Work Text:
l’manberg is the memory of wilbur soot. his soul resides in its cavernous ruins, rests in the hole in the wall where he tore his symphony to shreds. an artist desires perfection, wants harmonies that sound as if they come from god, but oh, wilbur never discovered that secret chord, the note that would complete his masterpiece, never learned the lesson of imperfection, the lesson of humanity, and so he left it unfinished, to echo, to haunt, to spite.
and like a mad artist, like the greats, like van gogh, like mozart, like turing, like joan of arc, like jesus himself, wilbur soot lost himself to madness, lost himself in the masterpiece, lost himself in the destruction of his own creation, because maybe building can’t be perfection, but shattered plates can be.
but wilbur was loved, for all his imperfections and anger and hurt. wilbur and his masterpiece was loved for though he never learned how to ignore inadequacy, the people who loved him saw his humanity within the horrors. and so from the ashes rises the phoenix, rises a new home made of wood and the colors of the place their dead once desired to build staining their homes. even from a fresh start, from dirt and stone, l’manberg is stained by the mistakes and missteps of its author, even in pieces picked up new from the ripped up pages of a composers book, the chord is lost.
they all find wilbur in their own ways, all remember his creation, find him in different corners, but find him all the same.
tubbo finds wilbur in navy suits, finds him in the rules and lists, finds him in the weight of war on his shoulders. tubbo finds wilbur when he calls l’manberg home, finds him when he sacrifices a boy to the hands of a man in a mask, finds him in the shouts of betrayal from that same boy, finds him in a loyalty that can’t die no matter how hard you try, finds him in things ripped from his hands too quickly.
niki finds wilbur in a hate of the things they have created, finds him in a slow fire that builds in her heart, finds him in a friendship with a man who will destroy her once home. niki finds wilbur in liars, finds wilbur in betrayals, finds wilbur in visions of people who can’t exist.
quackity finds wilbur in symbols, finds him in an anthem sung over the corpse of a country, finds wilbur in righteous anger at the bastards who took away a place of hope. quackity finds wilbur in revenge, finds wilbur in plans of uprising, finds wilbur in allying with traitors, finds him in anger like a pot set to simmer for too long, finds him in lies and distrust.
fundy finds wilbur in madness, finds him in laughter at destruction, finds him in promises broken, finds him in loneliness. fundy finds wilbur in the way he can’t trust anyone who attempts to be a father, finds him in broken screams at walls that never respond, finds him in epiphanies about the loyalties of those he once loved.
tommy finds wilbur in a jacket lined with fur, finds him in a silence that echoes in the empty space, finds him in the sting of a betrayal, finds him in shouts that sting his heart. tommy finds wilbur when bombs go off and he can feel himself lunging forward, finds wilbur in the way he turns his head to the left when someone speaks, finds him in the cold of not having a home, finds him in the spirit who takes the shape of a brother long gone.
dream finds wilbur in the straight back of a kid escorted far from home, finds wilbur in the defiance of a song, finds him in the sneers of a nation, finds him in the smell of gunpowder. dream finds wilbur in craters left by tnt, finds wilbur in the grin he hides behind his mask, finds wilbur in an agreement with someone who will stab him in the back.
phil finds wilbur in blood stained hands, finds him in the stunned look on his sons face when he sees the skull in his hand, finds him in broken trust, finds wilbur in the ashes of a nation.
phil finds wilbur in the way his son never turned his back on his nation, finds wilbur in the wool of a blue sheep, finds him in an alliance with an old friend.
technoblade finds wilbur in the deep-set cracks of his heart, finds wilbur in a brother’s back turned in betrayal, finds him in the boys who bind his arms, finds wilbur in the eloquent speeches of the people who lead him to his death, finds wilbur in the flames of a nation. technoblade finds wilbur in the haunted eyes of a man left to take the fall, finds wilbur in the vengeful spirit of a leader, finds wilbur in the quietness of a changed boy, finds wilbur in the smile of an almost father, finds wilbur in a president pained by the choices hes made, finds wilbur in the silence of a woman angry at the world. worst of all he finds wilbur in his own strive for perfection, in the long nights working to find the cure, in the angry cries at the worthlessness of his work, in the lighting of a spark to lie to rest what was killed on ago.
in loving memory, l’manberg, in spiteful revenge, you burn.