Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy wasn’t born lucky, his parents died shortly after he was born, and he’d been in an orphanage for the first couple years of his life. It never got much better. When he was only a couple of years old he was taken by some scientists, he didn’t exactly get kidnapped, but he wasn’t exactly adopted either, just… taken. Nobody noticed he was missing.

He was out of the orphanages hands, he didn’t cost them anything, so they didn’t care

Maybe that’s why he was taken

They knew nobody would care much about a young orphaned boy.

They needed more people for their experiments, and wanted to see how a child would react to the magic.

So they took a child.

Now here he was, golden wings sloppily stitched into his back.

Magic flowing through his veins.

He just hoped the wings weren’t taken from somebody else

He still remembers the surgery.

He still remembers the burning on his back.

He still remembers the fire that seemed to be flowing through his veins.

He remembers the feeling of his ribs being broken and shoved back into place.

He remembers being torn apart and stitched back together

They didn’t expect him to live.

Not many of their experiments did.

They killed at least a hundred people, only 26 of them survived. That number quickly went down to 23. Tommy didn’t know what happened to the other three, he doesn’t know if they died or if they escaped. He didn’t know what would have been better.

Because even though they kept going on about how they saved him from the life he used to have, he didn’t believe them. They said he was special. Tommy never wanted to be special.

He wanted to be normal. He wanted to be like everyone else. He would be fine with living in the orphanage for the rest of his childhood, the orphanage was never much fun, but at least he was safe, and free.

He wasn’t free here. He shared a cell with a few other people, and none of them ever left the facility. They only ever left for more experiments. Tommy tried to escape once when he was eight. The experiments got more frequent after. They threatened to take his wings if he ever tried anything again. He didn’t care, he didn’t want these wings anyways.

They told him that he was free, yet he was never allowed to leave. They told him that they loved him, yet they never cared about him past their research. They never saw any value in him. They didn’t count him as human anymore. Eventually he realised they were just going to kill him once they couldn’t learn anything anymore

At least he had some people that cared, his cellmates all felt bad for him, because he was their youngest. One of the women there had lost her child shortly before he joined them. He knew she saw him as her own. He started seeing her as his mother soon after.

He was easier to bully, to manipulate, this was all he’d ever known. But she always protected him, she made sure he knew this wasn’t how the world was supposed to work.

When he was twelve they escaped together. They’d been planning this for years, and the perfect opportunity arose, and they were free. Their gold and silver wings reflected the sunlight for the first time. They picked tulips in fields, and picked apples in forests, they lived together, they loved together.

They were still on the run, but they were free, and they were together, and they were happy.

Tommy should’ve known happiness never lasts.

When he was thirteen he watched her wings be ripped out of her back.

It was then he learned why taking the wings was a threat.

They could not live without their wings.

He had to watch as his mother’s veins were set on fire.

He had to leave her there while she tried to escape the pain that coursed through her entire body.

He ran until he no longer could.

He kept running..

He learned more about himself

He was an Icarus.

That’s what they called the people like him

There were a few hundred total

Or well, there had been.

They were dangerous, apparently

He wasn’t sure how he was dangerous, he was mostly just scared.

He just wanted to be happy

He just wanted to go home

But he had no home that wanted him.

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Tommy got better at running over time, he got away from the hunters more easily, he had less close calls. He knew that most hybrids were hunted, depending on how much their body parts were worth. Icari were the most hunted, although they could be hard to distinguish from regular avians. Tommy’s wings were too obviously unnatural. No avian had golden wings. Some avians have light yellow wings, but that’s the closest it gets. Any hybrid hunter that knows what they’re doing would know Tommy was an icarus at first glance.

Tommy never went near towns or cities. He tried a couple of times, but he never managed to hide his wings properly, so he always ended up running without getting anything from his adventure.

Now he lives solely off of things that he can find in the forests, scavenging for any fruits and berries that he knows aren’t poisonous, sometimes accidentally eating something that is.

He learns how to hunt. He’s never liked meat all that much, but he’ll take the food.

He got older, he learned not to trust anyone. He trusted people a couple of times, and just barely lived to tell the tale. People weren’t nice. No matter how kind they acted to him, they always had ulterior motives.

