A/N: Everyone here has read Butterfly Reign right?? Well for a while I've been writing what I interpreted the ending to be. It takes place right after Theseus (Tommy) finds out Dream is a shape shifter. It's rough and messy but it's has good moments so...@tuesday-teyz I hope you enjoy this because it is for you 🌹
It was…surreal to know what Tommy knew now. His brother, his best friend, had betrayed him. Followed him and used his power to get to know Tommy on a level not even Tubbo or Wilbur or the guards outside his chamber door knew.
Tommy cried. A lot. For a long time after he made it back to his bedroom and ordered his guards away. He knew they likely didn’t obey but that did not stop the poor crown prince from taking out his grief in the form of noise and destruction.
Prince Theseus was a horrible and awful thing when he was rageful and Tommy denied any claim to say he was anything but calm and regal. His outbursts an embarrassment from years of grooming for the scrutiny of the public.
But finally he had found someone he could be himself with and it turned out to be the one he should’ve been avoiding the entire time. This made Tommy angry. This made Tommy depressed and impulsive. He’d only felt a sheer amount of emotion like this twice. When his mother died and when that ink stain on his wall had first been made. He didn’t remember what he did when his mother died but it felt like this he knew but more sorrowful. When he threw that ink it had been more angry.
Now it was a balance of the two as he screamed out to his walls of his betrayed heart. He was shattered to a thousand pieces and tears streamed down his face as a pain so fierce cut through his chest. It was like being stabbed again and again and again over and over. His life crumbled down and the crown on his head tumbled from his golden curls as he leaned over his knees, holding his stomach.
Tommy fell to his knees and then rested on his heels as he bent himself in half as he cried. The crown mocked him as he sobbed into the darkness. He had done everything wrong to keep his heart protected. He was cruel to Ranboo, he pushed away his best friend Tubbo, and rejected his own brother for cracking under a pressure he only understood now. Tommy no longer blamed Wilbur for fleeing the crown no matter how damaging it was to the reputation of the royal family.
Reputation. He still had his reputation to protect. He still had to wake up tomorrow, if he slept that was, and put on a neutral face no matter how many tears he shed. He still had to chat with nobles and keep his back straight with his head high. He still had to wear the crown tomorrow.
“What’s the point?” Tommy sobbed and took up the crown with shaking hands. He looked at the silver and blue hue of the metal before letting it fall from his hands again. He was tired of keeping his head up and smiling. Laughing at horrible jokes and keeping up appearances. He cared so deeply about his kingdom and his birthright that the rest of his life had been stripped away from him. His joy from his childhood was gone and it wasn’t even over yet.
“I’m not even an adult yet.” Tommy huffed to no one and leaned against the end of his bed. The crown stared at him and Tommy nearly choked on the knot in his throat as he cried. Dream had isolated him and made him trust him. He didn’t think that Tommy was clever enough to figure it out and maybe he wasn’t. He had seen the similarities between the green of Prince and Patches to Dream’s eyes and he had ignored it. He ignored the foreign Prince’s feline-like smile or the cleverness of the parrot Tommy had first called his friend. Prince was a Prince from a kingdom of liars.
Tommy should’ve known better than to trust someone from a kingdom that had been warring with his own for decades. He should’ve listened to Technoblade.
Oh god… Technoblade. Tommy had smashed a chair over his brother. Was he okay? Tommy debated getting up to go check but decided against it as his body refused to move. He wanted to drown in his own tears and leave. He wanted to leave.
Tommy wanted to abandon the crown as Wilbur had done. He wanted to leave and never come back but he couldn’t. His family, his father, would be put to shame for losing two sons to their own running away. Technoblade would be the only prince left without disgrace and there was no doubt in Tommy’s mind that the albino General would dart at a moment’s notice of the crown being left to him. Technoblade was a cold blade and blood on the battlefield, not an Emperor made for faking his way to the top.
