"If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present."
― Roy T. Bennett

The photographer starts packing up his equipment, talking to Philza about when they could expect the photographs to be printed and sent out. Sneeg hangs off Philza's shoulder, poking the man's cheek as he tries to have a serious conversation. In the corner, Wilbur has brought out a deck of cards. He had been intending to play solitaire, but Tubbo and Ranboo hurried over to demand a game for more people. Once Wilbur started handing out cards, Puffy, Sam, and Hannah plopped down to join the game. Techno, Niki, and Jack were standing beside the edge of the roof, talking with rather serious expressions and gesturing to different parts of the city. Fundy is lying in Eret's lap in one of the pool chairs, letting the hero play with his hair and fox ears as he talks. Tommy watches them all from his corner with a soft smile on his face. All of these people are his family. Some were with him in the past and others he found along the way, but Tommy has little doubt that every single one of them is someone he will continue to hold precious in his heart.

There are other people Tommy considers part of his extended family. He has a kinship with Pearl that somehow ropes in her two brothers. Sparrow seemed unlikely, but his solid advice and willingness to help proved that he was someone Tommy could rely on. Tempestarius will always stand above them all as someone who believed in Tommy and saw good in him when Tommy thought he had killed it all. Croupier and the other Aces- besides Fundy- are part of Tommy's family, too. Croupier himself and Charlie most of all since they provided Tommy with love and warmth when he thought no one else would.

"Tommy? Do you mind talking with me in private for a moment?" Jordan asks, standing beside Tommy. Jordan leans closer, brushing his shoulder with Tommy's. As Tommy looks up, he sees a steady and soft smile on Jordan's face as he watches the people that he must also consider his family. Tommy has a feeling he's part of that family, too, and he has been since he was given to Red Dragon as an apprentice alongside the bright-eyed Sleepy. After the horrors of the Hunters, it was Jordan and Olive that prepared Tommy's heart for the playing cards of Las Nevadas and later the Syndicate. Tommy might have been angry with Red Dragon for being a spy and Sleepy for joining the Herons gang in Empires, but he could never stay angry at Jordan and Olive.

"Yeah, what's up, big man?" Tommy asks, giving Jordan his entire attention. Jordan turns away from Tommy, heading towards the door that leads to the level beneath the roof. Jordan opens the door without hesitation, slipping into the darkness inside. Tommy frowns slightly. When Jordan asked to talk in private, Tommy didn't think he meant in a completely different place from the others. Tommy squares his shoulders, preparing himself for what Jordan might have to say to him. Tommy looks out across his family one last time, making sure that none of them are missing him specifically. When he doesn't notice any eyes on him, Tommy follows Jordan into the building.

The door slamming shut echoes in the stairwell. Tommy's footsteps down the stairs also echo with a less metallic but no less heavy noise. Tommy gets down one flight of stairs. Jordan is waiting beside the door that leads to the higher floor of the building. Jordan wears a tense smile on his face, looking past Tommy at the door behind the blonde. Tommy passes a glance behind him, but all he can see are white-painted cinder blocks that make up the outer walls of the stairwell.

When Tommy stands in front of Jordan, the hero finally looks into Tommy's eyes. Unabashedly naked delight in his eyes. Jordan raises his hands, setting them both on Tommy's shoulders. He smiles brightly at Tommy, nothing but happiness expressed in his simple motions. "I'm so proud of you, Tommy. I've always been, of course, but you've acknowledged your past, started coming to terms with it, and are moving on in the healthiest way you can."

