A heart attack...

Toby was sat in a hospital waiting room, knee bouncing as he thought, He was ok outside of a few bruises. Tommy and Ranboo had the worst injuries, so Tommy had been rushed here as soon as the shock had worn off. Purpled and Karl had already gotten to the hospital with Ranboo by the time the others got there, and were checked for injuries.

Toby had stayed still longer than the others, staring at Schlatt's body. He had died from a massive heart attack. One that Toby had caused. He had killed the villain. He had started shaking, feeling like he was going to be sick. Then he'd been enveloped in a hug. Phil wrapped his large arms around him, followed by Kristin, and the twins. Tommy was squished against him as their family pulled them both into a hug.

"If you ever scare us like that again I swear to the gods-" Techno muttered, not finishing the thought but the threat was there.

"I will help him" Wilbur added

"I might just let them-" Phil murmured.

Kristin didn't say anything. She was crying tears for her boys, they were here, they were ok for the most part.

Toby felt tears in his own eyes as he hugged back. "I'm so sorry-" he said shakily, "I am so so sorry! I should have told you everything from the beginning, but I was scared, I didn't want you guys to be afraid of me. I didn't want to lose your trust!"

"Dumbass" Tommy pulled him close to himself in a hug, "You're our family...We- we love you..."

"That sounded almost sentimental Tommy-" Wilbur chuckled

"Shut up dickhead-"

Toby chuckled, but it faded "But, my power..."

Techno snorted, "Is a tool, like that detective said the other night... Not good or bad. It depends on the person wielding it. And you, little brother? You've got a good heart. You're a good person. A genuinely good person. Not a lot of people can say that"

"But I just-"

"Protected your friend..." Kristin said softly, wiping at her tears and smiled at her, "And your family...."

His dad and brothers nodded in agreement.

Now, in the waiting room, two sides were warring inside his mind. On the one hand, Kristin was right. Schlatt probably would have killed Ranboo. He hurt Tommy, and Quackity, and probably could have done worse had he been given the chance. He was a villain, he had killed Quackity, Fundy, and George's parents and taken them, he had hurt and killed dozens. He probably would have kept hurting people.

But on the other hand...He had taken a life. Villain or not. And it had been his- no, not his dad. Phil was his dad. But Schlatt had been related to him...the small horns on his head, poking out from his hair, were a tribute to that.

That was another reason he'd come to the hospital. Phil wanted them to look at his horns, make sure they'd grown out properly. They had. And when Toby had asked why they were only just coming in, the woman explained that hybrid traits like that were more often than not late to manifest. It typically happened in the late teens, early 20's.

Gods...his knee was still bouncing as his mind wandered. He was so conflicted, but at least he and his friends, his family were alive...

He was snapped out of his daze by a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Phil smiling softly at him.

"Ranboo and Tommy want to see you...you ready?"

He nodded, getting up. He was grateful for Phil. He and the others had been so...understanding. Kind. Comforting. All of that. And he was so thankful. He didn't know what he would have done had they reacted how he feared they would...

They walked through the hallways in silence, reaching Ranboos room first.

"I'm gonna go check on Kristin and the others, ok mate?" Phil asked gently

Toby nodded, and poked his head into the room.

"Knock knock-"

Ranboo looked up from what he was reading, face breaking into a smile when he saw him, he was wearing a hospital gown, and a bandage on his neck "Hey! How're you doing-"

He paused, noticing the horns, "oh those are new-"

Toby chuckled, going over to his bed and sitting in the chair by it, "Yeah...it's a long story, but I promise I'll explain it later..."

There's a moment of silence, then Toby spoke, "I'm so sorry Ranboo...you got hurt because of me-"

"Hey, no-" Ranboo raised hand, "None of that, it was my own fault. I just blindly teleported to you...plus If I hadn't it might have been you, or Tommy that got stabbed, and you guys might have gotten hurt more...I wouldn't change what I did"

Toby would have...He hated that his friend, that his friends got hurt trying to help him. But there wasn't anything he could do to change it now, as much as he wanted to, so he changed the subject.