One day he found a little house in the woods, he was about to run the other way when he saw that the house belonged to a sheep hybrid. Sheep hybrids were fairly common, so they could usually live in towns just fine, so he was a bit surprised to find one in the woods. He was happy to have found what he thought was a safe haven. It wasn’t.

He knocked on the door hoping to get some food, maybe even a place to rest for the night. She invited him inside, and told him she would go get him some food from her garden. She got the hunters instead. He barely managed to escape.

Humans couldn’t be trusted.

Hybrids couldn’t either.

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He was running as fast as he could, it wasn’t fast enough. He could hear the sound of the hunters getting closer and closer.

He wasn’t going to win.

He was only a kid, they were adults.

He didn’t look where he was going, running just to try and get further away from the people chasing him.

He tripped, there was a root sticking out further than he thought it did.

Soon enough he was crowded by the hunters

He didn’t have the energy to get up, so he closed his eyes, hoping it would be over soon. It was then that he noticed they weren’t fighting him

One of them carefully knelt down next to him as he opened his eyes.

“Hello there little one”

Tommy was so tired, and so scared. All he could do was let out a terrified whimper.

“It’s alright sunshine, we’re not gonna hurt you” They smiled, reaching out their hand for him to take.

He didn’t trust them, he learned not to trust a long time ago.

But what else could he do? Lay here, and find out what happened when they got angry?

He reached toward the hand, his arm seeming to run out of energy halfway through, landing on the ground, useless.

The person took his attempt as an agreement, and carefully tucked their arms underneath him, and picked him up.

He tried to fight the exhaustion, he knew he likely wasn’t safe.

He didn’t want to risk being near strangers in such a vulnerable position.

The person holding him seemed to notice his inner struggle “It’s alright dear, you can sleep, we’ll keep you safe”

He hated himself for it afterward, but he gave in, he fell asleep while softly being carried to his doom.

He hated himself for it afterward, but he gave in, he fell asleep while softly being carried to his doom.

Chapter Text

Tommy was running as fast as he could, it wasn’t fast enough. He could hear the sound of the hunters getting closer and closer.
He wasn’t going to win.
He was only a kid, they were adults.
He didn’t look where he was going, running just to try and get further away from the people chasing him.
He tripped, there was a root sticking out further than he thought it did.
Soon enough he was crowded by the hunters
He didn’t have the energy to get up, so he closed his eyes, hoping it would be over soon. It was then that he noticed they weren’t fighting him
One of them carefully knelt down next to him as he opened his eyes.
“Hello there little one”
Tommy was so tired, and so scared. All he could do was let out a terrified whimper.
“It’s alright sunshine, we’re not gonna hurt you” They smiled, reaching out their hand for him to take.
He didn’t trust them, he learned not to trust a long time ago.
But what else could he do? Lay here, and find out what happened when they got angry?
He reached toward the hand, his arm seeming to run out of energy halfway through, landing on the ground, useless.
The person took his attempt as an agreement, and carefully tucked their arms underneath him, and picked him up.
He tried to fight the exhaustion, he knew he likely wasn’t safe.
He didn’t want to risk being near strangers in such a vulnerable position.
The person holding him seemed to notice his inner struggle “It’s alright dear, you can sleep, we’ll keep you safe”
He hated himself for it afterward, but he gave in, he fell asleep while softly being carried to his doom.

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When he woke up, he was in a rather large room.
It was dark, but he had slightly enhanced night vision. The door to the room seemed very heavy, and there was only a small window in a corner of the room, but it seemed to be closed off from the outside.
He was laying on a relatively soft bed, A thin blanket covering his body.
As his eyes got used to the darkness, he noticed that he wasn’t alone.
There were two other kids in the room

One of them was sitting in the corner, he didn’t look older than maybe sixteen. He had night-black skin with white patches, like a paper with ink spilled all over it; their ears were pointed like blades, though one looked as if it had a bite in it. He was sitting, hugging his legs, though his unnatural height was still clear to Tommy . Their purple eyes, though, were the most frightening; Tommy was half-sure that if he looked directly at them, the hybrid would go berserk like an enderman. Tommy was glad that the boy wasn’t paying much attention to him, he hadn’t seemed to notice he was awake yet.