Tommy flounders, his cheeks bursting with a scarlet color. Red Dragon never skimped on the compliments when Tommy was an apprentice under him, but all of those compliments were for Vendetta and he usually developed those skills from his time with the Hunters. Tommy was able to brush off everything Red Dragon said back then. Tommy is unable to do that now because this is Jordan complimenting Tommy. The masks they used to protect themselves but also guard their hearts are down, and Tommy is faced with Jordan's pride head-on. Tommy doesn't know what to do with that, so he says, "That's a little much, big man-"

"No, it isn't," Jordan interrupts with a soft voice. His eyes grow a little more somber, and Tommy suddenly remembers how Jordan looked at both him and Sleepy when they would do something that wasn't quite mentally healthy. "You and Sleepy were part of the Hero's Guild for about a week before you were assigned to me. I got to see you both at the very beginning of your journey. I got to know you two at your start, and I have to be honest, you both terrified me. I was scared that one of you would break down in a way that I couldn't fix or go so far that I would never be able to find you again. You both seemed to get better, but I went back to square one when Sleepy left. I kept tabs on both of you for this reason. I watched you sink lower and lower into your misery without being able to do anything to stop it. All I wanted was for you and Olive, my first and only students, to be happy. Olive found their path, and I'm glad you were able to finally find yours."

"I'm proud of you, too," Another voice pops up. There is a dull echoing noise in the stairwell as lighter footsteps climb up the stairs, but Tommy didn't notice them while listening to Jordan's words. Now, he's turning over his shoulder to find Olive turning to stand on the stairwell's landing between this floor and the one underneath it. Olive continues climbing up the stairs to reach Tommy and Jordan, a polite smile on their face as they finish their march. Their cheeks flush with exertion, but they don't seem out of breath as they turn to Tommy, looking right into his eyes. "I'm serious. I'm really proud of you for coming this far."

"It's good to see you again," Tommy tells them with a quiet smile coming to his face. Olive always seems to appear in his life without him knowing why. They are a welcome addition, obviously, but Tommy sometimes wonders if Olive has a secondary power that allows them to know the weirdest but arguably most beneficial times to suddenly appear in Tommy's life. "I didn't expect you to compliment me, but hey, I have been warned that life was fucking weird."

"We really are proud of you," Jordan declares, his voice firm and his eyes glowing with a touch of guilt. Tommy looks between Jordan and Olive. The latter seems a touch uncomfortable. Jordan releases one of Tommy's shoulders but keeps his other hand attached to the other one, squeezing gently. "But we do have a small matter to attend to."

"While you were on your health retreat, the heroes have been working to capture Crimson. The other members of the Cult of Erythr were caught, administered the antidote, and released. Crimson is the last one they haven't caught," Olive describes, their words rehearsed enough that Tommy is certain they heard it from Jordan first. Tommy is the last one to know out of the three of them. Not that it matters, as Tommy reminds both of them that he isn't a hero anymore.

"I agree with your decisions on that front. I believe it is for the best that you stay unaffiliated with the heroes for the time being... other than me," Jordan nods, the pride returning to the forefront of his eyes.

Olive speaks immediately after Jordan finishes as if waiting for him to get finished. "Jordan and I believe that Crimson is inside your mind."

"What the fuck? How is that possible?" Tommy asks, putting his hands on the side of his head. He searches his brain for some trace of Crimson. He doesn't find anything. The villain's voice hasn't grated against Tommy's ears since the night he discovered that his family were alive and that Azrael was both Philza and Crowfather. Tommy put both Crimson and the Cult of Erythr behind him that night, too busy focusing on his own problems.

"The heroes found Crimson's body. While he is alive, there is absolutely no brain activity," Jordan describes in a hushed voice, looking around like there are people eavesdropping on a random set of three people in a stairwell.

"I am sure that Crimson left a part of himself in Tommy's mind. It did feel like you kicked us a little too easily," Olive describes, reaching forward to tap their index finger against Tommy's forehead. Tommy looks up, meeting Olive's eyes. Olive is referring to the moment Tommy was just thinking about. Crimson infiltrated his mind, and Tommy had to force him out. Sleepy was the one to save him that time, and it seems like Sleepy will save him again. "Crimson is hiding, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Everyone assumes that your resistance to mind control was due to your stubborn goals. Crimson is waiting for you to fully accept that your family doesn't need to be avenged. When you do, he will destroy everything you stand for and want to protect using your body to do it. That's why I'm here. I'm going to enter your mind, find Crimson, and defeat him once and for all."