"How did you even find us?" he asked, "Quackity said he sent George and Fundy to my house, but..."

"Oh yeah-" Ranboo chuckled, "I uh...I was kind of stressing out, especially after Schlatts message on tv, and I uh...My powers sort of got ahead of me and I ended up teleporting into your kitchen..."

Toby paused, then let out a snort. "You did?"

"Yeah, scared the hell out of your family..." he chuckled

"Well, I am glad you're here, and ok...I just wish you hadn't gotten stabbed..."

"Yeah, well, it is what it is right?"

"I suppose..."

There was another moment of silence.

"How are you doing with the whole...Schlatt thing?" Ranboo asked softly.

Toby didn't answer immediately, then said, "I'm fine."

It wasn't completely the truth, but he didn't want to worry his friend. His family was already worried enough as is.

Ranboo didn't look convinced, "are you sure? Cause I..I mean..."

"You didn't do anything...you didn't kill him..."

"But I'm the reason you did, right...?" Ranboo asked

"Ranboo-"

"You killed him to save me...So it's at least partly my fault, right?"

"You were a hostage!"

"Am I wrong though?"

"Ranboo..." Toby put a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I'm the one who killed him...accident or not. It is not your fault. So if you can't forgive yourself...how am I going to be able to forgive myself?"

Ranboo paused, then looked down, "I guess you have a point..."

"Yeah..." he nodded, "I'm gonna go check on Tommy too, want me to pass any message along?"

Ranboo smiled weakly, "Nah...just glad he's ok..."

Toby nodded, "Alright big man..rest up ok?"

Ranboo nodded as the smaller boy got up, "yeah...thanks Toby...for saving me..."

"What are friends for?" He smiled at his tall friend, before walking out, "I'll come back soon!"

Down the hall, he stepped into Tommy's room. Techno and Wilbur were already there. Toby assumed Phil was with Kristin somewhere else. Maybe seeing how long both Ranboo and Tommy were staying?

Tommy looked towards him and his face broke into a grin. His cuts were bandaged and his bruises looked better, his lip was treated and healing too.

"Hey there big man! How're you doing?"

Toby smiled back, "I'm fine, how about you?"

"Never been better"

The twins gave him a look, Techno's arms had been treated and bandaged again, having gotten burned again during the attack on the warehouses, but other than that he seemed unhurt. Wilbur looked exhausted, and had a dark bruise on his cheek where he must have been punched.

"How are you guys doing?" Toby asked, walking closer and leaning against the wall, glancing at them

"Better, now that Tommy and you are back, and Schlatt is-" Will paused, "Well, you know..."

"Right..." Toby looked down, then asked after a moment, "I know how you guys found the warehouse, and how Ranboo got there-"

"Yeah, did you know he could teleport?" Techno asked, "Cause he scared the hell out of Wilbur and-"

"Oi, you were scared too!"

"Was not. You have no proof-"

"Techno I swear-"

"ANYways-" Techno cut him off, "to answer the question you were about to ask, This guy, George, came to our house with his friends. And he was telling us about the underground warehouses, when that Fundy kid and his friends came to the door too. We were getting ready to go when your friends, Purpled and Karl, came over to see if Tommy had been found and stuff, and they sort of insisted on coming with us after that."

Toby raised an eyebrow, "I bet the parents were pleased with that-"

"They were really against it..." Wilbur nodded, "But your friends were very insistent, Ranboo included. So we kind of had a little group. They all held their ground and did pretty well actually"

That did make a lot of sense. Purpled's older brother had taught him self defense, much like Techno had with Toby and Tommy, and during a couple of boy's nights they'd all taught each other some moves and learned from each other. Just in case, it was handy stuff to know, especially when there were criminals and supervillains out and about, though he supposed that would be less common now.