The other boy was sitting on his own bed. He looked young, probably younger than Tommy, although he wasn’t sure. He had small goat-like horns on either side of his head, and a large scar on half of his face. He had small insect wings on his back, they were difficult to see in the dark. As Tommy was taking in the strange child, he noticed that he was looking straight back at him.

“Hello” The boy said, making eye contact, his eyes having a slightly green glow to them.
“W-Where am I?” Tommy whispered, the confusion finally setting in. He had no idea where he was, the last thing he remembers was falling asleep in the arms of a stranger, he realised now that that was a bad idea.
“Oh we have no idea, but you’re not gonna be able to leave anytime soon.” He heard from behind him, He turned his head, not realising that the other boy had seen him awake. He still made sure to avoid eye contact, even as he looked at the boy who was now looking back at him.
“Oh..” Tommy whispered to himself, looking down at the floor of what was apparently his home now.
“I’m Tubbo!” the bee boy said from behind him, his wings flapping excitedly behind him. “And that he’s Ranboo” he said while pointing to the other boy.
“‘M Tommy,” Tommy said, taking in the somewhat strange names of the other boys.
He assumed that the conversation would end there, he didn’t think there was much more to talk about, he never talked much with anyone at his old place.

“Well Tommy, what are you?” Tubbo asked, not seeming to find that question weird whatsoever.
“What?” Tommy questioned, not being sure if Tubbo was trying to be rude, or if he just didn’t know how to talk to people.
“Well, I’m a half bee- half goat hybrid, and Ranboo is an enderian with some kinda skin disease, we don’t really know what.” Tubbo said, gesturing to his wings and horns, and then over to Ranboo, who was still staring at Tommy, seemingly trying to understand what he was.
“Oh,” Tommy said, he wasn’t sure if he should lie and say he was an avian, or some other winged hybrid, he didn’t want them to immediately think he was dangerous or something. “I’m an Icarus” He whispered, deciding against lying, they’d probably be able to realise he was lying, he was never very good at it anyway.
“Huh,” Tubbo said, thinking for a few seconds. “Makes sense, I can see why they’d want to have you here.”
“What?” Tommy said, not sure what Tubbo meant with him being kept here.
“The owners of this place take hybrids that are different, or that they think are interesting in some way.” Ranboo explained, still staring at Tommy from his corner.
A lot of things make sense to Tommy now, why the people that took him were nice to him, and didn’t hurt him. If they were going to put him on display, they wouldn’t want him to be injured.
It makes sense that they took him, too. There weren’t a lot of Icari to begin with, and honestly, most of them still had quite boring wings.
His were the most special, of course they were.
It made sense they took these other kids too, not a lot of people showed two different species, even if they had parents of different species. And he doubts there’s a lot of enderians that have skin diseases like that.
Slowly the realisation that he wasn’t getting out of here anytime soon settled in his brain. He’d gotten back into the exact same situation he’d escaped only a couple of years ago.
He just hoped this one was nicer

While he was lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed Ranboo get up, and walk over to him, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped a little, but Ranboo didn’t let go.
He also hadn’t noticed he’d been crying, tears slowly streaming down his face.
He felt Ranboo’s arms wrap around him carefully, as if scared he’d break him if he hugged too tightly. Tommy hadn’t been hugged since his “mother” died. It broke him, after only a few minutes of knowing him, Tommy was sobbing into Ranboo’s shoulder, crying for the first time in years. The people at the old facility didn’t like it when he cried, so he tried very hard not to, and when he was on the run, he didn’t have time to process anything, constantly running, constantly worrying about what he would have to run from next.
He finally had some calm, there was nowhere left to run, nobody constantly looking over his shoulder to see what he was doing. So he cried. He cried all the tears he’d kept in for the past fifteen years. He sobbed into the first person that showed him gentle kindness, clinging onto him like his life depended on it. Ranboo was softly rubbing circles into his back, letting him cry as much as he needed to.
They sat like that for nearly an hour, Tubbo joining in on the hug after a few minutes. Eventually, when Tommy cried all of the tears that he had in him, he slowly let go of Ranboo, wiping his eyes where there were some tears left. Tubbo patted him on his back as Tommy tried to put himself back together.
As he looked back over to Ranboo he saw them massaging their shoulder, looking as if they were in pain.
“I’m sorry, are you alright boob boy?” Tommy asked, being genuinely concerned about him, but also wanting to make the air a bit lighter.
“Yeah I’m alright big man, I’m slightly allergic to water, so your tears burned me a little.” Ranboo smiled at him, giving him a cheesy thumbs up.
Tommy nodded, not entirely put together enough to have very long conversations. Tubbo ruffled his hair, “You should probably get some sleep king, crying that much has to make you tired.” Tommy nodded, and Ranboo and Tubbo got up from the bed, giving him some space, but when Tommy looked like he’d start crying again if he was left alone, so they looked at each other with a mischievous look in their eyes, before pushing their beds over to Tommy’s with the worst screeching sound of the metal legs on the floor.

