Chapter Text
The week of UA’s internships approached rapidly.
Tommy couldn’t deny he was a little excited. He wanted to see Toad in Hosu and, surprisingly, hear what being a hero was like. Everyone was talking about it all the time — might as well get to understand it a bit more.
It was too bad he wouldn’t be able to see Shinso, though. Whatever. Who needed that guy? Toad was gonna be his friend now. As long as he didn’t become a snitch.
He’d become more accustomed to seeing heroes in action and the way this server revolved much of life around them. Tommy basically blended in like a pro, now.
The only thing that made him stick out was, apparently, his wings. It had become so hot Tommy had finally cut slots in his shirt for them. Stretched out behind him, they were a lot more comfortable and slightly less cramped. They were still really disheveled, but whatever. That wasn’t the part Shinso had been surprised by.
When he’d first seen them on the train a few days ago, he’d stared at Tommy like he’d grown a new head. Craning his neck, he (rather rudely) started inspecting Tommy’s back, eyes wide.
“You have wings,” Shinso said in amazement. “How do you have two quirks? Have you always had those?”
“They’ve always been there. Not my fault you're unobservant. As for quirks, the wings don’t even really work, so I feel like it shouldn’t count,” Tommy said very reasonably. “And I don’t know. I just woke up this way. That Toad kid has two, doesn’t he?”
“Toad?”
“With all the ice and fire?”
“I guess I never really thought about it,” Shinso’s voice was considering. “I guess it doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to be the same thing. I mean, fire is fire. And ice is ice.”
Tommy nodded sagely along. “Exactly. So what’s an extra pair of wings between two friends?”
“Hold on. I feel like wings and your quirk are just too different, though.”
“Well, they’re here, and they’re not going away.” Against his own wishes, Tommy shuddered. Dream had threatened to cut off his wings more than once. The way he’d damaged them was close enough.
Shinso looked defeated. “I guess you’re right.”
Their conversation had swiftly moved on from there. But it still had Tommy a bit unsettled. He didn’t like the fact that he was considered strange, here, and he didn’t know if that strangeness was something important enough to hide.
Whatever. It was fucking hot. And he wasn’t going to be different anytime soon, so might as well be who he was.
The train to Hosu was longer than the train Shinso usually took. He was supposed to be meeting Toad in a couple hours, so he was heading over now.
In the past few days, Tommy had discovered the wonders of the internet and public phone numbers. He’d been harassing anyone in government to try and get the Prime Minister on the line for the past few days, which had been largely unsuccessful but at least a little funny. Tommy was trying to decide who he should call next when he was interrupted.
First the train shuddered and stopped as a huge force ran into it, throwing Tommy out of his seat and into the wall. Then a monster crashed into the train.
Barely a second later, a huge claw tore through the metal wall opposite him like it was paper, a beast crawling into the train car.
It was pandemonium. Everyone was screaming and cowering. Tommy kind of understood—the mob was ugly, with an exposed brain and wild eyes, twice as tall as any other person. He’d never seen a Warden before but he kind of imagined they were similar size.
Unfortunately, no one else seemed ready to fend it off, so Tommy would have to step up. Not a problem. Surely fighting mobs was allowed on this server, right? Tommy didn’t remember Shinso ever mentioning it.
There was a couple directly in front of the monster. The beast reared back, moving to swipe them—the couple was frozen in fear, cowering uselessly—but Tommy was quick.
Barely faster enough, he sprinted in front of the beast, tanking a hit that sliced across his arms, slamming his back into the train car seats. He blocked up a wall, shielding the people from the monster’s line of sight.
“Go! If you’re not gonna fight, fuckin’ run!” He barked. The couple broke out of their shock quickly enough to stagger to their feet, moving away. Tommy ducked away from another swipe of the monster, who was now focused on him. Great.
Within just a few moments, Tommy recovered, summoning the Axe of Peace into his hands. Dashing forward, he evaded a swipe of the hulking mob’s claws, sliding low, popping up next to it and slashing its arm. Its skin was thick; he left behind a gash but didn’t sever the arm. He stared in shock as the gash began to heal before his eyes.
Cursing, Tommy blocked a blow with his sword just in time, but he was thrown against the wall once again. That would leave a nasty bruise.
He was next to the hole in the train, now. He could run. But if he left, all of these people would probably die.
Maybe the monster could heal. But if it lost its head, it would die, right? Tommy grinned savagely. Deftly, he used dirt to block up the monster’s face, trapping it. Then Tommy sliced through one of its legs at the knee.
