Archive of Our Own ^beta

The music has been with Ty for as long as he's known, and it changes quite a lot. Never quite deciding on a tune, or a melody, or a chord. It changes, and Ty's not sure if that's concerning or not. Sometimes it's in the background, but occasionally it gets right in his face and screams at him. And it gets so loud but Ty knows how to ignore it, like he knows how to ignore cold fingers pressing on his arms hard enough to leave marks, and to ignore shouting and punches and tears.

Today the music is calm, and his fingers twitch as he creeps through the house. The shouting is loud, almost loud enough to drown out the music. But the music persists, and so does Ty.

He's running, because he has nothing to stay for anymore. Sophie is dead, killed by the People. She was so small, and so young. Why did it have to be her? Why couldn't it have been him?

(She had died from the People because his parents had done something bad bad bad and they had to pay. She had been shot, and she had slumped down on the ground, blood clotting from her wound. He had screamed as the People dragged her body away without a word. His parents had watched, and then they had left him all alone weeping on the ground for his sister who he had lost.

The music had been so quiet then Ty almost thought it was gone.)

He has nothing on him except a couple cans of tuna and a ax. 

Taking a deep breath, he doesn't hesitate before running out of there. The wind rushes past him, as he leaves his past behind. There is no shouting, only him and the music. He's not lonely.

Maybe he should of thought this through more before taking off, but it's too late now.

He thinks of her body, crumpled on the ground like a rag doll with a bullet in her chest.

He runs faster.

--

Surviving is hard, but Ty's a quick learner, and he manages.

He chops wood, and kills animals. Builds a fort for the first time, and he sleeps in a bed of hay.

He wakes up to a gun pointed at his face. 

The person behind it is dressed in all black, and Ty sits there, still as ever. The music is so loud but so quiet. He should be panicking, but he doesn't.

Instead, he takes the ax and swings. He can tell when the ax hits flesh when there's a cry of pain, and he just takes the ax out and runs. He runs and runs and doesn't look back. The music is coiling it's way around his eyes and squeezing until black spots swim across his vision. There's a stitch in his side, and even though he knows that he can stop running he doesn't.

He falls into a river. The river drags him away, away and Ty doesn't struggle, just lets him and the music be sweeped away by the currents.

--

He learns to not stay in one place for too long, to never get attached to something. Everything he cares about will get taken away, and so he locks his mind away until the music is echoing. He's forever stuck putting his ear up to the lock and listening.

After all, your heart is not what makes you feel, it's your mind. Creating these feelings and telling you that yes, this is the way you feel. Everything he does is on autopilot, a routine that's not fully committed.

All he knows is that he's always running, and he's never not going to be.

He accepts that too quickly.

--

His fingers twitch too much, and the music is getting too quiet. Ty doesn't like the quiet, and so he builds a guitar. He chops and scrapes and polishes and cuts his fingers too many times. But he's proud when he holds a guitar in his hands, and when he strums the sound echoes through the woods and makes him feel giddy inside. 

He gets attached, but finds he doesn't mind. Not when the music soothes his burns like cool water, the pain is still there but minimal and so much easier to ignore. When he learns his first song, he cries for the first time in years. He hadn't cried when Sophie died, or when his parents fought, or when there was a gun pointed at his head promising death.

The liquid drips down his cheeks, and he tastes salt.

--

From then on Ty strives to learn any instrument there is, until the music is of his own and not something in his head. He learns to play the piano, from a dodgy bar that quickly got swarmed by the People on his eighth day there. He learns more songs on his guitar as he travels, learns of stories that have been put into E chords. 

He writes of his own story, one night as he sits alone on a rock. The sun is dipping below the horizon, painting the sky in colors of pink and orange. He strums and he plays, putting all of him into it. He doesn't notice when the music becomes quiet, too focused on his story. When he finally stops, the music comes back again.

The next chapter had finally begun.

--

Ty learns, and he grows, until years have past and he stumbles across a swamp. The boardwalk connects and he meets traders. They trade supplies for scrap, and so Ty trades. The people aren't much for conversation, but he bribes one to tell him that there is civilization nearby. 

A man and his brother, three men with guns that he should avoid, a guy that only wants peace, and others. It's been so long since he's seen people, and the music urges him to find them.

He sets off, and finds a sword at his throat.

He's unfazed by the woman in front of him, wearing a deer mask and armor. 

"Who are you?" 

"Ty." Ty holds his hands up in peace, and thankfully she lowers her weapon.

"I'm Sophie."

--

Surely not? This couldn't possibly be Sophie. Sophie had died, and the name was common enough. He was overthinking, of course he was. Often he cannot tell what Sophie is thinking behind her mask, and it's somewhat of a comfort.

Sophie gives him meat, and he snacks on it absentmindedly as they sit around a campfire. Ty watches as the sparks shoot through the air, but die off as soon as they hit the ground. 

"You know of the People, yes?" Ty nods to her.

"They have taken me before, away from my family, my home. Do not get taken, brother." Ty almost drops his meat, but instead he and Sophie stare at each other in a sort of silent exchange.

Ty nods, letting his eyes travel back to the fire that's dying.

"I won't."

--

They don't really talk about it, there's no big reunion. They are both changed, and cannot afford vulnerability when the People patrol these parts so often. But Ty starts to live with Sophie, and the two talk in low murmurs. She hunts, and he plays.

The music overwhelms him, taking apart his whole and putting him back together. The same as before, but always a slight shift nonetheless. Sophie sits and listens to him play normally. She takes off her deer mask then, her face aglow with the light of the moon.

She has a scar over her nose that had not been there before, but Ty doesn't ask. They all have scars.

