What's that? It's CHAPTER SEVEN! This chapter was hard to write lol.
TW: brief mention of a knife, blood, and being unable to move. Don't read if those things disturb you.
Stick till the end for a little bonus short story! As a treat! :)
(It's totally not a drabble that I wrote a while ago and finished because the growing number of unfinished drafts I have is intimidating... )
Wilbur rubbed his forehead. That did nothing to alleviate his growing headache. He sighed, partially in frustration.
He was sitting in the remains of his bedroom. Tubbo really did a number on it. He'd been standing away from him, thankfully, but Techno had been right in front of Tubbo. Wilbur, thank fuck for his power, foresaw the explosions seconds before they took place and dragged Techno away from the boy.
For a brief moment, Wilbur watched the explosions and all he could think of was how beautiful they were. Colorful, like fireworks, almost like flowers blooming from Tubbo's hands. The destructive power was amazing, awing even. Wilbur was mesmerized by it.
Imagine what Tubbo could do, if he unleashed his potential! Imagine all that he was capable of! Sure, Wilbur's power was useful-warning him of imminent danger-but it was incredibly unreliable and couldn't be used at will.
Tubbo had such control over his power that he was able to stop the explosions in the middle of a breakdown! Which may not seem like much, but Wilbur saw his eyes. For a few minutes, Tubbo had fucking snapped. Which was understandable, he'd always been the closest to Ranboo.
Wilbur grinned, despite his ruined furniture. He'd known about Tubbo's power, sure, but this was his first time seeing it in action. He'd heavily underestimated the brutal strength of his young friend.
And Tommy- Tommy! That child, who he'd initially seen as nothing but a bother, had turned out to be a goldmine of information! He lived in Dream's mansion!! The blueprints he had were ruined now, but it didn't matter anymore. An awesome power and an inside source- he couldn't ask for anything better!
He chuckled to himself as he began cleaning up the mess that Tubbo left. Fuck Dream. Fuck the Syndicate. Fuck Phil and Techno- those dumbasses thought that the solution to their problem was to let anarchy and chaos reign supreme. No, Wilbur knew better. They could take back the city- rebuild L'Manburg, to how it used to be!!
It was looking more and more plausible by the day. And, what's more, he might've been handed Dream's weakness on a silver platter!
After all, who's so scared of a child that they lock them up and don't let them interact with anyone? Who's so scared of a child that they- according to Tommy- experiment on them and keep restraints on them? Who's so scared of a child that they keep their very existence a secret from everyone?
Something was going on here, Wilbur could feel it. Whatever Dream was hiding, he'd find it without a doubt. And that fucking dickhead would regret the day he became dictator of the city of Wilbur Soot, you could count on it!
Dream City. The city of dreams. No longer. No more. Soon, it would become the city of revolution!
A knock at the door interrupted his train of thought. Wilbur forced himself to wipe the giddy grin from his face. He continued to clean his room, sorting through the rubble and looking for things still intact. The door opened and Phil stepped in.
"Hey, I'm back Will, I- Jesus fucking Christ!" He swore, eyes wide. "The fuck happened in here?!"
"Tubbo happened." Wilbur replied, "Did you know he could do this?"
Phil sighed... in relief? "Yeah, you have no idea what he could do. Was anyone hurt?"
"No, everyone's fine. What... exactly can he do?"
"Let's not talk about it right now." Phil avoided Wilbur's curious gaze.
"Phil."
"Wilbur."
"What do you mean I 'have no idea what he can do'?" Wilbur used air quotes.
"Forget I said that."
"Dad."
Phil raised his eyebrows. "You haven't called me that in a while."
Blue eyes met brown. The two of them had a stare-down. Phil was the first to relent.
"Fine!" He grumbled. "Jeez- okay, Tubbo basically has the power of a nuclear bomb, and he could explode at any moment. Happy?"
Wilbur blinked. "I'm sorry, did you just say that he has the power of a nuclear bomb?" He glared at his dad, who merely shrugged. "You didn't think this might be important to tell me before?!"
"It wasn't relevant before!" Phil defended. His wings flared out slightly like they did whenever he was losing an argument. "Tubbo hates being able to take out buildings- he'd never actually hurt anyone!"
"Regardless, I think that informing people of when they live with someone who can take out buildings is generally the polite thing to do!!"
"That's..." He paused. "A good point. Sorry."
Wilbur felt like ripping his hair out. "'Sorry'?!-" He took a deep breath. "Is there... anything else I should know?"
"Uhhh..." Phil scratched the back of his head. "Not that I can think of, no."
"Okay," Wilbur pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find a new desk." He began walking out of his room.
"See you later, mate." Phil said as he left.
Wilbur sighed. And then he smiled. Never mind Phil's old man bird brain. He had plans to make.
He dialed Tubbo's number.
Tubbo's phone rang. He didn't really care. He didn't want to answer it. But when he checked the number, he saw that it was Wilbur and he knew that the fucker would give him hell later if he didn't pick up.
He was still walking down the sidewalk back to the house. With his son over his shoulder and supported by one hand and his phone in the other hand, he pressed answer.
"Hey, Tubbo! You sure left in a hurry."
"Yeah, I guess." Tubbo felt awkward. And guilty. "I'm really sorry about your room. I'll replace all the stuff that got broken and-"
"Never mind that now, Tubbo!" Wilbur sounded excited. "Listen, you want to save Ranboo, right?"
