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Tommy would say that he didn’t remember the first time that he’d been forced into the ring, forced to fight for his life with a knife that was too big for his hands. He hadn’t even grown into his hybrid traits yet, he was that young.
He was fighting another kid, nearly four years older than he was, clearly grown into her hybrid traits. She’d been a kitsune hybrid. Tommy remembered she’d had three tails, and Tommy remembered the fear in her eyes when he’d won.
He never saw her again after that.
He also remembered his first fight after he’d grown into his hybrid traits, not enough to control them, but he’d grown into them finally. He’d been so scared that he’d phased right through his attacker, but he wasn’t in control, and he’d accidentally killed him. Another kid, just wanting to survive another day in a hell that had sunk its claws into all of them.
He’d been a wolf hybrid.
The experiments had started after that. After it became apparent that he was a phantom avian, and not just an avian like his captors had suspected. Tommy was questioned about his heritage, starting with his parents… the same parents that Tommy didn’t even remember having.
The punishments hurt for not answering their questions more than knowing he’d taken someone’s life with his own hands.
He hated his wings, too. For being the same color as the blood that had coated his hands. For not being the same color as the blood that they would take from his body. He wished his wings were as golden as his own blood, an anomaly they’d said.
Tommy never uttered a word about the voices that sounded so much like those he’d killed, the ones that he was later forced to kill. He was used to kill people by making it so that they couldn’t breathe, but to preserve their lungs so that the scientists could learn how to survive Tommy’s ability.
Tommy refused to tell them that there was no way of preventing your lungs from being removed from your body. They were welcome to keep trying, however.
All they were doing was helping improve Tommy’s control, at any rate.
Tommy could also remember the first time he met Technoblade, a massive Piglin Hybrid that towered over Tommy, who had only been eleven years old. Tommy was small for his age, and for his species, and so it had made Techno seem even scarier to him.
Tommy was supposed to take a bone out of Techno, only a bone so as to not actually hurt him. The scientists wanted to know if Techno could regrow bones as well as organs and limbs, something Tommy hoped to never have to see happen.
Tommy had shaken hard, falling to the ground when the scientists had shoved him into the cage-like holding cell. Tommy had yelped, scrambling to get to his feet and looking up just in time to flinch back from how tall and bulky Techno had seemed then, Techno having approached him on near silent feet.
Tommy had frozen, eyes wide and no doubt shaking from fear.
“Theseus, get the bone. Let’s go. We don’t have all day.” The head scientist’s voice had sounded over the intercom. Tommy shuddered, hating the metallic sound to her voice when she spoke. The Blade was standing just three feet from Tommy, who felt so much smaller in comparison to the Piglin Hybrid.
“Theseus?” The Blade sounded unimpressed, and Tommy trilled slightly from fear. The Blade paused, taking a moment to stare and analyze Tommy, who’s wings twitched from his sudden fear. “What do they mean by ‘get the bone’?”
“I-I,” Tommy’s mouth closed with a click as he fought back a scream. The bracelet around his wrist buzzed with electricity and tears welled up in his eyes. Tommy flinched back as The Blade moved forward with surprising speed.
“How.” The Blade had asked. Tommy waited until the electricity turned off, before shakily raising his hand towards The Blade’s own. His hand went transparent, just slightly, as he reached into The Blade’s hand. Tommy knew how to put bones back should The Blade not be able to regrow bones.
Tommy pulled back once he’d had the bone, one of the ones in the pinky, and shuddered away as The Blade flinched. His pinky hadn’t been able to support itself, and had fallen limp towards the back of his hand.
Tommy watched as The Blade turned his hand, so the finger fell towards his palm instead of the back of his hand. And Tommy watched as The Blade’s pinky slowly started perking back up, like the bone was regrowing. It didn’t take long to happen, and even The Blade seemed interested as the two of them watched the bone regrow.
Tommy’s grip on the pinky bone he’d taken loosened, in curiosity.
“I think they have their answer.” The Blade answered quietly. Tommy still had to take another shocking for taking as long as he had; but it was worth it for the small hug that he’d gotten from The Blade.
Tommy hadn’t been as scared the second time he’d been forced into the cage with The Blade, this time just because they didn’t have a use for him, and his own had been destroyed when they’d brought in an avian and a phantom duo to see if they could make Tommy better.
Instead, he’d curled up as Techno read a book, not going near the other but listening when Techno had started to read out loud. Tommy had never seen a book before, he didn’t know how to read. He’d fallen asleep part way through the book, curled up in the corner.
He would wake up leaning against The Blade’s side as the Piglin Hybrid growled at the doorway, where a scientist stood with a gun and a warning.
The ensuing fight had scared Tommy more than anything else he’d ever experienced. With Techno killing nearly six scientists before Tommy’s cries had broken through whatever haze had overtaken The Blade.
Tommy didn’t see him for nearly a year after that.
