and Kristian head out to get their children back. They have a conversation. Old relationships return and new Alliances are formed.

Notes:

Chapter!!! About 5500 words

Phil was scratching and picking at his thumb anxiously. The worry for his sons swirling in his head. He had hoped they didn’t harm his boys and that Tommy was going to survive and recover fully. Brain surgery is so risky, but replacing a tiny delicate nerve in his baby’s brain. Taking the wrong one can comatose the child or leave them in a vegetative state. Worst of all. Kill the child. What if he never sees Tommy’s smile again or his first full flight. His baby is finally settling and then he gets taken. Puffy will have to find him a new home even if he recovers enough to function. Wilbur and techno will leave him too. He had promised May he would protect them from the disparity of their past. He had a better reason to protect, one without a sword or bow. Doubt and failure had crept into his head, seeping deep into his mental state. Not like he can push it away. All three of his sons were taken from him, he had promised them each safety. 

“My angel.” Kristian touches his shoulder pulling him back to reality. Phil flinched his heart jumping into a panic as his hands flew to the handle of his sword unprompted. The avian scans around the RV. It was a nice traveling trailer that the cult of Death had brought for their vessel. Other than the driver there was silence and stillness to the inside. The winds howled joining the hum of the engine. 

Blue eyes shift around before they land on Kristian then shift to the outside. They had been driving for some time. He must have zoned out at some point because the region was lightly dusted in frosty snow. The trees had become those of pine and bare with a blush of snow on their branches. 

She, his goddess, shifts her body and speaks lowly, soft. “It’s safe Phil. No threats.” She spoke to him as if a scared cat. Phil sucks in a deep breath holding it for a moment as the traveling RV roars over the road. He waits till his heart steadies and slows before sitting in the cushioned seat, removing his hands from the sheath and handle of his blade. “Sorry.” He apologizes to the lady before him. 

Kristian, his sons favorite art teacher, warmly smiles. “It’s okay. I’m more worried about your finger.” She spoke getting up. He makes a confused face before looking at his hands. Oh. He had scratched too deeply into the side of his thumb. Blood was dripping over the back of his hand. 

Kristian being the wonderful person she is gently takes his hand to clean it and applies first aid. How the hell did he not know it was Kristian? He worked so closely with her and she knew his children. They must have had spies. But if a spy double crossed the cult. 

“Yes it has crossed my mind, little crow.” She said cleaning his hand once again being pulled from his thoughts.  “We have watchers. Just on me. And we did have a spy. That’s how they found you and the boys. Our paths got intertwined and you were so sweet and kind. Very cute. I didn’t want to take that happiness from you. The three have you wrapped around their fingers. Even Tommy.” She said tying the bandage. He really is wrapped around their fingers. Anything they say or want he provides. All their needs are excessively met. Above and beyond. When Wilbur was in pediatric rehab Phil made sure to visit with actual cookies and food he loved. Techno was brought to an actual blacksmith for a personalized knife. Techno loves his blades. Tommy was never given anything. Seeing him being open enough to speak. It’s heartwarming. Phil would do anything for his boys, even returning to his own ways for his little fledglings. 

The blood shed. Mindless actions on orders. The goddess, and her angel. They mostly used animal sacrifice or the offering of flowers and gold. Those of older age will warmly lay amongst the altar of Death and wait hours as they pass. A younger Kristian would plant a kiss on their head and wish a safe journey as if she was their mother wishing them safe passage. The only reason he is her angel is because of the black wings. But even then, The easy connection. The friendly jokes. She was Phil’s first friend. 

However he had absolutely no idea she was “the vessel” that released him from duty to seek out his wife. His youngest, as sweet and cunning as he was, settled them up for a date. He has admired Kristian from a far. She was keeping low just like him. 

“Yeah.” He says, placing his hand in his lap. His thumbs twiddle and swirl around each other for a moment. Phil smiles, lifting his head to smile at her. “Those little shits are so cunning.”

Kristian giggles. “We haven’t had our date yet.”

 

Chirp!

He croons, his wings fluffing up and face flushing with embarrassment. Phil was quick to cover his mouth and hide in his feathers as his body sinks down. Those damn boys. He’s gonna craft a belt once they heal from everything. 

“I had no idea my date had such a shy side. Not only do you have a cute face and ass but you are a rather adorable shy pretty birdie.” She rests her arms on the table with a grin. 

“I’m going to belt those little shits.”

Kristian can only chuckle. “They are very perceptive, and persistent. Wilbur has been telling me about your fluffy adventures and travels since we first met. Techno joined in. Although I haven’t heard much talking from Tommy. But he did make this.” She reaches under the seat cushions to a storage space. It takes a moment before pulling out a paper and handing it to him. 

One glance and Phil drops his head on the table the embarrassment seeping out of him. “I am so sorry about that.”

It was a cute drawing of the two of them at a wedding altar. Tommy Wilbur and Techno throwing flowers and an obvious wedding attire. 

“I find it very cute. I’m surprised he knows my taste in dresses. I did start teaching him embroidery and sewing in class. Said it was important that he learned it.”

“Ah.” Phil relaxes sitting back with a smile, “So that’s where he came up with the idea.” Kristian sits back watching Phil so content with him talking. 

“Tommy wanted to make a surprise for Wilbur and techno. To show his love to them. He was going to make Wilbur a jacket or armband. Something he can grow into and still wear. Tommy wanted to make techno a cape. One in the shape of wings so he can have his own wings to fly. So he didn’t feel left out.” Philza’s wings lower. “Techno and Wilbur flipped out while telling me Tommy offered his wings to techno. And then he disappeared the next day. Stinking kid was napping in a cabinet… a part of me hopes that they found a safe spot to hide now. I’d rather them attempt to survive a wild bear than be in that horrible cult. All that cleansing and shit they had technoblade do. The fighting. That… the blood.” Phil’s eyes wander to the snowy forest and land outside the camper trailer. The area is far from the north. They’re heading far south into the snowy tundra. 