It dropped lopsidedly, head exposed—its leg was already regrowing (what the fuck?) but Tommy took his chance. Leaping onto its back, he chopped at its thick neck, then again, until its head fell off its shoulders and the monster was still.
Breathing heavily, Tommy let his arms fall to his sides. Strangely, the mob didn’t disappear like a usual kill, leaving loot behind; its body stayed on the floor like a final kill. It was unsettling, but Tommy had bigger issues to contend with.
His ribs and back felt bruised to shit, and his sword arm had a nasty gash across it, making his grip weak and trembly. Adding insult to injury, the mob had sprayed gross, hot blood all over Tommy’s front when he was killing it, and Tommy was not a fan of all the gore on his face. The thick smell of iron and death made his stomach turn. He wasn’t exactly restaurant ready right now.
Plus, he was getting a lot of stares from the other occupants of the train. Many of them were still cowering and crying, but others were looking at him, some with their phones raised in front of them.
The train wasn’t moving anymore. Well, thankfully he’d been nearly at the station. Maybe he could just leap out the side onto the tracks? Humming, Tommy looked at the hole consideringly.
A woman walked up to him, a weak smile on her face.
“Young man, are you a hero? Or a hero student? Thank you so much for saving us… I don’t know what I would have done. I would have died if you weren’t here. I can’t thank you enough.” Her voice warbled. Her eyes were intense, like she was trying to bore her gratitude into him, and it was a little uncomfortable.
Tommy did not think he should tell the truth.
“Uh, you know… just doing my duty to the people and all that. You doing alright? Got all your limbs and shit?”
The woman nodded, looking a little lost, and Tommy took that as his opportunity to leap out the side of the train and start to run, ignoring the calls behind him.
The city of Hosu wasn’t much better than the train.
The streets were in chaos. More of the monsters were attacking the rest of the city, people running and screaming everywhere Tommy looked. He could see fire in the distance.
Tommy wasn’t really sure how he was meant to find Toad like this.
Turning onto a street, Tommy stopped short at the destruction in front of him. The street was glowing with molten footprints and smoldering flames on one of the buildings. The building itself also wasn’t looking so hot (metaphorically, obviously). It seemed to be some sort of office building, but a few of the windows were broken, and people were still trying to leave.
The burning building was looking unstable. One of the upper floors was listing to the side, the wood creaking ominously. One man in a silly outfit was trying to hold up the doorframe to let people out, but he looked like he was having a hard time, considering he was just using his hands. Tommy jogged up to the building.
“Kid, get back—” the man started, but Tommy ignored him. Placing blocks on the doorframe to stabilize it, he ducked inside. There were a couple other holes he quickly patched before climbing up to the second floor. There was one main area caving in, which was easy enough to block up with dirt. Perfect.
Then, Tommy heard a noise. Like a gasp. Tommy scanned the room.
A man was trapped beneath a wall which had crumbled on the far side of the room. Darting over, Tommy whipped out his axe and quickly broke the blocks which had fallen on him.
“You alright?”
The man just wheezed. Tommy squinted. He was middle aged, with a suit on, and had some blood near his temple. Hopefully he hadn’t gotten his ribs crushed or something. Either he was in mortal danger or just panicking.
Well, there was nothing for it. Tommy shoved a steak into his hands.
“Eat this,” he said sagely, and lifted the man up into his arms. “Please don’t die. I don’t want that on my conscience. Or to go back to jail.”
It was quick work to run to the window. Both hands occupied by Adult Man, Tommy couldn’t take out his water bucket, so he just jumped out and tanked the extra hearts of damage.
Ouch. Hitting the ground reverberated pain up through his legs. That couldn’t be good for his knees.
Thankfully, by the time he came outside, it looked like everyone had evacuated. A few emergency personnel had showed up too, including a little white car with people who looked like medical staff, judging by the way they were treating the injured out on the street. One of them waved Tommy over, and he gently deposited the man he was carrying over with the medics. Perfectly done.
“Kid, that was brave but very stupid.”
Tommy turned to see the weird costume guy from earlier. He had little horns on the front of his hat. Tommy could only assume this was another hero, as it seemed that everyone here in costume was a hero.
“Excuse me, bitch. What are you getting rude with me for? Isn’t there more important shit right now?”
“Well—”
“And what’s up with over there?” Tommy gestures towards the noise and chaos in the distance.
“The heroes are taking care of it.” The man said firmly. “Stay away from there.”
“Wasn’t planning on going over there, so that’s easy enough.”
