Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world slowly fades away as Tommy gets dragged out of his peaceful slumber. He doesn’t even get a second to properly wake up before he is all too aware of the itchiness all over his back and all the way up to his ears that feels like his entire body might as well be in flames. What a great start to what was supposed to be a regular Tuesday morning.

Tommy sits up and rubs the sleep out of his eyes before checking the clock and oh- It is way too early. Great.

Still exhausted he throws himself back onto the bed with a loud thump only to immediately be reminded of the burning pain still very much present there.

He should probably tell Phil. Techno’s already at work and Wilbur would just fuss over him because of something he can very much handle himself thank you very much. He’s not the biggest man to ever live for nothing. So, sighing he drags himself into the bathroom.

Has the doorhandle always been this cold or is he literally burning alive? Judging by how his morning is going he wouldn’t be surprised.

His eyes take a second to adjust to the light but when they finally do, he can’t see any of the usual indications of being sick. Good, he’d rather not miss another day of school because of some shitty illness.

Looking closer however reveals that his ears are burning red and have some sort of bumps on them? No scratch that Tommy has no clue what’s on and behind his ears.

Grimacing at the mirror like it personally offended him he lifts a hand to his left ear and- why is it soft?!

Quickly he lifts his shirt to get a better look at his back.

As soon as he sees it his breath halts. Are those Feathers? Okay no those are definitely red, downy feathers all over his back.

It’s way too early for this. Tommy’s tired, still in slight shock and now he most definitely needs to tell Phil.

Pulling out his phone once again, the time catches his attention almost immediately and shit how long has he stood in this bathroom?

He really needs to hurry.

Grabbing his backpack and stuffing the piles upon piles of papers sitting on his desk into it, he’s suddenly really glad that he managed to get all his homework done the night before.

His signature red and white hoodie luckily already hides the feathers on his back quite well and he decides to put on a beanie as a last-minute decision before leaving the house and taking off into a sprint.

Luckily his first lesson is history and Mr. Jacobs is a rather nice teacher who isn’t going to give him a lecture on the importance of being on time and blah blah blah. Still, he’s already late and is not going to test his teacher’s patience.

-------*-------

Tommy enters the classroom a few minutes late and after muttering a quick sorry to his teacher he takes his usual seat in the back, not at all surprised to see that the seat next to him was still empty.

He got along fairly well with the guy that was supposed to be sitting next to him right now which was surprising because he was very much an outcast and so was the other guy. There were even rumors going around that he’s killed someone! However, Tommy didn’t believe any of that. He himself has had some pretty nasty rumors going around about him as well however none quite that drastic. None of those were ever true in the slightest though so why would these be any different.

The guy also doesn’t talk a lot which was to be expected but it has always made things very awkward between the two. Nevertheless, he tolerates Tommy’s presence which is more than he can say about quite a few of the dickheads at this school.

Speaking of the devil, a teenager dressed head to toe in purple waltzes into the classroom like he fucking owns the place, same carefully neutral expression as always still remaining steadily on his face.

“Purpled Mauve, you are ten minutes late.” Mr. Jacobs spoke without even having to look up from what he was writing on the blackboard. This was after all a quite frequent thing. Purpled would always arrive at least five minutes late and spent a lot of time in detention because of it.

The slightly older teen seemed entirely unbothered. Opting for an eyeroll before making his way over to his seat next to Tommy.

“Sup.” Purpled greeted while setting his bag down. Tommy looked him up and down and let visible disgust show on his face. “And where do you get your fashion advice from? You look like grimace had a fucked up human child” he mutters before once again returning his attention to one of the many papers strewn across his side of the desk.

Purpled doesn’t respond and probably just rolls his eyes again but Tommy doesn’t pay him any attention. The lesson goes by rather quickly and so do the following few. He’s been able to ignore the pain for the most part until breaktime rolls around and for fucks sake the itching just won’t leave him alone. He even forgot to tell Phil in his hurry! He decides to shoot him a quick message basically just complaining about his back, knowing full well Phil won’t see it until he gets back from work.

Halfway through his break he decides that fuck it he can’t just ignore this until it goes away.

He wrangles his way through a hoard of teenagers trying to get to the school bathroom and immediately locks himself into a stall. The Itching is getting worse and worse by the second and there’s a different kind of slight pain accompanying it now as well. Great.

He scratches some of the feathers and notes that the itching actually does calm down at certain points, however it only worsens at others.

Tommy decides to give up on trying to fix this not too long after and steps out the stall.

Taking a few steps, he catches his reflection in the mirror and abruptly stops. He hadn’t even noticed he took off his beanie but now his ears are on full display. Ears who undoubtedly have fucking feathers on their tips. He stood there frozen for a second just trying to wrap his head around what his life has turned into. Its way worse than before because what were just red inflamed bumps back then were now literal feathers, like not fully grown but still unmistakably feathers. Tommy gets ripped out of his thoughts as the door opens and a familiar teenager steps inside. As soon as his eyes caught onto Tommy’s form, he stops dead in his track, eyes going wide.

“Tommy?!”

Tommy stands frozen in place.

Chapter Text

Tommy should be moving or really doing anything except for standing frozen in place but luckily Purpled doesn’t seem to be moving either so he guesses its fine.

He doesn’t even really know why he feels the urge to run and hide or why he feels so goddamn nervous. He’s usually a lot calmer in situations like these or at the very least he doesn’t immediately lock up at the first sight of potential danger.

He doesn’t have the energy to deal with that train of thought, so he’s probably just going to blame that one on paranoia.

Purpled turned around and closed the door. Every movement slow and careful as if Tommy was a wild animal that would run away in fear the moment he moved too quickly. Which honestly fair. He just might’ve made a run for it if the doors weren’t closed and Purpled wasn’t standing right in front of him.

“This complicates things” Purpled muttered more so to himself than anyone else but Tommy heard it anyways.

“I’m sorry I know this looks weird, but I was just about to go call my father and get all this sorted out please don’t tell anyone but-” Tommy started rambling before getting interrupted

“Oh my god just shut up just…”, Purpled sighs before continuing in a much calmer tone, “Get your beanie back on and stick with me for a bit alright? I can’t believe I’m actually doing this I should just turn you in.”

“Turn me in?”

“Yes.”

-------*-------

12:32 am

Purple Menace: We have a problem

Hoarder: How important is it. I’m busy

Purple Menace: I found a late bloomer

Hoarder: Hybrid?