 

 

Historically, the tundra was home of the ancient empire of Antarctic, home of the first blood god vessel and Angel of death. The two came from a fighting arena and while the Angel wasn’t as ruthless as his friend, he still left a trail of blood dripping off his black wings and from his sword. There was a soft side to the Angel. Some saw him walking behind a woman in black. A dazzling veil of the night sky draped over her head. The black flowers follow as her dress train. The angel drenched in blood would look elegant and put together as he escorted her among the barren streets. The monarch, known as Blood god, was a boar hybrid with long pink and red hair. A talent for the art of war and strategy. It is said that those that have passed on can speak to him. And for some reason it was recorded that he really loved potatoes so much that he made the biggest farm in recorded history strictly for potatoes. 

Blood god had told his subjects to leave them kind offerings at the fountain. Food, flowers, even candles. The angel and goddess would sit quietly at the fountain enjoying the offered food before they leave. And one day months after the ritual had started. A child was offered. Small and frail toddler with brown hair and eyes. The empire were surprised when they happily took the child with them only to return. A winged siren. Not all the children were taken. But many had offered babies. 

The emperor had then passed softly away and another little boy with pink hair and tusks was bravely approached with a stick in hand like it was a sword. The angel saw no threat and used a sheathed sword to disarm the boy who looked like his friend. They took him. Then another small boy came to the family seeking shelter. Golden raccoon, who knew no home. They took him as well. The children became the next ruler of the empire and founders of Le’manburg. To religious people. The three gods of destruction. 

God of blood

God of madness

God of chaos. 

An idea of the gods reincarnating came from the second son. A week after the emperor died, black flowers appeared on his grave. Worshipping started after that but it was also seen as taboo to many kingdoms for the Prime god was who they worshipped. Death and her Angel’s children were raised in a forest by their father with a blanket of trees and long winters as their cover from any that would hunt them until they all flew the nest and fell into their godly titles that people gave them. 

The blade, seeked blood and war. Wilbur Arson Soot, had fallen into madness destroying the country he built. Theseus innit Coon Simon, had brought chaos by fighting and pranks gone wrong.

The rest is known, mostly known.  

“I hope my sons are okay.” Phil says. 

“The last I heard, our spy’s have been trying to flush Wilbur’s system but his tormentor keeps trying to inject him. They keep stopping the man. Techno and Tommy are giving them a hard time. But they were in that damn cave. But now they are traveling. And Tommy is doing well. He’s able to walk not as he once did but it’s a start. He will need extensive physical therapy.” Kristian explains when she gets a message. Her phone buzzes. She glances down for a moment. A sigh escapes her lips and stands. “Almost show time…. You may take Evan’s head if you see fit.” She walks but Phil reaches his hand out taking hers into his. Kristian can feel her companions own longing and sorrow 

“Kristian. Can our people really protect my sons?” He asks with a slight desperation in his eyes. A plead for it to be true. 

“…” she blinks a bit surprised at the question but nods. “Yes. They will be protected and guarded by trusted people. We can do so much more as well. We can influence your politics to the government.” She grips onto him. “But, yes. We can protect you and the boys. Along with every other hybrid.” She says and looks upon his nervous and conflicted emotion. It’s pretty clear on what he is thinking. 

Convince.

“My crow. My angel.” Kristian cups his face so gently and rubs his ear. He leans into her touch so sweetly. “I am not opposed, but are you sure about that decision? We would be jumping steps and your boys-“

Phil holds her hand, “I don’t want them taken from me. I don’t want something like this happening again. I will need help, Kristian. More than just protection. I can’t always keep up with their conditions. It tears my heart when they start attacking each other and I have to rip one away and leave the other two, and Wilbur has been so wonderful taking care of his brothers. I can’t rely on him. Tommy knew the difference between his personalities before me.” Phil says, pulling her hand to his lips. Kristian watches Phil for a moment before leaning down and kissing his nose. 

“I accept. Now let’s get ready and bring your boys home. We are going to meet at the cabin, speak to the head priests then travel to the ancient empire temple. Sadly we will travel separately. We will speak more about it after everyone is safe.” She nuzzles him softly and pecks his head, “This is no inconvenience for me so don’t think about it. Now let’s get your kids.”

“Hmm.” He gives her a soft smile. “Our kids.”

Where she leads, he will follow. 

A knock on the door startles them. “It’s me, your holiness.” A familiar voice spoke up. Phil perks up at the male voice. 

Kristian speaks up, “You may enter.”  She says before heading to the back bed room of the RV and sliding shut the door. Phil moves quickly reaching his arms out as the two collide in the others embrace. “Oh my god Sneeg.”

“Dumbass! Do you know how relieved I was when Kristian told me you were fine?” Sneeg holds Phil’s shoulders and starts shaking him. “You were married! You got a kid! Your wife died! You got more kids! You're the head of a campaign and a well known author and audio reader to many books. Your kids are kidnapped! What is wrong with you to not contact your best friend!?” Sneeg shouts at the crow. Kristian giggles but easily catches the man’s attention. “Your holiness!” He stops from shock. 

“It’s alright Sneeg. But please fix Phil’s hair. We only have an hour and 30 minutes before the meeting.” 

“Right.” He said pulling Phil to sit down and face away from him. Many hair tools were dumped onto the table. “Luckily my wife showed me how to do this.” Sneeg said happily causing bewilderment to appear on Phil’s face, he just had to ask, “You’re married?” 

 

Sneeg pulled the mask from Phil’s head and ties up his hair in layers. “I am. With a baby girl. She just turned one.” He said before dumping hair onto the table and organizing. “Glad I  found your color.”

Phil points “So that’s-“

“Extensions. It says that the angel has long soft sun blonde hair. And ya cut yours off. It’s gotta be lingers than technos.” Sneeg said brushing out phils hair while he gapes. 

“Are you serious? His hair falls right at his hips!”