"You have to let me help. I want this fucker out of my mind now," Tommy demands, pulling away from Jordan's hand to step towards Olive. Tommy has just gotten both his family and his happiness back. He doesn't want some red-obsessed freak to ruin everything for Tommy again. He is going to protect his family this time, no matter what it costs him.

"You're going to have to help me," Olive notes, a wry smile appearing on their face.

"I've agreed to watch over your bodies since I know all the signs about Olive's powers," Jordan adds, reintroducing himself into the harsh stare between Tommy and Olive. Since he was their instructor, Jordan knows almost everything about their powers. He doesn't know so much about Tommy's powers now that his powers have forcibly upgraded from additional trauma, but Olive's powers must have been the same as they once were. Even if they aren't, the signs should still be the same.

Jordan turns away from them. He opens the door to the floor. He steps through, holding the door open for Olive and Tommy. The two dart inside, but they wait for Jordan to lead them down the hall. Tommy looks around the wooden walls underneath warm lighting, a stark contrast to the white-and-gray stairwell under a pale yellow light. Tommy even notices a few homely landscape paintings hung on the walls. Tommy smiles at a painting of a waterfall as he hears a door opening. He looks away from the painting, seeing Jordan holding another door open. Olive is already through, so Tommy rushes over.

Jordan brought Olive and Tommy to what looks like a hotel room with a desk, a television mounted on the walls, a minifridge underneath a microwave, and a bed centered against one of the walls. Tommy jumps onto the bed, falling into a lying position as he rolls to the very edge. He kicks his shoes off as he shakes his shoulders, kneading his body into the soft mattress. He hears Jordan laugh at him, and Tommy finds himself matching Olive's amused grin. Tommy looks into their eyes, asking, "Do you remember how many times we've gone into my mind while we were apprentices?"

There were two reasons why they went into Tommy's head. The first was because of Tommy's nightmares. Not only were they keeping Tommy from reaching his full potential during the day, but they were also starting to affect Olive's sleep schedule. The other reason was to test out the dream-sharing aspect of Olive's powers. They didn't get to practice with that side in their daily training, so while they were resting at night, Olive would test out their abilities. Tommy was simply the easy person to do the practicing on, and it solved their other problem of Tommy's screams waking them both up at random periods in the night. It was how the two of them became so close, and why Olive's betrayal hurt so much.

"I do remember," Olive murmurs quietly, more to themselves than to Tommy. They sit on the bed beside Tommy. They kick their legs over, getting comfortable against one of the pillows. They lift a hand up, putting it over Tommy's eyes. Tommy manually closes his eyes, but the spell of sleep falls over him due to Olive's powers. Tommy is out in a matter of seconds, dragged all the way to REM sleep where his dreams come into fruition.

When Tommy opens his eyes, he's standing in the middle of a warehouse. The walls are dark gray metal. The catwalks above ahead drip water into puddles along the edge of the warehouse. Sunlight filters through dirty windows high above, creating a brown-yellow filter across everything. An assortment of dirty mattresses, some of them pulled apart to reveal the springs, are pushed together in one corner. A collection of torn books missing a few pages and broken along the spine are stacked on top of one another beside the mattresses. A couple of toys with chipped pieces and faded colors are huddled around a soggy cardboard box. It is the warehouse of Tommy's childhood, the one that no longer stands anymore. It was the backdrop of Reaper's hallucination and the heart of his mind when Crimson first came.

Tommy feels tears prick his eyes. He will never be able to come back here. This place is dirty and broken beyond repair. It is barely a shelter, and it definitely isn't any sort of stronghold. Despite this, Tommy was able to spend his nights with his family in this warehouse. It lacked everything except for love. Even on the coldest nights, there was a subtle warmth that filled the entire place as Tommy felt the affection of his family inside his very soul. This place is gone, and while Tommy does have new places that fill similar roles, nothing will ever quite capture the specialness of this place.

