Rescue in the Sunlight

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/30933185.

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Category:

Gen

Fandom:

Origins SMP - Fandom

Relationship:

Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)

Character:

Wilbur Soot, Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)

Additional Tags:

Wilbur Soot-centric, Phantom Hybrid Wilbur Soot, Avian Tommyinnit (Video Blogging RPF), Human Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Origins SMP, Hybrids, Hurt/Comfort, Violence, Discrimination, Injury, Burns, Hostage Situations, Death, Hugs, preening, It All Ends Well, Kid TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Blood, Knives

Series:

Part 2 of Origins: The Series

Collections:

Completed stories I've read, Origins Smp, my aetwt addiction

Stats:

Published: 2021-04-27 Words: 2583

Rescue in the Sunlight

by MollyPollyKinz

Summary

Technoblade didn’t look at all concerned, even though his answer was, “I’m human.”

Tommy let out a squeak, smashing his face into Wilbur’s back, and Wilbur himself shuffled backward.

“Stay away from us,” Wilbur growled, “And don’t you dare hurt him.”

Technoblade sighed, as though he had stumbled across a particularly annoying bug. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he explained impatiently, “I’m here to help you.”

Or, Technoblade saves Wilbur and Tommy from trouble. (featuring Kid Tommy and Big Bro Wilbur)

Notes

See the end of the work for notes

The night had ended well enough.

Wilbur and Tommy had successfully avoided hybrid hunters and their traps that night, and Wilbur had even managed to sneak into a town and snatch some new clothes for both him and Tommy to wear as the summer gave way to autumn and winter.

Besides, Tommy was growing. Once eight-years-old when Wilbur had first met him, it had been two years, and Tommy was now well into being ten.

So yeah, the day had been pretty successful. They now sat around a campfire in a cave they had fortunately been able to find, and Tommy was admiring their new clothing.

“I bet some humans are going to be sad this morning when they see that their nice clothes are gone!” Tommy cheered victoriously.

Wilbur laughed, rolling his eyes. “It was from a store, it’s not like I’ve taken their only pair of winter clothes.”

Tommy stuck his tongue out. “You should’ve,” he said, “That would show them.”

Wilbur really doubted much would show humans that their biased toward hybrids was nothing short of monstrous, but he didn’t want to put too much of a damper on their celebration, so he just hummed and nodded.

“Alas, I went to the store,” he said, “So you will have to wear those clothes knowing that you are robbing some shopper of their clothes and the store owner of some money.”

Tommy was still smiling brightly, and he nodded. “Okay.”

Wilbur smiled right back at him, finishing off the cooked pork-chop he was eating as a celebration. Tommy himself was munching some roasted apples, which were by far his favorite food. It was truly a wonder to Wilbur that Tommy didn’t get sick of them.

As soon as Tommy was done eating, wiping his fingers clean on his old clothing, Wilbur said, “Are you ready for your preening?”

Tommy nodded eagerly. “You have to come to me, though,” he stated, “I’m tired of all that walking we did today.”

Wilbur rolled his eyes lovingly as he got up to sit behind Tommy. “Uh-huh, like we do every day, I think you mean.”

Tommy frowned, looking up at the roof of the cave like he was contemplating something. “Um, no, I mean today. We worked a lot harder today, Wilbur, with all that clothe stealing and all.”

“You didn’t do anything!” Wilbur protested, “I was the one who stole the clothes!”

Tommy huffed. “And I was the one who killed that pig for you. Do you realize how disgusting that was? Killing a pig to eat? How do you live with yourself?”

“It’s simple, really,” Wilbur said, crouching down behind Tommy and beginning to work on straightening the feathers, “I eat it, and I realize how delicious it is, and then I forget about it.”

Tommy was already leaning into Wilbur’s warmth as Wilbur worked on the wings so that the barbules of the feathers hooked together properly. “How terrible,” Tommy yawned, “I’ll have you know that I really am tired right now.”

Wilbur yawned as well, his yawn much larger and louder than Tommy’s. “Yeah, well, let me finish preening you, and then we can sleep.”

“Fine.”

Just as Wilbur stated, as soon as he was done with Tommy’s wings, Tommy fell asleep almost instantly, leaning against Wilbur like he was some personal bed or something.

Even now, two years since Tommy had become a part of Wilbur’s life, Wilbur still marveled at the warmth that touch granted. Was this how some people just lived? Did some people have happy families were touch was as common of a thing as it was between Wilbur and Tommy?

It was at times like these that bitterness would stir in Wilbur’s gut as he cursed the life he had landed with. Other people took so many things for granted while Wilbur considered them marvels of creation.

But there was no point in worrying about it too much now, so Wilbur carefully wrapped his arms around Tommy and lowered his back onto the ground so that they were both lying down.

His eyes grew heavy, and Wilbur fell into a slightly deeper sleep than he usually might.

Wilbur woke up to the sound of a sharp gasp.

Instantly, Wilbur snapped his eyes open.

Tommy was frozen on the ground next to him, a hunter holding a knife to his neck.

And before Wilbur quite realized what was happening, Tommy let out a sharp cry as the hunter roughly dragged him out of Wilbur’s arms.