Sneeg hums. “Tommy and Wilbur have not gone through the process and procedures. They’re playing catch up. And with Techno more awake it’s easier to manage Tommy and Wilbur. He’s kinda teaching them what to do. But it’s kinda hard with the meds in their systems.”

Phil rubs his hands over his face. “Ugh. Let’s just get this over with. I want my kids back.”

“Anything for the kids.” Sneeg spoke, getting started with Phil’s hair. The time ticked slowly as the extensions were secured onto the strands. “Put these on once you're done with your hair, Phil. Kristian lays out his outfit. 

Anything for the kids. 

Mr Hendragar was becoming more and more impatient as they gather to greet the goddess of death and her angel. His wife is more worried than normal. Evan was standing with his arms crossed as the priest of death exited the RV, stepping to the side and bowing, he walked the path and stood next to him “Death's angel. And her holiness. Goddess, Lady death.”

The angel steps out first his hand holding a woman’s as he guides her out. A gorgeous lady dressed in black. They each carried themselves with so much power and perfection. The wind flows behind them perfectly. The colors, the way they walk. The etiquette. It’s all perfect. 

True vessels. 

 

He bows the others following suit. All but Evan, he scoffs rolling his eyes. The damn idiot. Mr.Hendragar puts on a happy face for the goddess. “Your holiness. I bid you welcome. I am Justin Hendragar. The head of the blood god cult.” He spoke. The other head priests introduced themselves. 

The goddess and angel remain silent. The world remains silent. “Please this way.” Justin said before leading the party for the very well know large cabin that’s further along the wood path. The cold only tickles against their skin as they all walk. The entourage of Death loyally following other members as they come to their cabins and escorts of guards following their Holy vessel of Death. Their goddess. 

A beautiful scene of nature had befallen upon them only for it to be ruined due to their characters. Silent and powerful roles they must play. Death must only speak when necessary. An Angel only follows his Goddess’s will. 

Evan Amridian. The man who had tormented their eldest son with his stupid underground drug dealing and testing. Bastard killed his wife and only got away with drug charges. 5 years in prison. Son of a bitch seemed so unguarded. It will be easy to take him down; he could just cut his head off right then and there. He could-

“Here we are.” That damned priest motions to the large historical cabin. Big and beautiful with a roof covered in snow and the obvious old carvings from ancient times.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where are the children vessels?” Kristian asked. 

The damned head priest smiles leading them in. Servents of the gods open the doors. “Resting in-“

 

A shrill shriek erupted from upstairs. They immediately see Wilbur running down the hall struggling with techno and Tommy in his arms. The bandages around their torsos and those on Tommy’s head. 

Oh no. Not again. 

Phil stiffens but notices the blood red wings on his middle child. A part of him had wished the words of his goddess were false. That adults weren’t as cruel to give Tommy wings then to transfer them to another child let alone his older brother. More importantly, Wilbur’s eyes had a haze of blue. His panic. It was like before. His two youngest being protected by their older brother. Wilbur wasn’t as strong as him but if he falls down-

“Go away!” Wilbur runs down the stairs as a dart shoots through the air and misses by an inch. A dart of blue seeps out of the wall as he jumps off the stairs. 

“Go.” Kristian commanded. It was all he needed. A light push to charge his way in front of his oldest. Wings spread, feathers stretching out as he stumbles and collides into him. Safety in the black feathers engulfing his fledglings. Safe, back in his arms and safe. 

“No! No let go! Bad man! I don’t want anymore!” Wilbur struggles trying to pull free only for Phil to hug him close and draw his sword to point at the followers who approached. 

“NO!” He shouts at them. His mask wraps his voice slightly. They stop looking to Justin for guidance. 

The damn man laughs nervously. Wilbur stills for a moment peeking up beyond the feathers that cover him and his brother. 

“Divine Angel. It’s time for the boy’s cleansing.” He says. “They have yet to do preparations for their body cleansing properly.”

Phil’s eyes shift to Kristian. “You say you're cleansing them. Of what exactly?”

The priestess of blood bows. Tommy would like her. She’s pretty but there’s slight scaring on her face. Head probably say something silly and hug her. “Our cleansing is to remove the remembrance of those that bind them. To ascend, they must imprint to you and the angel,”

“Drugging them is the best way?” Kristian, his goddess of death, spoke , lifting her wings aggressively. “The children of past came out of desperation. Not because they deemed so. They remember their pain and suffering allowing them to ease into divinity. Is all the pain they had been through been for not?!” Kristian hissed at them. They kneel down hands and head pressed to the floor. Necks exposed to the predators. Their own followers bow. Phil takes a moment to stretch Wilbur’s head with blunt nails lowing his sword and head to whisper in his sons ear. “It’s okay now, be silent.”

Wilbur sniffles and whimpers, biting back tears of relief. He sinks into his fathers chest, weakened knees and trembling. Phil stays strong and tall in front of the followers as he shuffles Wilbur to Lady Death’s side. Keeping his precious fledglings under his wings until she opens hers and urges them under her own black cover of safety. Wilbur shuffles hesitantly afraid of the woman. 

“The children will nest with me and my angel. My brilliant crow will take over their main care and watch over them. Any permanent alterations will need approval of their new caregiver.” She said reaching around Wilbur and gently taking techno into her arms. The teenager holds his brothers hand too nervous to let go. 

“Your holiness. I assure you we will speed up the process of detoxification of the body-“

Kristian glared hoisting techno onto her shoulder, “The time of ascension is upon us! We have great plans for the children of disasters. You will be watched closely under my crows Keen eyes.” 

Phil slides his sword into its sheath taking his ladies hand. “My room?” She asked with a sharp tone as they all stand modestly with the tension in the air. The silent bow of their head allows them to lead her down the hall. The clicking of talons echos on the polished dark oak. Wilbur’s heart pounds in his chest but they pass the open door for the double door further down the hall. 

The room was large and definitely had enough room. There were blankets and pillows along with their things for the next few days. “The grand master chamber, your holiness.”