Purple Menace: Yes, Hybrid what else would I be referring to

Hoarder: …And he’s important?

Purple Menace: …

Yes.

Hoarder: K, bring him over after school and don’t let him expose shit

Purple Menace: K

-------*-------

Tommy’s getting really nervous by this point. Purpled’s still blocking the only way out and is seemingly really invested in his phone now. Great.

After what feels like an eternity Purpled finally pockets his phone and looks up.

“I can’t tell you what’s going on right now, but you’ll have to come with me after school… also don’t tell anyone about any of this.” His voice still shows very little emotion however he still manages to seem rather tense as well as… slightly concerned? Now that’s terrifying. Purpled rarely portrays any emotion whatsoever. What the fucks going on? 

“Okay…?” His voice wavers slightly but seriously this is fucking weird! Along with all of this, he’s just supposed to trust a guy who only ever kind of tolerates his presence?! Yeah, big fucking chance. The guys a fucking weirdo.

Then again, he seems to know what’s going on and Tommy would also like to find out what the fucks happening to his own body.

Purpled turns around and starts walking towards the door without saying another word.

Tommy scrambles to keep up as Purpled walks through the hordes of teenagers filling the hallways.

Eventually Tommy makes it to the cafeteria where the other is already picking out food.

Is it weird for Tommy to be following this guy? Probably, but can you blame him?! He seemingly knows the answers to whatever his body has decided to do, but of course he just has to be a cryptic fuck who can’t give straight answers for the life of him!

Still very tense and kind of frustrated with the situation Tommy starts picking out his food as well and slowly makes his way over to an empty table only to immediately get pulled over by Purpled towards another table.

“What the fuck man!”

“What?”

“What was that for?!” He is getting increasingly agitated with this conversation, like seriously who does this guy think he is?!

Purpled shrugs “I told you to stick with me”

“Yeah, well you immediately ran away!” This guy is going to drive him insane. “Also, I’m not some toddler that you have to babysit you know!”

“I’d prefer babysitting you over you dying.” Purpled is still as calm as ever which only helps in agitating Tommy further.

“Wait what? What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Purpleds eyes are basically boring into his skull by this point. Tommy is getting really uncomfortable now “…Not now.”

“Wait no, what do you mean not now?!”

“Later Tommy. Not now means later.” Purpleds tone of voice still didn’t change a whole lot however he still manages to seem pretty exhausted.

With that ominous message the bell rings, and they split up to go to their next classes. Tommy still thinks Purpled is being crazy but dying doesn’t sound too great either, so he is just going to keep quiet about all of this.

On second thought is it really a good idea to follow the strange kid home? Probably not but does he really have a choice in the matter? also no so what does he care?!

--------*--------

Scratch that this was a terrible idea but it’s too late now he’s already standing in the guy’s apartment. He told Phil he was going to the park which was already weird seeing as he barely leaves the house on a good day, and he literally just complained to him about how shitty his day was going earlier, but he also isn’t really going to elaborate on that one either. That is future Tommy’s problem anyway.

…If he makes it out of here alive that is…

The apartment is surprisingly in pretty good shape.

There was a rumor going around for a bit that Purpled only lives with his brother. Whenever the two of them actually had a conversation, his parents were always sort of a sore spot which only ever confirmed the rumor in his eyes.

So, he kind of expected the apartment to be slightly more rundown but no it looks quite cozy actually. Definitely smaller than what he’s used to, but it looks fine.

Tommy is standing near the entrance while Purpled went to talk to his brother in the other room. He can hear hushed voices through the doorway if he strains his ears, but he really has no intensions of eavesdropping. So, he just stands there awkwardly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other occasionally, but there’s not a whole lot else for him to do.

Finally, after what feels like forever, Purpled comes back out and towards Tommy but this time there’s a second ever so slightly taller guy following him. The other guy has the same dirty blond hair Purpled does but instead of the signature all purple outfit, he is covered in white, slightly broken up by the obnoxious amount of gold jewelry he’s wearing.

“Sup kid the names Punz.” There is no hostility in his voice which gives Tommy slightly more hope that he’ll make it out of here alive. Also, his voice and face are actually displaying emotion which is a nice change after being around Purpled the whole day.

“Uhm, I’m Tommy…,” He paused before he even really realized what the other blonde had called him, “IM NOT A KID!”

Punz looked him up and down skeptically. “…Sure, anyway we got more important matters at hand.”

For some reason the initial awkwardness of the whole situation has eased slightly and he’s getting more confident now, which in hindsight might not be the best thing to happen but, oh well he’s already locked in the apartment so there’s not much he could do if shit went wrong anyways.

Actually, scratch that his father had insisted he took self-defense classes from an early age and later even slight combat classes seeing as he was convinced Tommy would join the rest of the family and get a career in law enforcement.

Tommy wasn’t going to say no to that, he liked to know that he could defend himself in emergency situations. However, right now he’s confronted with two people who he assumes are no strangers to fighting and Punz could probably physically overpower him with ease.

He’s not quite as intimidating as Techno, but that guys a fucking tank so it comes as a surprise to no one.

The two brothers have already started walking further into the apartment and Tommy decides to follow them anyways. He has a feeling they’ll be at this for quite a while.

Chapter Text

Once everyone took a seat on the couch Tommy takes a second to look around. The apartment is rather small and pretty cluttered. However it doesn’t look messy, more like a cottage you’d find in the woods.

Speaking of, everything in this house seems far too expensive. There is gold everywhere and even most of the furniture has some gold accents.

The couch is facing towards a small fireplace which is lit giving the entire room a soft light and the smell of burning wood really helps calm Tommy’s racing nerves.

A small kitchen is behind them which could maybe fit two people at most.

“Tommy?”

Purpleds voice rings through and snaps him out of his thoughts.

“Oh yeah sorry spaced out for a second.” A sheepish grin on his face

“Nice house”

“Thanks” The third blond speaks up

“Okay so uhm I have a shit ton of questions.” That might’ve been a bit blunt but it’s the truth so who cares.

“Shoot” Punz lays comfortably over the other side of the couch obviously trying to make himself seem like less of a threat. It works.

“So, what’s happening to me?”

Punz hums “Tommy, right?”

“Yeah”

“Have you ever heard of hybrids?”