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Tommy was sitting on his bed, staring into the darkness, trying to think of nothing at all, when the door opened, light flooding the room. Ranboo was pushed through the door, falling onto the floor. The door was quickly closed behind them. Tommy and Tubbo knew not to touch Ranboo after he came back, at least not before his eyes could adjust to the darkness and he could be sure it was them. Tommy had only been here for a few weeks, but he quickly got used to the routine.
At first, he didn’t know why Tubbo and Ranboo got taken from their room, and they never seemed to want to talk about it. Then one day they took him. He understood why Tubbo and Ranboo didn’t want to talk about it now. It was better to try and forget it as quickly as possible than to think about it.
Apparently, the point of the facility was not only to collect the rarest hybrids, but also to figure out how they worked. To take apart their bodies and put them back together. To inject stuff into their blood and figure out how their bodies reacted to it.

After Tommy escaped the first time, he thought he’d never have to feel his blood burning in his veins again. He was wrong. There’s magic flowing through his veins, magic that’s ready to burn through anything that gets in his blood.
The first time he was taken to the lab, they injected him with some apparently rather low level stuff. He thought he was going to die right there. His blood was on fire, burning through the stuff injected into him, and parts of his veins. The scientists stood there and watched.

Ranboo got up from the floor after a few minutes, their eyes adjusted to the darkness, and glowing slightly brighter than usual. They walked over to the beds, where Tommy and Tubbo were sitting, before softly asking them for a hug. Tubbo and Tommy immediately did, they knew the feeling all too well.
Tommy wasn’t entirely sure what Tubbo and Ranboo went through in the lab, but he assumed it wouldn’t be much better, considering the amount of water burn scars Ranboo had, and how one of Tubbo’s horns was chipped, and one of his wings hung useless on his back.

This place didn’t end up being much better than the last one. At least this time he wasn’t alone. Whenever he woke up from nightmares, Ranboo hugged him and he could cry into Tubbo’s shoulder if he needed it. Tommy and Tubbo were there to help Ranboo when he dissociated. Tommy and Ranboo were there when Tubbo woke up screaming. They were stuck, but they had each other. That was enough for them for now.

They never moved their beds away from each other after that first day. No matter who told them that they should learn to be independent. They needed each other, and they had each other.
They had many impromptu sleepovers, chatting about whatever. After one of them got back from a particularly bad session, they’d stay up late at night and talk about the things they loved most.

Tubbo loved the feeling of soft moonlight on his face, although he hadn’t seen the moon since he was a kid

Ranboo loved the feeling of grass between his toes, although he barely remembered what it felt like

Tommy loved the feeling of the wind in his feathers, although his wings had been too injured to fly with for a while.

They talked about what they wanted to do the most when they got out (if they ever did). They talked about their future together. Tubbo and Ranboo had Tommy tell them what the outside world was like now, if it was any nicer to people like them. Ranboo had been in this facility for about five years, Tubbo for as long as he could remember, really. Neither of them remembered much of the world outside of here. Apparently an experiment went wrong a few years ago, and Ranboo lost his memory. Tommy tried his best to describe the outside to them, but he was never great at that, and the entire outside world was a lot. He promised them that one day he’d show them every corner of the world.