“Priest Sneeg. Reward them.” Kristian demanded. Sneeg pulls out a paper and offers it to the heads of their cults. “As reward, and our ladies' generosity. We give you each the food of harvest from each god. The followers and vessels will eat to cleanse their body. Any meat will be inspected before cooking.” 

“Thank you for this blessing.” They bow again as Sneeg follows the family in shutting the door. 

 

Wilbur had stiffened ready to jump away but the woman holds him close, halting any and all movements. His heart pounded in his chest followed with a soft ringing. It took a moment before echoing steps pace away from the door. They wait another long moment before they pull away. The two big black birds stay still for a moment before the woman lays techno on the bed softly and reaches for Tommy who has yet to waken. Wilbur tightens his arms around his baby brother stepping away from her. She smiles softly from behind the long veil. “Can you sit on the bed please? You won’t be hurt here.”

 

He looks her up and down with hesitation. She backs away from Techno’s limb bruised and worn body without any hesitation. The priest dressed in black smiles. “You won’t be hurt. We promise.” He said stepping over to the luggage to unpack it. 

Wilbur moves closer to techno and tries shaking him from slumber. Tears prick his eyes as he tries to wake his brother. Techno was the fighter. Not sure he knows his way around a gun. The streets maybe. But they were hybrids and adults. Phantom is sobbing in his head pushing tears down his own face. Friend and Poppy are trying to help

“Songbird, kit, You're safe.” Phil says moving slowly. 

Wilbur and all of his alters scream all at once. “No! Don’t call us that! Only…” his eyes burn with his voice trailing off. He misses his dad. A chirp crawls its way from the depth of his chest and throat. Everyone in his head is screaming and friend can’t calm anyone down cause he’s also scare. He wants his daddy. He freezes, looking at the Angel. The familiar response of a deep croon of a crow on top of a small chirp from the fledgling on his chest. The fancy looking man takes off his mask slowly. Time feels really slow as the long strands of hair get messed up slightly. 

The young teen whimpers with a relieved and wobbled voice, “Daddy!” swiftly running over and throwing himself into the man with a series of chirps escaping his throat. Wilbur was going to be safe again. Tommy and techno will be okay. Wilbur and his brothers can go home and maybe they’ll move but they will be safe cause dad has them now. Phil sinks holding two of his boys tightly to his chest. “It’s okay now. It’s okay. I’m here, they won’t hurt you again.” He coos to comfort his fledgling. 

Wilbur holds onto Phil afraid it was a trick. The warmth, the feathers, comforting arms that he seek during distressing times. They thought he would never see him again. “You found us.” 

Phil takes in a shaky breath nuzzling his boys. “O-of course I did.” He sniffles, kissing their heads as they cuddle into him. It didn’t feel real. The reality of them being separated. Relief washed over everyone like a sudden storm and chased with a rainbow of gratitude. His boys were back in his arms and safe. They were safe. Phil encased them in his wings running his fingers through their hair. The alters sing their relief and bravely of Phil finding them. 

 “Wilbur.” Phil whispers, pushing his bangs back from his head. Gentle kisses are placed on his hairline. Phil’s shirt started to soak in blotches. “It’s okay now. He won’t touch you again.”

Wilbur grips tightly to his shirt. “Don’t leave.” He pleads. 

“I won’t. I won’t leave you. Listen Wilbur. We do have to talk about some stuff once we calm down. Okay?” The avian gets back on his knees and lifts both sons with ease. 

“We have blankets Phil. You focus on a nest for a bit. I’ll take the boys.” The woman dressed in black reaches out. Phil doesn’t hesitate even when Wilbur does stiffen and squirm. Tommy is passed over in his limp state. 

“No! Dad no-“

Phil coos soothingly at his oldest, “She’s a friend, song bird. You know her.” Phil lets Kristian take both techno and Tommy to the couch. 

“No daddy, they can’t.” Wilbur squirms as he’s brought to the bed. He’s sat in blankets while Phil pulls off the extra layers of clothing. 

“A friend?” Wilbur asked fear, lacing his voice. The woman, they called Death, smiles sweetly and familiarly. “Oh. Sorry sweetie, I had to mask my scent. Would this be better?” She asked, reaching up and pulling the curtain from her face. Wilbur’s eyes widen as the veil whisps away and the roses fall. Her black hair and fancy goth makeup. 

“Ms.Kristian?” He spoke in complete shock  of his teacher wearing the get up that she is. She smiles brightly at Wilbur while Phil makes the nest. “Sorry we kinda scared you. But I promise, you're safe. Your dad and I will take care of everything.”

Wilbur was safe. At least for now. His head felt fuzzy and mouth of Cotten. His eyes felt like they were being dragged down with Exhaustion but he wasn’t tired. He kinda just wanted to stop. Maybe forget. Wilbur just wants to shut off for a bit. Maybe he could get his hands on more blue so he can forget. He misses May. He saw her recently, even if it was a hallucination. He misses his mom.

“Easy Wilbur. Daddy’s got ya. Just rest.” Phil spoke but Wilbur didn’t really process words. He’s kinda just, There. Staring off and observing in his dissociative state. Tommy is safe and techno will be fine too. Wilbur just can’t right now. Thinking is too hard. 

Phil looks over Wilbur’s blank face as he covers his son with a blanket. His hands instinctively run through the chocolate curls. Soft soft curls. His eldest obviously dissociated. It’s pretty bad with how quick and deep he went. His brave guppy. He’s going to really make it up to his fledglings. A make up vacation after they get out of this mess and Kristian has full control of the situation. 

Speaking of, the goddess he follows brings the two youngest over to his nest and lays them down. Tommy and Techno lay on their sides with their…. Wings now sprawled out rather than binded down with bandages. The wing holes in their shirts are loose and their surgical sights are exposed. The sight of his sons skin being raw and red, stitched together and stretched. It makes Phil’s gut twist in a way he never thought he could at the sight of his sons. He has to look away for a moment. The image of his younger boy's skin being swollen and stitched to the wings. A piece of him wants to rip them off. To return Tommy’s red wings to him and both boys the pain. But the healing process has already started and ripping them off will hurt them more. But they’re his children, Phil is more than content with the fact that they're safe. 

