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Tommy stood in the middle of the chaos, the tent burned down, his hands clenched around his sword. He’d left camp to do a perimeter scout only a few minutes ago, keeping the group safe from the monsters that roamed the woods at night, and when he’d heard sounds of a struggle, he’d sprinted back to the camp as fast as he could, cursing the fact that he was wearing his armor that slowed him down. The sounds of struggle had been loud, and he’d unsheathed his blade in preparation before charging into the clearing where they’d been camped, to find…an empty mess.
“Tubbo! Purpled! Ranboo!” Tommy shouted, heart pounding as he started searching the area for signs of his brothers. All he found was the half-charred remains of Tubbo’s bow and the cover of Ranboo’s memory book. There was nothing left of Purpled’s. As he searched, Tommy felt his heart sink lower and lower in his chest, eyes starting to sting with tears that he told himself were just from the ash. When there was nothing left to search for, Tommy swung his eyes out into the deep woods, catching on an ashy footprint leading into the middle of the woods.
Tommy grit his teeth, gripped his sword’s hilt more tightly, and started to follow.
The boys hadn’t started out as brothers. They’d started as a ragtag group of misfits that had decided to join together in a random field after they all realized they were going on the same quest.
“Wait, let me get this right,” Tommy had said, still holding his sword to Ranboo’s neck, even as Tubbo had his bow fully nocked, ready to shoot Tommy and Purpled stood in the corner, gripping his poison-tipped dagger with white knuckles. “You guys are also trying to kill the dragon?”
“What do you mean also? We’re the only ones the innkeeper gave the quest to,” Tubbo had said, keeping his bow taut. Ranboo had shallowly nodded, doing his best to keep Tommy from cutting into it.
“He gave me the quest too,” Purpled finally said, stepping forward, closer to the center of the conflict. “Either he’s trying to scam us all, or he doesn’t think we’re capable enough to do it on our own, and figured it’d be best to hedge his bets by sending out multiple parties.”
“So we’re probably not even the only ones that heard about the quest today, then,” Tommy said, and dropped his sword from Ranboo’s neck. They gasped, taking in as much air as possible while also backing away from Tommy quickly.
“Most likely not,” Purpled said and sheathed his dagger before sighing. “There’s no use in trying to surprise the dragon if a hundred other idiots have already been sent out to kill it. It’ll be on it’s guard.”
Tubbo cursed, and put his bow down, relaxing and sliding the arrow back into his quiver. “Well, isn’t that just great?”
“What are we gonna do now?” Ranboo said, now behind Tubbo instead of somewhere to Tommy’s left. Their tail twitched back and forth nervously, and Tommy raised an eyebrow at him.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he finally said, when the others looked like they were ready to leave. “We team up.”
“Team up?” Purpled said incredulously, raising an eyebrow at Tommy. “No offense, but I trust you guys about as far as I can throw you.”
“Same,” Tubbo said, and straightened up. “You, blondie, just tried to kill Ranboo! Sorry, but that doesn’t exactly scream ‘world’s best teammate’.”
“Yeah,” Ranboo said, and it was almost funny to see the dragon-born hiding behind the much smaller Tubbo. “You haven’t really shown yourself as…trustworthy,” he said, and then gave a weak smile. Tommy gave him a big grin and sheathed his sword.
“Exactly! We don’t trust each other yet, but that can come with time. And come on, we all know that we won’t be able to kill the dragon individually. Might as well team up.”
There was silence among the group, but Tommy stuck his hand out in Tubbo’s direction. “Come on. You know you want to.”
Tubbo eyed his hand, then looked back toward Ranboo, who gave the shorter boy a shrug. Tubbo rolled his eyes and then slowly stuck out his own hand. “Fine. The reward money is too big to just give in, so I guess we can team up.”
“I’m with Tubbo,” Ranboo said, their tail twisting nervously. They also went in for the handshake, but instead just ended up putting their massive, slightly scaly hand on top of the others, as handshakes weren’t really meant for more than one person. “Besides, I think meeting a real dragon would be cool.”