"This place hasn't changed," Olive declares. They stand in front of Tommy, their back towards him. They look around, attention entirely captured by the different elements of this place. Tommy wonders how Olive looks at this place. Without any of the associated memories, this place might look like a dump. Even Tommy calls it a dump, and he's looking through rose-tinted glasses.

"Why would it?" Tommy asks, reaching up to wipe away his tears before they fall across his cheeks. This definitely isn't the time to be getting nostalgic.

"You've had a shift in mental state recently. I was expecting your mind to reflect this," Olive describes with a shrug, gesturing around. They finally turn towards Tommy, and he suspects they were giving him a  moment to sort out his emotions without them watching.

Tommy doesn't know much about the mind, and especially not about his own, but he decides against bringing this fact up. He doesn't want Olive to chew him out for not paying attention during their lessons back when they were apprentices. In fact, Tommy asks, "Where would Crimson be?" to steer the conversation away from how the mind works just in case.

"I don't know for sure. We should start looking around the warehouse. Even if we don't find Crimson, we might be able to find a trail leading right to him," Olive explains. They start walking over to the toys. Tommy goes in the opposite direction, stepping over the mattresses. His feet begin to sink, and Tommy remembers how realistic dreams become under the influence of Olive's power. He really feels like he's standing in his childhood home.

Tommy continues walking. He kicks at the blankets, trying to see if Crimson is hiding under them. Tommy gets to the other side of the mass of mattresses without finding him. Tommy steps off the last one, looking around at the walls. He follows the walls to a corner, and turns to go down the next wall. Tommy stops when he does find something between the wall and a stack of large boxes left behind by whoever owned the warehouse before Tommy's family moved in. Tommy takes a few more steps forward, but the figure doesn't have red hair like Crimson did. Instead, they have short brown hair. Tommy's eyes widen as he recognizes his older brother, Wilbur. Tommy asks, "Wilbur? What the fuck are you doing here?"

Wilbur looks over his shoulder at Tommy. He rises to his feet, turning around with a flourish of his hands. He is smiling ear-to-ear, but there is something sinister in his brown eyes that makes Tommy flinch back. Goosebumps appear down his arms. He has never been scared of his brother, not even in his nightmares, so why does Tommy have the urge to run as far away as he can?

Wilbur laughs with cruelty and irony braided together in his voice. "Do I really need to remind you, Tommy? You were the one to leave me behind even when you told me you were going to stay."

Tommy realizes what Wilbur's talking about after a moment of silence. When Crimson first came to Tommy's mind, there was a version of Wilbur there that was making Tommy's favorite food for breakfast. That Wilbur asked Tommy to stay with him, but after Tommy agreed to do that, Wilbur whispered cruel words in Tommy's ears. Tommy ran away from that Wilbur even though he did agree to stay.

"It doesn't matter. I told you that you wouldn't be able to escape me and look at us now," Wilbur declares, a touch of laughter around the edges of his voice. He stalks forward. Tommy has the instinct to run, but he remains frozen in place. Wilbur drops his hands onto Tommy's shoulders, squeezing tight enough that Tommy feels pain tremble down his arms. Wilbur's smile is a little too calm and mean for Tommy's liking as he stares directly into Tommy's eyes. He says with a completely neutral tone, "I'm going to be the one to kill you this time."

Those words are enough to get Tommy to start pulling away, remembering that he needs to get away. Wilbur's grip grows harsher, and he pulls Tommy closer. He is a few inches away from Tommy's face, glaring down into Tommy's eyes with an angry expression. "Why are you always running? Why won't you ever stay to face the consequences of your actions?"

"Shut up!" Olive shouts as they rush over from their side of the warehouse.

Wilbur scoffs, looking between Olive and Tommy with a harsher expression than before. "Why did you replace your family with this cheap, worthless imitation?"