"Well, thank you...both of you..." Toby smiled

Techno got up, "Yeah of course. You're family, we weren't gonna just do nothing."

He ruffled Toby's hair, then started out of the room, "I'm going to go check on the parents.."

The others nodded, and Toby took Techno's newly unoccupied seat.

He walked out, leaving Wilbur, Tommy, and Toby. They sat in silence, before Wilbur asked,

"How's Ranboo doing?"

"He's good.." Toby nodded, "better than he was I think..."

He glanced at Tommy, "And he's glad you're ok too"

"Of course I am, I am the greatest!" Tommy grinned, "I'm going to have a cool ass face scar-"

Wilbur rolled his eyes, "uh huh-"

There was another moment of silence, then Wilbur leaned forward, face in his hands.

"I'm sorry you two...I- I should have done a better job at- at noticing things. At protecting you two...I'm a horrible older brother-"

"Will-" Tommy frowned

"Wilbur, it's not your fault..." Toby said softly, looking over at him, "If anything, it's mine... I didn't tell you guys, I used Tommy's bandana, which got him kidnapped-"

"I know, but I'm supposed to protect you-" Wilbur said, looking up at him

"Will, we're brothers...." Toby smiled weakly, "Sometimes we need to look out for you too..."

Wilbur sniffed, "stop, I will cry-"

Tommy laughed a bit, "But really Wilby, don't blame yourself alright? That's dumb, especially when you had no way of knowing, alright?"

"Alright Tommy..." Wilbur chuckled softly, running a hand through his hair. After another moment, he got up. "I'm gonna go check on Ranboo, and the parents, alright?"

They nodded, and waited a moment after he left the room before speaking.

"So, how's everyone doing? Other than Ranboo?" Tommy asked

"Well, luckily everyone else didn't get anything worse than some bruising, some sprains...I think there was a cracked rib or two in there somewhere, but that was about it other than you and Ranboo." Toby nodded.

"Well that's good" Tommy nodded, "They're not as resilient as me and Boo boy-"

Toby chuckled, then continued. "George, Fundy, and Quackity are gonna be staying at friends' houses. They...they're still processing what Schlatt said, and did..."

"Understandable...that was pretty fucked up.." Tommy nodded, glancing at Toby, "And uh, how're you processing everything that happened Toby?"

He debated how to respond to that...then decided to tell the truth. "Not great, to be honest...he was a shitty person, but...I still killed someone. I stooped to his level. I- I hadn't even meant to. My anger got the better of me, and I killed him..."

"And the fact you feel so torn up about it shows what a good person you are, doesn't it?"

Toby glanced at him, "but-"

"Toby, you saved Ranboo, and probably countless others when you did that...but it's totally understandable to feel bad. It means your morality is still intact for the most part. Not even Techno can say that."

"Techno-"

"Has hurt people, traumatized others, has burned shit down before. He's on the side of good for the most part, but he's morally gray at best"

"I guess..."

"You shouldn't have had to bear the burden of killing that bastard though..." Tommy said softly, which was weird to hear... "And I'm sorry you do..."

There was a moment of silence, Toby looking down, when he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up at Tommy, meeting his eyes.

"I'm here if you need me Tubbo..." his brother said, smiling at him, and he couldn't help but smile back.

Things would be ok. They would be ok. He didn't know how long it would take, but they would. A new normal. With his friends, and his family. All of them. They had each other to rely on.

They would be ok.

~•~

And they were. Things weren't "normal" like they had been, but a new normal was achieved. Toby and Tommy, as well as Ranboo, Quackity, Fundy, and George started going to therapy for everything that happened, and it helped them a lot. Tubbo continued to do hero work, though he was joined on the scene by a new powerless, but nonetheless powerful sidekick. Tommy was rough around the edges at first, but he and Tubbo made an amazing duo, and crime continued to go down in their area. It was a happily ever after, you could say.

Well, at least for the moment, A hero's job is never done after all.