Till Death Do Us Part

Friends

Tommy's 20th birthday wasn't celebrated alone. The rowdy owner of the villages best tavern caught wind that he'd aged another year, and he woke up to see the entire village at his doorstep. That day he probably talked to more people than he ever had in his life. The humble little cottage he'd built on the outskirts of the forest was swiftly overrun by people raring to party.

He wondered how strangers cared for him more than his own family ever had.

Tommy met some of his most trusted friends that day. Alex, who ran the village bakery, had stuck by his side the entire night, convinced that because they were the same age, they had to be best friends. Raelyn was two years older than him but was probably the most vicious woman he'd ever met, threatening to tear his head off multiple times.

The three soon became inseparable.

Once Tommy came home to see Raelyn sleeping on his couch. He didn't question it when she never left. Another day Alex walked into his house, sat down and didn't get up until he was forcibly moved. Sometimes they didn't have to speak to each other to know what was wrong, and would go tend to Tommy's crops for hours without communication.

And sometimes it would be Tommy to walk into the bakery without any words to speak, plagued with memories from a far away country and the man that controlled it. Or he'd collapse in Raelyn's arms, too exhausted from reacting to a trigger that shouldn't exist anymore.

The best part about the friendship was the stories.

Alex and Raelyn had been travelers as well, and held stories from their wanders that amazed even Tommy. Sometimes, though, they hit a little too close to home.

"Oh, oh, and have you heard the tale of the Wild Boy!" Alex burst at one of their sleepovers.

Raelyn looked up from her book. "Is that the one about the kid who wandered from village to village?"

"Yeah! I met him once you know." He puffed out his chest proudly. "Gave him an apple."

"Good for you Alex. Frolicking with the savages again." Raelyn muttered, pushing her nose further between the pages of her favourite folktale.

"He wasn't a savage! He was quite polite. Looked a bit like you, Toms."

Tommy turned from where he was intensely staring at a crack in the wall. "Thanks a lot Alex."

Alex had the sense to look a little bit guilty. "That's not what I meant! Besides, he hasn't been seen for years now. Some people theorize he's a runaway prince or lost soldier, but that's pretty ridiculous. He looked so young."
Not so ridiculous, Tommy thought, remembering the days before he and Wilbur up and left the empire. If he was ever a part of it to begin with.

Tubbo's compass continued to pulsate and glow from its place beneath Tommy's floorboards.

Tommy curled up surrounded by friends.

He fell asleep to the sound of their breathing.