Tommy hadn’t flown properly in years, he wasn’t even sure if his wings still worked, or if he even knew how to fly. The facility had a small courtyard, where, if they’d been handling the experiments well, they could go for a little while. Always supervised, always with a seemingly unnecessary amount of guards. Tommy knew that if he could fly, he could easily fly away from there, the archers weren’t nearly good enough to hit him once he got above the buildings. One of the first times they were out there, Tommy tried to stretch his wings a little, flap them about, seeing if he could maybe manage to hover above the ground slightly. An arrow to the shoulder quickly told him that wasn’t a good idea. Tommy was quickly taken out of the courtyard and taken to an isolation cell. It was the first, but certainly not the last, time he was sent there. When you were in isolation, the experiments were a lot less focused on the research they were supposed to be doing, and a lot more on what would hurt the most.
The next time Tommy was allowed to go outside, they bound his wings to his back, and had double the guards in the courtyard. Tommy didn’t try to fly again.

Chapter Text

At some point, Tommy noticed the experiments getting worse. His friends were more tired when they got back. Ranboo seemed to dissociate more and more. Tubbo started getting more panic attacks. Tommy noticed himself getting more nightmares too. He cried into his friends’ shoulders more and more, trying to be careful not to burn Ranboo, but not always succeeding.

They barely talked to anyone outside of their room, but whenever they did, they noticed they seemed more tired too.

Tommy decided that he’d had enough of this. He’d had enough of being used as someone’s ‘science experiment’. He’d had enough of seeing his friends’ mental health get worse and worse. He was tired of just being a creature to watch.

Icari were supposed to be dangerous, right?

Some people said Icari were supposed to burn.

So he’d make sure they burned with him.

He started making a plan with Ranboo and Tubbo. Talking carefully late at night, whispering in the hope nobody was listening. They’d recently learned Ranboo could teleport, when one of them threw something at him, and he teleported out of the way. They’d made sure nobody else knew, so they could use it to their advantage. Tommy used his enhanced hearing to listen to the footsteps of the guards, so he knew their rounds.

They slowly, carefully, informed the other prisoners of their plans, not too much of it, just enough to warn them that it was going to happen. But not enough that any of them could snitch, or that they were overheard. Eventually, everyone else knew it was coming, and that they should run when they got the chance.

In that time, Ranboo practised his teleporting, until he could almost fully control it.

Ranboo teleported into where he was pretty sure the guards stayed. He was glad for his nightvision, because it was almost completely dark. He tried not to move, as he saw several guards sleeping peacefully, he just had to hope none of them were very light sleepers. As he looked around, eventually he spotted a small shine of metal, reflecting his bright purple eyes, on the nightstand of one of the guards. He walked over, trying to make as little sound as he could, until he touched the keys. He didn’t pick them up fully, he just wrapped his hand around the keyring. He closed his eyes, and focused on where he wanted to go, his room. He felt the world disappear around him, and he took a step forward to walk back out into the other side. As he opened his eyes, He did not see the familiar concrete walls of his room, instead he was right outside of the room he was just in. He didn’t want to risk trying to teleport again, he’d heard tales of enderians teleporting more than they could, and getting stuck in the void.. So he grabbed onto the keys as tightly as he could, hoping they wouldn’t make a sound, as he carefully walked in the direction of their room.

This was the worst case scenario. They knew the guard cycles, but it was almost impossible to completely avoid them all the way. Ranboo knew that if he got caught, he’d most likely be punished for it. Punishment meant being isolated for however long the owners deemed appropriate. If it had been Tubbo or Tommy, that would probably be several months, but Ranboo rarely got in trouble, so for most things he’d probably only get a couple of days. Getting caught stealing keys and trying to break out however, he’d be lucky if he got away with a couple years. Void, he’d be lucky if he lived. So, it’s safe to say Ranboo was panicking a little bit. They debated trying to teleport again, but decided against it. Ranboo had talked about a scenario like this with Tubbo and Tommy beforehand, and they had found a route that might work. It was risky, but all of his options were risky. He had to sneak past the owner’s office, who could leave his room anytime, and outside of his office there were the most irregular guard rotations, which meant that Ranboo had no idea when guards would or would not be there. He didn’t have any other options though. So he followed along the route that he tried his best to memorise. He hoped he could at least get close enough to their room that he could safely teleport before getting caught.