"Of course I do-"
"We can save him! And take down Dream, and take back the city, all in one fell swoop! But I'm gonna need your help, Tubbo!"
"...I'm listening."
"Well, first, we're gonna need-"
"Tommy. He has information about Dream's base."
"Haha, good to know we're on the same page! But, Tubbo, I need to ask you something." His tone turned serious. It made Tubbo pause in his tracks.
"Yeah?"
"Are you willing to hurt someone for Ranboo's sake?"
That was a heavy question. Something that one should consider before answering. Tubbo replied without hesitation.
"Yes."
"Wakey wakey..."
Consciousness came to him slowly. What was the last thing he remembered? His mind tried to process where he was, and when it did he wanted to panic.
Ranboo couldn't move. The darkness of Dream's office was closing around him. His vision was tinted crimson. He couldn't breathe.
He stood rigidly still in the middle of the room. Dream was toying with a knife in front of him.
"Ranboo... we're friends, aren't we?" Dream grinned maniacally. He knew that Ranboo couldn't answer. And even if he could answer, he sure as hell wouldn't say yes.
"It's odd... one of your old friends shows up, tries to ruin everything..." Dream's smile grew strained. He leaned uncomfortably close to him. "And then, next thing I know, Tommy. Is. Gone. Wonder how that happened."
He knew. He knew. He knew.
Dream pressed the edge of the knife to Ranboo's face. Gently, with the barest amount of pressure. "Do you know how that happened?" He applied more pressure, and there was a stinging pain on Ranboo's cheek. Something wet slid down his face. It could've been blood. It could've been tears.
Ranboo wanted more than anything to run away. But he could only stand there and watch as Dream pulled the knife away and then plunged it into his stomach. Involuntarily, he gasped.
He could feel the knife in his stomach. He could feel as Dream twisted it painfully, tearing up his insides. Blood and tears dripped, dripped, dripped.
Dream chuckled. "We're going to have to fix this, understand? We can't let that goddamn brat get away. And if you try to go against my orders..." He twisted the knife again for good measure.
Ranboo had always been good at running away. With his power, he could go anywhere in an instant. He could get away from any situation.
But now he couldn't. He couldn't get away from this. Even back when he was able to move on his own, he couldn't. Not when he has someone to protect.
Everything was agony. Pain radiated from his stomach wound. He felt like every nerve was on fire. Like his brain was screaming at him, "hurt hurt hurt!"
Every breath he took made it feel worse. He almost wished it could go back to before, when he couldn't think or feel anything.
He hoped Michael was okay.
Oops, my hand slipped... :)
As promised, after all that angst, here's something more lighthearted! This next AU is disconnected from this fanfic, just a fun little oneshot. (Does NOT effect the story of On The Run!)
IT'S A BIRB!TOMMY AU, FOLKS!
One more thing- Tommy is, like, 12 in this oneshot. cc!Phil confirmed that, canonically, he and Tommy aren't related, so in this AU Phil found him in a giant abandoned bird nest and took him in. Oooo, I might write about that later.
Enjoy!
It was a cloudy afternoon. The air smelled of dampness and rain, the sun was hiding behind a blanket of clouds, and two winged figures were standing outside, both with golden blonde hair and shiny wings- although, they claimed to not be related in the slightest.
The older one was teaching the younger how to fly, stretching his massive black wings out and flapping them to demonstrate. The younger one mimicked him, stretching his own wings to copy him.
"Remember to keep your arms close to your sides." Philza instructed, walking around Tommy and eyeing him scrutinizingly like a teacher.
"I knowww!" Tommy grumbled. He was so bored of this. He wanted to do some actual flying, thank you very much! And he said so too, but Phil only chuckled.
"Quit whining!" Phil said, both amused and annoyed with Tommy's complaining. "Here, how about we practice flying a bit?"
Tommy perked up significantly at that. Philza began moving his wings, slowly at first, and picked up the speed as he lifted into the air. The power of the large wings created a slight updraft.
Tommy did the same, managing to get a few feet above the ground. He was ecstatic. "Phil! PHIL! LOOK AT ME!!"
He nodded, smiling. "Great job, mate. You're doing better than I thought you would."
"Am I doing better than Will?!"
"Erm... hey, look, it's raining, we should get inside." It had, indeed, begun to drizzle. The rain was getting harder by the moment.
"Awww, but Phillll!" Tommy complained.
"No buts!" Philza huffed. "Now, let's- Tommy?!"
A large gust of wind came and blew off Phil's hat. But, more importantly, it also blew away Tommy.
Little known fact about avians: they're extremely light. They have to be, in order to fly. Plus Tommy- who was only twelve- was really skinny, especially for a boy his age. Philza made a mental note to make Tommy eat more as he chased after the boy.
Tommy cursed and screamed as he tumbled through the air like a feather. Phil got a flashback to that one video of the army of umbrellas all flying down a beach- only, instead of umbrellas, it was a singular kid.
Later, after he'd managed to grab the kid (who'd somehow had a fun time, saying "THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME" and "CAN I DO THAT AGAIN?!") and drag him inside, Phil thought, This little shit will be the death of me.
That's all for today! Thank you to everyone who's reading this!
Happy Easter, if you celebrate it! (I don't celebrate it, but... yeah lol)