Kristian moves back from the family of four and picks up her veil. “We will leave you guys here. Rest. Be with your kids.” She said, pulling her veil and roses back onto her head. “One of ours will bring up food. Proper food.”

A simple nod from the concerned father is all it takes to make her leave him alone with his children. A part of him relaxed to lay with his kids. 

He just wants to sleep but the fear of being discovered haunts his mind into a paranoid state. Just a few more days of on and off sleep he can do it. He just has to wait for Kristian to place the finishing touches. 

 

 

 

Kristian didn’t need to glance over at Sneeg to understand his worry. Philza gets emotional and paranoid over things. While he has gotten better it’s not exactly gone. The avian is a parent not even Kristian can stand in his way. Pointless bloodshed would have happened if she didn’t reveal herself to her old friend. 

“He needs to sleep.” Sneeg said. 

“He will. Focus on our task first.” She reminds him. Sneeg nods, helping his goddess down the stairs and to the dinner hall. There the high ranks of each cult stood from their chairs and bowed as the goddess came to her seat. 

Justin Hendragar stood to the side ready to serve the man above him, the cult of blood. 

Wilbur’s tormentor, Evan Amridian, sat at the seat next to the preacher of Wilbur’s followers. Phil would easily recognize groups. 

However, It was a little odd to see someone a bit younger standing at the seat of chaos. His soft light brown hair and brown eyes. The different colored wings on his back, Vibrant and loud colors Tommy would likely want to touch the large feathers of a parrot avian. The younger male, dressed in red with gold accents. Kristian glanced at the flower in his hair. An Anemone. 

A beautiful white flower with a black middle bud. A yellow rose sat next to it. 

Perhaps an ally. 

“The bishop of the chaos cult?” She asked. He giggles. “Not exactly. I’m second in line. I’m a stand in. Our church head won’t be able to join us. Ever again. She is slowly passing and while she wished to be here. She’s saving her strength for a send off by the reincarnated vessel. She had claimed to be a descendent of Theseus’s adopted son. Shroud. She would like the young one to see her off.”

Kristian crossed her legs, “… as long as Theseus is willing to do it. His wings are likely sore so he might say no.”

He smiles, “no pressure on the little one. It will be his first time in this life right. Our head will be happy just to meet him. You or the angel may stay with him. We aren’t monsters, taking a child from their parents.” He snips at the others. They glare while Kristian smiles at the young man and asks sweetly, “Your name?”

 

“Grain. You may call me Grain.” He smiles proudly back at her with his wings fluffing up excited. Like a kid. 

Chapter 21: Protection Death

Summary:

Tommy wakes up more lucid than he’s been the last few days. His body ache all too familiar. Fear pressed him. He runs only to be found.
Wilbur’s new alter makes an appearance.

Notes:

Sorry this one took me awhile to make. I haven’t edited it so I likely will later.

Tommy was the first to wake of the three brothers. A snort and his head pops up. With a rub to his eyes and yawn he sits up slowly, a new stuffy his grasp. It was a nice soft texture; Which got quickly dropped onto Wilbur’s back as he spotted Henry and Clem. He chitters and purrs, snatching the toy gratefully as the soreness on his back seems to be forgotten just for a moment. “Henry, Clem.” Tommy snuggles the chicken and cow before glaring down at his toys. “Naughty. Don’t leave me again.” He says hugging his toys tighter and kissing their heads like Phil has done with him and his brothers. 

A body shuffled around him. Wilbur and Techno. Something was off with techno. He had lumps on his back that slowly shifted under blankets causing his older brother to groan in his sleep.  Techno might have blankets piled up on him but he sounds like he’s in pain. The shower turns on from the bathroom. He hopes it’s the bathroom that would be weird if it wasn’t the bathroom. A quick soft rub to Wilbur and technos head before shuffling towards the edge of the nest and looking at the weird kinda cringe creepy cabin room. There was a fireplace that was lit. Suite cases against the wall. A cart of food and clean blankets. There was some bird mask hanging on a hook. Couches and one of those nice coffee tables in the middle of the room. Oh and a sword by the bathroom door. 

Tommy’s eyes sparkle. “Sword.” He beams. Techno mentioned having weapons. He’s gonna take it. “Finders keepers.” Tommy rolled onto his belly carefully slipping down when familiar sharp pain pulsed through his back. Tommy drops onto his paws but he has to stand still as the throbbing of his wings continues to pulse and burn. There’s that familiar itch that follows healing wounds. There was a sense of fear that striked Tommy as too familiar. The memory of resting in that attic from his previous foster house courses through his mind. The dusty horrible lit small room in which everything said in the house echos back to him. They said so many things. So many horrible things. And Connor’s laughter as he first stood. On his own legs. His legs. They took his legs away. He had hoped he would never have to feel this pain again. In Tommy’s panic, his eyes shift down to his legs which were still fuzzy and held golden fur paws. His toe beans were still pink. Slight relief washes over him before he reaches back and touches his wings. They were still there. They didn’t take his wings away. He really wondered what was really on technos back. The lumps didn’t move but remained still as the middle child slept. 

Tommy turns his head back to the cart and spots different beautifully colorful dishes. And red juices on the dishes and pink flesh. The shed, all that skin. All those bodies. And the grinder. The stretched faces of horror and eyes dangling from sockets. The bones and the weird noises. He doesn’t want to hear the cries and the crunching again; he doesn't want to see the cages of people with bloody limbs begging for help without their tongues. The flash back of that barn and the sound of crunching bones. The screams he thought were goats screaming in the middle of the night. 

