They Rely On Hope. What Do I Rely On? - Tommyinnit Adoption AU

Chapter 110

Tw: violence and mentions of abuse

When the first hit came, Tommy was ready. He blocked and dodged, slipping between hit after hit without a second of thought. His whole body had been screaming at him less than a moment before, but now it had numbed, subsiding to be replaced with adrenalin. Tommy wasn't sure what was powering him, wether it was the pain, the adrenaline, Tubbo's words, or the desperate need for survival.

Or maybe it was rage.

He had finally gotten Tubbo back, and now Tubbo was gone again, and this monster didn't care. 17 would laugh in his face if Tommy mentioned Tubbo. This murderer, couldn't care less! This creature would probably say Tubbo deserved it, and that drove Tommy forward. Drove him to hit back, to attack without thought.

Tommy wanted Tubbo. He desperately wanted his brother back. He wanted Tubbo to wrap him up in a hug and tell him he was alright, but Tubbo wasn't here, and Tommy wasn't alright. So, Tommy attacked. He didn't let 17 get a single hit on him. Didn't let 17 hurt him. If Tommy had to live, he would live for Tubbo. He would be strong for his brother. He would fight. He would fight because Tubbo wanted him to. He would fight anyone that came near. Anyone who made the mistake of thinking Tommy was weak. Tommy was not weak. He was not weak.

When 17 called the training session over, Tommy didn't want to stop. He didn't wan to stop because he had been winning. He hadn't been hit once, and he knew hours had gone past. It wasn't like 17 hadn't tried, hell, 17 looked more exhausted then Tommy felt. No, it was because Tommy hadn't stopped. He hadn't stopped for a second. Hadn't hesitated. He had, for the first time in a long time, known exactly what to do. He had fought with everything he had. Do not hold back. Do not get hurt. This was his chance. His chance to be better. To be stronger. To be more. It was his chance, and he had taken it.

Still, with all the energy coursing through his veins, Tommy came to a standstill. No longer bouncing on his feet, but instead watching silently. He watched, ready to protect himself. If 17 was trying to trick him, Tommy would be ready. He didn't though. He didn't say a word. Didn't run at Tommy or try to catch him off guard. Instead, 17 simply walked Tommy to his cell, and locked him inside. When 17 left, the adrenalin finally subsided, and with that, the pain roared back to life, worse than before as though angry at the way it had been shoved to the back of Tommy's mind.

Tommy was exhausted, and everything fucking hurt. Still, he lay there for hours, unable to sleep, unable to toss and turn, simply still, letting the pain run rampant inside him. It was agonising and exhausting, but Tommy knew there was nothing he could do. He would not be able to ignore it now, so he would deal with it.

To be fair, he didn't want to sleep. Didn't want to know what would haunt his dreams tonight. He may need sleep, but he was ok with the lack of it. He wasn't ready to find out what cursed concoction of events would scream inside his sleeping mind.

----------

Puffy POV:

Puffy hadn't slept at all that night. In fact, she hadn't even tried to. Dream had been a mistake. Another hellish mistake. Tommy deserved so much, and she couldn't even find him the family he needed. It was her fault. All her fault. If she could just fix this, maybe it would be ok. These people, they cared. She might have finally found the right people, and Tommy had been fucking kidnapped by her last mistake. She couldn't deal with this. She needed Tommy found.

She would've adopted Tommy years ago if she could, but she couldn't. There were too many safeguards in place. How could a social worker and foster parent be the same person? She could foster a kid who wasn't one of hers, but not Tommy. It wasn't fucking fair. Tommy was the one who needed it. He had gone through so many hellish houses that he considered it normal. It was her fault. Every foster parent she put him with hurt him in the end. Every single one. Other kids had gotten homes eventually, but Tommy couldn't and she didn't know why. It wasn't his fault. The kid was sweet, and he cared about people. He was fucking scared all the time, but in his situation, who wouldn't be?

After hitting another dead end on who the hell XD was, Puffy groaned, leaning back in her chair and looking at the clock on the motel wall. 5:47 am. She was just about ready to scream. There was virtually no information on XD. No job, no foster kids, no adoptions, no school records, no passport. Nothing. It was like he didn't exist. The only connection he had was being Dream's brother.

When her phone rang, Puffy had to suppress a yawn as she answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi," a quite voice replied, whispering urgently into the phone, "I'm scared Puffy, I think they're gonna hurt me."

"Aimsey, hey, it's gonna be ok," Puffy replied, instantly pulling up Aimsey's file. She had only been in the system for a year, and only two houses, it wasn't perfect, but it was ok. Especially compared to Tommy.

Shit. She was in the city. 2 hours away from Puffy.

"How close are they? Can you get to safety?"

"They're in the house, I'm hiding but I'm scared Puffy, I failed a test, and they're angry, I didn't mean to- They said they were going to kill me-"

"Ok Aimsey, I need you to stay on the phone with me ok, I'm sending the police there right now, but I'm a few hours away, so I might have to send a different social worker. I'll send Callahan, ok? He's nice, you remember him? From when you stayed at the centre overnight? He's the one with the dog."

"Yeah, I remember him," Aimsey nodded, and she seemed to relax somewhat at the mention of Callahan and Milo, who, Puffy had to admit, was the sweetest service dog she'd ever met. She had nearly taken Tommy to see Milo so many times, but there was always a problem of some kind stopping them. Either someone else was with Milo, or he was training, or Puffy had to get to someone else straight after Tommy or about a hundred other reasons, but Aimsey had been lucky enough to visit him.

In fact, Tommy had never had an overnight stay at the centre either, while he had gone to perhaps a hundred more houses then Aimsey, Puffy always seemed to find a place for him to stay. Supposedly that was a good thing, but the houses never worked out, so she wasn't so sure.

Puffy snapped her attention back to the situation at hand. Aimsey needed her to be focused. She quickly sent in an alert with Aimsey's foster house address and all the information she had given Puffy. The alert went straight to the police and thankfully there was a police car not far from Aimsey. Once that was done, she messaged Callahan, asking if he was able to help Aimsey out, and clearly luck was on Puffy's side because he could.

"Alright Aimsey, stay on the call with me yeah? Callahan and the police are both on route, they'll be there soon to look after you ok?"

"Ok," Aimsey whimpered, and something in her voice had changed. She was even more scared then she had been a few seconds ago.

"What's happening Aimsey?"

"They have Snifferish- I thought he was safe- I told him not to come home- I told him to stay with his friends- they're going to hurt him Puffy, they're going to hurt him!"

"It's ok, it's ok, the police are so close Aimsey, they won't be long, but I need you to stay safe, ok? Snifferish will be ok, but I don't want you both in danger," Puffy replied, quickly sending on the new information. Snifferish and Aimsey were practically inseparable, and Puffy knew that Aimsey would do anything to protect them, but there was a high chance that if they were mad at Aimsey and he tried to protect Snifferish, they would do a lot of damage.

"I can't- she needs help Puffy-"

"They're going to be ok, and so are you. Soon. Callahan is close, the police are even closer, I need you to stay hidden."

"But-"

"Aimsey, please trust me, it's not safe for anyone if you get found before the police come, stay hidden," Puffy insisted, and Aimsey agreed. He clearly hated it, but he also trusted Puffy.

When the police got there and got the two kids out, Puffy finally relaxed. They were safe.

Words: 1500

A/N: SORRY FOR THE MASSIVE GAP BETWEEN CHAPTERS!!! IM BACK NOW! Hope u enjoyed the Puffy POV, I didn't have much of a plan for that other then showing how much Puffy cares lol