Instantly, Wilbur was pulling himself to his feet, his blood pounding in his brain like a drum. Another hunter jumped on him, pinning Wilbur to the ground, but Wilbur wasn’t a phantom hybrid for nothing.

Wilbur turned invisible, causing the hunter to fall straight through him. Then, Wilbur jumped to his feet, ready to put his knife through both of the hunter’s necks.

“Wil—” Tommy shouted in pain when the hunter dug their knife deeper into Tommy’s skin, and Wilbur froze.

The hunter holding Tommy captive grinned. “That’s right,” they said, grabbing Tommy firmly by the hair and yanking his head back.

Tommy cried out again as the hunter exposed Tommy’s already bleeding neck, and Wilbur felt like someone had physically grabbed his heart and yanked.

“Surrender,” the hunter demanded, “Or I’ll kill the little avian right now.”

Tears were slipping down Tommy’s face, and Wilbur could see the sheer terror in how Tommy’s hands shook, in how Tommy’s eyes were blown wide, in how his wings were fluffed up defensively.

And even despite the terror, Tommy was shaking his head as slightly as he dared with the knife still resting on his neck. He opened his mouth wide and mouthed the words,

“Don’t do it.”

Wilbur stayed deadly still, hunger already tearing at his stomach as he stared at Tommy, who even while so terrified and afraid, was so very bravely telling Wilbur to let him die for the sake of Wilbur’s freedom.

Tommy was only ten. He didn’t deserve to die this young, this soon. Tommy deserved to have a chance at life, to see what there is to see in the world, to hopefully one day find a place to call his own with a family that would love and care for him far better than Wilbur ever had.

So, with Wilbur’s entire body trembling from his unsureness of whether he should laugh or cry or collapse, Wilbur became visible again.

The second hunter was on him in an instant, slamming Wilbur’s face so firmly against the stone ground that he could already taste blood.

“Wilbur, you—”

Tommy’s furious shout was interrupted by his pained cries, and Wilbur screwed his eyes shut against the sound.

“It’s fine, Tommy,” Wilbur said firmly, “I can’t let you die.”

“Get the power suppressor on him,” the first hunter barked out.

The next thing Wilbur knew, an uncomfortable metal collar was clamped around his neck, the metal edges digging painfully into his skin as Wilbur felt any of his ability to turn invisible instantly cut off from him.

It felt empty.

Wilbur could hear Tommy’s dry sobs, but he didn’t open his eyes. Wilbur wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stay strong if he saw the messy tears stream down Tommy’s face as he looked at Wilbur with what was likely to be a betrayed expression.

Wilbur felt rough hands harshly yank Wilbur to his feet, and Wilbur’s eyes automatically flew open. As soon as he saw Tommy’s form in his peripheral, Wilbur couldn’t stop himself from snatching his attention over to him.

More blood was staining Tommy’s neck, but Wilbur had to believe that the actual cut wasn’t as bad as the blood made it look. Tommy was still standing and awake at any rate, even though his wings were shaking horribly, and Tommy looked tempted to pick at his own feathers.

That would be bad. If Tommy picked his feathers, they wouldn’t grow back. And if Tommy’s feathers didn’t grow back, he’d never be able to glide or preen again.

So Wilbur tried to smile at him comfortingly, trying to hide the pure panic that was coursing through his own veins. He had to stay strong for Tommy. He was only ten. Wilbur couldn’t let Tommy get himself killed or worse.

“It’s alright,” he said, “I’m—”

The hunter man-handling him pushed Wilbur forward, interrupting Wilbur’s words. This, of course, did not give off the comforting effect Wilbur had been going for.

“Shut up,” the hunter said, “And get marching.”

At this, Tommy was not pleased. “Is it still day?” he demanded, “He can’t go out in the sun, you can’t—”

The hunter put pressure on the knife, and Tommy screamed again, tears rushing back down his face.

“He’ll be fine,” the hunter torturing Tommy said, “Won’t he?”

Wilbur nodded quickly. “Yes,” he said desperately, “I’ll be fine, please—”

The pressure loosened, and Tommy was left with hiccuping sobs.

They were marched out of the cave and toward the sunlit entrance. Wilbur felt instinctual dread twist at his gut, and the collar around his neck suddenly felt like a noose.

“We’ve never seen what happens to a Phantom out in the sun when they’re wearing a collar,” the second hunter whispered, “Care to find out?”

Wilbur did not care to find out; he would much rather stay safely inside the shade of this cave, thank you very much, but he was keenly aware of the threat made to Tommy’s life even as they stood here.

Wilbur swallowed and nodded, taking a single step out of the cave.

It was agony.

The sun burnt at his skin like putting a hand to the open flame would. Already, he could feel the blisters beginning to rise up on his skin as the sun tried to burn Wilbur away from the inside out and—

And suddenly an arrow whistled through the air, landing with a thud straight into the head of the hunter holding Tommy hostage. The hunter collapsed on top of Tommy, who let out another wet cry as the knife slid cleanly across his throat in the fall, fortunately not killing him instantly.