“Like those fantasy characters?” Tommy’s confused

The other blond chuckles “Those as well but Hybrids aren’t just fantasy.”

Tommy’s eyes widen slightly “you’re saying im-”

“A hybrid yes. Most Hybrids show their traits from birth, however late bloomers do exist. The public just doesn’t know.”

Tommy’s having a hard time believing or really even comprehending what Punz is saying.

“Well- okay… but why not?”

Punz sighs pure exhaustion filling his tone. “Oftentimes Hybrid traits are accompanied with stronger powers than what people would normally possess which can cause a lot more destruction. The humans that do know of our existence see us as threats.”

“Our?”

“Oh yes me and Purpled also fall into that category” He chuckles before one frankly ridiculously large wing makes an appearance on his back.

Purpled looks up from his phone where he was playing subway surfers and scrunches up his nose.

“You’re gonna knock over everything dude.”

Punz rolls his eyes and promptly smacks him with said wing. Purpled shoots his brother a frankly dangerous looking glare but Punz doesn’t even acknowledge him before the wing disappears once more.

“What the fuck was that?!”

Punz huffs “A dragon hybrids wing”

“Why do you only have one?”

“Birth defect” He shrugs

Okay so that’s how Punz is aware of all this but Purpled… actually he’s probably also a hybrid. Punz just said he was, right? Gods this is confusing.

“Alright… what about me? What kind of Hybrid am I?”

“I can’t exactly just look at a person and immediately tell. I’d need to know what Hybrid traits you have.” The blond deadpans

“Oh, uhm right should I just show you or…?”

“If you want, I can’t guarantee I’ll know exactly what type you are though…”

Tommy takes off his beanie and brushes his hair out the way for Punz to see. After a moment he turns around and lifts his Hoodie up slightly to the point where the older should have a good view of the feathers.

Punz takes the top of the Hoodie from him and asks first if he can touch the feathers.

After Tommy nods he gently starts brushing his fingers through the soft downy mess that is his back.

It feels nice and the itching finally calms down slightly.

After his Hand brushes over a spot on his higher back however pain erupts all throughout and he flinched violently.

“Oh, shit my bad, but this could be a problem.”

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!”

“Tommy you’re some kind of avian Hybrid.”

“And what’s the issue?”

“You’ll grow wings which is incredibly painful if you’re a late bloomer especially at your age… at this rate your chance of survival is… low… to say the least…”

“WAIT WHAT?!” Jeez who knew Purpled is able to yell like that. Plus, why would he care?

“Sorry Purps but we both know growing wings is dangerous unassisted”

“THEN GET FUCKING ASSISTANCE ASSHOLE!” There is determination and anger painted across his entire face.

“Purpled. What doctors going to help someone grow wings and not immediately turn us in?” Punz is obviously not happy with how this was going either but seems pretty set with his decision.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care you’ll find one or I’ll do so myself.” as if a switch was flipped, Purpleds face loses all emotion.

“You don’t have access.”

“I’ll get there without.”

“You’ll die.”

“Alright.”

The two brothers are intensely staring at each other now. Purpled wins.

“I’ll see what I can do.” The older sibling sighs.

“You better.” Purpled mumbles as he picks his phone back up from where he dropped it on the ground.

Tommy is once again frozen in place.

He’s going to die… But wait no that… that can’t be right… He’s 17, He should have plenty of time!

Is this it?

A slow and painful death because of his own body? Does he have time to say goodbye to his family? Does he have any time at all?

Tears have long since started streaming down his face and its all just too much.

“-ommy? Tommy? Hey, hey can you hear me?”

Tommy nods stiffly

Punz has a hand rested on his shoulder grounding him and is crouched down Infront of him. Purpled’s standing just slightly behind him awkwardly. obviously not knowing what to do.

“…how long… How long do I have?” His hands are shaking and he’s not even sure if he wants to know the answer.

Punz sighs once more and Purpled sends another vicious glare his way.

“Depends, how long ago did this show up?”

“This morning…”

“Okay good, Purpled be glad you found him this soon this could’ve ended bitterly.” Purpleds glare intensifies. Punz doesn’t seem to care.

“Best case scenario, a week tops. Worst case you’re dead by tomorrow morning. Except for if I get a doctor to help out.”

“Then what the fuck are we waiting for?!”

“Purpled you know this… I’ll have to go talk to them and schedule this thing. That’s not gonna get done till tomorrow. You’re just going to need to hope he’ll make it till then.”

A deafening silence ensues as Purpleds face once again loses all emotion.

“… Alright.”

Completely apathetic in his tone he walks back to what Tommy assumes is his room.

Sighing Punz turns back towards Tommy and goes to speak again: “Sorry kid, I’ll hopefully have this sorted out by tomorrow. But you might want to leave now.”

Without another word Tommy stands up and starts towards the door, unlocking and exiting it.

As he closes the door behind him tears once again threaten to spill over, however he wipes them away as soon as he notices.

He’s going to die. He has a feeling he will.

The walk home passes in a haze. He can’t focus on anything when he hears Punz’s voice painfully reminding him of his fate still so present in the back of his mind.

He opens his front door where he is immediately pulled out of his thoughts by the heavenly smell of Techno’s signature baked potatoes.

Besides that, the fireplace is lit and crackling, flooding the entire room in a soft warm glow.

Wilbur is sitting at the edge of the couch scrolling through his phone listening to Phil talking and responding every now and then.

Tommy quickly checks if his beanie and hoodie are still in place and after being certain that they are he moves to sit next to Wilbur on the couch slightly leaning into him.

“Hey Tommy, glad you’re okay.” Phil says with the same warm and comforting smile he always has.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He lies. In reality he is saving this memory as maybe the last time he could talk to his family.

“Techno’s making baked potatoes.” Wilbur informed.

He chuckled slightly “Yeah I could tell.”

“Since when do you wear a beanie inside?”

And oh, gods that is not a question he wants to hear right now.

“Oh, uhm… I’m just cold nothing to worry about.” He stammers out

“Tommy are you sure everything’s okay? There is a fire on right there.” Phil sounds concerned and Tommy might as well could’ve broken down crying right then and there if he wouldn’t have stopped himself.

“Oh yeah no I’m fine just a bit cold.” He smiled sheepishly.

“Are you sure? Why don’t you go lay down we can bring your dinner up. I think you should get some rest.”

