Just A Child

Chapter 7

“TOMMY!” was the last thing Tommy heard as everything went black. 
________________________

Phil ran to the edge of the tower, jumping off to try and catch Tommy, but it was too late. Tommy was on the ground before Phil had even jumped.
“Tommy!” Phil croaked, taking the boy into his arms and checking if he had a pulse.
Techno, Will, and Tubbo descended the tower as fast as possible. 
“Is- is he ok?” Tubbo stuttered running over to Phil.
Phil looked up with water flooding out of his eyes and shook his head. 
Tubbo’s entire world fell apart in seconds. He managed to take one step forward before collapsing to the ground. Why hadn’t Tommy said anything? Was- was this his fault? Was he a bad friend? Tubbo looked over to Tommy’s pale, lifeless body and it just broke him.
Will turned away. He couldn’t handle it. No. This wasn’t happening. Tommys not dead. He’s just pretending, yeah! That’s it! His annoying little brother was just pretending to be dead. It was just one of his sick pranks.
Will turned around and walked over to where Tommy’s body was in his father’s arms. “Alright Tommy, enough's enough. Get up.”
Everyone was quiet, but Tommy did not get up.
“Come on you little shit! Get up.” Will repeated, getting angrier. 
Techno came up behind Will, tears in his eyes. “Will, he’s not-”
“No!” Will shouted, spinning around, “That little bastard is just being annoying! He’s fine!
“Will-”
“NO! HE HAS TO BE FINE! IT’S TOMMY! HE’S ALWAYS FINE! HE’S NEVER NOT FINE!” Will collapsed on the ground, tears in his eyes. “He’s fine. He’s fine. He’s fine.”
Techno wrapped his arms around Will. “He’s gone Will.”
Wilbur sat there and sobbed, not knowing what to do. After what felt like an eternity of crying, he stood up, stared at Tommy, and just walked away.
“Where are you going?” Techno asked.
“Away.” Will responded simply. 
Techno stood and grabbed his hand.
Will whirled around and yanked his hand away. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”
Will walked away.
Philza looked up at Techno. “What do we do now?” Phil choked out.
“Bad’s a part of the Badlands and is usually the one who controls the morgue. We should keep Tommy there overnight and do a burial in the morning. We shouldn’t get in trouble with Manburg because the Badlands haven't taken sides.” Techno suggested.
Philza shook his head and picked up Tommy. Techno helped Tubbo to his feet only for them to give out. Techno carred Tubbo on his back and the boy quickly fell asleep from mental exhaustion.
…
It was too much. He came back for his kids and for what? To lose his youngest son? Everyone would be much better off if he wasn’t there. 
Phil was packing his bags, getting ready to leave. If he left before anyone saw then everything would be ok. Then he couldn’t screw up anyone else's life. 
“I stayed with Tubbo until he fell asleep. He’s really shaken up and rightfully so. I think we should keep a close eye on him too. No saying what he’ll- what are you doing?” Techno walked into the room Philza had been staying in.
“I- i” Phil looked around, trying to find an excuse.
“You're not leaving, are you?”
Well, no point in lying now. “Yeah, I am. I feel so guilty about Tommy and I seem to be screwing up everything for everybody so-”
“Wait. You come here after abandoning us for years. Then you come back and just when we need a father in our lives, you go to leave again?”
“It’s not like that-”
“No! You want to be a part of our lives until we want you to be our Dad. Then you leave?”
“How dare you! I am an amazing father!”
“No! Where is Wilbur right now?”
Phil looked away. 
“Exactly. You don’t know and you don’t even care. He could be doing something stupid and you would be none the wiser. Grief does things to you. You could make or think about making very stupid desisoins.”
“I’m sorry.”
Techno was a bit taken aback. “What?”
“I said I’m sorry. I’m not a good dad, but I want to be. Please Techno. Let me be a good dad. I want to try.” 
“Then step one is stay.”
“Ok. I’m not going anywhere.” Phil promised.
Techno walked over to Phil and hugged him. The two stood there in each other's arms moving only to lay on the bed. Techno was exhausted and it was nice to fall asleep being comforted by his father. It was a feeling he had missed. 
Techno woke up to find him lying in Phil’s bed alone. He looked around confused, but a note caught his eye. It was sitting on the nightstand. 

Dear Techno,
    I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me.
Love,
Dadza

Techno punched his pillow in frustration. How could he do this to him. To Wilbur. To Tommy. 
“Hey Techno?”
Techno turned to see Tubbo standing in the doorway. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing… just... When are we burying him.” Tubbo stuttered.
“Soon, just let me get ready.”
“Where’s Phil?”
“He’s gone. And he’s not coming back.”
Tubbo was confused, but he chose not to ask questions.
…
Bad helped Techno lower the sheets that contained Tommy into the 6 foot grave. All Tubbo could do was watch as tears streamed down his face. It felt like all of time was frozen. 
After the grave was filled in with dirt, Techno went to stand next to Tubbo. Bad paid his respects and left the two to grieve. Techno and Tubbo just stood there. Staring. Lost in their own thoughts. 
After a long while, Tubbo broke the silence. “I have to go.”
Techno turned to Tubbo. “Just stay safe.”
Tubbo nodded and walked away leaving Techno to stand at Tommy’s grave. Tubbo needed a nice area to just relax and get away from anything that would remind him of Tommy. Tubbo walked all the way to the community nether portal. After going through he walked over to the edge, looking over the lava.
The warmth reminded him of summer days that he and Tommy would mess around in the woods or make drugs in L’Manburg. 
What was the point? Tommy was his best friend. His main source of happiness. His partner in crime. It was exhausting to be alive. Exhausting to breathe even. He couldn’t picture a life without Tommy.
Tubbo took a deep breath and continued to stare into the lava. Thinking of nothing and everything. Good memories and bad memories. Things that scared him and things that gave him hope. It all swirled around in his head and made it impossible to make a single cohesive thought. It was all just too much.
Tubbo gently fell forward and off the path. Before he hit the lava, he said his last words, “I’m coming Tommy.”

Tubbo_ tried to swim in lava