The man sighed. “Look, kid. Again. I appreciate it, but you can’t just be—”
Tommy let out a gusty sigh, rolling his eyes. “Well, I’d love to chat, but I’m supposed to be getting dinner right now, so I’ll be on my way. Gotta make sure my friend didn’t get squished by one of these weird monsters.” Backing up, Tommy turned tail and started to run from the scene.
“Kid!” The man yelled after him, but didn’t chase, so Tommy would count that as a win. He still had someone to find.
Tommy’s feet pounded across roofs.
Toad hadn’t picked up his calls, the bastard, so Tommy was just running around like a dumbass. Considering how insane the city was, it was a little difficult to find a quiet spot to stay the next few hours, so Tommy had decided to just run away from all the noise. He was getting to a pretty good area for peace and quiet until he noticed a familiar head of hair in an alleyway.
He stopped short at the edge of a roof.
“Toad?” He asked, baffled. “What are you doing over here? Aren’t you meant to be working?”
Toad was in the alleyway, strangely–but even more strange was the other company he had. There was a man facing him, crouched low, holding swords who looked very menacing. Not that Tommy liked to judge. But the other bodies in the alley and the blood on his swords didn’t paint a great picture.
“It’s you,” Todoroki breathed. “Tommy.”
“This was the worst dinner location ever!” Tommy shouted. He pointed an accusing finger at the weird noseless guy. “And who the hell are you?! Did you choose to look like that, or were you born that way?”.
“This is Stain,” Todoroki replied, voice low and serious. “Stay back, Tommy. I can handle this.”
Tommy had serious doubts that Todoroki could handle it. A shallow gash sliced across his cheek. There were multiple knives stabbing into his left arm, which was bleeding freely and hanging limp by his side.
Another boy—the robot legs one from the Sports Festival—was moving but also injured. Behind him were two separate people, shielded by ice, who were all also bleeding. Either injuries or perma-deaths, then. Tommy didn’t like the look of their still bodies.
He squinted. Wait, did he know one of them? Well, he had bigger problems. Like the noseless wonder with all the knives.
He looked to Todoroki again, incredulous. “You know this fucking freak?!” Tommy shrieked.
“Not particularly.”
“Get out of here, little hero,” Stain hissed. He licked his lips. Eugh. “This isn’t your fight. If you leave now, I’ll even let you live.”
“You talking to me? Are you trying to kill him?” Tommy demanded. “I thought that was illegal here!”
Stain narrowed his eyes at Robot Boy. Or Toad. They were both kind of in the same direction. “He is not worthy of being called a hero. I must cleanse this world of false heroes.”
“Alright, well that’s just not on,” Tommy said slowly. “Not sure how many lives he’s got left but I’d prefer you didn’t take any of them.”
“Tommy, get out of here,” Todoroki snapped. “It’s not safe. He’s killed a lot of people.”
“Yeah, yeah. Not the first time I’ve fought a mass murdering maniac,” Tommy said. In the blink of an eye, the Axe of Peace appeared in his hands. “Let’s just take care of this bastard.”
“Don’t let him cut you!” A green-haired boy shouted from the floor. “If he drinks your blood, you’ll be paralyzed!”
“Good to know. Not to brag, but you might want to run away now.”
Tommy leaped from the roof with a yell, swinging his axe over his head, right at Stain. Stain apparently wasn’t an idiot and stepped neatly to the side, slashing right back with his sword. Tommy parried just in time as he hit the ground, backing up to be closer to Toad.
Shit, he was fast. Tommy hadn’t expected anyone else here to be as good at sword fighting as on his old server—Stain could give Techno a run for his money. Maybe.
The axe was too slow. Buying himself time, Tommy placed dirt blocks in a wall between them, swapping his axe for a sword in a split-second. By the time Stain rounded the wall, Tommy was ducking low, slicing at Stain’s legs. But instead of blocking, Stain leapt in the air, slicing down at Tommy.
Todoroki sent a burst of fire between them just in time. Tommy scrambled a few steps back. Shit! What he’d do for a bow and arrows right now!
“Fuck! This guy is quick!”
“Let me handle this,” said Toad, sending out another burst of fire, but Stain dodged.
Stain made an expression which could generously be called a smile. It looked a bit too bloodthirsty for that. “You’re too reliant on your quirk.”
With a yell, Robot Boy launched himself forward with a wild kick. This proved to be idiotic considering all the knives he had sticking out of him. His kick landed, but Stain took advantage, ripping one of the knives out of his arm while they were close. Robot Boy shouted in pain and Stain licked the blade. Then he fell right down to the ground. Like a dumbass.
