A Guide To Medicine and War

18

"Tommy. Tommy, wake up!" Someone shouts, shaking Tommy awake. There's sand in his boots and covering his clothes, and he's freezing cold, but at least he's feeling something. He flips off the person waking him up, whining slightly.

"Fuck off, Purps, let me sleep," he mumbles, disoriented.

"Tom, it's…I'm not Purpled," the person says, sitting next to him.

He blinks awake more, opening his eyes and staring at the half covered face.

"Right. Dream. Sorry. Where's…oh. Right," he says, sitting up and holding his knees to his chest.

"Tommy…"

"I'm fine, Dream," he starts, glancing around. "Can we leave?"

"Not…not yet. I have orders. Did you stock up on anything?"

"What, like try and find food?"

"Yeah."

"No. I just…laid here."

"Alright."

There's a moment of silence, with Tommy inching closer to Dream and Dream putting an arm over his shoulder in a gentle half hug. Tommy lets himself relax, allowing Dream to gently run a hand across his back soothingly.

"Dream?"

"Yeah, Tom?"

"Does it ever just…stop?"

Dream freezes, and Tommy internally yells at himself. He knew he shouldn't have said anything. But everything about the situation is just confusing.

It's Dream's fault that they went on the mission that Purpled was killed on. True. It's Dream's fault Purpled died. False. It's Tommy's fault. But Dream is running a war prison, which is bad. But he's also being controlled, so it's not his fault.

Tommy killed Dream.

Yet Dream sits out by him, comforts him.

He turns to Dream (checks his eyes for red), and repeats, "does it stop?"

"Does what stop?" Dream replies, hesitant but calm.

"You know what I mean, Dream, don't act dumb. Do you still miss Sapnap? Does it ever hurt any less?"

"I don't think it can hurt less. You can get used to it, sure, but it will always hurt. And I miss Sapnap with all of my soul, Tommy. If I could get him back, I would. No matter what."

"I want him back, Dream. But if I can't have him back…I don't want it to hurt anymore."

"You can push through, Tommy, okay? I know it hurts, but you'll be okay, I promise," Dream says, voice catching slightly.

"But how do you know?"

"Because…because…I promise, Tommy."

"But how can you? You don't know, you could be lying, you could be…Dream don't fucking lie to me," Tommy snaps.

"Woah, I'm not lying to you. It gets better!"

"Don't fucking lie!" Tommy yells, getting up and pushing Dream away.

"Woah, woah, Tommy, calm down! I'm not lying to you, okay? I'm not lying!"

"Fuck you! Fuck you, you dumb green idiot!"

"Tommy! What's going on?" Dream says, standing up with his hands above his head. "What are you doing?"

"It's your fault, it's all your fault!" He screams, tackling Dream and punching at the sand next to his face.