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

Chapter 151

Tommy POV:

The arena XD led him into was different to the one Tommy had fought in. For one thing, the crowd was about 100 times larger.

The arena itself was an oval shape, and not all that different to what Tommy had fought in, but the seating was where it changed. The room was filled to the brim with people in masks of all kinds. There was only 2 empty sections. One that was clearly dedicated to the Blood Masks, and another large area that Tommy wasn't quite sure about it's use.

He followed XD meekly, not knowing what he was supposed to do.

What he was expected to do became blatantly obvious when in front of XD's throne-like chair, there was a cage, human sized, with its door open.

"In you go Theseus, I saved you a front row seat," XD sneered, gesturing towards the open cage. Tommy wanted to recoil. Wanted to run, his mind flashing through memories of different cages, memories of starving in cage after cage, memories of being treated like an animal, memories of punishments, memories of the mistakes that lead to a cage.

He wanted to rear back and fight and never go near another cage, but even as he went to flee, he remembered that it wasn't his life on the line anymore. It wasn't him who would suffer. It was back to the problem he'd faced with Tubbo, too afraid to mess up and have his actions hurt his twin. He couldn't do that. He couldn't do that to Finley. Couldn't let her be hurt because of him.

Tommy didn't fight it. He took the step and winced as the door slammed closed behind him, cramping him and keeping him painfully still. There was barely room above his head, and the cage bars surrounded him tightly. Much smaller and he wouldn't have been able to fit. He hated this. Hated the fact that if XD chose, Tommy could be stuck here indefinitely, until his legs gave out beneath him and the bars dug too hard into his back.

It was for Finley. He had to remember that. Had to try to keep her safe.

He watched as the empty area started to fill with- the other kids? Tommy scanned their faces, desperate to see Finley there, because maybe that meant she wasn't actually fighting. He found Freddie, tears streaming, being held by two Masked Ones, right at the front, but no Finley. Fuck.

Maybe it was ok. Maybe it meant they weren't bringing Finley at all?

When the movement settled, and no more people were brought out, Tommy wanted to sob, hating that he knew what was going to happen.

The last person to arrive was Dream. Dream the fucking monster. The monster who didn't waste any time, checking some sort of screen, before nodding to himself and taking up a microphone.

"Honoured Masked One's, Welcome to the fight of your lives, don't forget to bet on your expected winner for each fight, you wouldn't want to lose out on an amazing cash prize!" Dream began, his voice echoing throughout the arena. Immediately, the room was filled with chatter, discussion between small groups, inaudible over other muttered conversations. Dream allowed this to go in for about a minute, before quieting the crowd as he began.

"I'm sure you've all heard about the return of our old champion, our crowd favourite, our one, our only, BLOOD GOD!"

As the words echoes through the massive room, large doors sprung open, revealing a man, clearly older then the others Tommy had seen here. He had a skull mask covering the top half of his face and elongated ears with animal tags attached, reading his name. He wore a red cape lined with fur, as well as a ruffled white shirt and thick black belt. He was wielding a massive sword. Perhaps the most distinctive thing though, the part that caught Tommy's eye and made him scream with pained realisation as to where he had heard the name "Blood God" before. The name that he had known he recognised from the start, but could never place. The name Techno had mentioned in his boundaries.

Now Tommy understood. Now he understood and he couldn't help screaming at the horror that was unfolding in front of him. Techno. The Blood God. One and the same. Holy Fucking Shit.

It wasn't just the hair, there was the scarred hands, the cracks in the mask matching the scars on Techno's face, his build.

Everyone was staring at Tommy, his screams clearly abnormal. Even Techno- no- The Blood God, was staring at him.

"TOMMY!?" The Blood God screamed in Techno's voice. No. No. No. No. This could not be happening.

Tommy felt a sharp jab in his back, pain snapping across him, and finally he stopped screaming, remembering where he was, the danger he was in. Techno matched his wince of pain, from what, Tommy couldn't tell.

All Tommy knew was that this, all of this, was wrong, impossible, broken, painful.

Dream however, did not seem to care about Tommy's inner turmoil, instead simply continuing, disregarding any panic from Tommy.

"And opposing him, a young warrior, a predator, I present to you, SHARK!"

Tommy breathed in relief. Not Finley. It wasn't Finley. Then, out from the door, stepped a clearly terrified child who- no. No that didn't make sense. It was Finley. But Dream had called Shark? Not Finley? Unless- was Finley her real name? Maybe they hadn't referred to her as Shark to be a comfort? Maybe Finley was Shark. Well shit. He was right and he knew it, though Finley looked so painfully different.

He hair- now dark blue- was tied up in a way that formed a fin-like shape on the top of her head, and had shells scattered throughout it. Her face was streaked with war paint. She wore a deep blue cloak, and a thick black collar, and held tightly onto a trident, her only lifeline.

Words: 1000

A/N: I wrote this on the bus several days before posting it, but there was no signal so I've been waiting ages to see ur guys' thoughts on this oneeee