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

Chapter 125

Tommy POV:

This time the blackness of the void wasn't a relief. This time the pain didn't fade into the background, it just screamed and screamed and screamed some more. Sometimes it would get so much worse, and sometimes it would ease ever so slightly, but it didn't leave. It never left. The pain simply echoed around him.

There was nothing here, nothing to sit on or lie on. Nothing to do, no one to talk to. All he could do was walk. Walk through the black void without change. Everything remained the same numb empty void. The only difference was how much pain he was in. It faded in and out, sometimes taking his whole body in shakes and screams, and other times dwelling as a deep throb in his arm. Sometimes he felt like he was burning, and sometimes like he was freezing.

This place was not death, Tommy could sense that, but it was not the blanket of unconsciousness he was used to. Something about it was different. It was longer. It was painful. The darkness felt like it stretched endlessly instead of curling around him like a blanket. Here he was, alone, tears streaming his face, pain gripping him. Why couldn't he rest? Why couldn't he just sleep? Some part of him was awake. Desperately clawing to escape. His body however refused, telling that part it was done. Telling it to stop fighting for once in his life.

Tommy didn't want to die, but he couldn't stay here. He couldn't stay in this endless darkness. He had to choose which way to go. He had to chose to return to the real world or to leave it far behind him. Tommy knew which one to chose. He had no real choice. Tubbo had made him promise. He would not stop fighting.

So, Tommy fought. With everything he had he fought to survive. He forced his lungs to keep taking in air, even if it wasn't much, it was something. That was all he needed. Alive.

Tommy didn't know how long he had been here in this state, and he didn't know how long it would be before he escaped, but still he begged his eyes to open. Still he snapped at his lungs whenever they claimed to be too tired to continue. He would get out of here alive. He had to.

When he woke, the first indicator wasn't his eyes opening. No, they stayed glued shut, but he knew he was awake because he could sense a presence near him. He wasn't alone and he knew that instantly. When the person breathed, the soft sound reached Tommy's ears. Barely noticeable, but it was something he hadn't heard in that void.

Sometimes in there he had faintly heard words, as though someone was whispering through a thick wall, barely audible, and impossible to distinguish the words, but still a voice. Now, Tommy could put the sound of a breath to it. If he could hear that, he was much closer. Much much closer to the person.

This time, Tommy didn't move his arm as he woke. This time he just lay there, letting his body wake. His eyes refused to open now, but they would eventually.

Tommy lay there for some unknown amount of time, now achingly aware of the cold floor beneath his back. That much had faded out in unconsciousness. His arm however remained the same, pure unrelenting agony.

He was slowly drifting back to sleep when he heard movement from the direction of the breathing person. First it was just rustling, but then chains clanked together, and then footsteps and that same chain being dragged towards him.

Tommy wanted to pretend he was still unconscious, but his throat was dry and his stomach in pain from the lack of food, and he knew he had no choice. He let out a soft groan, an attempt to speak that failed utterly.

"Tommy?" A voice asked. He recognised that voice from somewhere... only he did not know where. It was a girl's voice, but it wasn't Puffy. The voice didn't seem to be a threat, and something inside of him trusted it, which was simply weird.

"Wh- ... who-" Tommy tried, stumbling over the word.

"It's me, Drista," The girl replied, a sad tone, mixed with one of relief.

"Oh..." Tommy murmured, recognising the name.

"Are you ok? How's your arm?" Drista asked quickly, some sense of urgency and desperation in her voice.

"Hurts," Tommy groaned. It hurt like hell and he wished it would just stop hurting. Why wouldn't it stop hurting?

"I know Tommy, but is it better at all? Better then before?"

Before... before... when he was alone? It had hurt. It had hurt worse. Yes. It had been worse then. Oh. That was nice. It was getting better.

"Better," Tommy murmured, the word sounding fragile and cracked, barely formed.

"That's good Tommy, that's good."

"Why..."

"Why what?" Drista asked, clearly confused at the unfinished questions

"Wh- why... h- help..."

"Because I care about you Tommy, I don't want you to die. I don't want to lose you again."

Tommy wanted to question the last word of that statement, but fatigue was growing quickly, and when his mouth opened, no words came out.

He didn't want to leave, didn't want to return to that state where life and death were both unreachable. He wanted to stay here, as broken as he was, because at least he knew he would continue to survive. At least he knew that while he was awake, he was alive. He didn't have to fight his lungs, didn't have to force them to take in air anymore. If he returned to that place, that wouldn't be the case. If he returned he didn't know if he would stay alive.

"Don't let me die," Tommy begged, the pained words finding their way through his parched throat and somehow gasping into an audible sound, as cracked and broken as it sounded.

Words: 1000

A/N: I have in fact, NOT edited this chapter and my brain is tired and doesn't feel like it, so imma just post it anyways, might edit it later, might not, who knows XD