The sounds of lava gurgling, chains clinking, and skin on stone were the first things Tommy took note of upon awaking. The next thing he noticed as he became more aware was a sharp piercing pain that felt like it was splitting his head in half. It felt as though his head was being torn open and filled with gravel. Tommy didn't dare move or risk making it worse.

It wasn't until he registered the heat of the room and the roughness of the stone on his skin that he dared to open his eyes. He blinked to focus them.

One remained blurry.

It was only then that the mad man in the corner became any semblance of visible.

The discomfort of dried blood covered his skin and all Tommy could hear was the maniacal deranged laughter of the wicked man across from him. Tommy felt too weak to put up much of a fight. Despite the struggle, he managed to pull himself into a sitting position.

"I can't believe it worked!" Dream exclaimed more to himself than Tommy. The man gave a few more deranged giggles before beginning to move in Tommy's direction. Tommy was having none of it.

"What did you do?" Tommy shouted, cringing in pain from raspy vocal cords. He moved himself further away from the green abomination. "I should be dead!"

Tommy had been dead. He knew he was. He had been in the void. He had been consumed by the nothingness with only his dead brother to talk too. And while he didn't find his mentaly insane limbo-trapped brother very appealing, he would gladly take that than being here.

"I brought you back!" Dream said, ever approaching. "Now they can't disprove what I can do. Now they really can't get rid of me!" The man gave another deranged cackle with a very unsettling expression on his face.

If that didn't set off Tommy, nothing would. Dream living past him, being able to hurt those he cares about without him there to stop him, was possibly the worse scenario to ever exist.

It was becoming increasingly clear to Tommy that someone was going to die here, and if it was him, then Dream was going to go down with him. Long gone are the days where Tommy is going to let Dream push him around and use him like a chess piece.

So, Tommy ignored the agonizing pain in his head, the flakes of dried blood falling off his skin as he moved, and the weakness in his muscles. The only thing that mattered in that moment was making sure Dream could never hurt another soul. Even if it meant Tommy would go with him.

So, as Dream got closer and closer, Tommy did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed the man's sleeve, pulled him around, and shoved him into the lava wall beside them.

The effect was immediate. The gut wrenching smell of burning flesh filled the air with Dream's screams. Tommy couldn't avoid cantering into the molten rock as well, yet while he did scream, from pain and victory, he felt as though he had achieved a great relief and peace of mind in his final moments.