Tommy was trapped and that was the curse of his heart. No matter what he did he would always be stuck playing this role and getting hurt. His heart couldn’t take it anymore. Wilbur’s scorn, Dream’s betrayal, his own father didn’t care for anything but Ranboo.
Ranboo. That was it! Ranboo was Tommy’s ticket to freedom. A plan stitched itself together in Tommy’s mind and his sobbing tears turned to laughing relief. A smile stretched on his lips at how blatantly simple it would be to fulfill his idea. He already had everything he needed.
It was simple. Tommy would get Beau and her taste for gossip to increase the already popular rumor of Ranboo being adopted by Emperor Philza. It wouldn’t take long for nobles to take a stab at Tommy with the information and all that he needed to do was make sure he reacted to it in a public place. Not loudly but in the sense that people would see him upset about it. It would start laying tracks for the grand slam of his idea.
In order for everything to work smoothly however he would need to get Ranboo in line with the idea to make sure that nothing went wrong. That the commoner took the crown and Tommy was free at last. Ranboo would gladly take his place and Emperor Philza already quite liked him better than Tommy, that much was obvious.
A grand tea party would be the most inconspicuous event for it to happen at and it would hold enough nobles and public eye to get enough traction for the plan to be set. Now all he needed to do was begin it and talk to Ranboo.
"You're kidding. You want to talk to Ranboo?" Tubbo stopped Tommy outside of what Tommy knew as Ranboo's chambers. Apparently Tubbo had begun training in personal defense and was working his way to becoming a guard of the lowest rank.
"Since when did you care who I talk to?" Tommy scoffed.
"Since it included the one person you might actually hurt for no reason." Tubbo crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.
His hair had gotten longer and from what it looked like bangs had begun to droop down across his eyes almost making them covered completely.
"I just want to talk to him about a party I'm planning. I'm pretty pissed at Wilbur right now so I figured he might be a good substitute." Tommy lied smoothly. It was bitter on his tongue. Most lies were but this one was stronger concerning he was lying to Tubbo.
"Why not your new buddy Prince Dream?"
“Dream is not my friend, Tubbo, and why should a foreign prince be bothered with a simple tea party of another kingdom?” Tommy fired back, hoping that Tubbo wouldn’t see through his words and send him away.
To answer his prayers, Tubbo stepped aside with a scowl in his eyes.
“I’m coming in with you.” Tubbo insisted. Tommy didn’t like that idea but it couldn’t harm his plan so he might as well allow it.
“Fine.” Tommy said boredly and walked into the room. The first thing he noticed was a planted allium by the window sill. Not even just one Allium but several crowding the clay pot and soil. Then there were journals stacked upon each other on the desk against the East wall with a window facing out just above it.
Ranboo’s bed was unmade and on top of it was a sitting frame of the one Tommy sought. The split dye of his hair swayed into his eyes as Ranboo looked up from where he sat. His back was surprisingly straight for such a tall figure in such a hunch-worthy position.
“Prince Theseus! What’re you doing here?” Ranboo seemed startled to see him and deep down a layer of ice froze over Tommy’s heart at that. Good. He should be scared. Tommy was a superior and Ranboo nothing more than a pawn in his game of life.
“I’ve come to talk to you Ranboo about something important.” Tommy let a smile twitch on his lips and spotted Ranboo begin to become curious. The common man slid off his bed and straightened out his clothes just as a prince would on such an occasion as being visited by the crown prince and asked to talk.
Ranboo didn’t bow or fold his hands behind his back like a noble but rather fiddled with his fingers and the several rings that now decorated the lithe limbs. His shoulders curved forward under his height and Tommy couldn’t help but feel the need to shrink. Had Ranboo grown since he last saw him? He must have.
“What is it you wanted to talk about?” Ranboo carefully stepped over to Tubbo by the door. A defensive state that reminded Tommy of a kitten cowering behind its mother.
“A party.” Tommy connected his eyes with the mismatched hues of Ranboo’s own and began the explanation.
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____ | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | (Finale)
