Chapter Text
“I was thinking we try something else.”
Tommy leaped to his feet, throwing himself at Dream. The older boy flicked up the visor on his helmet, revealing a pair of electric green eyes shining with mischief.
“You came,” Tommy breathed.
Dream hugged him tighter. “Of course, we came!”
“We?”
“All of us: me, Foolish, Ponk, even Niki is here,” Dream said as he began pushing them to the door.
Tommy’s eyes widened. “Hold on, that’s a lot of people! What if one of you gets caught?”
Dream shrugged, pushing the door open quietly. “We never get caught, trust me. We’ve broken into places way more secure before and gotten out unnoticed.”
As he slipped through the corridors, dread began to settle in his stomach. Something wrong, really wrong. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on what.
“Dream,” he tugged at the older’s arm. “Something’s not right.”
The older boy just rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, Toms. Now we need to hurry, we’ll meet up with everyone at the ship.”
They rounded the corner only to come face to face with the Crowned Prince, holding a struggling Foolish against his knife.
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Wilbur laughed.
Dream was quick to push Tommy behind him as if Tommy was the one in danger here. “Wilbur,” Dream started, his voice low. “Let him go.”
“Wilbur, let him go,” the prince lowered his voice an octave, mocking Dream. “No, I don’t think I will. After all, why should I? He’s an intruder.”
“Because I’ll hate you forever if something happens to them,” Tommy screamed from behind Dream.
Wilbur cocked his head at his little brother. “Oh, will you now? Forever is an awfully long time. I reckon you’ll forgive me eventually.”
Tommy shook his head vehemently. “With the stars as my witness, I will never love you again if you hurt either of them!” he cried.
Wilbur sighed, lowering his knife a bit. Foolish took advantage of the new freedom and yelled out, “Run, it’s a trap!”
Wilbur clamped a hand over the man’s mouth. “Sh, sh, don’t make me be mean!” he cooed as he tapped the dagger against the side of Foolish’s face. “As I was saying, I think we should take this little party elsewhere. Dad’s dying to meet the rest of your little friends.”
Tommy could feel Dream tense up, clearly ready to run but Tommy couldn’t. This was his family at stake, he couldn’t leave them here. No one was dying for him today, not if he had any say in it.
With a conviction he didn’t quite feel yet, Tommy squared his shoulders and stepped out from behind Dream.
Dream tried to pull him back, but the young prince just shrugged the hand away. “I’ll go, but you have to let go of Foolish.”
“Tommy, no,” Dream whispered at the same time Wilbur scoffed. “Why should I?”
Electing to ignore his friend, Tommy stared at Wilbur for the first in a long time. He took a moment to see past the mania that swirled in his brother’s eyes. Wilbur looked tired. His shoulders were lined with years far more than he’d lived. There were bruises under his eyes and his hair, once curly and healthy, laid dull and frizzy. His fingers were wrapped in bandages, no doubt from playing his guitar for hours on end without reprieve.
A part of Tommy was vindicated by his brother’s state, the other was saddened. “Wil,” he whispered, watching as his brother faltered. “Please, I’m sorry. All this has gotten so out of hand. I just want it to be done with, let’s talk to Ph—Dad and sort it all out.”
Tommy could see the tears well up in his brother’s eyes before he could viciously wipe them away. “Promise?” and a part of Tommy’s heart ached at the raw pain in his brother’s voice.
It was like they were children again, still drowning in grief and clinging to each other in an empty throne room. Something deep in him ached. They would never be that young again, forever cursed to keep growing.
He nodded creeping closer to his brother. “On the stars,” he promised taking the knife out of Wilbur’s hand.
Wilbur nodded decidedly, shoving Foolish towards Dream. Both cried out when Wilbur tugged Tommy into his grasp instead, but Tommy allowed himself to melt into the hug. Suddenly he was 12 years old again, wishing desperately for his brothers to love him again.
It only lasted a moment before Tommy turned back to Dream and Foolish. “Go,” he nodded towards the exit. “I’ll find you when it’s time,” he shot them a watery smile.