--

Wilbur is the man with the little brother (Tommy, wasn't it? He talks rather fondly about him), and Ty trails him with his guitar. Wilbur claps whenever he plays, and it brings a grin to Ty's face.

Wilbur talks of the Dome, and although Ty doesn't quite understand the other man's fascination with it, he stays in the Church and talks with the other man. Quig arrives, and Milo soon follows.

(Lake Boy and Pebble. Something that Wilbur's so passionate about that it makes a laugh bubble out his throat.)

Storm takes photos, and Wilbur hangs them up on the wall proudly. Sophie has come too, taking off her deer mask for the first time in public and adorning something other than armor. Ty grins as he plays on the wooden piano that is short on the back leg.

Lake Boy, Pebble, Storm, Sofa, Wilbur and Messiah. He is Messiah, and it's amusing.

He plays for someone else then, someone other than himself. The music is quiet, but Ty is lost in the moment of gleeful shouts and laughing, the clapping of hands and Wilbur and Milo dancing together but mostly just kicking each other.

He's happy, happier than he's been in so long. He unlocks the chain that keeps his mind away, and he feels. He feels so much and he loves it. The music sweeps him away, and he lets it. He's not alone.

Not anymore.

--

Tommy is Wilbur's brother (not biologically, sure, but they truly are), and he stumbles into the Church one day, trailing behind Wilbur. The other is showing the younger around, and Tommy beams. He banters with Wilbur excitedly, and Ty plays quietly in the corner with a grin.

Wilbur has gone to get something, so Tommy sits down on the couch and watches him play.

Eventually, he speaks up. "You're good at that."

Ty doesn't pause in his playing, "Thank you. Are you any good?"

Tommy hums.

"I played for a few years, but I haven't had the time since my parents died and I've been running." Ty beckons the child near, who obliges and sits down on the seat with him. 

"Play for me."

Tommy thinks for a moment, before situating his hands and playing. At first he starts off slow, but he soon grows comfortable. The song is unfamiliar to him, but Tommy's fingers fly over the keys expertly. The sounds fill his ears, and a grin plays on Ty's lips.

The music trails off, until it's silent in the Church.

"That was good." Tommy ducked his head.

"Thanks, it's been a while."

Ty starts playing again, this time with Tommy leaning into his side.

--

It's an ordinary day really, Ty is hanging around with Wilbur and Pebble when it happens.

The music stops, and so does Ty. And then he drops to the ground, shaking, as he grabs at his head. He wants to scream, but no sound works out his mouth. Instead there's only the sound of the others calling his name and him sobbing. He's pulled against someone, and he shakily buries his head into their chest.

It's gone, and it's scary how dependent he'd been on it. The music had always been there for him, when no one else was. Now the music had gone and left him, just like his parents, his home. 

"Shh, hey Ty, you're okay. I'm here, I'm here." Ty registers the voice as Wilbur's. It's calm and steady, but there's concern etched into his words.

A hand rubs at his back, until his breathing slows down.

"I'm sorry, it just stopped." 

"What stopped?"

Ty shuts his eyes, breathing out unsteadily as he shakes.

"The music."

And so he tells them, about how the music was always there for him. That even when it was quiet Ty knew he could depend on it. He talked about how that when it left, he became scared.

Pebble and Wilbur listen, until Ty has nothing to talk about anymore. His fingers fist the fabric of Wilbur's coat, his eyes dry.

"Don't worry Ty, we're here for you now." Pebble's voice filters through his ear, and he nods.

The music doesn't return, but Ty starts to think it's okay.

--

When he gets home, he pours his story out to Sophie. She hugs him, and he hugs her back.

"I missed you."

Ty grins, he doesn't cry, not today.

"I missed you too."

--

Tommy plops down next to him, and barely a second goes by before he's blurting out his sentence.

"Teach me to play some songs."

Ty stops his strumming, raising an eyebrow at the teen.

"I just- I want to make Wilbur proud." 

Oh. 

This child will be the death of him.

Ty sighs, plucking at the strings absentmindedly. "Wilbur's already proud of you."

He finally caves though at the pleading look on Tommy's face.

"Alright, alright."

Tommy grins, bouncing up and down. He thanks Ty repeatedly, in which he only waves him off. Tommy knew how to play the guitar, didn't he? Wilbur had appointed him as the Church's musician alongside him. Wilbur himself had taught the blond haired boy.

Ty ran a hand through his hair, of course Tommy came to him. He doesn't really mind that much.

The music isn't there for him, but that's okay.

He'll be there for Tommy.

--

Ty hums, "You're doing good. Just wrong chord on that part."

Tommy curses, before shifting his fingers.

Teaching Tommy a new song isn't hard, and not just because Ty's patient, but also because Tommy is already pretty well-versed in everything there is to know about playing the guitar. A new song isn't tricky, because Ty's only teaching the kid a new note or two.

Also, Tommy's a quick learner. It reminds him of himself.

Soon enough, Tommy's able to play the song without messing up. He only plays it a little slower than Ty would. He's proud of the kid.

--

The Church are huddled around couches, Tommy in front of him. He looks confident, but Ty can see the stress in his face. He gives the kid a reassuring smile.

Tommy takes a deep breath, and begins to play. Everyone begins clapping and whistling halfway through the song, which makes Tommy's grin grow wider. Ty only laughs as Wilbur pulls Tommy into a affectionate head lock, and everyone's laughs echoes throughout the hall.

Ty claps upbeat, letting himself be pulled up by Sophie. He doesn't pay attention to Storm capturing the moment, too caught up in the joy he feels.

The photo is framed and whenever Ty passes it a smile plays across his lips.

He doesn't have the music anymore, but that's fine.

The only music he needs is the sound of his friend's laughter.