Tommy wasn’t happy about this he would’ve rather spent time with his family but it’s better than outright telling them of his actual concerns. He’s been warned of those consequences plenty enough today.

So, Tommy walks up the stairs and into his room closing the door behind him. He lets himself fall onto his bed.

Moving up towards the wall behind him he pulls out his phone. It’s around 7 pm by this point and he is mentally exhausted so he decides to put off doing homework and scrolls mindlessly through Twitter instead, finding some funny memes here and there but mostly just people complaining about whatever celebrity has pissed them off today. It’s honestly funny seeing how so many people got so worked up over these tiny things.

Soon enough his back decided to remind him of its existence once again as a sharp pain erupts through the entirety of it.

Tommy basically jumps off his bed at the sudden shock. Panicking he stumbles to the mirror in his room. He could feel something running down his back and sure as hell as soon as he looks in the mirror, he can see the back of his usually white shirt having red splotches all over.

He’s pretty sure his heart stops for a moment.

Is this it?

He locks his door to the best of his abilities before moving back to his mirror to have a better look.

He’s still in excruciating pain but he can handle this, right? It’s probably fine.

Lifting his shirt, he… Sees two small stumps… okay he assumes those will be wings but what?

Does this mean he doesn’t have much time left or is this fine?

The blood has for the most part stopped spilling out by now but still there are two… bones?... He thinks? Sticking out of his back. Both are covered in his own blood. Alright he can handle this he’s a big man after all.

He grabs the small first aid kit he still has it in his room, from when he was younger and would hide his injuries from his father, out from under his bed. He was a stupid child, okay?!

Taking out some gauze and bandages he starts bandaging himself up to the best of his abilities. Which admittedly isn’t really good seeing as he doesn’t have anyone that could help him make sure it covers everything it is supposed to and It hurts like hell every time the bandages touch his…wings? Not really but yeah.

The next thing he knows someone knocks on his door. “I brought you your dinner, child.” Techno huffs out from the other side of the door.

It brings a smile to Tommy’s face as he yells out a quick, “one second”, to his eldest brother as he rushes to store the bloody shirt at the bottom of his dirty laundry and put on a new, clean one instead.

He opens the door and takes the plate from Techno who first eyed his beanie suspiciously before apparently deciding that it was none of his concern which is good because it honestly isn’t anyone’s but his and maybe Purpleds concern.

He shuts the door and goes back inside to eat dinner at his desk. It smelled amazing and tasted even better.

Even if the pink haired brother only ever really cooked potatoes, they were still the best ones he has ever had.

That night, sleeping was difficult but after such a long day, exhaustion finally pulls him under.

-----*-----

He wakes up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and…

Blood…

Chapter Text

Purpled is a naturally light sleeper. Like really light sleeper, to the point where everything in his room had to be soundproofed because the slightest raindrop hitting against his window is enough to drag him out of sleep. All of his devices have to be on silent during the night, however as a last-minute decision he decided that for this once, one number could come through anyways.

2.04 am

Unknown Number: Probably won’t make it big man…

As expected, the ping from his phone is enough to wake Purpled up. For a solid second, he just lays in bed confused as to why his phone isn’t muted. Then it hits him. Shit.

He scrambles to get up as quickly as he can only to nearly fall off his bed.

Cool okay disregarding that, where the fuck is his phone? Shit, its no longer on the nightstand.

Still tangled up in his bedsheets he searches through the layers of blankets and pillows, which are all over the floor at this point. He finds his phone and unlocks it with relative ease.

No, his fingers aren’t trembling, shut up he doesn’t care about that blond teenager all the way over in the L’manburg district. No way.

His thoughts come to a halt as soon as the basic six-word text shows up on his screen.

2.07 am

Purpled: Tommy?

You still there?

2.09 am

Purpled: Fuck it. I’m coming over. Don’t die.

Grabbing a bag with some simple necessities as well as the grappling hook Punz brought home for him one time he leaves his room and hurries over to his older brother’s.

He shakes him awake and as soon as the older displays any sign of life he starts talking: “Tommy’s dying I’m getting over there and picking him up. The roads still too busy so I’ll be roof hopping. YOU.”, he points an accusatory finger at the beforementioned, “ Will get your doctor ready.” Punz seems more awake now. At least awake enough to have a somewhat working train of thought and form a proper response. “Meet me behind the old pharmacy in L’manburg.”

Purpled nods before throwing the window open and with the help of the grappling hook he propels himself up to the closest building towards L’manburg.

-----*-----

His feet thump loudly against the rooftops. He’s trying his hardest to stay away from the high-end side of the Kinoko district as those rich assholes often like to display their wealth with tall, winding and well decorated roofs which are extremely difficult to jump across.

He doesn’t have the time for all that, he has to get over to L’manburg as fast as possible.

With another use of his grappling hook, he pulls himself up onto yet another even taller building. He has no idea how much time has passed since that first text or if Tommy even responded to his ones, but the clock is ticking and he needs to keep running.

Purpled hasn’t really done roof hopping for quite some time. Its times like these when he regrets not practising with Punz more often. Okay maybe not exactly times like these, it’s not like he just goes out in the middle of the night still in his pyjamas just to roof hop all the time, but maybe having practiced more would’ve made this entire ordeal way less stressful.

 And maybe there would be less bruises currently forming from his less than stellar landings.

-----*-----

L'manburg is finally coming into view. You really can’t miss it. It’s the second richest district in the entirety of the Essempi only after the Antarctic district. Las Nevadas would’ve been on that list as well, but people don’t really live there besides some employees to the infamous Las Nevadas casino.

All that said L’manburg had a giant skyline as part of its richer side and even if that’s not the part Tommy lived in you can still see it from the other end of said district.

Purpleds steps come to an abrupt halt on top of what seems to be just another apartment complex. But he knows better.

He quickly jumps down into an alleyway which he knows Tommy’s window looks out of.

Picking up a pebble from the alley he chucks it at the other teens window. No response. He grabs a slightly larger one and repeats the action. Nothing. For fucks sake.

Once again making use of his grappling hook, he shoots it up to the third-floor window and as quietly as possible swings up towards it.

Sitting on the windowsill he peeks inside. He should’ve expected it to be too dark to properly see anything, but he is still disappointed.

He makes sure his grappling hook is still nice and secure before he swiftly swings himself backwards only to come flying back towards it full force and kick in the window.

