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Tommy looked over at both Ranboo and Tubbo, his eyes wide with no emotions in his irises, dull blue with a spark of red around the pupils. Such anger towards the two he should consider as friends, but he can’t, a simple grudge against the goat hybrid beside him.
Ditching him, replacing him, for Ranboo? Practically marrying him, while he was dead too, but he supposes it was to forget of his death..?
Who cares, he certainly doesn’t, at least, not anymore. He doesn’t care, he’ll just hang around them just to act as if he was his old self again, but he agrees that he’s just a shell of his younger self.
He misses his brothers, he misses his father, he misses the home back in the taiga biome. He misses his younger years. He misses the family he had before the arguments, the yelling, and then running away.
He hated this, he never wanted to build L’Manberg, he never wanted anything except to stay in the little cottage house he lived in before running away.
Tommy guessed he stared at the platonic lovers for too long, thinking of the past, as he felt fingers snap in front of his face. He blinked back into reality.
“Tommy, hey, man, you ok? You kinda spaced out while looking at us.” Tubbo started as he looked at Tommy, pulling his hand away to grab onto Ranboo’s again, who seemed to be more focused on the task he’s doing. Whatever it was.
Tommy only nodded before looking towards himself, he’s hungry. But he’s been hungry for months now since his exile, it has been a short while since he’s had such fresh meat.
And he needs it, and now too.
“Hey.. Ranboo? Yeah, d’ya know where the nearest village is?” Tommy asks slowly, his gaze still in front of him, eyes still wide and unreadable. He kept staring ahead as the two beside him looked at him weirdly. Tommy watched from his peripheral vision on how Tubbo looked up at Ranboo’s tall lanky figure before looking back at him, he hated those eyes, he hated every pair of eyes that landed on him whenever he did anything.
If he were to be completely honest, Dream’s hateful gaze was better than what people looked at him now, even Niki’s and Jack’s hated filled gazes weren’t as strong as Dream’s. Because he knows, when Dream looks at him with such hate, he acts on it.
Boy, didn’t Tommy want to go back to that, as depressing as that may be, he’d rather be beaten bruised better than treated as if he were a glass figurine.
Tommy looked back at the two who stared at him, his eyes drooping slightly from their wide state. He was getting tired already, hunger creeping into his stomach like never before, he hated it.
“So… Are you gonna tell me where the village is, or are you both going to stare at me like fucking idiots?” He hissed out, hands clenching the fence and digging his nails into the wood. His teeth are starting to itch, what happened to the times when Philza helped him with such hunger.
“O-oh.. right. Hah, sorry Tommy, uh,” Ranboo murmured, eyes darting off to the side before looking back at him. Moving his hand to point off towards the side of him. “A bit by the south east direction, uh, 334 (?) -120.”
Tommy hummed before letting go at the fence he had such a hateful grip on. He looked back down at Tubbo, who seemed upset that Tommy had insulted both of them. I mean, Tommy didn’t blame him. He was much calmer and nicer now then he was back then, he guesses. Tommy also hated his former self back then. Rude, but he did care about his friends and those who he held cold to him. Tommy looks down at his hands and ponders, why are they always covered in such bright coloured blood. It sends pleasant shivers down his spine.
With a deep sigh, one that comes from his bones, left his lips. Tommy looked back at the platonic couple before moving away from them. He can’t bare to look them in the face. Not any longer with such hunger creeping in his stomach.
“What’re you gonna do when you get there?” Tubbo’s voice called out to him in genuine question. Tommy knows it is, but it still pisses him off.
“To trade, I had some lingering emeralds somewhere and I’m going to trade for some stupid junk.” Tommy hisses out, making both Tubbo and Ranboo’s ears droop.
“Well.. You can give them to us..?” Tubbo started again, but Tommy didn’t even HAVE emeralds. He was just so hungry, and that village will fill his hunger.
“No.. I’ll be right back.. It’ll be a few minutes guys. I don’t have much anyway.” Tommy muttered, already walking away before they could even speak one word to him.
As Tommy walks according to the cords Ranboo told him, he can feel The Humid breeze that follows each time his hunger gets stronger and stronger. And he also knows Philza is going to go and find him, because Tommy knows Phil can feel it too. Which is the whole reason why Phil helped him in the first place, The Humid burns the skin, horribly.
Tommy’s balance starts getting wobbly, harder to walk and walk and he feels his hands and teeth even worse now then they did back talking to the Bee and Boo duo. So glad he started moving then and didn’t attack them.
