Tubbo returned to the bar to see Wilbur and Schlatt making out and Tommy was nowhere to be found. He rolled his eyes as he tapped Wilbur on the shoulder, who looked at him annoyed as Schlatt started on a hickey on Wilbur's neck.

Gross

"Did Tommy come back?" Tubbo asked.

"No? Not that I know of, anyway." Wilbur answered.

Tubbo sighed. "Well, there's a literal murder scene like two minutes away from the bar, so I suggest heading back home where you're safe."

Wilbur glanced at Schlatt. "Can he come with me?"

Tubbo cringed. "Ew, I don't care about what you and my brother do, I just care if you're alive."

Wilbur nodded as he whispered something to Schlatt, who finally unlatched himself from Wilbur's neck and got up.

Tubbo waved the bartender over as Wilbur and Schlatt left. "Hey, Sapnap."

Sapnap grinned at the familiar boy. "Hey, Tubbo! Whatcha want?"

Tubbo smiled at him politely. "Have you seen a boy about my age come in? Blond, kinda tall, blue eyes, very loud and annoying?"

Sapnap hummed. "I saw him enter and leave with you and Ranboo, but I don't think he came back, no. Why?"

Tubbo hummed. "Um, n-no reason, I'm just looking for him. Um, thanks anyway."

Sapnap nodded. "No problem, man."

Tubbo left the bar in a hurry and looked around.

Either he went back to the palace or...

"Stop squirming, you bastard child!" Someone whispered-yelled.

"Fuck you, I'm not a child!" Tommy's voice rang out.

Tubbo walked towards the alley the voices originated from and saw a masked person holding onto Tommy, trying to gag him with a rag.

What a dumbass. Everyone knows that not even gagging Tommy will shut him up.

"Hey!" Tubbo yelled, getting the person's attention. "If you're gonna kidnap my friend, you're gonna have to go through me, first!"

The person just stared at him, and Tubbo imagined them rolling their eyes. "Shut up, kid, this isn't any of your business."

Tubbo snarled. "You're hurting my friend, so it is my business!"

"You don't wanna end up like the brat in the dumpster, do you?" They saw him freeze. "No? Then get moving."

Tubbo started fluttering his wings nervously. Tommy looked over at him and gave him a reassuring smile. Tubbo snarled as he flew towards the attacker, tackling them. He knew how to incapacitate someone and keep them still for a while, but this target was much bigger and stronger than Tubbo, and probably wouldn't hesitate to snap his neck once he got the chance.

So, he had to improvise a little.

He shoved the attacker's face (well, mask) into the dirt, sat on their arms, and held their wings down. He imagined he was only half the weight of the attacker, but at least he could buy some time for Tommy to escape. Now he wished he didn't leave the dagger at the crime scene.

And then Tommy, just as Tommy does, decided to do the stupid thing and help.

Tommy held onto a flimsy broken piece of wood and stabbed the point into the perpetrator's wing. It wouldn't kill them, and hell, it didn't even damage the wing other than some splinters and a bit of blood, but it was honestly better than nothing.

"The fuck are you doing!?" Tubbo exclaimed as he twisted the perpetrator's arm. "You need to leave!"

"I want to help!" Tommy insisted as he dug the wood in a little further.

Tubbo glared at him. "Thomas Innes Watson, this is not the time to be a fucking hero! You need to get the fuck back to the castle where you're safe!"

Tommy stared at him. "B-but—"

"NO BUTS!" Tubbo yelled as he was pushed off. "LEAVE. NOW."

Tommy hesitantly nodded and flew off.

~<•>~

The next morning, Tommy went to Tubbo's house and was greeted by Puffy.

"Hey," Tommy greeted, "how's Tubbo?"

Puffy frowned. "He...got hurt pretty badly last night. He came home with cuts and bruises, and his wings were..."

Tommy frowned. "What about his wings?"

Puffy sucked in a breath. "I think it's better if I just show you..."

She led him up to Tubbo's room and opened the door. Tommy walked in and gasped. Tubbo was holding his wing. His only wing. His other wing was cut at the base, blood coating the wound.

Tommy ran to his friend's side. "Tubbo! Shit, I'm so fucking sorry, I should've stayed—"

"No!" Tubbo interrupted him. "If you stayed, he would've done much worse to you. I wasn't his target, which is probably the only reason why he kept me alive..."

"Oh, Tubbo..." Tommy said as he gave his best friend an awkward side hug, careful not to touch his injured side. "I wish I could've done something more..."

"Well, you can do one thing..."

Tommy furrowed his brows. "What?"