Properly looking around for the first time he finds the entire bed to be covered in blood. Tommy is basically falling off of it, also covered in the thick crimson substance.

Two half developed avian wings stick out of his back. Both are drenched in blood to the point where the feathers are sticking together. More blood, although slower, is still spilling out from the wound where his wings exited from. The sight is horrendous. Purpled has to push back all emotion just to be able to swing back into action.

Kneeling next to the unconscious teen he goes to check for a pulse. Slowly and steadily, he finds it although definitely way too light. Okay not great but he can work with this.

There are some bandages lying next to Tommy. He probably tried to bandage it up himself but was too slow.

He hurries around the room trying to find anything to apply pressure to the wound with before settling on just a thin but hardcover book and pressing that over the wings before wrapping the bandages over top. Not the best but it’ll have to do.

He remembers his mother teaching him some basics about medicine before… The incident…

No time for angsty flashbacks. If Tommy doesn’t make it here, he will hate himself for it for the rest of his existence.

Checking the others pulse again he finds it to still be there, so he hurriedly finishes the bandages and carefully starts lifting him up.

Tommy’s taller than him, sure, but not by a whole lot and the guy’s built like a stick so picking him up is doable. Still, he needs to be careful of the wings that now stick to the blonds back due to the concerning amount of blood he’s already lost.

Purpled cringes as his own hands get covered in foreign blood.

Pushing past it he lifts both of them back up onto the windowsill carefully as to make sure none of the shattered glass can cause anymore harm to the unconscious body in his arms.

He finds the grappling hook to be of no use as he doesn’t have a free hand to use it with and, because there are two obvious wings fully on show from Tommy’s back, he can’t take the main road either. They would definitely get spotted.

With that he’s forced to take the back alleyways.

He’s quite familiar with them back in Kinoko but this is L’manburg, so he just takes the next available one that leads into the general direction of the old pharmacy which is thankfully not far away.

-----*-----

 After quite a few rushed twists and turns he guesses that he is now nearing the outskirts of the district which is exactly where he needs to be.

Carefully he steps out onto the main road as he doesn’t know which pathway would lead them to the old building. Because they were on the outskirts of the districts, and it was the middle of night he should be able to get away mostly unseen.

He was sprinting and praying to any deity out there that might listen that he’ll make it on time.

Tommy’s heart still thumps lightly against his skin, but It’s losing energy by the second and his breathing is getting more and more uneven.

The Pharmacy is in sight as the beatings of the other teenager’s heart become impossibly slow and his chest barely shows signs that he is still breathing. Clenching the barely alive body, of who Purpled considers his only friend and the only person to not look at him with resentment, even closer, he takes a sudden left turn into a small alley that brings him right behind the old decrepit building. Or what’s left of it at least.

Rounding the last corner with tears ready to spill at moment’s notice he takes a deep breath and finds his brother in full disguise talking to another person.

They are shorter than all of them and are donning a pristine white doctor’s cloak as well as a face mask with a yellow, red and black military-looking pattern on it. Their hair falls to about waist length and is in small, white braids.

As soon as he spots Purpled approaching their gentle and calm blue eyes contort into ones filled with concern and pain. Still they keep up the sweet exterior which is greatly appreciated because anything else might’ve meant that Purpled would’ve broken down on the spot.

“Hello the names Ponk.” They state calmly although her body language portrays anything but.

“Okay... I’m Purpled… can we maybe hurry up a bit?” “of course, follow me.”

She turns around and starts walking towards the dead end on the other side of the alleyway before she starts pushing random bricks. After a moment the entire wall moves to the side exposing a ladder downwards.

Purpleds brows furrow in confusion as he looks over towards his brother who first shot a questioning look towards him, probably for the uncharacteristic amount of emotion he was showing. Purpled shoots a venomous glare right back even as Punz redirects his focus back ahead and, stoic as ever, starts walking towards the ladder completely unfazed.

Ponk helps both of them down one by one and helps Purpled carry Tommys limp body down as well after Purpled makes it clear that he isn’t going to let Ponk carry the blond himself.

They manage to get down with relative ease only to step into a giant underground tunnel bustling with people talking, laughing and running around. The edges of the tunnel are lined with little market stalls and actual houses which are built into the walls. Everything had a really old timey feel to it and it as well.

“Welcome to the underground, also known as Pogtopia.” Ponk has a wide grin on their face as Purpled stood there awestruck.

He snaps out of it quickly again as he remembers why they are there in the first place.

The group starts making their way through the hoards of people and slowly they get to yet another dead end. There are barely any people in this corner of the underground compared to the busy streets outside.

Ponk lifts a potted plant, moving it over a bit and exposing a lever which they quickly pulled.

The wall moves out of the way to reveal another door this time with a small glowing red cross overtop of it. Ponk opens the door and ushered everyone inside, before pulling another lever to hide its existence once more.

He quickly makes his way to the back, opening a pair of double doors which lead to some pristine white halls. They reek of disinfectant. Purpled halts in his steps abruptly. Its lemon scented but it still isn’t a nice smell to be greeted with and does nothing but drive home the reality of their situation.

Tommy is dying.

The only person he ever considered a friend, even if he would never admit that out loud, is dying.

The smell of disinfectant is digging into his skull now. The light rumbling of the machines in the background is invading his mind and Tommy’s slow heartbeat coming off his frail unconscious body is digging into his skin as he collapses to the ground.

Everything is way too much, and he can’t fucking breath.

Why can’t he breathe?!

For fucks sake he needs to breath!

Fucking idiot this is why you need to fucking keep your emotions in check because others die if you don’t!

Why can’t he walk he needs to walk, he needs to get Tommy into that stupid fucking medical bed!

He needs to breath, he needs to walk, he needs to do something! Anything to make sure his only friend doesn’t die in his own fucking arms!

This is all his fault why cant he just do this one thing?! Is he this fucking useless?!

No calm down… you’ve been down this fucking rabbit hole before just FUCKING BREATHE ASSHOLE!

His vision is clouded by tears, still he notices how Tommy’s body gets ripped out of his arms and footsteps carry his friend away quickly while another figure crouches down next to him and seems to be talking but he can’t make out a word they say.

His instincts are getting dangerously loud. Screaming at him to protect what’s left of his dying friend.

The friend who’s now been taken away from him.

Gone…

Someone took him…

WHO FUCKING TOOK HIM?!