Ranboo was sneaking through the hallways, praying that people weren’t looking his way, when a guard turned the corner. Ranboo panicked, and teleported without knowing where he was going. They felt the void engulf them, luring them into its depths. Ranboo opened their eyes. They were always told not to open their eyes in the void unless they were in danger, so they never did.

The void was beautiful, terrifying, and empty. Ranboo heard the void calling to him. He’d never stayed in the void this long, afraid to get lost in it.

He didn’t mind the idea of getting lost in the void anymore.

The void was beautiful, and empty. It was just him. It will always just be him.

Ranboo didn’t remember why he was here.

He wasn’t sure if it mattered.

The void was beautiful

The void cared for him

The void loved them.

The void was his home.

They’d never had anything else, right?

Ranboo was safe

Ranboo was happy.

The void called to him

He answered.

Ranboo was home,

Something was off.

This was their home, right? It’s all they’d ever known, right? their memories were wrong. If all they ever had was the void, then who was the brown haired child in their memories? Ranboo remembered him so well, he was never supposed to be locked up. He had so much potential, always tinkering on something. What happened to him? Who was the golden winged child that shone so brightly in their memories? Who reminded him of what it felt like to be alive.

Was Ranboo alive? Those kids were their friends, right? Where were they now?

Ranboo didn’t know where they were anymore. This was home, right? Why did it feel so wrong?

The void’s call rang in their ear, assuring them that they were wrong, this was their home, everything was alright, they were safe here.

Ranboo didn’t believe it. Their memories were flooding their brain. Ranboo remembered why they were here. Ranboo felt the keys in their pocket, forgotten about in however long they’d been here.

Ranboo was falling. Ranboo summoned the door out of the void, watched as their room, their home appeared through the gap in space.

The void called to them.

They ignored the call.

Ranboo stepped out of the void into their room. He was immediately jumped by Tommy and Tubbo.

“Oh my god are you ok? Did you get caught?” “Did you fucking teleport out of isolation do you know how fucked you’ll be if they catch you?!”

“What? No? I’m fine, I had to teleport here because I almost got caught?” Ranboo replied, confused why they were acting like he’d been gone for weeks

“Almost got caught doing what?” Tubbo questioned

“Getting the keys? What else would I be doing?” Ranboo asked, pulling the keys out of where he’d had them in his pocket.

Tommy tapped tubbo on the shoulder “I think they’ve lost their memory again” Tommy whispered to Tubbo, although Ranboo could still hear every word he said.

“I haven’t lost my memory, what the hell are you on about?” Ranboo asked, starting to get frustrated at his friends seemingly trying to prank him.

“Ranboo that was weeks ago!” Tubbo yelled, frustrated with his friend’s ignorance.

“W-what?”

“We thought you’d been caught! We assumed the guards were just being mean in not telling us where you were, you’ve been fucking missing!” Tommy shouted

Ranboo explained what had happened, he teleported outside of the guard’s room and tried to make his way back to their room, and then teleported again when he almost got caught, confused why apparently he’d been missing for weeks, but there were no gaps in his memory.

Tommy and Tubbo explained their side of the story, Ranboo teleported out of their room to try and steal the keys from the guard, and didn’t come back. Tommy asked the guard when they came to bring food, but they didn’t say anything, so they assumed that Ranboo had either escaped alone or been put in isolation. They didn’t think Ranboo would leave without them, so they worried about him, assuming they wouldn’t see him in years.

While that answered some questions, they had no idea where Ranboo actually went for those weeks.

They decided that they could figure that out later, that now that Ranboo was back, with the keys, they should continue on with their plans to escape.

Over the weeks that Ranboo had been gone, Tommy and Tubbo only got more angry, and made many more escape plans.

They got Ranboo up to date on their most recent plan, updating it so that Ranboo was included as well.

Ranboo unlocked the door to their room, letting Tubbo follow after them. They moved towards the other cells, trying to be as stealthy as possible, setting the first part of their plan into motion.

