A City of Secrets and Masks

-Twenty One- Together Again

Light filtered through the window. Tommy groaned and blinked awake.

He was in a room. The next thing he noticed was the IV stuck in his arm. His hand shot to it. He blinked and he was in a darker room, his hands and feet growing colder as the blood drained from him.

He blinked again and he was back in the safety of the bedroom. He forced himself to tear his eyes away from the IV and look around.

He was the only person awake in the room. Wilbur was sprawled on the bed farthest from him. Philza was passed out sitting on one side of the couch. Techno rested on his shoulder, snoring softly.

Tubbo lay in the bed next to him, a pleasant smile on his face. Tommy winced at the sight of his friend. Tubbo was clammy looking, dark bags streaking under his eyes.

Tommy straightened up and his bed creaked. Tubbo stirred. Tommy watched as Tubbo's smile faded. He had a cynical expression on his face.

Tubbo blinked at the ceiling before shooting up. He seemed a bit panicked. His entire posture softened as he saw Tommy. 

"T-Tommy?" Tubbo said, softly.

Tubbo quickly tossed his blanket off and ran over. Tommy laughed as he was enveloped in a hug.

"I-I missed you, big man..." Tommy muttered into Tubbo's shoulder. The hug lasted about thirty seconds. Neither of them seemed to want to pull away.

When they eventually did, the others had woken up. Techno sprang up, his quickness betraying his excitement. He caught himself and walked much more slowly over to Tommy. "Hi, nerd..." He ruffled the younger's hair. Techno caught himself with tears in his eyes but blinked them back.

He'd gotten much more attached to the little fan than he'd originally planned too.

Philza yawned and stretched, but paused when his eyes fell onto Tommy. He didn't say anything, but he walked over and put a hand on Tommy's shoulder.

Wilbur was the last to make a move. He was in his own hospital bed- they had wanted to keep an eye on his vitals to ensure the Mute wasn't having any unintended impacts. He just sat up and gave a wide grin and thumbs up to Tommy.

Tommy tried to smile back but hot tears welled up in his eyes. Tubbo sat next to Tommy on the bed. The more emotionally stable of the two grabbed the other's hand and squeezed it.

"I- I was so worried I would never see you guys again..." Tommy choked out, fighting back tears. "I thought that I-" Tommy paused, tears flowing freely now, "I wouldn't see the sun again."

Phil rubbed Tommy's back, attempting to soothe him. Time got a bit blurry- he seemed to spend hours at this moment, so very happy to be back with his family.

----------

A bit later, Dream came in, followed closely by the rest. He bore breakfast and bad news.

"We got this letter in the mail-" Dream flashed the letter. "It's got a few coded words on it."

Minx spoke up. "I could read them!" She proposed. Most of the other heroes just gave her a suspicious glare.

"Thank you for the... idea, villain," Sapnap said, spitting the last word like an insult. "While we're on the topic, why are there three of our enemies here?"

"I-" Eret began.

"They aren't enemies!" Tommy jumped in. He sniffled. He was still a bit drained from the reunion earlier, but he spoke up nonetheless. "Minx helped me escape and the other two... helped her?"

"Yeah!" Minx butted in. "They helped me escape from Fundy when he tried to attack me at the start of the event."

"I... see," said George. "I still don't think we should trust them."