"Hey-" Tommy starts, ready to defend Olive even when Wilbur's cold eyes stop Tommy's heart with a single look.

"I wouldn't," Wilbur cuts Tommy off with a warning tone in his voice. "The minute you acknowledge this imitation as your family, they'll die, too."

"The real Wilbur isn't dead," Olive clarifies, getting as close as they dare. If they get any closer, Wilbur is liable to become violent. He has his hands on Tommy's shoulders, and Wilbur's eyes show how volatile he is. At any moment, he could start hurting Tommy physically. Considering Tommy can't even run away from Wilbur, he would take every punch with little fanfare and even less grace. Despite not getting closer, though, Olive continues speaking, "The real Wilbur wouldn't say any of this, either."

"How would you know? We have never met each other," Wilbur glares at Olive. Tommy met Olive five years after Wilbur was presumed dead. Even now that Wilbur is alive again in Tommy's life, he hasn't interacted with Olive much. As far as Tommy is concerned, he didn't think Olive and Wilbur would ever meet regardless of how important they both are to Tommy.

"You're right. I have never met Wilbur. But I have met Tommy. I have gotten to know him. I've listened to Tommy talk about his family for years. I might now know Wilbur personally, but I know he isn't as cruel as Crimson is making him out to be," Olive declares, glaring at Wilbur. Their last comment is issued to Tommy, and their eyes grow softer when they look at Tommy, pleading with him to realize that the figure in front of him only looks like Wilbur.

Tommy is finally able to pull away from Wilbur's cruel grip, taking a few steps back. He keeps his eyes on Wilbur as he asks Olive, "Why does Crimson look like Wilbur?"

Sleepy shakes their head. "Crimson has attached his consciousness to your guilt and loneliness, Tommy. Wilbur is only the form your negative emotions have taken. You need to let off these emotions to banish Crimson from your mind."

"Why?" Wilbur asks, crossing his arms behind his back. He looks halfway to amusement as he stares between Olive and Tommy, landing on the latter. "Your actions have caused your family so much misery. Even now, you are ruining their lives. They moved on, but you clung like a fucking parasite. Your family is going to resent you. That resentment will turn into hate, and you will lose your family all over again. Are you really strong enough to face that?"

"You have to stand up for yourself," Olive tells Tommy, conviction in their voice. Despite this, Tommy doesn't know what to say. Wilbur is right. Tommy has caused his family a lot of misery, and he's only piling on more pain. If they do end up resenting and hating him, Tommy won't ever be able to recover.

Olive tackles Tommy to the ground. As the two of them roll across the concrete floor, a red vine rips through the earth to strike the place where Tommy was just standing. When they stop running, Olive jumps to their feet. Their clothes transform into the outfit Sleepy wears, complete with a mask and the bandages around their hands. Sleepy stands in front of Tommy, raising their palms in a defensive position to protect Tommy. Sleepy looks over their shoulder at Tommy, who continues to lie on the ground. "Think, Tommy. Would your family actually resent you?"

"They might already," Wilbur yells, red cracks starting to appear around his skin. He swings his hands around, and red vines begin to break through the concrete underneath his feet. The vines whip at the ground, creating new cracks for more vines to break through. "Vendetta has caused them so many problems, wasted so much of their time. If they dislike Vendetta that much, what would they think of you, Tommy, the weakest parts of Vendetta?"

Tommy sits up, but he isn't able to rise up any further than that. He can see Sleepy fighting the red vines, distracting their attention away from Tommy's body. Tommy knows that he should help Sleepy, but he can't bring himself to move. What if Wilbur is right? Tommy is arguably all the weakest parts of Vendetta since Vendetta was Tommy's shield against the world. When Vendetta is stripped away, Tommy is nothing but a weak, little boy struggling to find happiness. Even more than that, Wilbur has hit the nail on the head. Tommy's greatest fear is that his family will resent him. He has always been scared of this no matter who his 'family' at the time was. Even as a little kid, he was terrified that Wilbur would come to hate him because Wilbur was forced to take care of Tommy when he was a kid himself and then had to take a whiny brat with him when they ran away from their parents. Tommy can't stand the thought that his family will come to hate him. They will choose to abandon him then, an arguably worse fate than simply having them die since death is an actual barrier keeping them apart. If they abandon Tommy, that would be of their own violation. Tommy would be alone knowing they were out there, hating him when he still loved them more than he loves himself.

