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Pain.
all tommy could feel was pain. it all happened in a flash, one moment he was arguing the next dream's fist was slamming into his face repeatedly. he was punching him over and over again. a sharp pain surging through him as his whole body shook and he dropped to the ground. dream didn't stop. it felt like his body was being ripped to shreds. like he was being ripped in half. it felt like something was piercing through his flesh and ripping his organs apart. it was unbearable. he couldn't handle it. he was screaming and crying. he kept begging and begging for dream to stop hitting him, well at least he thought he was, all he could hear was the rushing of his blood and his pounding heart.
tears were flowing faster than they ever had before as the ache become torturous. he could taste metallic in his mouth and could've sworn he heard the muffled cracks of his bones. he couldn't breathe. he couldn't move. dream wouldn't stop. he couldn't bear it. he couldn't fucking breathe.
stop. please. stop. stop it. please just make it stop. make it stop. make it stop. make it stop. im going to die. i dont want to die. this wasn't meant to happen. make it stop. make it stop. make it stop. please. please. please. please. please.
please make it stop.
and then it did.
everything stopped.
he felt numb.
tommy expected to open his eyes to dream towering over him. the man panting heavily and his hands covered in the boys blood. he reluctantly opened his eyes and panic surged through him as he saw nothing. an abyss of seemingly never ending darkness before him. a void. had he gone blind? where was he? why can he no longer hear the rushing and bubbling of the lava or the drip of crying obsidian? why can he no longer hear dream's breathing or even his own? why can he no longer see? why was he numb? why was he empty? why did he feel nothing?
"d-dream..?" tommy's voice was hoarse, shaking as the words spilled out of his mouth. it felt wrong. it felt weird. his body felt like it was floating yet heavy at the same time. was he dreaming? was this real? was he dead? "a-a-am i dead..?"
"tommy! how're you doing?" a eerily familiar voice spoke. tommy's body tensed, well it would've if he could feel it. he recognised that voice, and he didn't like it.
"w-who....what...w-where am i? who a-are you?" everything felt like it was going in slow motion. it felt like each second was an hour. he didn't like this. where was he? what the fuck happened?
"you haven't forgot me have you? its me! your dear ol' brother wilbur soot!" tommy could hear the grin on wilbur's voice. he hated it. he hated him. he was not his brother. he was no longer his brother as soon he used tommy to his advantage. he was no longer his brother as soon as he manipulated the boy. that doesn't mean he didn't miss his velvet voice that was dripping with honey. that doesn't mean he didn't miss the man who used to sing him songs when he couldn't manage to fall asleep in the middle of the night.
"get...the fuck away from m-me. e-explain where i-i am now. y-you cant be here y-you're meant to be d-dead!....w-wait...am i-i dead?" panic laced tommy's voice, the pieces clicking together. why else was he stuck in this void? why else would he feel nothing? he was dead. he had died. he had died...dream killed him.
a laugh erupted from wilbur, a laugh all too familiar to the blonde. "now you understand! i felt a space opening up and just knew it would be you!"
suddenly everything felt too real. he was too aware of his surroundings. his sesnes felt over-stimulated and under-stimulated at the same time. he could feel his faint breath and the feeling of tense muscles. he couldn't feel his body but he was aware of it. he felt like he was being pulled across the void he was trapped in. he was trapped. he didn't like this. this was weird. this was far too weird. tommy didn't want to die. he was meant to defeat dream. he didn't want to go out like this.
"t-this makes no s-sense! d-dream- he- he said- h-he said he needed me alive! w-why would he kill me!? m-maybe im hallucinating. m-m-maybe this is a-all just a dream!" tommy stumbled through his words, they blurted out as his panic only increased. it wasn't meant to end like this. he wasn't meant to die like this.
"oh tommy. silly, silly tommy. you died. you're dead. you're dead and stuck with me forever. well not only me, theres schlatt and mexican dream aswell! i've been waiting for a new person to come here for a while though." tommy hated how wilbur spoke so condescendingly towards him. he hated this. he hated everything. he wanted to be alive again. he was meant to stand up to dream. he was meant to stand up to his manipulator. he was meant to stand up to his abuser.
"i-im not staying here. this c-cant be it. this cant be t-the end. i- t-there must be a way back.."
another laugh. another patronising laugh that made rage and fear run through tommy's veins. "oh, you always did avoid death. its always fascinated me how you never seemed to die, but your streak of good luck finally ended. i wondered if you were ever going to defeat dream and revive me. i don't want to go back there. i quite like it here. i'll love it even more now that my dear brother is here-"
"d-don't fuckin' call me that. we are n-not brothers. y-you are not my brother." tommy growled, his breath only getting heavier and faster as anger bubbled up inside of him. he wanted to get out of here already. he wanted to leave. it felt like he had been here for months.
