Irony, at its deepest.

      Or, the last time you will allow yourself to shed so many tears.

Tommy felt twigs snap beneath his feet as he trudged through the dark forest. His breath quickened in fear as he heard groans of zombies and skeleton bones rattling, but he kept on charging ahead.

"Tommy?"

Tommy whipped around in fear, drawing his sword. Eret stood before him, his eyes wide. Tommy stumbled back, holding his sword in front of him shakily.

"S-Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

Eret raised his hands up slowly, trying to show that he wasn't looking for a fight. "Tommy, I can provide you sanctuary, I can help you-"

"How dare you."

Tommy's voice was cold, his knuckles white on the hilt of his sword. His face darkened as he looked up in anger.

"HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!"

Tommy was filled with rage. His eyes burned liked lasers as he glared at Eret, who was frozen in shock.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING IRONIC THAT IS?"

Eret opened and closed like a fish. Tommy was so angry. He thought that he had forgiven Eret. He wanted to forget the pain he had caused, how he broke Tubbo's heart. He blamed it on human mistakes, moving on to a better future with his friends.

But that Tommy was gone. That Tommy believed that everyone had flaws, and nobody was truly evil. But that Tommy had been broken.

And this Tommy was angry.

"Tommy, I want to help. I know I've done some things in the past-"

"SOME THINGS?" Tommy was practically shaking with anger at this point. "SOME THINGS? YOU CALL BETRAYING YOUR FRIENDS, THE PEOPLE THAT TRUSTED YOU, TREATED YOU LIKE FAMILY, SOME THINGS?"

"There isn't a day where I haven't felt regret, ok?" Eret's brown eyes were filled with guilt, his sunglasses tilted up in his hair as he reached out to Tommy sympathetically. "I understand your pain, Tommy-"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND SHIT!" Tommy's voice cracked with sadness. "MY BEST FRIEND IS TRYING TO KILL ME, AND YOU SAY YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Tommy, I'm only trying to help-"

"I don't want your help." Tommy turned away angrily, his fists clenched tightly.

"I can't trust a traitor ."

Eret watched as Tommy stalked off into the night, sword hanging limply at his side.

Traitor.

Guilt pooled into a pit in his stomach. He wished he could rewind time, change the past. He wished he could just rewrite his story.

But the ink had already dried on the pages.

The only thing he could do was start a new chapter.

A new chapter was beginning for Eret.

And he swore that he would stop at nothing to do what was right.

---

Tubbo felt like he couldn't breathe.

His knees were tucked up to his chest as he tried to force shaky breaths out to no avail. Streams of tears ran down his face as he leaned against the hard black concrete of Elton John's house.

Breathe, Tubbo, breathe.

Tubbo let out another shaky sob as he heard Tommy's voice in his head.

Tommy, who was now exiled.

It's all your fault.

Tommy's crystal blue eyes filled with sadness flashed through his mind again.

I trusted you.

Tubbo burst into tears again, sobbing into his knees. He wanted to help Tommy. But he was so scared. He was too scared to save his best friend.

I'm such a coward.

His vision was blurry as he tapped his communicator once again. Every few seconds he would check desperately for a message, for any sign from Tommy. But his texts were left unanswered. The only thing he could do was hope he was somewhere safe.

His finger paused above the keyboard before he typed out another text, adding to the already long list.

I'm sorry.

"TUBBO!"

Tubbo froze with fear at the sound of JSclatt's voice.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

Tubbo hastily wiped away his tears, standing up shakily in the doorway.

"R-right here, sir."

"Ah, Tubbo, there you are!" JSchlatt clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I have something important to announce. Come with me to the podium."

"The p-podium?" Tubbo looked up at him with bewilderment. "You want me- on the podium?"

"Of course! You're important. " JSchlatt's words dripped with honey.

"I-I am?"

"And you're smart too, Tubbo. Very smart." He looked down at Tubbo's shocked face.

"Has nobody told you that before?" Tubbo shook his head slightly, looking down. JSchlatt shook his head in overexaggerated disgust.