Tommy gags and hurriedly runs for the door and out into the hall. He won’t eat it again. He doesn’t wanna eat mommies and daddies. Oh god what if that was Phil. They made Phil into meatloaf. Would techno and Wilbur really eat their dad. 

He’s gotta hide. 

“Vessel? Are you okay?” Someone dressed in one of those robes asks from the stairs. Half of his face didn’t move and the person behind him only had three fingers on their hands!

Tommy whimpers and runs further down the hall, his little heart beating out of his chest and the sharp pain pulsing harder, pleading for him to stop running. There’s more people. He needs to hide. He doesn’t wanna eat anyone! Tommy jiggles the handles of doors in his panic. He chirps and clicks trying to get inside a safe room. Then one opens. He slips in and shuts it quietly, backing away. Tommy scratches at the itch under his skin and yanks at the feathers only to chitter from pain. His bright red feathers felt different. They were extremely soft and smooth. Tommy pulls his wing around and tears fill his eyes from not only the pain but the fact that it’s all wrong. The first thing he recognized. Those wings weren’t his. But where did they go? Why does he have these ones?

 

“Who’s there?” A weak older voice asked. Tommy crawls into a corner and sniffs, pushing his hair from his face. He has to find his wings. “I can smell blood. Come on over. Let mama Amelia see.” A woman very elderly shifts from the bed and shakily takes glasses before placing them on. She squints while Tommy blinks away tears. The room smelled clean but also older. A soft scent follows in comfort. A grandmother's smell. It wasn’t a harsh lemon or raisin. It was like warm fresh bread and soft fresh garden dirt and flowers. 

“Come on over. Mama Amelia, won’t hurt you.” The woman waves him over and sitting up slowly. “No one will hurt you in here. I have some cookies under my pillow. Would you like one child?”

Tommy feels a strange comfort from her words. He crawls slowly to the bed and tries to peek over the edge. The stretch causes pain to shoot around his body. Tommy grips the covers and pressed his face right into the cool fabric as he bites away cries of pain. “Does it hurt? Your wings?” Mama Amelia asked. Tommy could only nod as his stiff wings attempts to shift making the pain sharper. A gentle hand runs over his frizzy hair. Weak shaking hands gently try to help him onto the bed. “Keep still.” She helps him lay onto a pillow. 

Tommy gasps and whines. A sugar cookie with frosting is held in front of his nose. With a small sniffle he takes the cookie. “Thank you.” He says. “I’m Tommy.”

 

Mama Amelia smiles, “So you're our vessel?” She lays back against her pillow. “I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time. It makes me happy that you have come. Even unintentionally.” She spoke softly laying back into the pillows watching Tommy nibble on his cookie. “Young vessel. How are you adjusting? Are they being nice to you?”

 

Tommy shrugs and licks his lips taking another bite of his cookie. The frosting is sweet and has sprinkles. The woman chuckles before coughing. “Are you scared of being a vessel?” She asked, earning a nod from the boy. 

“You will be a sweetheart. Our believers need a soft cute little boy. Your brothers will be very chaotic once they settle. And so will you… I always wanted to see my great ancestor.” She said reaching out and petting Tommy’s fluffy head as he finishes his treat. “Let me tell you a little secret, little one.” She spoke, getting Tommy to shuffle closer. He moves slowly from the deep ache in his body. 

She chuckles. “If any of our believers ever wrong you. Even if it’s your brothers. Give them a nice dirt sandwich and make them eat it. You are a vessel of chaos. Your cuteness is a weapon. Only our own people know not to cross you. You can get away with anything.” She said as he lays on her. She awed at the gesture and holds him tightly. 

“Your mother and father will be very kind. The angel of death and the goddess will protect you. Grain will be good to you.” She said. 

Tommy blinks quietly. “… scared.” He whispers. Mama Amelia smiles petting his head. “No need to worry. Your mommy and daddy will take care of you and your brothers.”

Daddy is probably really worried. He got super worried when Tommy slept in the cabinet. And he’ll be super worried. He cried when Tommy came out. Now techno and Wilbur were also trapped with him. What if they turn them into slabs of meat or-

“Little vessel.” Mama Amelia spoke to pull him from thoughts. He was scratching again. Daddy doesn’t want him to scratch. “I know this all might be scary. But don’t be deceived by those you wear a mask. They might be the kindest people you know. But be careful of those who use pretty words to make you do things. Those people are fuckers.”

Tommy giggles at her curse. The two of them sit quietly as commotion is heard outside. “It sounds like they’re looking for you.” 

Tommy hums but doesn’t move. 

“I’m so lucky to have been able to meet you Theseus.” She spoke softly. 

“I’m lucky too.” The boy hugs around her. “I’m gonna be okay.”  

“Good. It’s my time, little one. Stay as long as you need. And you can have all my treasures.” Mama Amelia spoke relaxing into the pillows. Her smell was comforting. The bread and garden gently warm his nose. “I want to thank you for coming to see me Tommy. You are a brave little boy.” Mama Amelia smiles. 

He doesn’t want this smell to go. It reminds him of that one home. Which number was it again. They weren’t horrible but not the best either. When Tommy came, the grandparents were both slowly slipping into a forever sleep. They held each other's hands and loved watching Tommy play and color. They told him stories and shared sweets when the other grandchildren wanted nothing to do with them. It was a short home, for the money grubby family sent him away as soon as the will was read. He didn’t get anything. As expected. The family used their sadness as reason to send him away. Even though they weren’t sad. Tommy didn’t really mind. The grandparents seemed to have at least gone by peacefully. That was a nice house. It was calm and they didn’t force him to eat bad food. It’s a lot like Phil’s home. They encourage but don’t force. 

“Night night mama Amelia.” Tommy spoke snuggling into her bony chest that barely rose with each fading breath. “Sleep tight. Brave little Theseus.” She whispers before the last few fading breaths. Tommy keeps still on her chest. Her warmth gently fades the longer he lays there. Soft moments like this were the hardest. A potential friend but he had to say goodbye before they really knew each other. Tommy liked her,not sure what she meant by her treasures although he doesn’t really want them. He hopes mama Amelia gets the chance to go play with his real mama. He thinks they will like each other. 