“Bossman, you are a dragon,” Tubbo muttered, but no one paid attention to it, because Tommy was looking to Purpled. The blond’s face was covered by the deep hood of his cloak, so his face was covered in shadows—but as he looked up at Tommy, his purple eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.
“If we’re all being stupid, I might as well join in,” he said and tilted his head so that they could briefly glimpse the cocky smirk that adorned his face. He took several steps forward and put his hand on top of Ranboo’s much larger one.
“ Alright! ” Tommy cheered, tossing their hands up. The others let out a mix of shocked laughter and their own cheers as their hands were flung into the sky. The laughter died down, and Tommy took the opportunity to look the others in the eye, trailing from one set of eyes to the next quickly. Brown eyes that seemed to be full of security and stability, purple eyes that glinted with danger and something unspoken, and a pair of heterochromatic red and green eyes that seemed unsure but firm. Satisfied, he let a grin creep across his face. “Let’s go kill a dragon, boys!”
Tommy followed the hints of the tracks that he could see. He’d never been the best tracker—that honor had always gone to Ranboo, with their dragonlike sense of smell that was far better than any human—but Tommy could do half-decently in a pinch. He was no Ranboo, or even as good as Purpled, but it was enough.
For now, it would have to be enough.
“He’s not doing good,” Tommy heard from…somewhere. His eyes seemed glued shut, and when he focused on opening his eyelids, everything was blurry. There was a blur of brown and green, and another taller blur that looked as if it was carrying green things in its…hands? He groaned at the effort of seeing, and let his eyes slide shut again. He considered letting his consciousness drift away, but he was drawn back to half-awareness by someone shaking his shoulder.
“No, Tommy, you gotta stay with us,” said the voice. It sounded worried. Tommy didn’t want to make the person worried. “Just a few more minutes and Purpled will be back with a health potion. You gotta survive, okay? We can’t kill the dragon without you!”
Tommy moaned in pain, but squinted at the fuzzy brown mass in front of his eyes. “Mmm. Tubbo?”
“Yeah, Toms, it’s me,” Tommy heard, and he felt something wet drip onto his face. “Come on, stick with us, man.”
“‘S it rainin’?”
“No, Tommy,” Tubbo said, and his voice cracked. “No, not yet.”
“Shame,” Tommy said, head going fuzzy again. “I always liked the rain.”
“Tommy!”
“Tubs,” Tommy said, and then a sudden throb of pain echoed through his abdomen and he groaned. “Tubs, you gotta tell them.”
“Tell who?”
“Tell…you an’ Ranboob an’ Purpled,” Tommy rasped out, trying to stay focused, but slowly slipping to the siren’s call of sleep. “Tell em that I love them. That they’re my…they’re my real brothers, kay?”
“You tell them yourself,” Tubbo said, but Tommy was already fading. “Tommy, you tell us yourself!”
Darkness.
When Tommy did wake up, he wasn’t sure where he was. He could see normally, which was different from before. And the stabbing pain in his side had minimized to a mere ache that could easily be ignored if he didn’t focus on it. “Hello?” he croaked out, and there was the sudden thudding of large footsteps.
“Tommy!” Came a voice, and then Ranboo’s scaly head appeared in his field of vision. “Oh thank Prime that you’re awake—TUBBO! PURPLED!”
More footsteps, and then Tommy was bombarded with voices and faces, hands grabbing at him and pulling him upright and then into a big group hug.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Tubbo whispered, and Tommy felt Ranboo nod. Purpled didn’t say anything, but his arms tightened around Tommy for a second.
Later, when they were settling down to eat (a broth, for Tommy, because no one was really sure how well he’d be digesting stuff even with the help of the health potion that Purpled had stolen from a witch), Tubbo nudged Tommy in the knee. “So,” he started, and the wicked grin that crept across his face had Tommy on edge. “You think of us as brothers?”
Tommy’s eyes shot wide open, and his heart pounded. “No I do not !” he shouted, and Tubbo snickered.
“That’s not what you said back then,”
“I SAID BOTHERS! BECAUSE YOU’RE ALWAYS BOTHERING ME!”
