Icarus (Sleepy Bois Inc. fic)

Chapter 6 - The Pit. Doesn't Sound Too Lovely, Does It?

Niki and Tommy return to the pit. Wilbur is looking at it proudly while the others skirt around it in discomfort. It was almost scary to Tommy. His brother, a man he once looked up to, and wanted to be once, is now a mad man. A man who will stop at nothing to destroy the very country he'd built and then fought for. He didn't understand. Why would he want this? Niki called out, "We're- we're back." Wilbur didn't seem to notice but looked over to them, "Oh, you're back, okay." Meanwhile Tubbo seemed genuinely happy to see them, almost relieved. What happened? "Welcome back!" Wilbur got Tommy's attention, looking excited, "Well, Icarus! Icarus, Theseus! Get in there!" he said gesturing to the pit, "I say armorless and with shields, yeah?"

Tommy didn't answer and just took off his armor. This just made Wilbur craving for violence grow, "YEAH! Look at him! He's ready!" Technobade interrupted his thoughts by saying, "Wait, what's the point of armorless, with shields...?" Wilbur, sounding eager to get the 'show' started, said "Because then you got, like, some proper, like- It's a long fight, innit? You know?" Technoblade deadpans, "But you can just hold the shield out and be an immortal." Wilbur thought about it for a second, "Okay, fine. Just armorless then. Armorless. You're allowed- you're allowed food though." "With- with weapons?" Technoblade joked.

Wilbur didn't catch on and shook his head, "No, nonono. Fists. Fists! Come on!" Tommy furrowed his brow at Technoblade, glaring at the man that killed his best friend. In front of an audience no less. It still baffled him, why would he do that? Why did he betray all of them? Wilbur caught on to the look and got close to him. He bent down and looked at Technoblade as well, talking in Tommy's ear, "To- Icarus, think about what he did to your friend, Apollo! Think about what he did... Take him down, dude." Tommy nodded his head, "I'll kill him." He said, an indescribable look passing over him. Technoblade saw this and said, "Alright. Fistfight? Fistfight it is?"

Wilbur looked over to see a now extremely worried Tubbo. The boy wore his heart, and really all his emotions, on his sleeve. "Look, so-! Apollo, before-" he began his own conversation with Tubbo. Tommy gave Technoblade a look, how could the rules be any more clear, "Well, yeah, no armor. We literally just said that." Technoblade shrugged and took off his armor, "I'll have to take this off then." He nodded at Tommy and Tommy just nods back.

"Apollo, before- Apollo, before we do the fight, look. Just- You-" Wilbur stammers, "Rile them up...!" Tubbo didn't know how to feel about this, "I don't- I kinda forgive Theseus." Tommy was shocked, shocked and slightly angry, and it showed. "What the-?!" Technoblade nodded, "Thank you, Apollo." Wilbur was taken aback, this was definitely a turn of events. "Wait, wha-?" Tubbo continued, fearing that he'd put that the wrong way, "I mean, nonono, think about it. Think about it." Tommy was now confused, why the hell would Tubbo forgive the man that betrayed them all? "What-?!" Tubbo began to explain, "It makes- it makes sense, okay? Like, okay... It was you three versus an entire nation of people who were much more powerful than you." Technoblade put his arms up, gesturing to Tubbo, "Exactly!" Tubbo looked at Technoblade, "And there was a lot of peer pressure!" Technoblade nodded, finally someone understood. "Yeah!" "And if you think about it now, all you've done is gained..." he looked around at the people around him, " pairs of hands, you know? The Minotaur probably trusts him a bit more." Technoblade was relieved, maybe Tubbo would get them to see, "This is a huge win for us...!" Tubbo now looked down, "I don't think there needs to be like in-fighting... I feel like, yeah...?"

Wilbur slowly broke into a smile, amused. He knew Tommy was pissed, there was no getting around that. There was no backing Tommy down from this fight. He applauded the effort, but the effort was wasted. Tommy now loudly exclaims, "We could've taken back Manberg, Apollo!" he pointed at Techno, "He literally betrayed you! In a heartbeat!" Tubbo knew Tommy was dead set on fighting, but still wanted to try to stop it. "I don't think- I don't think- like, just- just looking at all the people there..." Tommy was just saying stuff now, and Technoblade knew that. Tommy just wanted to fight him and there was no stopping it. "How- how would we have taken- How would we have taken out Manberg?" Tommy now faced him, "Well, if you hadn't have killed Apollo, The Minotaur was wearing no armor! The Horse was wearing no armor!" He explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.