NO, NO, NO HE WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM!

HE FUCKING FAILED!

WHERE THE FUCK IS TOMMY?!

Anger takes over as instincts take hold and he feels an oh so familiar warmth surround him. His conscience slips to the back of his mind as something else takes hold.

Something protective.

Something animalistic.

Something dangerous.

He feels the familiar burning of his bones as they start to glow the same purple they would if he was using his powers a lot.

His eyes shift and suddenly there are six.

His hands have claws and his antennae come out from where he hid them under his hair.

He feels himself lose control over his own body

He sees red…

IT sees red…

Before suddenly everything goes black.

Chapter Text

Florescent lights, white walls and a familiar scent of lemons, is what Purpled is greeted with as he slowly wakes back up.

As quickly as he awoke, he shuts his eyes again as the stinging pain from the bright ceiling lights make themselves known.

Is this a hospital? Why is he in a hospital? It hasn’t been sick for years.

He slowly starts to sit up on the white hospital sheets trying to remember what had happened.

The door opens and a pair of footsteps could be heard gliding over the smooth vinyl floors.

Purpled is too tired to look up and meet the eyes of the nurse with a clipboard in hand that just entered his room.

“Hey there buddy how are you feeling?” The voice greeting him is warm and soft. Whoever it belongs to seems to truly care about his wellbeing rather than just asking because its their job to do so.

Still Purpled chuckles slightly in amusement at the use of the word Buddy. “I’m not five you know.” He shakes his head slightly still not bothering to look up.

“I know, still I need to know how you’re doing. You pulled quite the number on us last night.” It is their time to chuckle now.

“That’s nice and all but I literally have no clue what happened last night.” Purpled doesn’t have time for some guessing game of what had happened, so if this nurse could just get to the point that would be appreciated.

“Oh yeah that can happen after getting sedated. Your instincts apparently took over.” They go to note something down on their clipboard as Purpled finally lifts his head enough to make out who he’s talking to.

It’s a woman with dark brown hair that frames her face nicely and has cat ears sticking out her hair as well as whiskers adorning her cheeks as she smiles innocently. Purpled knows not to fully trust it.

You aren’t in some sketchy underground place just for being a nice person. He might not know much about this place but he has enough common sense to know that anyone who needs a secret place to operate their stuff isn’t the most innocent person.

The woman, whose nametag said “Tina”, looks back up from her notes to add: “Tommy’s relatively stable by the way! If you want, you can go visit him after I give you a quick evaluation.”

Her smile once again sends shivers down his spine. There is just something off about it.

In the way that it is doused in honey, threatening to drown you if you give into its false safety.

In the way he knows instinctively that with one wrong move it would morph into something much, much darker.

He doesn’t know why exactly he feels this way.

He’d always been rather good at reading people but there shouldn’t be anything here to set off the alarm bells in his head. It is just another nurse in some hospital.

She is supposed to blend into the background like all others. But despite all odds she sticks out like a sore thumb. He makes sure to keep that in mind. His intuition about people is rarely wrong.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?”

“Yes.” He responds courtly, still searching for any cracks in Tinas façade.

He gives up after a while and just asks to go see Tommy which Tina happily assists him with.

The disinfectant smell is even more potent than it was the evening before.

“Jeez it reeks out here.”

Tina chuckles softly “Yeah that kinda happens when cleaning up blood.” He knows he did this and yet there is no hostility towards him from Tina.

“But don’t worry we managed to treat everyone in time.” Guilt starts to surface in Purpleds mind at the thought that people were hurt during the whole ordeal. He stuffs it down the same way he’s done many times before.

The silence got awkward between them, so he decides he needs to say something. Sadly, words aren’t his strong suit. “Uhhh so you cleaned all this up…?” Awesome Purpled you dug yourself deeper into this awkward hole of a topic, just great.

“Yeah! It was a lot but hey I’m not a part of the cleaning crew for nothing!” She is smiling brightly at him and despite every alarm bell ringing, it calmed him down.

They make it the rest of the way over to where Tommy is laying in his own white bed, hooked up to multiple different machines that Purpled can’t even begin to understand.

“He’s currently unresponsive, but we think he’s probably going to recover in the next few days or so.”

Purpled nods along.

-----*-----

Phil wakes up to the sound of shattered glass.

Still half asleep his mind doesn’t properly care to process anything for the first few seconds before he springs into motion.

He doesn’t know where the sound had come from so he quietly hurries downstairs where it’s more likely for someone to try and break in. If someone is inside the house, he doesn’t want to alarm them of his presence, but when he got downstairs… nothing. Everything is exactly how they left it that night.

He doesn’t have much time to ponder however as frantic footsteps sound out from above.

He makes his way back up the stairs where he first checks Wilbur’s room. The middle child of the family lays in bed sleeping soundly.

He then opens the door to the right of Wilbur’s room.

He is greeted by a bloodbath…

The scene is horrendous, and Phil can’t move anymore.

The window to the room is shattered and the glass splinters mix with blood on the wooden floor, right next to the bed of his youngest.

It looks like an obvious abduction and his gut is screaming at him that his son has just been kidnapped.

A decade of working in probably the highest security prison the Essempi has to offer is paying off as he franticly starts glancing around the room for anything and everything he could find that could be used as evidence.

The window leading out of Tommys room is not particularly big and so surely some of the splinters must have the culprit’s blood on them.

He wastes no time running back to his room and grabbing his phone before dialing the police.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

“I believe my son just got kidnapped.” No time to sugar coat it. He needs the authorities.

“Okay sir and what’s the name and address?”

“His names Thomas Krafft and the address is ******”

“Okay sir calm down a unit is on its way. Is anyone else in the house?”

“Yeah, my two older sons.”

“And where are they?”

“They should be in their bedrooms sleeping.”  Yeah, Easy to say Phil is panicking.

He’s standing in the doorframe, knowing better than to enter the room and contaminate the crime scene but as he looks around the room once again hope started to drain.

This is too much blood for anyone to lose and a kidnapper who manages to do something like this sure as hell isn’t stupid enough to bring his victim to a hospital.

-----*-----

Soon enough sirens start to ring outside the house and a knock sounds from the door. With tears in his eyes Phil rushes downstairs to let the officers in.

He is asked a few questions upon entering before showing them the trashed and bloody room of his youngest son.

The police officers look around in horror.