“Sure,” Purpled said and slurped the rest of his broth. “I believe you, Tommy.”
“ I’m not lying!"
Tommy followed the tracks for either minutes or hours. He couldn’t tell, too focused on the ground in front of him. He didn’t speak while he walked, just dodged various monsters and sent up a quiet prayer to whatever higher being there was that his brothers were safe.
And if they weren’t, Tommy swore revenge.
Finally, Tommy reached a clearing as the sun rose. And with the light, Tommy could clearly see the scene in front of him. Tubbo and Ranboo, tied up and blindfolded. Ranboo had metal chains on his arms and legs to stop him from just breaking out, and Tubbo had a nasty bruise on his head. There was dried blood on the side of his mouth.
And most horrifyingly, there was no sign of Purpled.
Purpled had been acting strange lately. As they approached the dragon, he’d been jumpier, always looking behind them more than usual. When Ranboo would ramble about various things they’d read about, Purpled would harshly shush them, apparently worried about people listening in. And Tommy saw the way that Purpled clung to his poisoned dagger, keeping it in his fist nearly all the time. When it wasn’t there, it was under his pillow while he took his brief naps or hidden in his sleeve sheath for quick access.
And the circles under his eyes were deepening with every night. Tommy tried taking Purpled’s watch shifts to encourage the boy to sleep more but Purpled just ignored him and refused to swap. Tommy was worried that he was going to slip and stab himself with the poisoned dagger at this point, just from sheer sleep exhaustion.
“Purpled,” Tommy finally said, late one night when Tubbo and Ranboo were sleeping. “You gotta rest, dude.”
“I’m fine, Tommy. I sleep plenty.” Purpled shrugged Tommy’s hand off his shoulder and stared into the mists beyond their campsite. His knees were drawn up so that his head could rest on them, both hands clasped around his knees, dagger directly beside him. His cloak was left tossed by the fire, and Tommy could see the boy shiver slightly as the wind tore through the camp. It was cold on the mountain, especially when the wind roared.
“I hear you at night, you know.”
“What?”
Tommy looked into the mist as well. It twisted around them, creating patterns that were nearly hypnotic. And knowing more about magic now, it just might be. He tore his eyes away from it, just in case. “I don’t think any of us are sleeping too well anymore, not this close to the dragon. But Purpled, we share a tent. I wake up when you leave, and I hear you muttering to yourself.” He paused, then sighed. “You saved my life, you know.”
“That’s random,” Purpled remarked, and Tommy snorted.
“You stopped me from dying by risking your own life to steal from that witch,” Tommy continued, ignoring Purpled. “That was brave. I’m glad to call you my brother, Purpled. But…” he tried to find the right words, to sound like the perfect inspirational orator that he thought might be needed right now. Nothing came to mind, so he spoke as just Tommy instead. “...I just want you to know that it’s not a one-way path. If you need anything from me, I’d give it to you. If you have something you need to tell someone, I’d keep it secret. I promise.”
“That’s a big promise,” Purpled said. “You sure?”
“Deadly,” Tommy said and then laughed a little. “I technically owe you a life debt.”
“You owe me way more than one life debt,” Purpled said and knocked his shoulder into Tommy’s. “But…thank you. I appreciate it. I’m not ready to talk, yet, but hopefully…” he trailed off. “....Hopefully, someday I will be.”
I should have known you would follow us, came a voice from behind Tommy. You never could give up, could you?
Tommy whirled around, but there was no one there. “Give my friends back!” He called, and the voice laughed .
You want them back? Oh, Tommy…that’s not going to happen. The voice came from beside him now, and Tommy felt icy fingers trail down his back. He swerved to face the voice again, and pulled his sword out, pointing into empty space.
“Who are you?”
You know me very well, Tommy, came the whispery voice. Come on now…surely you can tell what’s happening.
Tommy scanned the area around him and frowned. There was nothing there. The voice was magical, almost similar to the voice of the dragon they’d fought. It echoed in Tommy’s head, not quite tangible, but invasive.
“Come out and fight me already!”
Do you want that, Tommy?
“Yes!”