"Tell Techno what happened," Tubbo said. "I got a decent look at his wings, and they look like a magpie. How many magpies are in the Antarctic Empire?"

Tommy shrugged. "I don't know, but probably not many."

"Well, make sure the guard knows so they can investigate every magpie in the kingdom. I want to make sure this fucker won't be able to hurt anyone like this ever again," Tubbo said.

Tommy nodded hesitantly.

~<•>~

That night, Tommy entered the training pavilion, where Techno was beating the shit out of some poor training dummy. Once the older prince caught sight of his younger brother, he stopped his onslaught of attacks, which allowed Tommy to get closer to comfortably talk to him.

"Last night, someone tried to kidnap me and Tubbo saved me just in time," Tommy explained. "Well, the bastard cut one of Tubbo's wings off," that got Technos undivided attention, "and we were hoping to put the fucker in prison for doing this."

Techno nodded solemnly. "I'll tell Phil to up security both in town and in the castle, and make sure to keep a close eye on you kids." He studied Tommy closely. "Your friends can stay here with us until we put the fucker in jail—assuming that we don't execute him where he stands. Children shouldn't have to worry about whether or not they'll live to see the dawn. And...tell Tubbo I'm sorry about his wing."

Tommy nodded and left Techno in the training pavilion, and made his way into the main room, sighing as he sat down on one of the sofas.

What a wonderful past few days, huh?

~<•>~

"So, I finally have the conclusion of how the queen died." The coroner (and head royal scientist), Fundy, said.

Fundy was a strange individual, one that Techno was not fond of. He was a fox sparrow, so his wings were a sort of reddish-brown with darker streaks and they were quite small.

He had short reddish-brown hair with various white streaks that Fundy swore were natural, even though he was younger than Techno. By a few months, but regardless. He was quite tall, about the same height as the prince. Despite this, he was much skinnier than Techno and was noticeably much weaker and meeker than the prince.

Techno hummed. "Oh? So my mother practically being beheaded while she slept peacefully in a mostly unfamiliar kingdom wasn't what killed her?"

Fundy winced. "Um, n-no, not really. Believe it or not, but the slicing of her throat happened to her post-mortem. Possibly to make sure she's dead, or maybe to create a scene that's much more noticeable than the way she actually died."

Techno sighed irritably. "Tell me then, how did my dearest mother die?"

Fundy sucked a breath in through his teeth. "She suffocated."

Techno blinked. "What?"

Fundy sighed. "At first glance, I thought that her throat being cut wide open was how she died as well, but as I was looking over her body for any physical markings—bruises, scratches, cuts, etcetera—I noticed something. Her eyes were bloodshot, which is almost always a telltale sign of asphyxiation."

Techno paused. "So, why cut her throat? To cover their tracks?"

Fundy sighed. "I...I'm honestly not sure. I can't tell if she was smothered or strangled or...or what. Any signs that show up on the throat for strangulation were either masked by how gruesome the cut was or could've been caused by the cut. Whoever did this really wanted to cover their tracks in a way."

Techno hummed. "Well, is there any clue as to who killed her?"

Fundy tensed up. "Sort of? It's not the same person, that's for sure."

Techno paused. "...what?"

"The person who attacked Tommy and cut Tubbo's wing off," Fundy clarified, "is not the same person who killed the queen. The person who killed the queen has the wings of a cassowary, and we only know this from a feather that they left by mistake. That doesn't mean they're not working together, though."

"What do you mean?" Techno asked.

"Well, think about it," Fundy explained. "The queen is brutally murdered in a foreign kingdom, and then a few days later the youngest prince gets attacked? That can't just be mere coincidence."

"So there are two culprits?" Techno asked.

"Well, there's no way to tell for certain right now, but it's safe to assume so, yes."

Techno hummed. "I guess Rivendell isn't so innocent after all..."

Fundy shook his head. "No, no it isn't."

"I gotta go," Techno stated as he walked to the door. "Need to tell Sam this new information."

"But what about His Majesty the king?" Fundy asked meekly.

Techno ignored him.

~<•>~

Ranboo and Tubbo were staying in the castle, in the guest rooms not too far away from Tommy's room. Currently, the three boys were sitting on Tommy's bed, as silent as ever.

Ranboo broke the silence first. "I should've gone with you."

Tubbo shook his head. "It's okay, it's honestly not your fault."

"No, it's mine," Tommy said. "I should've stayed to help."

"No, it's good you ran." Tubbo insisted. "The fucker was after you, Tommy. What if he subdued both of us, cut my wings off, and flew away with you? I wouldn't have been able to do anything."

The room got eerily silent once more.