"my dear brother, i missed you. you know that right? don't even act like you didn't miss me as well. i saw how desperate you were to bring me back. oh the things i would've done if you were successful! i'd cause mayhem on that stupid server. it would be in shambles, and no one would be able to fix it. it will be so wonderful. everyone under my rule, under my control. it'll be great, dont you think so to tommy?"
tommy was in disbelief. it was like he was back in pogtopia all over again, only worse. "you haven't- y-you are still the f-fucking same. you haven't changed at all..."
"why would i have changed? i've been here for what, 9 fucking years? i've had all the time in the world to think about exactly what i want to do to that godforsaken server. it'll be so much fun. it'll be a blast! you'll love it tommy. all the power in the world at your fingertips, well only if you join me. it'll be amazing toms." tommy hated the way the nickname he hadn't been called in months just easily fell from wilbur's mouth.
"dont you f-fucking dare call me t-that. i-i wont be bringing you back. everything was finally good. i-i felt okay..better t-than i used to. i-im not letting y-you ruin it.. a-all i need to do is defeat dream. thats all i n-needed to do...i-its too late now....and- y-you- i- you're a fucking evil man. i-i cant believe i ever thought you would change. i-i t-thought you w-would be different.."
there was a pause before wilbur spoke. it felt like it went on for hours. "you know, i feel like you could really liven up the place. i missed you a lot toms. im really happy you're here."
"dont say that." tommy could feel his breath pick up, despise not being aware of his own breathing or body it still felt like he was being choked. like something was tightening around his neck and limbs.
"but its true! im so happy you're here with me toms."
"stop saying that..."
"you'll make it lots of fun here!"
"shut up. s-shut up!...SHUT UP! s-stop fucking say that! " tommy yelled, his voice echoed into the dark abyss.
silence.
there was no reply.
"w-wilbur..?"
nothing.
"w-wil..?"
nothing.
there was nothing.
just tommy. alone.
tommy would've screamed right now if he could. he could no longer speak. he felt like he wasn't there. like he didn't exist anymore.
a faint, melody began to play. getting louder and louder and eventually turning into a song tommy knew. a song he loved and hated. a song that brought him so much happiness and agony.
mellohi.
mellohi echoed through the void as a bright, blinding light obstructed his field of vision.
tommy gasped, shooting up from his position and catching his breath. the agonizing pain had returned, however it was less severe than before. he could hear the sound of that weird liquid from crying obsidian he never knew the name of dripping onto the hard ground. he could hear the rumble and bubbling off the wall of lava before him. he could feel the cold, rough obsidian floor beneath him. he could feel his body. he could feel the rise and fall of his chest. he could feel his heart hammer against his ribcage. why was he here? why was he back here? was he not dead?
tommy scanned his surroundings before he froze, his body starting to shake and his breathing picking up as he locked eyes with dream. dream stood beside him, towering over the boy making him feel smaller than he ever had before. he was contracting his fingers repeatedly as blood splattered from them onto the floor. his knuckles were split open and stained a bright, deep red. that was tommy's blood. that was his blood. he was alive. how was he here!?
tommy felt sick.
"d-d-dream?...i-i...n-no i must be h-hallucinating..how...i-i was just dead..." tommy couldn't think straight. his body was vibrating rapidly and his breath was far too fast. he felt light-headed. everything was too loud. this was too much. it was too much for him to process.
a manic laugh bubbled inside of dream as he walked over to the petrified, discombobulated boy. he bent down to his level, a grin tommy couldn't see due to his mask plastered on his face. "it worked...it really worked. i was afraid it as wouldn't." dream looked at him in awe.
"h-how...w-what? w-what are you talking about!?"
"the revive book you idiot. i revived you, you died and came back to life...this is. this is amazing!" dream jumped up from where he was, a far too happy laugh for the current situation erupting from his mouth and echoing around the entire cell. he span around in glee ."this is perfect tommy! dont you see, it worked. im a god...im a god!"
"y-you...i-i...y-you're a monster! you killed me f-for what!? t-to prove a p-point. y-you put me through that t-torture for two months, to p-prove a f-fucking point!? y-you're sick...you're evil! y-you're a fucking monster!"
"two months?..its been two days tommy! you were only there for two days."
"w-what..n-no..i- none of this m-makes sense! i-i was just fuckin d-dead and w-wilbur was there a-and-" tommy didn't believe this was real. everything was too real all of a sudden. he must be dreaming. he must be hallucinating. this was all a dream. it was all fake, it was all made-up. he'll wake up and be perfectly fine. this wasn't fucking real.
"oh you really thought i would keep you dead?..i already told you tommy, i need you. you're too fun to keep dead...didn't i already tell you.." dream, once again, walked over to tommy and got down onto his level. he stared directly into tommy's eyes that used to piercing and deep blue but were now dull and empty. tommy had froze, he couldn't move. he was paralysed. fear ran through him and he felt like he was going to vomit as he heard the next words leave dreams mouth.
"its not your time to die yet, tommy."