Crimes like these aren’t at all common in l’Manburg. Most criminals you’ll meet are just going down a bad path in life, so they turn to petty crimes such as shoplifting or drug dealing.

Kidnapping or even Murder cases were extremely rare but looking at this teenager’s room, There’s really no debate about it. This kid is unlikely to even still be alive.

Phil is told to leave the room shortly after.

From his years of knowledge in the field they are probably collecting all sorts of blood samples and other physical evidence that could be used in court.

He is sure that they are bound to find something.

The loud footsteps that echoed through the room are a definite indication of the culprit either being in a hurry or just downright careless.

But why Tommy?

Phil knows his kids and he knows that there’s no chance for Tommy to have made some sort of enemy or really anything that would give someone a reason to do something like this.

His thoughts are spinning, he knows that he and his two eldest sons have to work with all sorts of criminals all the time and that many of them will hold a grudge but none of them even know Tommy exists.

At least to his knowledge.

What if someone did find out and this is their way of getting back at them.

Some police officers exit the room not long after to ask him another round of questions.

Phil cooperates to the best of his abilities but he is still wildly shaken up from the nights previous events.

Everything that happens next goes by in a blur. Philza is lost in his thoughts as overwhelming guilt floods his senses.

If only he’d realized where the sounds were coming from sooner he might’ve still been able to save his son.

If only he’d first checked up on Tommy he might still be here at home with him.

Guilt is swallowing him whole.

Distantly he registers that at some point at least one of his other sons had been woken up by the commotion and that he is also being interrogated by the police.

-----*-----

The whole ordeal lasts until well into the morning when Tommy’s face appears on every social media sight and on every news channel around the whole of Essempii.

Everyone is hoping for the boys’ safe return but the situation is dire and Phil is starting to lose hope.

Chapter Text

Purpled hasn’t been able to shut his eyes for longer than two hours ever since the incident. Tommy has been making a slow recovery the past couple days and while the doctors told him he shouldn’t overexert himself he still watches as Purpled and Punz spar.

The two brothers have picked the old habit up again after the roof sprinting incident where Purpled realized just how out of shape he really was. Luckily, he’s been able to get back into the old habit again without much problem but he’s still feeling the effects of not doing any real physical training for months.

But that’s not why he’s currently so sleep deprived. The morning after Tommy went missing an amber alert went out and basically the whole district of L’manburg is searching for the lost teenager.

Purpled really didn’t think that far ahead when he dropped everything to go save the guy. He didn’t think about how much noise he was making or how much blood he was leaving behind, nevertheless about how much of that blood was his.

The police aren’t stupid they have probably already found his blood at the crime scene. Purpled did after all leave with quite a few scrapes and cuts on his arms. and although he’s not registered in any databases, he had plans to join his brother in his career. Hell, Punz told him he could get him in without much fanfare… Sure he technically could still join but if that blood would ever get traced back to that day, he might be dragging Tommy down to doom with him.

He never really had friends before so maybe he was too quick to put all that trust into the other blond.

Since when was he one to trust this easily?

He doesn’t know how or if he’s going to get out of this mess, but even if he can acknowledge that trusting Tommy so easily might’ve been a mistake, he isn’t really sure if it’s one he can reverse.

He can’t just shut Tommy out and forget about him. Not when he knows that that’d probably lead to Tommy getting found out and he doesn’t think he’d ever be able to forgive himself if that happened.

Gods when did he become this compassionate?

Okay change in plans, he is getting attached ridiculously quickly, shit. Does he get Punz’s advice for this? Purpled isn’t even really sure if the guy has friends of his own so how the fuck would he be able to help him with this.

Then again, he doesn’t really trust anyone else with this matter so it’s basically the only shot he has.

He gets out of bed to go check his phone that’s laying on his desk. He’s not at home right now. Punz has an apartment in Pogtopia. It came with the job. The amber alert was deemed as too much of a safety hazard to leave the underground and so they’re staying there for the time being.

Tommy has also been discharged from the hospital and is staying there with them until they can come up with a solid plan for getting him home without anyone else getting caught.

Punz said he had an idea of how but didn’t elaborate on it the day before. Purpled intends on bringing it up again today.

He’s getting side-tracked, what’s the time? 2:30 am? Well shit. Punz is an early riser but even for him that’s too early.

Even if he were able to get some shut eye despite all the bullshit happening right now, the lack of soundproofing would still hinder him from going to bed.

He’s going to regret staying up later. Eh, That’s later Purpleds problem.

He walks down the hall as quietly as possible, as to not wake anyone else up.

When he arrives in the kitchen, he opens a cupboard to go get a granola bar out.

Turning around to fully face the rest of the kitchen, living room and dining room he halts before bursting out into laughter.

There, on top of the fridge, sits a very surprised looking Tommy who was previously just staring off into space. Cereal bowl in hand.

“You look like an idiot.”

“…Thanks.” Tommy responds while glaring at the other.

“Any plans for how we’re getting out of this mess?” Tommy sighs while dropping his head backwards against the cool kitchen tiles.

Welp that was blunt.

“Nah dude gotta wait until Punz is up.” Purpled takes a couple long strides to cross the kitchen over to where Tommy is sitting while mindlessly tossing his granola bar up into the air before catching it again and repeating the motion.

“Oh my Gods, this is bullshit…” Tommys form melts further into the wall behind him.

That can’t be comfortable right?

At this point Purpled’s sitting on a counter of the small kitchen island opposite of the fridge.

He can’t really say anything to that, mostly because he just stuffed a hefty amount of food in his mouth but also because Tommy has a point.

It’s been almost a week since the amber alert went out and they wouldn’t be able to drag this out much longer.

Purpled doesn’t consider himself to be a good person. After years of purposely blocking out emotion, empathy doesn’t come easy to him.

Minus what happened with Tommy but he’s still not sure what exactly is going on there.

But still he sees the pain in Tommys eyes and overall body language whenever his dad or brothers come on the news begging for him to come back home safely.

Whether he likes it or not Tommy has become one of the few people he cares about and he knows he needs to find a way to get Tommy back without arising suspicions as soon as humanly possible.

Or would it be hybridly possible?

“-ello Earth to Purpled, you there?” Tommy is waving his hands towards Purpled still from atop the fridge.

“Sorry what?”

“You sure you should be up man?” Tommy has his arms crossed and eyebrow raised jokingly.