Be careful what you wish for, the voice said, and then there was a whoosh of purple smoke surrounding him. Tommy coughed and tried to swipe it away from his eyes, and when it cleared, there was a familiar figure standing in front of him.
“Surprise, Tommy,” came the voice, now suddenly familiar. Tommy felt his throat go dry as he recognized the figure in front of him.
“Told you that sometimes it’s better to not know,” said Purpled, pushing his hood off his face and giving Tommy a smirk, his purple eyes glinting in the sunlight. “Hey, Tommy.”
The dragon was dead. Tommy stood above it, breath heaving, sword dripping thick blue-green blood. His armor was splattered in the stuff, and he was never more glad that he’d gotten his armor enchanted against acid-like substances. Just the small amounts that had gotten on his hands and arms had hurt more than he would like.
“Is it gone?” Tubbo shouted, and Tommy looked up at him. He looked at him then took a deep breath and smiled.
“Yeah!” He shouted back with a grin. “We did it!”
“ We did it? ” Shouted Ranboo from below, his hands wrapped around his mouth to project the sound. His tail waved frantically, and Purpled, who was standing beside him, had to move out of the way to avoid getting hit by it. His purpled cloak had holes in it from the acidic dragon’s blood, but it looked like it’d mostly kept him safe.
“WE DID IT!” Tommy shouted, and it echoed through the cavern. There was silence, and then their ragtag group broke into cheers. Tubbo jumped down from the ledge he was on and ran to Tommy, who had to stop him before he grabbed onto the dragon-blood-covered armor. Instead, Tommy slapped Tubbo on the back, and Tubbo flicked Tommy in the back of the head. Below them, Ranboo had picked Purpled up in a massive hug and was swinging him around. The two boys slid down the massive pile of treasure to join the others in their celebration.
“Look at that,” Purpled whispered to Tommy while Tubbo was clambering up Ranboo’s back, leaving the dragonborn to protest when Tubbo’s heels caught in his scales. “We actually did it.”
“I told you we could,” Tommy said with a grin. “Just had to trust each other.”
Purpled looked away from Tommy, toward the piles and piles of gold that surrounded them. “Yeah. Just had to trust each other.”
“Why did you do this?” Tommy asked, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his blade. “Why did you hurt them, why did you tear our camp apart? What happened , Purpled?”
“I was always going to betray you,” Purpled said. “From the start. I’m a mercenary, Tommy, what did you expect? That I was just going to get all buddy-buddy with you and give up on my goals? As if!”
“You’re lying,” Tommy hissed, and raised his sword. “Tell me the truth!”
“I am telling the truth!”
“You’re telling me what you think I want to hear,” Tommy said, and Purpled didn’t respond. Instead, he raised his hands and his two poisoned daggers shot from their hidden sheaths into his hands.
“I’m not talking anymore,” Purpled said. “Now, are you going to fight me, or are you going to keep being stubborn about this?”
“I’m not going to fight you, Purpled,” Tommy said, “Not when something is clearly wrong with you.”
“Then you’ll die,” Purpled said, and he jumped into action. Tommy cursed and quickly brought his blade up to block the blow of the double daggers, pushing Purpled away from him as fast as he could. Purpled circled around him and then ducked in, sprinting towards Tommy again and slashing at his stomach. It was mostly protected by his armor, so the glancing blow didn’t hurt, but Tommy did stumble back from the force of the blow.
Purpled was fast, and that was going to be the biggest struggle in this fight. That and the fact that Tommy didn’t want to hurt his brother. He didn’t want to do anything to harm Purpled, especially if there was something wrong, like he suspected.
“Come on, Tommy, stop being a coward,” Purpled taunted, before darting forward again. Tommy brought his sword up again to block the daggers but missed Purpled’s leg swinging out to trip him up. Tommy thudded to the ground, and had to scramble to try and stand again before Purpled could attack. Instead, Purpled jumped on him and started bringing his blades down to Tommy’s neck. Where they were poisoned, any touch could be fatal, so Tommy bucked his hips and displaced the lighter blond, turning over and scrambling up, grabbing his sword from the ground as he did. He swung at Purpled’s legs, and the other boy jumped over the blade.