Stain shot towards Tommy again, dodging another wave of ice from Toad. Their blades clashed, Tommy’s foot slipped—and Stain’s sword sliced across Tommy’s shoulder. Twisting his sword, Tommy knocked Stain’s sword away just in time for Toad to send another burst of fire. The sword clattered to the ground, and Tommy lunged forward at Stain as Todoroki sent out a wall of ice to block Stain’s escape.
Tommy expected Stain to run, but he spun back around, drawing a knife.
Tommy’s sword came down just as Stain buried his sword in Tommy’s gut.
The green-haired kid flashed by Tommy in shower of sparks, kicking Stain in the face hard enough to send him slamming into the ice headfirst, but it was already over. Tommy was pretty sure he’d lopped Stain’s sword hand right off. Unless he had healing, he would likely bleed out. His body was also suspiciously still.
Speaking of bleeding out… Tommy glanced down.
“Oh fuck.”
There was a knife sticking into his stomach. And through his stomach, out his back. Now that Tommy noticed it, it really, really hurt.
He staggered. He fell. The falling was not fun, because it jostled the huge knife in his stomach, and now it hurt even more than it had before. He’d barely caught himself against the wall of the alleyway, slumped awkwardly, arm slung over his stomach.
“Penis,” Tommy said plaintively. “Dick. Balls.”
He didn’t have any healing potions. There wasn’t much he could do. Uselessly, he hovered his hands over the hilt of the blade. Tommy was having trouble moving his hands right. Pulling it out would only make him die more quickly. Even with the blade in his stomach, blood was still rapidly pooling on his shirt, soaking his shirt.
And… Tommy went cold with fear. This was his last death—right? He couldn’t die here. It wasn’t supposed to be his time yet. He still had to find his way back home. What would Tubbo think, if he just disappeared?
Suddenly, there was a face in front of him—Toad.
Toad wasn’t looking too hot himself. His arm was still all stabbed and shit, dripping blood down his arm, and he staggered down to kneel in front of Tommy.
But more than that, Toad’s face was twisted in something close to horror. He was wan, eyes wide, and his hand trembled a little when it reached towards Tommy.
Tommy couldn’t help flinching when Toad’s hand drew close to his stomach, and he made a low noise of pain when the Big Stupid Knife shifted a bit in his guts. Toad blanched even more.
“Tommy…?”
“I know I already said so, but this really was the worst dinner location ever,” Tommy informed him.
Toad still had that dumb heartbroken look on his face. Tommy didn’t understand. Why was he looking at him like that, when they’d barely known each other at all? Why had Toad wanted so badly to help, to learn more?
At least he would have someone by him when he died, he thought. It was some consolation.
Toad pressed a gentle hand to his shoulder. “That’s… we can talk about that later. The heroes are coming. They’ll be able to help you.”
Tommy smiled thinly. He may have a crazy quirk and a good poker face, but he was not a good liar.
“Sorry… I think this is it for me. I’m on my last life. If you can, can you find Tubbo? You can… use this…” with shaking fingers, Tommy reached below his shirt. Bloody fingers trembled, closing around his compass, barely pulling it out. “Tell ‘im I finally bit the dust. He deserves to know.”
“You’re going to survive,” Toad said. Unconvincingly.
“No, I’m pretty sure this is it. You ever been stabbed this bad before? Not fun.”
“I wouldn’t imagine so.”
Toad was getting more difficult to keep his eyes on. Tommy’s eyes were getting harder and harder to keep open. Tommy struggled, but it was a losing battle.
His whole body felt weak, ill, hot-and-cold. He hadn’t expected to finally die in some grimy alleyway who-knows-where, but such is life and death, he supposed. He tried to believe it wasn’t breaking his heart, and the moisture on his face was just from the day’s sweat and blood. That the catch in his breath was a coincidence.
Next time his eyes blinked open—when had they closed?—the other people from the fight were surrounding him. Toad had grabbed Tommy more firmly by the shoulder, shaking him to consciousness. Rude. Didn’t he see Tommy was feeling quite uncomfortable, here? Let a man sleep.
“We have to stop the bleeding! He’s going to die!” The green-haired boy was frantic.
“Already covered that bit,” Tommy informed him. His voice was weak and gravelly. “It’s alright. I’ll be with… mum soon…”
Then his eyes slipped shut and Tommy knew only darkness.