Foolish shook his head. “No, no,” he refused. “Please, come with us.”
“We’re not leaving without you,” Dream agreed.
“I love you,” Tommy told them, ignoring the sudden tightening of Wilbur’s grasp. “But it’s time for you to go. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
Wilbur snorted. “I would leave now before I change my mind. Dad’ll have your head for trying to take our little Prince again.”
Dream looked like he wanted to argue further but Foolish began pulling him towards the exit. He stared at Tommy as they left, searching his face for something. He doesn’t find it though, Tommy can read the disappointment that bleeds across his expression before he slips out of sight.
Wilbur and Tommy stand together, intertwined, for another moment. The sun and the moon, laughter and song, a prince and his pied piper. “Come on,” Wilbur smiled down at him. “Father’s waiting.”
The walk to the throne room is long, with every step Tommy finds something new to worry about. Had Dream and Foolish escaped safely, what had happened to George, Punz, and Sapnap, where was Purpled? So many worries he was afraid he’d never get answered. The carpet muffled their footsteps as they approached the large doors leading into the throne rooms. Two guards watch them approach, faces stoic. They only open the doors when Wilbur nods to them.
As he took in his father, sitting on his throne head held high, he was reminded of yesterday and this morning. His father was uncompromising, and stubborn when he settled on his way. He was like a mountain and Tommy was going to try and do the impossible, move him. Tommy took a deep breath, he had one chance to save his friends.
He chanced a glance towards the corner of the room where his friends stood, hands and feet chained together but otherwise unharmed. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, he still had time.
Tommy squared his shoulders as he stood in front of his father but kept his head bowed.
“Father,” the word tasted like ash in his mouth, but the king let out an approving hum. “I’m willing to make a deal.”
Phil laughed, long and sharp. When he’d finally settled down, he wiped his eyes and looked down at Tommy. “Please, enlighten me, what possible negotiating power do you have?”
Tommy gritted his teeth, keeping his eyes on the ground. “Love,” he whispered.
The throne room fell silent for a moment before the king spoke again. “What are you talking about?”
“You want me to love you,” Tommy shrugged. “Right now, I don’t love any of you,” he ignored the wounded sound that came from Wilbur next to him and plowed on. “I’m willing to work with you, live with you again, love you again but only if you help me. I can’t do it alone, I need you to help.”
Tommy finally looked up at his father. His eyes were dark and his mouth set in a firm line but he wasn’t saying no which was a good sign. It struck Tommy in that moment how similar they looked. Phil was everything he could be, but it also dawned on Tommy, he was everything Phil had been. They were two sides of the same coin, the past and the future all wrapped into the space between them.
Phil finally spoke, his words slow and deliberate. “What do you want us to do?”
Tommy stifled his grin, he’d done the easy part but the hard part was yet to come. All it took was three short words to cause the throne room to dissolve into complete and utter chaos.
“Let me go.”
All his brothers immediately began speaking, talking over each other.
“No fucking way, we just got you back!”
“We cannot let you go again!’
“How could you ask—”
“I cannot believe—”
While Punz whistled loud and sharp as George and Sapnap stood cheering. Tommy glanced back at them, laughing at their support. His laughter quickly died as he watched the guards yank on their shackles, raising their swords to threaten his friends into silence. The only thing stopping Tommy from marching across the room to them was Wilbur’s vice-like grip on his arm.
Phil held up his hand, effectively silencing the room. “I’m inclined to agree with your brothers. We just got you back Theseus, I cannot let you go so soon.”
Tommy shook his head. “It won’t be forever. Wilbur toured the continent when he was my age, Techno had the same opportunity, but he turned it down. I’m sure you’ll extend the offer to Tubbo soon. I want my own adventure.”
“That’s different,” Phil shook his head. “They did not run away. Wilbur asked me and I allowed. You forced my hand. Have you not had enough adventure?”
Tommy’s hand curled into a fist, his nails digging into the meat of his palm. “Please, I’m asking now. I’m sorry for running away but I was tired, and no one ever listened to me anyway. I didn’t think you’d even care!”