As Tommy's thoughts darken, he hears Wilbur's cruel laughter echoing throughout the entire warehouse. Tommy looks up, tracing the source of his amusement to Sleepy's body being held up by red vines around their waist and arms. One wraps around their throat, slowly getting tighter. Sleepy coughs, choking on their breath. Sleepy continues to fight against the red vines, but Tommy's emotions have given Wilbur the advantage. Sleepy isn't able to do anything. Sleepy ends up muttering, "Damnit, I need to leave."

While Tommy doesn't remember much from their lessons, he does remember what dying in a dream does. It will put Sleepy into a coma that could last weeks. Sleepy needs to leave now. Instead of immediately disappearing, however, Sleepy manages to pull their arms out of the vines. They put their hands against their lips, and blow something off their palm. They disappear as a purple pansy begins to fall through the air. Tommy lifts his hands up, catching the flower as the red vines slither back to the ground. They start to target Tommy, but he stares down at the flower in his palms. The purple petals are soft against his skin, and they remind him of a time when he was hanging out in Sleepy's mental gardens. They taught him about flowers- which he taught to Monochrome/Ranboo- and pansies mean remembrance and empathy. Sleepy also told Tommy to remember his family.

"Vendetta, I can't say I know your family. But I do know that if they loved you even a fraction of how much you love them, they wouldn't want you to be hurt. They would want you to live your life to the fullest,"Argonaut had told him once, lying side by side as they enjoyed each other's company. She would smile at Tommy and reach out a hand to him whenever he needed it. She held him close one day, reminding him, "No, Tommy. You were, are, and will always be Tubbo's brother. You aren't going to mess anything up,"

"Remember that you're part of my legacy. There's the Aces and this casino and Charlie, but there is also you. My legacy."Croupier was one of the first people to respect Tommy after he left the Hunters. He was someone who took care of Tommy and Charlie like they were little kids who needed someone to guide them. And maybe they were, maybe they still are. But nothing will stop Croupier from saying his form of 'I love you' and holding Tommy close to his chest even when his first rule is to trust no one. "You're my legacy, the exception to the rule."

"You're one of the strongest and most resilient people I know. Remember what I said before... you aren't alone." Pearl told him, a smile on her face and the laughter of her brother's behind her. She, like him, was obsessed with her family and them cruelly taken away from her. She found her way to her family even through the tribulations of becoming heroes and a mind-controlling villain destroying her spirit.

"You shouldn't worry about hurting your family. Everyone at some time or another will hurt the people they love, but it is because they love each other that they stick together even through the pain. We don't stop being someone's friend because we hurt their feelings. We mean our apologies and prove that our love is stronger than our mistakes."Tempestarius told him that in a voice that was always kind to Tommy no matter how cruel he was in return. She never gave up on him, never stopped being his friend, and he will always be grateful. Even now, he hopes to actually become her friend.

"I think... you might be hurting your family more by staying away." Ranboo was Tommy's to protect for a short while. He was the person that convinced Tommy to leave the Hunters. He was one of the few people Tommy had truly cared for after all the bad things that had happened to him. He stuck with Ranboo even when the vigilante became affiliated with people Tommy hated.

"You are so obtuse. How can you not realize how much the people around you care about you?" Briar laughed as she reminded him that Ultraviolet and Warden both cared about him. Even she cares about him in her own straightforward way, defending him and believing in his strength even when he didn't think he had it.

"You were, you are, and you have always been someone who is important to me."Niki promised him, her presence a soft warmth against the coldness of his soul.