Shoving the remainder of his granola bar into his mouth he promptly flips Tommy off, which makes the younger derail into laughter.

After the laughter dies down the two stay in silence. It isn’t uncomfortable but rather just two sleep deprived teenagers appreciating each other’s company.

It’s nice. At one point Tommy hops off the fridge and grabs himself a coke out of it, as well as set down his now empty bowl, only to make his way back up there with great difficulty.

It takes every piece of willpower Purpled has left to not burst out into laughter at the sight as the younger tries to painstakingly wrangle himself back into the small crevasse on top of the fridge.

Once again there’s no way in hell that that’s comfortable.

“By the way didn’t you have that report by the doctors yesterday?”

“Huh? Oh, the Hybrid thing? Yeah!”

“And? What’s it say?”

“Phoenix Hybrid! It’s actually really cool!” Tommy is grinning from ear to ear by this point.

“That’s cool. What happened to the wings?” Although there’s a small smile growing on Purpleds face because of his friend’s excitement, he’s also concerned as he can’t spot the wings on his back.

“Oh, they’re currently loosely bound to my back to make sure they can properly heal. Still, the doctors said to stretch them out about three times a day and not to sleep with the bandages on but other than that they’re fine.” Tommy seems content with his current situation.

“Alright, any powers come with it?”

“They’re assuming just like the regular Phoenix Hybrid shit: Lighting body parts on fire and burning down to ashes. Sadly, I’ve not been able to do either yet.”

Tommy has leaned back against the wall behind him.

“Give it some time dude, you literally started showing Hybrid traits less than a week ago.” He chuckles.

“It feels like it’s been a lot longer.” Tommys dropping his head back onto the white tiles.

“Yeah…” Purpled trails off into thoughts.

It had really just barely been a week if that huh.

How has his life changed this much in such a short amount of time?

And most importantly why was he so incentivised to trust Tommy and basically pack everything up for the guy at the first sign of danger in what was really just a couple of days?

Was he that lonely before?

“-PLED”

“Huh?”

“Okay dude, what’s up? You’re spacing out a lot right now.” Tommy is looking down at him leaning over the edge of the fridge.

“Just a lot has happened in the last few days.” Purpled looks back up not sure whether to smile or not.

-----*-----

Tommy had a giant fucking headache. It’s the only reason he’s up really.

The top of the fridge might not seem like a great place to nurse that bullshit but in actuality the tiled wall behind him was nice and cool while the fridge itself would also give off a bit of coldness. Which overall helped.

Purpled was currently sitting on the counter adjacent to him. He’s a bit worried about the other, since he had spaced out in the middle of conversation multiple times now.

“Yeah, no I get what you’re saying but like there’s nothing we can do about it now.” He shrugged his shoulders, while trying to get a better look at the older.

To be frank the other had definitely seen better days.

“You look like shit.” Tommy deadpanned.

“Jeez thanks, I know.”

“What happened?” Tommy was slightly concerned to say the least. Purpled had heavy bags under his eyes and overall looked dishevelled.

“Oh, just haven’t slept well recently, It’s fine, really.”

“Oh my gods, dude it’s like”, He pulls his phone out of his pocket to check, “3am, go back to bed if it’s that bad.”

Purpled doesn’t respond, instead he hops off the counter he is residing on before moving towards the fridge and opening the door.

He swiftly pulls out a can of energy drink before showing it to Tommy as if to prove a point.

He then shuts the door and moves back towards the countertop.

He jumps back onto it and immediately starts downing the entire drink while looking Tommy dead in the eyes.

Tommy rolls his eyes before slumping back towards the cold wall. Gods, this headache is a pain.

“When does Punz usually get up?”

“Like 5 am or so. Maybe earlier if we turn up the noise level a bit.”

Purpled was grinning at him now. Tommy grins right back. He doesn’t really know what the other means but whatever.

Purpled leaps off the counter once more but this time not even caring how much noise he’s making.

Disappearing into the dark hallway before returning with a small speaker as well as his phone.

Punz is going to hate them for this, but he’ll cross that bridge when they get to it. Purpled at least seems steadfast in his idea so it can’t be that bad to wake the eldest up.

Mischievous grin still apparent on his face, he sets the speaker down just in front of Punz’s room and starts searching for a song.

Tommy hops off the fridge and starts walking towards the other Teenager.

Swiftly he yanks the phone out of the others hand and goes to look up a song.

Finding the able sisters with ease he hands Purpled his phone back with the other half-heartedly glaring at him. He flashes him a quick grin before Purpled goes to set down the speaker in front of Punz’s room and blasting the music through the whole apartment.

Do they have neighbours?

Technically that’s Punz’s problem to worry about, right?

Surely it is.

Okay, how’s that guy not awake yet?

All of a sudden, the door swings open and a half asleep Punz is glaring at Purpled with more venom than Tommy thought was possible.

Okay, they’re fucked.

Punz takes a deep breath.

“…Why?”

“Because me and Tommy over there”, Okay yeah Purpled knows what he’s doing. There’s no way Tommy gets out of this unscathed. “were just talking and needed your input on a certain problem the lot of us are facing.”

How can a person look so innocent yet so guilty at the same time?

Punz shoots Tommy a quick look to which Tommy immediately puts up his hands in surrender.

Punz pinches the bridge of his nose while shaking his head and chuckling into his hand.

“Alright what’s this ‘pressing issue’” Punz seems just about done with all of them.

“I don’t know maybe how we’re supposed to manage to bring a supposedly kidnapped teen back to his family without arousing suspicion?”

Purpled has his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

Overall, he just looks like a smug bastard.

Tommy has to keep himself from bursting out into laughter.

He could get behind hanging out with the brothers more often.

Chapter Text

I’m sorry but I’ve decided to discontinue this fic.

The past two months or so I have rapidly lost interest in the story and the dsmp as a whole. As a result of this I’m having a really hard time finding the motivation to continue writing this.

I have ideas for a new one I’ll write focusing instead on the qsmp but that one won’t have anything to do with this one.

I’m really thankful for everyone that read this little story or at least the start of what was supposed to be one. I’m aware that writing still isn’t my strong suit but this gave me the chance to improve.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged me and gave me the motivation to continue this story and I’ll continue writing more as a result of your overwhelming support.

It really means a lot to me, so thanks and I wish you all nothing but the best <333.