The commotion reaches the door when it goes quiet. A soft knock and rattling of keys. When the door opens, those who are dressed in robes and long hoodies. Sneak in and take a peek at their elder who laid resting in bed. She was at peace with the one she wanted laying on her chest. “Did you find him?” Someone pushed past the bodies. A man dressed in black with that silly green and white striped hat and a mask of a crow on his face. Daddy had a striped hat, he loves his hat. “Hi mate.”

The boy didn't move as the male with late familiar black wings walked over. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” The angel asked, kneeling down while Tommy shakes his head. He wasn’t hurt, just a little sad. his new friend went to sleep forever. She died.

”Do you want to stay a little longer?” Angel asked, getting a nod from his sweet little son. Tommy laid blankly on her chest trying to snuggle and absorb whatever warmth there was left from mama Amelia. They sat for ten minutes. Just laid still waiting for Tommy to finally move who sat up slowly and rubs his eyes while shuffling over to the edge of the bed. “Come here my kit. It’s alright.” Angel rubs his back and holds him just like daddy does. “Come on, back to the nest.” Phil, at least Tommy thinks it’s Phil, takes Tommy out of the room to allow the people to prepare Amelia’s body. 

 

“Are you daddy?” Tommy whispers into the man’s ear. He smiles softly before whispering back. “I will never get tired of you or your brothers calling me that. But you gotta keep daddy being the angel a secret. So only call me daddy or angel. Okay?” 

 

Tommy nods, hugging around his dad. He doesn’t need to really respond to the avian. His dad knows that he’ll be good. He’s just happy to be safe back in the arms of his loving dad. 

“Is he okay?” 

Wilbur, his beloved older brother was peeking out of the room with techno under his wing wrapped in a blanket looking almost shameful. He wouldn’t look at Tommy.  “Yes. Tommy just got spooked and ran off.” Phil says slipping into the room where Kristian was moving some things around. “Good you found him.” She spoke before patting the nest. “Let’s try and get this conversation out of the way. I know it’s uncomfortable but it’s needed.”

Phil takes his sons back to the nest and gets them food from the cart. As he sits down techno crawls under the black feathers of his father to hide away. “Daddy why is ms. Kristian here?” Tommy asked eating his food.

“Well.” Phil doesn’t really know what to say to his small son. “Um. Let’s start with where we are.” Phil shifted nervously. “As you kids know. We aren’t near home anymore. And I um.” He looks to Kristian for assistance now unsure of how to tell his kids. She takes a deep breath. “Boys. You were ambushed and kidnapped by a cult. Three cults, each worship their own person. Techno you already know this but They believe you are three reincarnated people. I and your daddy are from a different cult. The religion of the Death goddess. We came through our cult to come get you. It’s almost safe, we just have to play along for a bit.”

 

Techno spoke quietly and hushed, “Can they give them back?” He asked from under Phil’s wing. Eyes brimming with tears as his body trembled. He still couldn’t look at his brothers who were confused. “Not mine.” Techno sobs out as he hides against his father. He snorts and chirps sounds. He tugs on his hair distressed with the situation. “Shhhh. Deep breaths piglet. It’s alright.” Phil pulled techno into his lap. 

Tommy and Wilbur freeze up as the familiar red feathers are freed from the blanket and shift under the binding of bandages and brace. Techno snorts and cries and Tommy can only stare. Wilbur swallows as his head throbs and his alters fight to take over. He looks too Tommy who just stares and scratches along his ribs and legs. 

“Kits. Come.” Kristian opens up her arms graciously. Wilbur crawls in and pulls Tommy into their embrace. “It’s alright. Let’s breathe. Nice and slow. In 1..2..3..4..5. And out 5..4..3..2..1. And in-“

Wilbur watches and listens to Kristian’s breathing. But Tommy was still scratching. He reaches out taking Tommy’s hand as he keeps breathing in. 

“Let’s think of fluffy things.” Kristian spoke. “Can we point to five things that are fluffy?”

Tommy tugs on his gold curls. 

Kristian praises. “Yes. Your hair is fluffy.” 

Wilbur gives a light tug on Kristian’s wings. “Very good Wilbur. My wings are fluffy.”

The teen perks a bit, the ache in his head still present but faded into a dull annoying throb. It felt nice to be comforted with his brothers. Not just one at a time or being the one comforting his brothers. Wilbur does get comforted by his dad, but Tommy and techno act up a bit more than him. Phil doesn’t mean to leave him out and he does check on him frequently. 

“Kristian should be daddy’s wife.” Wilbur whispers a little too loud. His brothers nod in agreement while Kristian chuckles and giggle with Phil’s embarrassed look. “Well. Fledglings, we are getting married.”

Wilbur perks up a bit surprised at the sudden announcement. “Really?”

“No.” Techno says. “It’s not proper! It’s not… no! No!!” Techno squirms sorely with words and emotions jumbling and twisting in his head.  “home!”

“Piglet. Listen sweetheart. Kristian and I do love each other.” Phil has to carefully maneuver techno back into his lap. “Our love is different from your princess movies and the princess bride. We have a different trope.” Phil says as his boy stims and kicks his feet into the mattress, yanking his one hair. “You remember those drama videos where they get married first then start falling madly in love? Our dramas we watch?”

Techno doesn’t respond, only grinds his hooves into the fluffy covers. 

“Kristian and I have to marry to protect you and your brothers. But we will have dates. And all those romantic fluffy moments. And you three will be able to help with the wedding. And picking out Kristian’s dress. There’s gonna be two weddings. One for the public. We won’t be able to have much say. But the other one. That one will be just for us and everyone we love.”

 

“That one first!” Techno says focusing of rubbing his hooves into the fabric. Kristian smiles. “Can I tell you boys something else?” She speaks up like there's a big surprise. “We have another surprise.” 