“Fight me!”
“No!” Tommy said, and retreated. He and Purpled circled each other before Purpled struck again, running towards Tommy. Tommy met him in the middle, their blades crossing against each other with a clang. “Purpled, tell me what’s happening! I’m not going to hurt you, just let me help you!”
“You can’t help me, Tommy,” Purpled spat and pulled one of his daggers from the blade lock quickly, jabbing it toward Tommy’s neck. Tommy jerked back, but Purpled pushed the advantage, so Tommy kicked at him, impacting with Purpled’s chest to stop him from getting any closer. The deep thud of the boot against Purpled’s chest made Tommy wince, even if he’d stopped himself from going at full force. Purpled fell on the ground and panted for a second. Tommy breathed harshly as well, preparing himself to defend from Purpled’s next attack.
Purpled looked at Tommy with a scowl, and then looked back to where Tubbo and Ranboo were sitting. A grin crossed his face.
“Well, maybe if you won’t fight me by yourself…I may just have to do something drastic myself.”
Tommy’s eyes widened, and he started running towards the two knocked-out men. “ No!”
But Purpled was closer and faster, and when he reached his arm out to throw his poisoned blade toward Tubbo’s unprotected chest, Tommy couldn’t think of any way to stop him. His body acted faster than his mind could, and before he could realize what was happening, blade met bone and Purpled howled.
Tommy froze and looked down at his blade. It was red now, red with blood. Red with Purpled’s blood. And when he looked at Purpled, his arm…
His arm was missing.
Purpled dropped to the ground, clutching at the place where his arm was. It was bleeding heavily, and though he tried fruitlessly to stop the bleeding, Tommy could tell it wasn’t enough.
Tommy swore and raced to his brother, dropping his sword. “No, no, no,” he said, eyes wide, voice cracking with desperation. “Purpled, I’m so sorry—oh, Prime,” he said, and his hands fluttered uselessly around the stump where his arm was. “Prime, is there anything I can do? Do you have a healing potion?”
Purpled was taking deep breaths, trying to stop the tears that were falling down his face. “Tommy,” he said, voice shaky, interrupted by his own hitching breaths, “Tommy, thank you.”
“No, Purpled, don’t thank me, I cut your arm off—I’m so sorry, Purpled, do you have anything to heal you—”
“Tommy, this was the only way,” Purpled said, and he took his hand away from his arm. Tommy quickly jumped to it and started putting pressure on the wound instead. “This is how it had to go.”
“No, there’s other ways—why didn’t you just tell me what was wrong?” Tommy asks, and the tears start pouring down his face. “I could have helped you!”
“Tommy, the witch cursed me,” he said, and his breath was coming faster and faster. Tommy took his hands off of the bleeding stump to tear a strip from his tunic and tie it around what was left of Purpled’s arm. “She knew I stole from her and she cursed me to kill you once our quest was completed.”
“No, no, no,” Tommy said, not paying attention to Purpled as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding. “Shut up, shut up!”
“Tommy, me dying was the only way to stop it, I couldn’t end it any other way.”
“You’re not dying , Purpled!” Tommy stopped to look into his friend’s purple eyes. They were hazy, but he smiled anyway.
“Yeah, I am,” Purpled said, and his eyes flickered down to his leg, where a dagger was embedded into the flesh.
Specifically, one of Purpled’s poisoned daggers.
Tommy’s eyes leaped up to his friend’s. “No. No, no, no. Purpled, why? ”
“This was,” Purpled said, and he took a shaky, shuddering breath, pausing and gasping for air. “The only way to keep you safe.”
“There were other ways!”
“No,” Purpled shook his head, barely. His breaths were shallow now, and Tommy gathered his brother into his arms. “Only…way.” His remaining hand moved to touch the top of Tommy’s, and he gave him a smile tinged slightly red with blood. “Had to save….my brothers.”
With that, Purpled’s voice died off, and his chest’s shallow movements slowed to a stop. Tommy shook him.
“No, Purpled!”
There was no response.
Tommy cradled his brother’s dead body in his arms and cried.