“Of course we cared, we’re your family!”
Tommy took a deep breath, he could feel the situation slipping between his fingers. “I know that now, but I didn’t then.” Time to pull out the big guns. “I thought you didn’t love me anymore,” he felt the tears well up and he let out a bit of the hurt and betrayal he’d felt all those months ago.
Phil’s stern face stuttered, his mouth falling open slightly before he could school it back into indifference. Techno also looked as if he’d just been electrocuted.
“Oh, Toms,” Wilbur whispered, his voice thick. “We’ve always loved you, never doubt that.”
Tommy pulled away from his brother. “But I did doubt it because that’s what it felt like! No one would talk to me unless it was to yell at me, no one ever had time for me anymore, I barely saw any of you! How was I supposed to know you loved me when you never bothered to show it?”
Phil was quiet for a moment, taking in what Tommy had just shouted at them, before nodding. “I see how that would be confusing for you—”
“Not confusing,” Tommy interrupted him. “Devastating, heartbreaking, soul destroying maybe.”
Phil seemed to take into account his words as he continued. “But, I cannot let you travel the world alone. Perhaps in a few years, I’ll take you on a tour of the continent.”
Tommy turned green at the thought. “I wouldn’t be traveling alone,” Tommy refuted him. “I would be traveling with my family.”
Phil raised an eyebrow at him. “I assume you mean those criminals who you’ve been hanging out with. I don’t think it’s appropriate for a prince to be seen with convicted traitors.”
Tommy snorted, “I hardly think the son of your top general and his decorated crew are so far beneath me.”
“Oh, and what about the assassin and his protégé? Or the con artist and those unscrupulous wielders you like to run around with?”
Tommy sucked in a breath, this was a losing argument. “Please, father,” he begged. “They took me in when I was at my most vulnerable. They stopped me from starving on the streets, they taught me so much about the real world. Dad, they loved me!”
Phil held up his hand, “That is enough, I’ve made my decision.”
“No! They were willing to die for me, they knew the risks of sheltering me even before they knew I was a prince and they never thought twice about it! They protected me for months out in the city, what am I if I can’t protect them now?”
He was panting at this point, trying to get enough air in his lungs before making his final point.
“Let me travel, with them, for a few years and then let me come home. Prove it to me that you do love me. Prove to me that you love me enough to trust that I’ll come back to you! I will, I swear on the stars, I’ll always come back.”
Phil’s expression turned disturbingly blank and for a moment Tommy could swear time had frozen. Everyone, everything, had gone still.
“Clear the throne room,” his father commanded. “Take the prisoners to the dungeons and Prince Theseus to his rooms.”
Tommy balked at his father. That was it? “What? No, Phil, please!” he tried to plead with the man, but he was already being pulled away.
Tommy sat in his room, balancing a ball of hardened clay on his fingertip. He’d been sitting there for hours, alone with nothing but his thoughts. He should have just gone with Dream and Foolish. Now he was stuck in this stupid room while his family was planning the execution of his closest friends. He wanted to scream.
He couldn’t sit in this room any longer. He had to get out, now. He heaved himself up from the ground and marched over towards the door, picking up a bit of loose dirt with him on the way. It wasn’t hard the form the dirt into long, thin lock picks but they weren’t very strong.
Tommy groaned as the pick broke for the third time. He tried wetting them down with water from the washing basin beside his bed but that had only been marginally more successful, the mud only slightly more moldable. He was running out of ideas as he began fiddling with the picks once more.
After a few minutes of fiddling, the door actually clicked and Tommy nearly jumped for joy. As he began pulling at the handle, the door swung open. Tommy landed awkwardly off to the side trying to not get hit by the door as Phil and Wilbur walked in. They both looked unhappy, but Wilbur shot him a strained smile when he saw him.
“Why are you on the floor, mate?” the king lifted an eyebrow, staring at Tommy sprawled along the floor.
Tommy was quick to jump up, laughing nervously. “Oh, you know, just… examining the tile work!”
“Examining the what?” Wilbur looked at him incredulously.