“Theseus, where did your head go?” Tommy blinked, looking over and spotting Blinkstorm, one of the heroes that had saved him nearly two years ago. Tommy nodded, pushing himself back off of the floor. He’d been knocked down and it must have knocked some memories loose, ones he’d nearly forgotten about. He’d gotten distracted.
“Yeah, yeah, uh, sorry.” Tommy winced. Blinkstorm didn’t like it when Tommy stuttered, or stumbled over his words. Blinkstorm gave him a hard look, and Tommy bowed his head slightly. “Sorry.”
“Let’s get back to work.” Tommy nodded quickly, following after him. Blinkstorm was already upset with him, hesitating or dilly dallying would only upset Blinkstorm even more. He was behind the other recruits already, or at least that’s what Blinkstorm had said.
Tommy had never seen a single other recruit in the year and a half that he’d been training with Blinkstorm. He never even heard of another single recruit, never heard of other heroes needing the training room, even. Though he’d seen nearly a hundred heroes around the tower.
He also hadn’t gotten to see Techno recently, which upset him a little. But he needed to get better, get more control, get stronger so that he doesn’t need three or four heroes at his side when fighting bigger villains.
He wanted to get stronger so he could protect Techno, like Techno protected him.
Tommy got into position, getting ready for another sparring session.
Tommy groaned, forcing his eyes open and looking around in confusion. There was the sound of fighting going on somewhere. Tommy groaned again, pushing himself up and looking around, trying to gather his bearings.
People were shouting and running just outside his room. There was the sound of an explosion and Tommy pushed himself out of bed, stumbling to run to the door. Were they under attack? Why wouldn’t anyone make sure that he was on his way to help? He couldn’t be hurt by fire, and falling debris couldn’t hurt him or whoever he was touching. Why wouldn’t they come wake him up to help?
Tommy got to the door, hand on the handle and he pulled… and pulled… and pulled… Tommy’s door was locked.
Tommy’s breathing picked up, and he started pounding on the door in an attempt to get someone’s attention. The blue lights in his room made it so that he couldn’t use his hybrid traits, leaving him trapped in a locked room while they were under attack.
“Let me out!” Tommy shouted, pounding on his door harder. He wasn’t strong, he never had been. He was fast, he was clever, he was built for stealth despite his loud personality. Tommy didn’t like being trapped, hated it in fact. “I can help! Let me out!” Tommy shouted, his voice cracking in his panic.
“Theseus!” Tommy felt himself relax, hearing Techno’s voice. It had been nearly three months since the last time he got to see Techno.
“Tech! Techno!” Tommy shouted, pounding on his door again. “I can’t get out!” Tommy felt his eyes begin burning as his breathing hitched. “I can’t-I can’t get out!” Tommy hit the door again, coughing slightly.
Tommy looked around in confusion as he started smelling something burning. It took severla moments to realize that there was smoke filling in his room.
“Tech-Tec-Techno!” Tommy hit the door harder. “I-,” Tommy started coughing again. “I can’t breathe.”
“Thes, Theseus, back up. Get away from the door.” Techno’s voice sounded so close. Tommy couched harder, but he dutifully backed up back towards his bed, covering his mouth with the top of his shirt and crouching down.
His door shook once, twice, three times before it broke open and there was Techno. His eyes locked on Techno, who’s eyes were blood red, nearly entirely as he looked around for Tommy. They landed on him, and Tommy moved forward towards Techno.
“Come on Theseus, come on, we gotta go, we-” Techno managed to turn and stop a literal sword from piercing his back with his hands. Tommy’s eyes widened as he stared at WhirlWind and Armoury. They were heroes, and… and…
“They’re taking Him! They are trying to get away with Phoenix!” Tommy blinked in confusion, even as Techno grabbed his hand and started pulling him along. Tommy stumbled, his breathing becoming uneven as they got lower in the building, closer towards the door and away from where people needed help. There were civilians in the building, Tommy knew, and he had the urge to turn, leave Techno to run and to go help the innocent civilians that were near the top of the building.
“Tech-Techno!” Tommy shouted, trying to get Techno’s attention. Techno had turned his head towards Tommy. “Civilians!” Tommy tried to convey what he wanted to do, but Techno didn’t seem to understand. “There’s civilians at the top of the tower!” Techno and Tommy were near the bottom of the tower, one more floor between them and the lobby and the outside.
“They aren’t our problem, Theseus, we need to leave.” Techno responded. Tommy’s eyes widened, and he tried to pull away, tried to yank his arm away from Techno, but he was unable.
He was also unable to phase through the other.
“Tech-?” Tommy was confused. He was scared. His eyes were wide, they were wet and watery from the smoke, and Tommy didn’t understand anything that was going on.
“Come on, we’re leaving this place.” Techno wasn’t going to take any arguments, and that was something Tommy had known for years. Tommy was forced to follow Techno out the door of the lobby, still feeling confused as to why Techno was against helping the civilians, and why two heroes had tried to kill Techno.
