A/N: Wooo...we’re down to page 9 of 13!! Friendly reminder this idea is inspired by @tuesday-teyz and is NOT canon of any sort and is just a little take on how I think the story COULD (not should, it’s going great rn thank you) have ended if it’s author wanted to cut the chord right after Tommy broke that chair.
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To the right of His Imperial Highness were the other two princes. Wilbur had his hands behind his back and his shoulders straight as an arrow and Technoblade kept a hand on the hilt of his sword. To the left was Ranboo dressed in a black and white suit with a blue ribbon belt tied around his waist and a necklace of what looked like a cat’s eye around his neck. Tubbo stood close by just behind the lanky boy.
“Theseus, do you understand why you’ve been called here?” The Emperor bit on his words like sword tips, but none plunged into Tommy’s heart to evoke fear and desperation.
“Of course.” Tommy said neutrally and folded his hands in front of him. The crown burned heavy on his head and he silently wished his father would go ahead and just do what he needed him to do.
“And you have no remorse for the slander you’ve put against your own family?” The Emperor stood to his feet and those icy blue eyes so much like his own bore into Tommy’s head. Yet still, no fear accompanied the piercing stare.
“Why should I? The way I see it, this is hardly my family anymore.” Tommy chuckled and the words struck a mark. “Careful Phil, this is hardly my worst.” Tommy thought gleefully.
“How can you say that?!” The Emperor burst out the words and Tommy couldn’t help but flinch just a little. “You dare to say the people who have cared and loved you for years are not your family?”
“If this is love then I do not wish it upon anyone!” Tommy snapped out with a bearing of his teeth and a step forward. The Emperor fell silent and Tommy saw his window to finish off his plan. “I am exhausted from day to night and none of you have cared to even look at it! None of you have cared to care at all for anything!”
The Emperor stepped back and Tommy set his feet even as the rant of his pain and suffering finally let loose.
“You cut me with your words and sharpened looks. You watch me bleed out in silence in hopes it will make me crawl back to the very arms that have abandoned and split me open time and time again!” He targeted Wilbur first. Wilbur who had made him dependent on him then left him in the cold night with no one but Technoblade to console his childish pain. “I am bleeding now but by my own inflicted wounds. I play your games and dance around your words but it’s futile because your only goal is to harm and I can’t escape your deadly aim.” Tommy hissed at the one he’d loved so much. The one who left him first. Then he turned to the next person in his path of chaos.
“I needed you to help and guide me, I needed you close and you abandoned me as well. Instead of coming back to do it yourself when you realized I did need you, you sent a stupid guard who couldn’t care less how many times I break down and scream at my walls!” The prince drew a breath before growling with all the ugly rage in his shattered heart. “Your sword will forever be more important than family so I take my own and cut you out of mine before you cut me instead.”
“That’s enough Theseus!” Emperor Philza clanged his walking stick into the ground and Tommy faced the man he once admired with everything he had.
“I’ve had enough! I will speak now! This is my turn to finally be free of your venomous ideals!” Tommy shouted back and balled his fists. He snarled and pointed to His Imperial Highness accusingly.
“Don’t you ever think you are not responsible for my entire downfall.” Tommy said. “Every ink mark put to paper and duty piled into the night you were the reason! You wallowed in your grief for so long you didn’t even bother trying to climb out of it to see how your own children were doing! You once told me Mother would be ashamed, well how would she feel knowing you left YOUR youngest SON to crumble under the weight of it all only to later favor a peasant!”
“Ranboo is-” Emperor Philza rushed to defend the boy to the left and Tommy stole the ammunition.
“There you go defending him again! Over your own children! It is not my fault I am heartless when all the love I had was thrown away! All the work and dedication I have put into this kingdom and throne and stupid crown is for nothing!” He shouted and panted as he saw tears fill the blue eyes of the Emperor. Wilbur looked like he might run forward but Technoblade was ready to stop him with an arm.
“I am done…” Tommy huffed “Being the only one trying to keep everything fine. I am done and tired of pretending I don’t wish I had died with Mother. I am not fine, I am not okay, and I will not be subjected to your neglectful abuse anymore.” He reached for the crown on his head and looked to Ranboo.