“The tilework, it’s very fine and good,” Tommy chattered on. “Anyway, what did you want?”
Phil sighed. “Let’s have a seat,” he motioned towards the settee and chairs off to the side of his room.
The three of them sat there for a moment in silence. Tommy coughed slightly trying not to laugh at the awkwardness. He needed to be angry at them.
“I’ve talked with your brothers, and we’ve come to a conclusion,” Phil started, and Tommy felt himself stiffen. “We will allow you to travel with these so-called friends of yours—”
It was all Tommy could do to not leap out of his seat and start dancing. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he chanted.
“But,” his father continued, dampening Tommy’s spirits. There was always a but. “You are only given leave for a year, maybe two given extenuating circumstances, and you must keep in communication with us the entire time. At the end of your travels, you must return home and take up your royal duties?”
“Royal duties?” Tommy asked, confused. He’d never had duties before, not really.
Wilbur nodded. “We thought it was about time you had a place in this palace, so we’ve named you our citizen’s liaison. You’ll effectively be one of my advisors in charge of making sure the people are happy,” he explained.
Tommy’s eyes stung slightly, “Okay, I like the sound of that.”
The man in front of him smiled and for the first time in years, Tommy saw his dad. He couldn’t stop himself from throwing his arms around his dad. “Thank you,” he whispered in his eye.
“Anything for you, sunshine,” Wilbur smiled, “Anything.”
“Wait does this mean my friends are pardoned?”
His father sighed but nodded. “As long as they remain on their best behavior for the next 10 years they get to live.”
Tommy found himself hugging his dad even tighter.
“Why are you letting me leave?” Tommy asked. “Not that I’m not grateful, but I was certain you’d trap me here forever.”
Wilbur and his father exchanged a glance Tommy couldn’t quite decipher before Phil sighed.
“I can see now, how we treated you was not right. You are my son, the same as Wilbur or Techno or Tubbo. It took far too much for me to realize exactly how precious you are to me,” his father smiled thinly at him. “If allowing you this trip will ensure you remain by our side forever, I will do that. Missing you for a few years is far better than losing you forever.”
“Techno and Tubbo also made some excellent points about resentment and abandonment issues. It’s easier to have a happy Tommy than a gremlin Tommy,” Wilbur smirked.
“Oh, fuck you!”
---
It took another three or so hours to actually leave the palace. His father needed to double and triple-check that he had enough rations and clothes and file all the necessary documentation for their ship. He’d tried at first to give them part of the royal fleet but Tommy had talked him down by saying he didn’t want an obvious target on them. His brothers had each said their own goodbye.
Wilbur and Techno gave him long hugs, Wilbur cried like the baby he was and Techno ruffled his hair. Both of them left Tommy feeling unsteady. He’d never expected he would miss his older brothers but, in that moment, he knew he would. It was his last goodbye that left him feeling the most confused. Tubbo hadn’t said much just hugged him tight and pressed a pouch of self-detonating bombs into his hand. Tommy had laughed at the gesture but pulled him closer.
“Stay safe, bee boy,” Tommy whispered into his hair.
“I always thought it’d be me and you out there, together,” Tubbo had murmured.
Tommy tightened his grip, “Maybe it could’ve been.”
They’d left it at that. It wasn’t quite an apology, but it was something.
He’d met Punz, Sapnap, and George by the castle gate as they were getting their shackles removed. Each one was also given a pack of clothes and rations similar to Tommy’s and a rather pointed lecture on safety and good citizenship by his dad. They each took it in stride, nodding and promising to be upstanding members of the Empire. Tommy scoffed but it only earned him three cuffs to the ear.
The goodbyes were tearful on his family’s end and though he didn’t shed a tear, Tommy did get a bit emotional. He knew there was a lot to fix between them, a lot that could never be fixed too, but he was getting his family back. Sure, he saw them a little differently now but wasn’t that just a part of growing up? He’d come back in a year and things would be better.
Or at least that’s what he hoped as the four of them raced down to the docks to find the rest of their friends.