"They made a grave mistake by not recognizing your great potential, Tubbo. But I'm here now. You won't ever be forgotten again. All I ask of you is to be loyal." JSchlatt looked Tubbo in the eye, clenching his shoulders. "Can you do that for me?"

"Y-yes, sir." Tubbo felt jittery and on edge, but at the same time his heart fluttered with pride. No one had ever called him smart before.

He remembered when he had made his bee farm. He was so proud of it, and displayed it to Tommy proudly, expecting him to gaze at it in amazement.

But instead, Tommy just shrugged.

It's just bees, Tubbo. What's so special about them?

He didn't know what he expected, really.

A "good job" would've been nice.

"Come along, Tubbo. We have citizens to address." Tubbo shuffled alongside JSchlatt, pushing aside his bitter thoughts.

I'm so naive.

It's not naive to want to feel good, Tubbo.

Tubbo glanced over at Schlatt, who was testing the microphone with his finger. He suddenly threw it on the ground in rage, causing Quackity, George, and Tubbo to stumble back in shock.

"TUBBO!" JSchatt's voice boomed angrily, causing Tubbo to flinch. "GET ME A NEW MICROPHONE!"

Tubbo's eyes flashed with hurt. Schlatt was just complimenting him a second ago, but now he was screaming at him. How had his mood changed so quickly?

"NOW!"

Tubbo dug around his inventory, thrusting a spare microphone out quickly. JSchlatt snatched it away violently, eyeing Tubbo with a look of contempt.

"Geez, Tubbo, you can be so dumb sometimes."

Tubbo heard Quackity snicker as he bit his lip, staring at his shoes with embarrassment. He felt tears of indignation prick the corners of his eyes.

"Citizens of L'Manburg!"

Schlatt's voice took its warm tone again as he gazed out over the crowd.

"We are beginning a new chapter, a new page in the textbook that children will be reading until the end of time."

Quackity let out an excited cheer before Schlatt shot him a look, and he slunk back into the shadows.

"I reckon we need to expand!"

Tubbo's head whipped up, eyes widening.

"I reckon we've done our country a great disservice."

"I reckon-"

"We tear down the walls."

---

Tommy was so cold.

He shivered in the stale cave air, shifting closer into Wilbur. Silence rang across the dark ravine. Wilbur's arm tightened around Tommy's shoulders as they stared into the nothingness, unable to say anything. Tommy's broken communicator was taken off, its shattered glass laying on the stone floor next to them.

Tommy was suddenly reminded of his obsidian bunker, cuddled together with Fundy, Tubbo and Wilbur for warmth. He remembered Wilbur's cracked voice leading them into a hopeful chorus. He closed his eyes, almost feeling Tubbo's head in his lap, Fundy's softly snoring on his right.

When he opened them again, he was jolted back into the harsh reality. It was just Wilbur and him, in a cold ravine with no hope. Alone.

They were alone.

Something broke within Tommy, and he burst into tears. He tried to stop, to not let Wilbur see, but he couldn't stop the pure pain and sadness gushing out of him. Wilbur wrapped his other arm around him, letting him sob into his white button-up shirt. Tommy hiccuped, choking out sob after sob.

"W-what did I do wrong, Will?" Wilbur felt his heart clench at the sadness in Tommy's voice. "Why-why did he betray us?"

Wilbur didn't respond, feeling tears come to his eyes as he stroked Tommy's hair calmingly as he sobbed into his chest. A single tear trickled down his cheek like a drop of moonlight.

The cold stones echoed Tommy's cries. Wilbur felt a wave of sadness crash into him, making his heart drop in his chest.

Fundy. Fundy betrayed him. That hurt more than being exiled or losing the election.

He was like a son to him. He would've given the world to him if he asked. But Fundy threw that away in the heartbeat, like Eret.

Are all people really this selfish?

Wilbur looked down at Tommy, broken and sobbing into his chest. Tommy couldn't take another betrayal. He swore that Tommy would never have to feel this way for the rest of his life.

He swore that he wouldn't let anyone into his heart again.

And he shoved Tommy's communicator off the ledge with his boot and watched it fall into nothingness.