Tommy’s eyes blurred before he felt a cool breeze against his arms.
“Tommy.”
Philza fucking Minecraft was beside him.
“Gods mate, I knew it was you once the arctic turned disgustingly humid.” Philza started, putting his hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “Where are you going anyway, mate?”
“The village.. Boo said about south east from here..” Tommy grated, his voice getting shaky with the hunger growing and growing, god it hurts.
“Mate.. You’re going the wrong direction. This is North-West. You’re far from the closest village. Come here, I’m flying us to a closer village.” Philza started and grabbed the blonde teen before he could even get a word out as he was lifted from the ground and secured safely in, what he would have called, his father’s arms.
As they flew, Tommy’s mind started to wander. Why was Philza helping him out? Didn’t he hate Tommy? Was it The Humid? It does burn the skin till it blisters if Tommy never sedubbed his hunger. Why is Philza even dealing with him? Was he going to kill Tommy after his hunger?
Well. It’s not like it matters anymore.
Not anymore…
“Mate, hey. We’re here.” Philza bounced him in his arms, before putting him down on the dulled yellow-ish grass of a sahara biome. The orange gray looking village before him of visibly innocent villagers trading or talking.
Tommy knew apart from Technoblade. Tommy was also another partner Philza slaughtered with, for he kills and Tommy eats to end something like The Humid that haunts them both.
“Well? What’re you waiting for, mate? I know you’re fucking starving just sitting there and watching. Or are you letting them live a longer peaceful life before it stops?” Philza starts, but Tommy knows he’s just trying to stir the hunger even more.
“I know you want to, Tommy. Imagine sinking your teeth into their skin, they itch right? Your nails too. I can see them growing sharp, Toms. I need you to eat Tommy, I know it’s been a long time since you’ve eaten. You need to eat.”
Now doesn’t that sound familiar? Tommy can’t help but let his hands shake, he knows he’s starving, he’s BEEN starving. He just.
He doesn’t think he can eat when Phil isn’t around. He’s been there, and Tommy be damned he’d eat again if Phil isn’t around. The Humid be damned too.
Tommy shook his head at the older blonde before him, he doesn’t think he can do it. He’s calmed down now over the years, he can’t hurt anybody anymore. He doesn’t want to. Dream will pop out somewhere and beat him for it, he can’t hurt others, it’s what caused every problem in the server.
Because he hurt them. And that’s what made him go to The Void and back to this hell on earth.
Tommy looks up at Phil from the grass where he was sitting from. “I-I.. can’t Dad.. I can’t do it again.” Tommy whispers, choked off with a sob. He can’t do it anymore, no longer.
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hur-
“Hey hey hey, mate listen. Look at me.”
Philza.
Tommy looks up at the blonde male before him, blurry. Was he crying? A hiccup answered his question as he felt Phil’s thumbs wipe the tears away from under his eyes and on his cheeks.
“Listen mate, YOU don’t have to do anything. But you do have to feed. You need to eat. It has been years since the hunger, huh? And it’s stronger than ever, yeah? So, I’ll get them for you, and you just sit here and eat. So we both get bothered by The Humid.” Philza spoke carefully. With full honesty from the man, he missed doing this type of hunting with his youngest he took in. He truly did, when he found out when Tommy was affected with the same hunger a old travel partner had, it reminded him of his younger years.
“It’s ok Toms, it’s alright mate. You do not need to move, I’ll do all the work for you sunshine, yeah?” Phil spoke, care and fondness in his voice that Tommy has not heard in a long fucking while.
The young blonde nodded, Philza wiping the tears away from his eyes and smiled down at him.
Philza moved his hands to ruffle Tommy’s hair till it looked like an actual bird’s nest, making him snort out as the boy huffed out with a silly little child pout.
“Ok, sit here sunshine. I’ll get you your feed, yeah? But you can always get up and do it on your own too, just know I’ll be helping.” Tommy nods at the man, sitting back against a tree he didn’t notice he backed up against til he got his senses back.
Tommy watched Philza move, swiftly and proudly towards the village with wings out and ready, along with his bow. Philza may have claws with his avain abilities, but he know Tommy will not eat the feed if it has another creature’s hands on it. And that’s what he does, he helps Tommy with arrows.
Philza draws his bow, aiming at one of the villagers from afar, focused even if others look one with curiosity before it shifts into horror once Philza’s arrow is let go of and shot directly into the head of a villager.