Tommy did shed a tear, or many, at seeing Purpled once more. His best friend was a bit bruised and had a few scrapes on the side of his face but looked otherwise unharmed. The moment Purpled caught sight of him running down the dock he’d hopped off the boat and taken off towards him. They’d met somewhere in the middle in a pile of limbs and clothes. Tommy reveled in feeling his best friend alive and warm around him. After a moment they stopped wrestling and stood up for a breath, laughing all the way. Tommy took his time as he pulled Purpled close examining him for any other injuries.
“I thought you were dead,” Tommy whispered, running a hand over the dark purple bruise over his friend’s eye. It’s almost the same shade as his eyes, Tommy thought morbidly.
Purpled tightened his arms around him. “It takes a lot more than getting shoved out of a carriage to kill me.”
“That would be a pretty dumb way to die,” Tommy laughed wetly. “Your epithet would be ridiculous.”
“Here lies Purpled, flattened by a carriage wheel.”
Dream was next as he pulled him into a tight hug, apologizing profusely for leaving him. Tommy waved off his apologies, he did exactly what Tommy had asked of him. He’d trusted Tommy and that was all the blonde could ask for.
The rest of the reunion was filled with excitement and relief. Once it was all said and done, they began loading up the ship and making final preparations. As the afternoon sun crept into dusk, they were almost ready to depart. Everyone began finding their places around the deck.
It was Sapnap who hung back on the dock, glancing between the boat and the city behind them. “I’m not going.”
“What?” Dream had put down the box he’d been moving and stood staring at his friend.
“Something’s wrong with Karl. We’ve all seen it. I can’t just leave him like that,” the flame wielder sighed. “I’m staying back with Q, we’ve got some shit to sort out anyway.”
Tommy looked away as the two men embraced. “I’ll miss you, man,” he heard Dream whisper.
“Same,” he sounded choked up. “It’s for the best.”
“I know.”
Sapnap coughed, looking around at the rest of the crew. “Try not to have too much fun without me,” he demanded.
“Don’t worry about us,” Tommy grinned. “Go save your relationship!”
Sapnap laughed wetly but nodded. “Well, I guess this is goodbye.”
Dream shook his head, “Hardly goodbye, we’ll see each other soon enough.”
“Better to get it out of the way then, just means we’re that much closer to hello again.”
“When did you turn in a fucking philosopher, big S?” Tommy cackled.
The older boy rolled his eyes. “This is what I get for trying to be sentimental. Bye, gremlin child.”
Tommy squawked profanities at his retreating figure, ignoring Dream’s high-pitched laughter.
There was an odd sense of somberness to the crew as they finished preparing for anchors up. It was as if Sapnap had taken all the levity the group had with him as he’d left. Tommy found himself playing with a small ball of clay in his hands, shaping it into various animals. Purpled had sidled up next to him at some point but neither had said a thing.
“I’ve never left the Arctic before,” Tommy said quietly. “Not on my own at least. The Empire has always been my home, now it feels like I’m running from it. Again.”
“You’re not alone,” Purpled wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “We’re here and we’ll always be here. And it’s okay to run from the things that hurt you even if they were once kind. A thing can be good and bad at the same time.”
Tommy found himself glancing back towards the city, in the distance he could make out the faint outline of the palace spires.
“What if I never come back?” he whispered, voicing a thought that had been nagging him since leaving the castle.
Sure, he’d made a promise but if something happened to him out there, this would be his last time seeing his home.
“Then you don’t come back, you find something better out there. That’s okay too,” Purpled shrugged. “Some homes are meant to be left, to be grown out of.”
It was at this point something dawned on Tommy. This had been Theseus’s home. A palace and its people, this was the place that raised a prince. But Tommy hadn’t been Theseus in a while, but he had been once. He’d worn a crown and cape with pride, ate at feasts, and danced at balls. He’d met foreign dignitaries and laughed with princesses. But he’s also run with pirates and mercenaries, joked with thieves, and loved every last moment of it all. He had been a prince and a runaway, he’s been lost and loved in both lives. He needed to find out who he was now before he could come back here.
