They Rely On Hope. What Do I Rely On? - Tommyinnit Adoption AU

Chapter 94

TW: mentions of blood, scars, weapons, fighting, gambling, human trafficking and fire

When they finally reached the end of the room, they stood in front of the door as the Masked One turned to look at Tommy.

"You will not speak, you will bow to them when you go inside and you will show complete respect, understand?" The man snapped, and Tommy nodded. It was something he was used to, and he knew here there was no chance at safety, a mistake was life or death, and Tommy couldn't risk death.

The man watched Tommy for a second, clearly trying to gage the truth, before he nodded and opened the door. Instantly Tommy's eyes were flicking around, scanning for dangers, risks, anything and everything he had to be careful of. In short the answer was that everything contained danger, but the full answer was that there was the main danger, the 8 figures standing on pedestals in a semicircle in the centre of the room, with a gap in the centre as though there was one missing.

They each clearly carried a weapon in their right hand, although no two carried the same. They wore blood red cloaks and the same smiling masks as the rest, except these were slightly different, instead of dots for the eyes of each smile, there were crosses, and every mask was slightly stained with blood. The next threat was the guards standing by the door, neither wore masks, so the scars coating their faces were obvious. The two looked to be around 17 or 18, but somehow they also looked like they could beat Techno in a fight, and that said a lot. Tommy could easily guess that these were kids trained in this place. The next threat was the fact that Tommy had no clue what was about to happen.

"The Eight Blood Masks are ready to make the judgment," A man holding a clipboard said, stepping out from behind the podium. He looked to be doing some sort of paperwork. He clearly wasn't a fighter, and he didn't appear to hold much power. Tommy doubted he'd do much damage.

Tommy felt a sharp jab in his back and instantly he remembered he was supposed to bow. Shit he had messed up already. Quickly he bowed, keeping his head down for a long moment, before standing up straight, making sure his gaze was averted from the 8 figures.

The Masked One standing next to Tommy stepped forward sharply, and Tommy forced himself not to flinch away. No movements. No fear. No signs of weakness. Never flinch. Never cry. Never show the pain. Breathe. Do nothing else. Don't be in anyone's way. Don't annoy anyone. Don't break the rules. The mantra repeated in his head until Tommy's breath calmed. He would be perfect. He would keep himself alive. If those guards made it to 18, so would he.

"I'm Mask 17, and this is my potential fighter," He announced, and it was clear he had said the words many times before.

"What are his qualities?" The third from the edge on the podium asked. His voice was dull and uncaring, as though he was asking about the advantages and disadvantages of buying a kettle.

"He's angry and he recognises danger fast. Within a second of being in this room he had you all sized up and ranked from most to least dangerous. With some training he'd be an invaluable asset," Tommy's Masked One, number 17, answered quickly, as though rehearsed. Tommy didn't know how the man knew he'd gaged the danger of everyone in the room, but it certainly increased this one's danger. If he noticed that much, then any mistake Tommy made would be all too obvious.

"Fight worth?"

"Once trained, 20,000 per fight at least, probably much more. There's a reason Dream wanted him so much," The Masked One next to Tommy replied quickly. With the mention of Dream, all eyes flicked towards the centre point where there was a spot clearly missing a Blood Mask. That must be Dream's spot. Drista had said he was the leader after all.

"How much damage can he take?" A different one asked briskly after a few seconds of silence, continuing the questioning.

"I doubt much would break him," Tommy's Masked one said, and within a second of the words, a fist was flying towards Tommy. He didn't move. The man was too far away, it wouldn't hit him, and flinching wasn't going to do anything, "Doesn't even flinch."

"He doesn't look strong," Another one pointed out, the statement more of a question then anything else.

"That's why he'll win us so much. No one other then us will expect him to win."

"Risks?"

"He tries to be a hero."

"Then let's watch him crash and burn. I'm ok with witnessing the death of a self proclaimed, unloved hero."

"Call him Theseus," The Blood Mask to the right of the missing person said. His voice was quiet, but Tommy could tell it held authority. It was the first time Tommy had heard the man speak, and the calm maliciousness was chilling, "No one likes a hero."

"Well, BloodGod did like his rants about Theseus, and Dream believed this kid could be better then BloodGod," The 8th Blood Mask agreed.

"Shall we call for a vote?" The man with the clipboard asked, and the one who had suggested the name Theseus nodded. He was clearly the one in charge.

The man pressed something on his clipboard, and a second later 8 teenagers, all covered in scars, walked out from behind the Blood Masks. There were 4 on each side, each holding an intricate goblet. A goblets was placed in front of each Blood Mask, then the teenagers left, as silently as they had come.

As one, the Blood Masks reached their hands out in a fist, hovering over the goblets.

"Let fire claim this one as ours," The Blood Mask who clearly held all the authority said, and all together, their hands opened, dropping powder into the goblets.

Words: 1000

A/N: wow for some reason working out a name for The Blood Masks was unnecessarily hard- everything I tried was clunky and long and didn't feel right, so we r going with this XD