Wilbur was already rushing back to Tommy, moaning from the pain of the burns but screaming for Tommy’s sake, when another arrow flew straight past his head and into the chest of the second hunter.

And then there was silence. Both hunters were dead.

The pain in Wilbur’s burns made Wilbur want to do nothing more except collapse onto the ground and sleep until the pain went away, but Tommy was still bleeding out underneath the first hunter, and Wilbur needed to get to him before he died, please, Tommy couldn’t die, please—

Wilbur quickly heaved the hunter off of Tommy, who was gasping out in agony, reaching up to touch his now profusely bleeding throat.

“Oh my god,” Wilbur whispered, searching his inventory for anything that could possibly help them. If only they had a potion, this would be so much simpler—

A hand landed on Wilbur’s shoulder, and Wilbur jumped with a high-pitched scream.

A person with pink hair tied into a ridiculously long braid raised their hands in surrender, but Wilbur was less concerned with that and more concerned with the potion the person was holding in one of those hands.

“The potion,” Wilbur gasped, snatching it out of their hand before they could protest. He brought it to Tommy’s mouth, and Tommy weakly swallowed.

Wilbur felt crushing relief as he watched the bleeding in Tommy’s neck stop.

Tommy blinked blearily at Wilbur. “Wilby?” he whispered, his voice hoarse, “Are you okay?”

Wilbur laughed, tears springing to his eyes as he brought Tommy into the most bone crushing hug he could manage without worrying too much about the burns that were still on his skin.

After Wilbur and Tommy separated, Wilbur turned suspiciously to the new guy, shoving Tommy behind him protectively.

“Who are you?” Wilbur snarled.

The guy shrugged. “You can call me Technoblade. And if you want me to get that collar off of your neck, I’m your man.”

Yeah, like Wilbur was going to just trust that off the bat.

“What hybrid are you?”

Technoblade didn’t look at all concerned, even though his answer was, “I’m human.”

Tommy let out a squeak, smashing his face into Wilbur’s back, and Wilbur himself shuffled backward.

“Stay away from us,” Wilbur growled, “And don’t you dare hurt him.”

Technoblade sighed, as though he had stumbled across a particularly annoying bug. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he explained impatiently, “I’m here to help you.”

“Prove it,” Tommy piped up from behind Wilbur, his voice muffled from his face being stuffed into Wilbur’s shirt.

Technoblade gestured to the dead hunters. “You have me to thank for that,” he said, “So if you’ll just let me take that collar off of you and give you another few potions, I’ll be back on my merry way, and we never have to meet again.”

Wilbur slowly felt the tension in his muscles drain away, and anger gave way to confusion.

A human… was helping them? A human wearing hunter’s clothing no less.

“But… aren’t you a hunter?” Wilbur demanded, gesturing to the badge on Techno’s shirt. He wished he had noticed it sooner. “Why should I trust a thing you say?”

“I’m not really a hunter,” Technoblade replied easily, “It’s just easier to rescue hybrids when I’m in the inside, you know? Anyway, do you want me to help you or not?”

Wilbur weighed his options. If he tried to run, Technoblade would probably catch up, not to mention they were effectively trapped in the cave as long as the sun was up.

And besides… Techno seemed genuine enough.

Wilbur kept Tommy firmly behind himself as he said, “Fine. You can remove the collar.”

Technoblade slowly came forward and pulled out a key. After a few moments of being uncomfortably close to the human as he fiddled with the lock, the thing opened up on a hinge, and clattered to the ground.

Wilbur finally felt like he could breathe again as he felt his invisibility power return to him, no longer cut off from his reach.

Wilbur swallowed. “Thank you,” he said stiffly.

Tommy was peeking out from behind Wilbur, no matter how hard Wilbur tried to shove the smaller boy back behind him.

“Why are you doing this?” Tommy demanded, “Don’t you hate hybrids?”

Techno sighed, backing away and tossing a potion to Wilbur, who caught it out of reflex more than anything else.

“If there’s one thing I hate,” Technoblade said, “It’s cowards who hunt down kids for sport.”

Wilbur snorted. “You can’t be that much older than I am.”

Technoblade waved his hand at the air, like this was an unimportant detail. “You get my point,” he said, “Besides, if there’s one thing I also hate, it’s people taking pleasure in hurting others.”

Wilbur wasn’t sure what to say to that, but Tommy was looking at Technoblade with such admiration that Wilbur couldn’t help but to smile a bit at the not-hunter.

“Well, good luck, I guess,” Wilbur said.

Technoblade nodded, spinning around. “Don’t get caught, or I’ll have to rescue you again.”

Wilbur doubted Technoblade would know if he or Tommy got caught again, but he just said,

“Sure thing.”

And Technoblade disappeared, and Wilbur doubted he would ever see that odd human again.

Still, he gave Wilbur hope for humanity, which was saying something.

End Notes

Technoblade we love you.

I hope you enjoyed, please be nice in the comments, and thank you for reading! <3

Works inspired by this one

Let's run away together...as a family by 3m0i5t

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!

Table of Contents

Preface

Rescue in the Sunlight

Afterword