"I became a vigilante for you. To find you, to protect the world for you, to... find the light you always saw in the world. I became a villain for you, too." Jack went so far for Tommy, always living by some moral code inspired by Tommy's memory.

"If I ever die, I want you to live a happy life. I want you to be at peace knowing that I don't blame you, that I don't want you to throw away your life for the sake of revenge."Tubbo was looking out for Tommy even before their identities were revealed. They were so close that even with a mask hiding them and bad blood between them, the two of them- a hero and a vigilante- became close friends. A stroke of fate, perhaps, or just a sign that the two of them are brothers.

"I think I'll be myself this time." Crowfather took care of Tommy. He brought him sandwiches and listened to his trouble. Philza followed the same role. He comforted Tommy, and he continues to act like a fatherly figure.

"But you're my brother, Tommy. What few memories I do have of you are good." Even though he was young when they last met, Fundy held Tommy close and smiled at him in the way only Fundy ever could.

"You don't know how happy I am to know that you're alive. I never thought I would be able to see you again."As much as Tommy disliked Monarch, the hero took care of Tommy in the same way Red Dragon did. The two of them worked in Tommy's best interest, and when the reveal happened, Tommy was able to see them both in a clear, happy light.

"You don't have to do anything. Just take my hand and let me take care of the rest."Techno took care of Tommy. He protected Tommy, helped him get back on his feet, and set him on the right course. Since the moment they met as Ravager and Vendetta, Techno has been looking out for Tommy.

"How glorious it would be for me to be ruined by you."Wilbur's words ring out louder than anyone else's. No matter what happens- what Tommy does or doesn't do, what he says or doesn't say- Wilbur is going to stand beside him. Wilbur is going to hold him and love him because that is what Wilbur has always done. Wilbur is his north star, his guiding light, the person Tommy would follow into hell itself. Wilbur is never going to let go of Tommy even when they leave each other as pathetic, broken messes, so Tommy doesn't need to worry about any of that. Not anymore. Not with Wilbur. Not with anyone in his family.

Tommy isn't alone. He's never been alone. He doesn't need to grieve anymore, and it was never his fault what happened.

"Listen to me!" Wilbur yells.

Tommy closes his fingers around the stem of the pansy, watching it transform into a long, thin dagger. Tommy struggles to his feet, but he manages to get there. He stares directly into Wilbur's- Crimson's eyes. "I am listening. I just don't believe a damn word out of your mouth!"

Tommy rushes toward Crimson. The warehouse begins breaking apart around Tommy as if he were using his gravity powers. Tommy ignores that, and he ignores the way the vines start stabbing into him. They cut relentlessly into his body, creating splatters of blood all across the breaking warehouse. Tommy whispers an apology to his brother, and he raises the blade high above his head. As a red vine shoots straight through his stomach, Tommy pushes the dagger into Crimson's chest, right through his heart. Crimson's eyes widen, and the red cracks all over his body grow so large that his entire body dissolves into red light. The pain in Tommy's body is real but so is the victory. Tommy laughs, blood splattering from his lips. The dagger falls from his hands, and the ground beneath him gives away. Tommy drops into oblivion underneath the warehouse.

When Tommy opens his eyes again, he's in a world of darkness. His one comfort is that he is laying his head in someone's lap. He looks up, noticing a woman staring down at him with glowing purple eyes. A wide-brimmed hat rests over her black hair, and it sways majestically in the night. She runs her fingers through his hair, her touch as cold as Wilbur's. She gives him a wane smile, laughing warmly, "Your entire existence you've always had one foot in my domain. Try living for real this time, Tommy." She leans forward, kissing his forehead.

The moment her lips leave, Tommy jolts awake. Olive and Jordan are leaning over him with wide, surprised eyes. Tommy returns their smile, feeling tears prick in his eyes. "I want to live... I want to live with my whole family."

Olive and Jordan share a look. They turn back to Tommy and smother him in a hug.