Phil nods excitedly adjusting Techno. 

Techno lays down on Phil’s lap. “Give back?” He asked almost pleadingly for the red wings to be taken off his body with tugs of his pained feathers. “I’m sorry piglet. We can’t take them off.”

Techno snorts and oinks as he starts to cry. Phil could only pet his head. “It’s alright piglet. It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.”

Tommy weakly reaches out and reaches his little hand for Techno’s. Phil moves him and techno closer for Tommy to reach. The small hand rests on Techno's head. Tommy rolls himself closer and pets Techno’s head just like Phil has done. The sharp pain from rolling makes Tommy stiffen but he continues to pet his older brother's hair sweetly. Techno sniffles watching his little brother be all sweet. “I said you can have them. They like a gift now. And you like red.” Tommy whispers, running his little hand over the pink of his brother's head. 

Technoblade doesn’t know if he’s crying harder because of relief that Tommy wasn’t freaking out or because their situation was anything but okay. His little brother had his body modified 2 times in the last year. He had just healed from his first operation before they butchered his little body up again and stitched it back together and Tommy told him to take his wings as a gift. The kid rubs his eyes and slips closer to Tommy to snuggle. He’s a big brother and he couldn’t even protect Tommy. He just wants to hold Tommy right now. 

“You guys are adorable.” Kristian coos. “Phil, why don’t you get them the food and medicine. Should be on the cart.” She explains earning a smile and him getting off the bed. Phil had quickly gotten his family plates of food and breakfast and he paused for a second before serving the plates to the kids and grabbing their hats and masks. “Someone is coming.” He says pulling his mask on and hat. 

“Dad.” Wilbur spoke nervously. 

Kristian rubs his shoulder pulling her hat on and covering herself in the shimmering black vail. “It’s alright.” She comforts the teenager. “Just keep quiet. And don’t speak. We’ll take care of everything.” She says gently pulling Tommy and techno closer. She curls her wings as Phil takes his sword and stands straight like a soldier with the sword on his hip. 

The knocking comes rather loudly. A moment of silence. Phil moves to the front of their nest. “Cover them”

The children are wrapped in black feathers taking away their sight. “Don’t look boys.” Kristian spoke. 

 

“I can help-“ techno says. The child knew his way around a sword as if the blade is a mere extension of himself. Kristian, his new mother, shakes her head. “No. Techno you’re still recovering from-“ another knock interrupted her. She sits straight. “Name thy self!” The goddess commanded. 

“Your holiness. It is I, Justin Hendragar. The high priest from the church of blood.” He spoke. Tommy Hugs himself tighter to techno. The older one holds Tommy tightly as he could. 

“You may enter.” Kristian spoke clearly, putting up her front. The door opens allowing that tormentor inside. The child kept silent and shaking against her. Kristian and Phil watch as the man approaches and bows down, “your majesties. Our goddess-“

Kristian snaps at him. “Spit it out.” She grits through her teeth. 

He nods, “my apologies. The elder of Chaos has passed this morning-“

“I already know. The child of chaos had seen her off already.” Kristian spoke coldly to the man who nervously clears his throat. “Ah yes. Well. Um… the blood gods vessel has his duties today-“

“Which won’t be happening for he is still in major pain from surgery.” Kristian snaps again. 

He lowers to kneel before her. “Your majesties. Our weekly prayers, he is in our presence and-“

Phil caws and crooned at the man unsheathing his sword making the human shut up. “You dare bleed a vessel more than necessary? He’s not an adult. Do you want my son to depart into Death's domain before he reaches his peak?!” Phil spreads out his wings threatening

“No. Great angel. I wouldn’t dare send the vessel off into death's void!” Mr. Hendragar spoke. “I only wish to help the vessels keep up with their duties.”

Kristian hums. “Their bodies are recovering. While they are my children their bodies are still mortal. They can start their duties as soon as they fully recover.” She explains. “Now leave. We have a long journey ahead of us and we must rest while we can.”

 

The man before them bites his lip and hides his frustration. “Yes, your holiness.” He grits through his teeth with anger seething out of him. “I understand.” He says getting up, keeping his body bowed. “Thank you, your holiness.” He hurried out of the room. The click of the door and thumping shoes faded down the hall. The oldest three of the family relax without the threat of the abuser. Wilbur gently pressed on the soft feathers to get the wing to open up. “Is he gone?” He asked quietly while peeking. 

“Yes dear. He’s gone.” Kristian said.

Techno keeps his arms around Tommy gently nuzzling into the dirty blonde curls. 

Kristian smiles as Phil puts his sword away and climbs back into their nest. “I do think I forgot to mention that we will be living in a castle.” She says getting all three of the young boys to snap their heads to her. “Really?! A real castle? Like a big one?!” Techno asked with a sparkle to his eyes. The wings on his back shift. Kristian nods with a soft giggle. “surprise. Those cult people have to request to see you. They can’t just walk in.” She folds her wings up. 

Wilbur suddenly squeals like a child and bounces. “I wanna play too! I wanna play too!” His kid alter pops out excitedly. But suddenly switches out. “Speaking of. Will there be a garden? I would like to plant flowers if possible.” They said shifting their body to sit with their legs to the side. 

“Are you poppy?” Tommy asks quietly making the two adults even more confused until Phil gets what had happened. “You must be Wilbur’s new alter! And your name is, Poppy?” He said with a smile. 

Wilbur’s alter has a soft expression similar to how Kristian gives soft smiles. “I asked techno and Tommy to call me Poppy until I could find a name. And I’m a girl. But I think I picked it.” She said happily. 

Kristian claps beaming with joy. “Welcome to the craft family darling. Please introduce yourself.” 

Techno and Tommy stared at her. She takes a deep breath. 

“My name is Tallulah.”

 

Notes:

Leave kudos and comments if you like it. Keeps the story going

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Dsmp works by AliceCipher