Tommy felt horrified. They’d gone to a villain to hide out from the heroes. Tommy also felt betrayed. Techno had a charm that could cancel hybrid traits, and had used it on Tommy to get him out of the hero tower.
He was given a room in the villains base, specifically in Angel’s base. Angel was a winged villain with midnight black wings and crows that were perched everywhere. His wife was also a villain, though the heroes didn’t know her villain name, she was too unknown to even be given a temporary one.
And Techno was a villain too.
That was probably the part that hurt Tommy the most.
Techno was a villain too. He was The Blood God. It probably scared Tommy a lot more than anything Techno had ever done before, and Tommy had watched Techno kill scientists that had tried to separate Tommy from him.
That had been instinct. Killing four heroes for helping civilians had been for fun.
Tommy had seen the videos, had read the files, had even done tests on villains. But he couldn’t connect his protector with the videos. He couldn’t connect The Blade with The Blood God. It was nearly impossible to do so. But they both had long pink hair, and had the same build…
Tommy was curled up in the corner of the room he’d been given to stay in. The room had led very thinly placed within the walls, supposedly to keep another villain out, but Tommy wasn’t quite sure he believed that.
He’d cried himself out nearly an hour ago, and thrown up twice in the bathroom from how hard he’d cried. He felt betrayed, he felt hurt, and he was confused.
He ignored Techno trying to talk to him, ignored that Techno was trying to explain everything to him. He had the strongest feeling that if he were to let Techno in, that he would hate his protector. He had the fear that they would fight, voices raised or fights thrown.
He had the fear that he would understand.
Tommy was correct that the two of them would fight, had Tommy let him in. Their voices had been raised, and Tommy had cried.
Tommy had flinched when Techno had reached out to comfort him like he had nearly a thousand times. Tommy didn’t know what hurt more; The fear of Techno that came out of nowhere, or Techno flinching back with hurt and pain in his eyes.
Tommy didn’t know which he would have preferred.
“They saved us!” Tommy had tried to scream, but his voice had failed him. He didn’t even get his voice raised above talking, and it cracked as tears started to fall. He hated fighting, of any kind. He didn’t want to fight, and he most definitely didn’t want to fight with Techno of all people.
But how could Angel, a villain, be anything but evil? By definition, Heroes were good and Villains were evil.
“No, they used us.” Techno responded, his voice even as he took a single step forward. “They used you.” Tommy’s heart dropped, his eyes widening as he shuddered. It was an instinctual reaction as his mind flashed to every time he was forced to do something he didn’t want to.
It started when he was young; with the kitsune girl and the wolf boy, to taking a bone from Techno… to every time that Blinkstorm had gotten mad that Tommy didn’t want to do something. Every time a petty thief was taken into cells below the hero tower.
Every single one had been one that he’d brought in.
Tommy never saw them again.
“No…” Tommy uttered, the silence had grown too uncomfortable for Tommy to handle. He took a step back from Techno, shuddering again, even when Techno crouched and took out a picture from his pocket.
“Come here.” Techno uttered quietly, one hand raised towards him the same way as when Tommy was thirteen, shaking and shivering after getting sick for the first time after the heroes saved them. Didn’t save them? How did that work when they were taken from the rings by the heroes, and taken from the heroes by the villains?
Tommy was shaking as he approached Techno, the only one to never truly hurt him. Scare him? Sure, Techno had scared Tommy plenty. But Techno had never hurt him.
Techno wrapped an arm around Tommy when Tommy curled into Techno, hiding against him and refusing to look at the picture that Techno was trying to show him. He felt like he was twelve again, sitting on Techno’s knee while the other bandaged his forearm after the scientists had gotten a little carried away and Tommy couldn’t heal. He’d been starving for nearly a week by then, and Techno had shared his food and used his own bandaging supplies to wrap Tommy’s arm and take care of him.
“Look, Theseus.” Tommy swallowed before turning his head to look at the picture. It was of Angel and his wife, who was holding a small bundle with love. It was obvious that they were in love, that they loved the baby in their arms. “Look at his wings.” Techno uttered, and Tommy noticed that the red… had not been a blanket like he’d first thought, instead it was wings.
Bright red wings with a white star on the back of both of them.
“Angel learned that the ring was connected to the hero tower, that we were never saved. They just had no more experiments to use on you, wanted you to worship heroes for saving us. For saving you.” Techno uttered quietly, even as Tommy’s breath hitched and he’d started to cry.
“We were never saved. They were just hurting you, using you, to hurt your father and mother.” Techno explained. Tommy turned his head against Techno’s shoulder as his wings twitched, as if to wrap around him but they couldn’t because he was leaning against Techno.
“I took this picture when you were a year and a half old.” Techno murmured, knowing that Tommy probably wasn’t listening almost at all. “You were taken nearly three months later.”
Tommy didn’t give him an answer.