“I think whatever’s out there will be grand,” Tommy grinned, eyes meeting Purpled’s bright ones. They both cackled.
“Intruder!” Foolish yelled from the crow’s nest where he’d been situating himself.
Both boys whip their heads around looking for the figure Foolish had called out. Running down the dock at full speed was a cloaked figure, no doubt heading towards them. They still weren’t ready to leave yet, Tommy knew this and so did Dream. As the figure got closer and closer at an alarming speed, the crew began to ready themselves. Tommy pulled his clay close, sharpening it into deadly spikes, and behind him he heard the distinct shink of metal swords being unsheathed.
Without warning the cloaked figure jumped over the dock railing and dropped onto the deck, crouching as he landed. Then, in the most dramatic motion Tommy had ever witnessed, he pulled back the hood. Tommy nearly groaned at the sight of his older brother’s bright pink hair.
“Oh, for fucks sake! Phil said I was free to go!” Everyone let out a collective breath lowering their weapons, but not putting them away quite yet.
Techno stared at him, clearly unimpressed. “You didn’t think we’d let you go to different lands unsupervised, did you? You’ll cause an international incident. Besides, someone needed to make sure you came home in one piece.”
“Shouldn’t you be busy worrying about some stupid military strategy?” Tommy huffed.
“Bruh, I do more than mil- whatever. I wanted to broaden my horizons, see the world. If Dream gets to, so do I.” Tommy rolled his eyes. “Besides, Puffy’s got it handled until I decide to come back.”
Dream extended an arm to his brother, like the traitor he was. “Well, I’m happy to have another competent wielder and fighter with us. Stars knows we’ll be getting into trouble with the gremlin aboard.”
“Fuck you!”
Both men ignored Tommy in favor of grasping forearms. “Happy to be of service,” Techno offered a feral grin.
“Besides,” Dream shot them all a shit-eating grin. “You know what this means?”
“What?” Purpled asked.
“We have a full-wielding team! We can finally start doing multi matches again!”
“Is that all you think about?” Tommy asked him incredulously, ignoring his brother’s roaring laughter.
The older blonde shrugged. “Basically yeah, that and adventure.”
“Please none of you have been on a real adventure,” Techno scoffed.
Dream glared at the prince. “Of course, we have! I’ve got so many stories! Great and really cool stories about my awesome adventures!”
“Oh, yeah?” Techno smirked. “Tell me one.”
“What right now?” Dream looked around the boat. “Well, there was this one time that I had to do this thing and then I- but we had to- and we found- you know what? Fuck you! I don’t owe you anything!”
“Sounds like a real great adventure,” Techno drawled.
“Ooo, I know a story about a great adventure,” Purpled piped up, smirking.
“Oh yeah, what’s it about?” Foolish asked as he finished tying up the sails.
Techno scoffed, “Yeah I wanna hear this.”
“Well, it’s called the curious tale of a not so lost, runaway prince,” Purpled laughed as he ducked the piece of rock Tommy pelted at him, ignoring the crew roaring behind them.
Eventually, they set off to sea, and things were beginning to settle down. Even Techno fell into an easy rhythm with Tommy’s new family. He and Tommy stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the sunset from the boat’s bow. Although Techno was more focused on his brother than the sea of oranges and pinks reflected in his brother’s blue irises.
It was a difficult thing to grasp, how much Tommy had changed. He’d always been so young, so loud. Now they stood in silence, completely content. Tommy’s eyes find his out of the corner of his eye and his brother grins. For just a second, Techno is staring at his Theseus and then his eye catches on a small scar on his brother’s cheek. It’s small but clearly deep and only recently healed. This is no longer his Theseus, he reminds himself, it’s his Tommy and that may be just as well.
“It doesn’t feel like an end,” Tommy says so abruptly breaking their silence Techno almost startles.
“Heh?”
Tommy shrugs. “All of this,” he waves a hand around the ship, “I thought it would feel like closing a chapter in a book or some shit, but it doesn’t.”
“What does it feel like?”
“A beginning, a continuation maybe. I don’t know, Big T, but it doesn’t feel like an end.”
~Fin~