Screams erupted from within the village, Tommy watched from the tree line, people running around panicked but like headless chickens, they didn't know where to go. And Tommy is grateful for these stupid humans. He watched the blood shed, smiling sadly as he watched each villager get shot and die immediately after, his hunger ever growing so stronger.
He stood, legs shaking with a rush of sudden adrenaline. He walked wobbly, trying to contain his balance, watching villagers run around or almost into him. His hands itched, and the next villager that ran past him, Tommy grabbed them. His hands sinking into their throat, his jaw snapping practically open and sinking his teeth into where the jugular would reside. Pulling at the skin and hearing the crunch of what sounded like his hands snapping the neck of the unknown person.
His adrenaline fired up when he heard the loudest screams of others around him, he knew Phil was somewhere else, gathering bodies he called ‘feeds.’
Tommy relished in the flavourful blood that seeped down his throat, humming as the iron liquid filled his senses. The hunger calmed him down almost immediately.
“Atta Lad, Toms!” He hears Philza above him, hearing a hard thud beside him. Looking next to him and staring down at the mutilated body. Chewing the esophagus between his sharpened teeth, he watched as Philza flew off to kill the rest of the remaining villagers.
Meanwhile, Tommy eats as much of the body he holds in his hands as best as he can, breaking into the mandible with vigor as he tears off the bone from the masseter. Crushing into the humerus as he tears into trapezius. Pulling his head away to watch the muscle expand and tear with the force of the pull, his stomach growling with a larger ache.
“Fuck, is it not enough Tommy?” He can hear Philza from above, and he must admit, it may not be enough because the heat around the gruesome massacre thickens and burns his skin.
He looks down at the body in his hands and drops it, backing away slowly as his hands shake. “Tommy?” He can hear, but it’s so muffled.
“Dad..?” He starts before bending over and vomiting on the dull grass, watching the dark red liquid and pink chunks mix with the bright red fresh of the blood. It smells awful and it makes him vomit once more. “Hey, hey. Tommy, listen! It’s ok, it has been a while.” He can feel Phil’s hands on his shoulders, pulling him away from the gore.
“No, it’s not ok- It hurts Phil, it burns so bad!” Tommy cries out, doubling over again as he empties his stomach out again onto the grass.
His hand shakes as he watches colourful specks dance around his vision. “Fuck- Tommy? Tommy! Hey!” That’s Phil right? Oh god, he can’t tell anymore, his stomach tightens and he lurches, something’s wrong. This has never happened before and his stomach is cramping with it.
“Phil! Help- please oh god, it hurts!” Tommy sobs as he reaches out for his father’s hands. Father’s? He can’t tell. “Dad please! Make it stop!” His voice scratches with ache as he cries and hiccups.
He can feel the mix of drool, vomit, and blood run down his chin and throat. God it’s awful but he can feel a hand on the back of his head as he’s dragged into a clothed chest. He grabs his Father’s robe harshly and sobs into his chest.
“Maybe it wasn't The Hunger. I’m sorry Tommy, maybe it wasn’t that after all…” He can hear his Father’s muffled voice, his ears ringing so loudly his head starts aching.
Tommy chokes on a sob before choking on air, letting go of his Father’s robe to scratch cruelly at his throat and once again, vomiting on the grassy floor. His nails dig into his skin as he drags them down, feeling hands grab at his wrists.
“Tommy! Stop! Hey hey, listen.. Focus on me, boy.” His Father’s voice breaks through the muffled ringing in his ears as he looks up at the face before him, blue eyes, darker than his, look at him with worry.
Tommy’s eyes trail over the scruffy look of his Father’s face, looking at the stubble on his Father’s jaw and the blonde hair that falls over his face. If he focuses really hard, he can see the small speck of a freckle or two. “There, much better Tommy?”
The Boy felt his head shake, but he really doesn’t feel anywhere near ok, he doesn’t feel fine at all. He’s starving but eating burns his stomach. His stomach then growls greatly, making him hiss and hunch over in The Father’s arms. Shaking as he then vomits once more but, it wasn’t of blood or flesh, nor acid from his stomach. It’s black, and inky. Thick and bubbly, almost like molasses.
The Boy’s eyes widened at the sight of the thick substance that escaped his body, looking over to see The Father’s shocked and horrified expression.
“Tommy?”
The Boy’s blue eyes felt heavy, the colour inking darkly as he started at the blurry figure of The Father.
“What have you done, boy?”