“Theseus-” Wilbur started to say but the words died out as Tommy spoke once again to the peasant turned royalty.
“Ranboo…I hope you have better fortune with this family than I have.” Tommy smiled and tears burned his eyes. One fell as he glared at the circlet of silver and blue before he locked eyes with his father. The Emperor of the Antarctic Empire.
“Theseus what are you doing?” The Emperor asked and Tommy grinned.
“I renounce you.” He said and tossed the crown forward where it clattered on the carpet running up to the thrones and slid still as Tommy backed away with his arms outstretched.
Silence ensued before someone who Tommy least expected to break it did.
“Theseus wait!” Tubbo darted from behind Ranboo and Ranboo followed just behind. The boy, once Tommy’s best friend, nearly knocked him over with a rib crushing hug and tears falling onto the suit that still clung to Tommy’s skin.
“Good luck out there.” Ranboo said and outstretched a hand to shake but Tommy smiled. Now, unburdened by the responsibility of status and reputation, he saw his savior instead of just a peasant boy coming to steal his place. So, he hugged him instead.
“And to you.” Tommy smiled and patted Ranboo’s shoulder before looking back to see Wilbur struggling against Technoblade with a hand clamped over his mouth.
“Let me go! Let me get him back, you bastard!” Wilbur cried out. “Theseus please!” Wilbur pleaded and Tommy stayed still. His eyes cleared and he saw everything once again.
Wilbur was as broken as he was, if not more so, and something ugly and twisted was keeping him together more than anything. Wilbur didn’t mean to hurt Tommy, but he did. Perhaps more than anyone had.
“I’ll see you guys later.” Tommy said to Tubbo and Ranboo. “And the name’s Tommy, not Theseus.” He said the second part loud enough for Philza to hear and then he left with the echo of destruction bouncing off the walls behind him.
“Theseus-” Philza was the last to call out for him before the doors shut behind him.
“So…Tommy?” Dream’s voice stopped the former prince dead in his effort to leave. He had changed into much more comfortable clothes fit for traveling and was busy packing a small satchel that could carry a money pouch, ink and quills, and a book or two. He wore riding boots as his intention was to buy a steed from the stables in the city and ride it to his next destination.
“Why are you here?” Tommy said flatly and tightened the strings on his satchel before swinging it onto his shoulders and tying the excess to his belt.
“Originally to apologize, but now I’m curious as to where you plan to go now with a target on your back?” Dream said cooly and Tommy could hear the smile in his words.
“Why should you care? We’re through, Dream.” Tommy hissed and bit his tongue. Out of all the people that had hurt him over the years and by how much, Dream’s was the worst.
“I don’t want to be through, Thes- I mean Tommy. I want us to be brothers again.” Dream stepped forward on his last words and Tommy clamped his eyes shut. It still hurt.
“Please, don’t call me that if you’re truly sorry.” Tommy pleaded and stood straight to make sure the satchel stayed secure.
“Tommy please, let me make it up to you!” Dream begged and it made the former Prince’s heart coil.
“You can’t take back what you hid from me, Dream. You can’t undo that betrayal.” Tommy faced his companion and met green eyes unshielded by the mask of a smile.
“I know and that’s why I’m sorry! I should’ve told you at the start and I shouldn’t have followed you to your garden. That was yours and I took it from you.” Dream grasped Tommy’s shoulders and gripped his biceps in an effort to reach Tommy’s iced heart.
Silence stretched out like a canyon and Tommy bit back tears and lowered his eyes from the familiar green of Dream’s. There was a sigh and a shaking breath.
“Tommy, I want you to come back to Esempi with me.” Dream said.
“What?” Tommy’s eyes snapped back to Dream’s. It was like a magnet. Everything slowed and the world became a shade of green. A green akin to home and smooth grass instead of icy snow and cold shoulders.
“I want you to come back home with me, as my brother.” Dream repeated with more force and his eyes lit with a promise of love and happiness.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | ____ | Part 5 | (Finale)