The plan went like this: first Ranboo and Tubbo would open up the other cells and try to guide people to the exit as safely as possible. Tommy would leave their cell not long after to spread the flammable liquid they’d found in storage a few days earlier. Once the guards noticed something was going on, Ranboo would teleport away to cause a distraction, and then teleport back to continue helping people get out. Then, Tommy would set the whole thing on fire. (Tommy was the most excited for that part)

As Ranboo and Tubbo reached the first cells, Tommy snuck out of their room, spreading the liquid around the edges of all the hallways he walked through, until he’d walked through every hallway, and he found a safe hiding spot, and waited.

After a couple of minutes of Ranboo and Tubbo freeing people from the cells, the guards started to catch on to something happening, so Ranboo tried to teleport to the other side of the facility, only to discover he couldn’t. Ranboo almost immediately started panicking. He didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed before, but the soft pull of the void that was always in the back of his mind was gone. What had they done wrong to anger the void that much? Was he never supposed to escape? Would this be his punishment for freedom? Was their destiny to stay in that dark cell forever? Would they dare defy fate?

Hell, they hadn’t even known they could live without the void until just now, how far would they get without it?

Ranboo was pulled out of his thoughts by Tubbo aggressively tapping his shoulder. “RAN! Oi! It’s distraction time big man!” Tubbo whisper-yelled at him. “I can’t! I don’t know how, but I can’t teleport!” Ranboo, still somewhat panicking, responded. Tubbo looked at him with confusion and concern, before deciding to just roll with it “Alright, that’s- fine, new plan: don’t die.” Tubbo whispered, before turning to the people still following them, and telling them that they changed the plan, and they had to be even more careful, and they might have to fight off some guards.

Tommy heard the guards notice something was happening from his hiding spot, and expected to hear them running towards a far away spot due to Ranboo’s distraction. He never heard that, though. Instead, he heard the guards starting to comb out the whole facility, trying to find out what exactly was happening that late at night. Luckily, Tommy wasn’t stupid, and decided to stick to the original plan. He trusted Ranboo and Tubbo to get themselves and everyone else out safely, and trusted that if they changed his part of the plan, they’d tell him.

Tommy waited for a while, until he heard a guard yell that ‘they’ were almost at the door. Tommy knew that would be his friends, so he put the last part of the plan into action. Tommy delighted in seeing the floor of that hellhole light on fire. Tommy was ecstatic to see the fire spread to the roof, spreading way faster than he’d expected. Tommy stared at the quickly spreading flames for several minutes, before realising that he was almost surrounded by flames, and that the smoke was quickly filling the hallways. Tommy knew the way to the exit by heart, and he ran, he ran towards the exit as fast as he could, through the flames, through the smoke. The edges of his wings were smouldering in the flames. His feet had gone numb from the destruction of his nerves, and his lungs were burning with the smoke. He could barely breathe.

Tommy stumbled through the wall of flames that was once the front door, and collapsed into his friends’ arms. Ranboo was crying from worry, and Tubbo was about five seconds from yelling at him for several hours. His lecture could wait, though, first, they had to make sure Tommy would stay alive. Tubbo aggressively patted out the fire in his wings, while Ranboo handed him a flask of water, to ease his painful throat. Tommy passed out a few minutes after, the adrenaline fading off.

Ranboo and Tubbo watched the building they grew up in burn to the ground, next to the unconscious body of the friend that gave them the courage to escape. While the other hybrids were running from the building as fast as they could, Ranboo and Tubbo watched. They watched the only place they had any memories of be turned to ash. It was strange, there was a sort of grief with it. A grief for a childhood they didn’t get to have, and a grief for the parts of childhood they did have. A grief for the place they’d considered to be their home for as long as they remember. A small sense of grief for the guards caught inside. However, there was also an overwhelming sense of victory. They were finally free. Free from that hellhole, free from all the assholes inside of it. Ranboo and Tubbo didn’t grieve the now dead guards. A part of Tubbo wished they could have put them through more pain.

After a few minutes, Tubbo picked up Tommy, and Ranboo and Tubbo turned their back on the ashes of the only home they’d ever had, ready to make a new home somewhere else. A nicer home, a home where they were loved, and cared for. And they walked off into the forest, as the last parts of their childhoods turned to ash.