Work Text:
Sometimes, Wilbur enjoyed just walking.
No destination in mind, brain completely turned off, just wandering down some path or another, lost in deep thought.
Small rustles of wind brushes over the scenery; the sun shines down in his face. It’s an ideal sort of day, with temperatures warm but not too warm, windy but not too windy. A breeze brushes over his shirt; the sun beams in his eyes, a bird chirps in the distance.
He’s bored, really.
Then a branch cracks and Wilbur jumps and spins around.
And before his eyes, he sees a small child.
The two stare at each other for a second too long, as if taking each other in, taking a brief moment to tell themselves that in fact, there is a person standing in front of them.
And then the child bolts out of his sight and Wilbur stares after him.
Huh , he thinks to himself. The was fucking weird.
He takes a brief moment to stand in shock before turning back to his pointless walk. Not the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen , he tells himself, and he continues to turn off his mind and meander down his path.
The next time he hears footsteps, it’s less of a shock.
This time, he turns and sees the child again, and the two spend less time looking at each other blankly.
“Hello!” Wilbur tries. “Who are you?”
The child blinks at him.
Wilbur blinks back.
“Who are you?” He repeats. Maybe he can’t understand me . How old did people learn to talk again? Phil would never tell him when he started speaking.
The child continues staring at him blankly.
“Hey! Child! Can-“
“I’m not a child!”
So he can understand me.
Wilbur holds back a laugh. “Ok, not-child. You still haven’t answered my question.”
The kid glares at him briefly, as if trying to think of a clever response. “…no!”
Wilbur was really trying not to laugh at how proud the kid looked of himself for that. “Alright. Fair enough. Where are your parents?”
“Dead.”
“..Huh?” That was certainly not the response he had expected.
“Yeah! I killed them! Bitch!”
“…Huh?” That again, was not the response he had expected.
“Mhm!” The kid wore that smug smile again.
Wilbur blinks at him, once again in shock, and then backs away slowly. “Well…good for you! I have to… go though. Yeah. Goodbye!” And then he runs(speed walks. He did not run.) towards his house.
“Bitch!” The kid calls after him. Wilbur ignores him.
Well I hope I never see him again.
“I met the weirdest fucking kid today,” Wilbur says, laying on the floor.
Techno doesn’t look up from his sword. “I’m sure you did.”
“Like, he said he killed his parents! What the fuck?”
“He was probably lying.”
“He swore at me!”
“Most people do that when they meet you.”
The two sit alone in the yard, like they usually do when they both had nothing to do, and when Phil wasn’t around. Techno reads a book or does something or another, and Wilbur, well, Wilbur usually does something or another as well. It’s idle time.
The breeze from earlier had picked up a bit, causing the trees to wave in the sky. It’s a little cold.
And then, Wilbur hears the footsteps again.
From the way, Techno suddenly snaps to attention, Wilbur knows he heard it as well.
And from the bushes, the same small, dirty kid tumbles out.
The three stare at each other.
“How the fuck did you find me?” Wilbur finally says, breaking the silence.
The child puts on his smug grin again. “Followed you.”
“I ran!”
“Yeah, so did I, bitch! You’re not special.”
“Damn, you just got insulted by a child. Couldn’t be me,” Techno says with a small grin.
“I- Alright listen up, kid. I know you were probably lying about the thing with your parents- so why don’t you go back to where you’re supposed to be- someone’s probably looking for you, you know?”
The kid sticks his tongue out at him. “Nope!”
“What does that even mea-“
Techno interrupts him. “Hey kid, what’s your name?”
Wilbur doesn’t even have time to turn to glare at him before the kid responds. “Dunno.”
“You don’t have a name?” Wilbur asks. “Your parents didn’t give you one before you uh..killed them?”
The kid stutters, probably thinking of a response. “Alright, fine! I didn’t kill my parents!” He glares at him. “Bitch!” He adds for good measure.
“There you go.” Wilbur pushes the kid towards the bushes he tumbled out of. “Now, why don’t you head back to your not dead parents-“
Techno cuts him off. “You want some food, kid?”
The kid frowns and thinks about it. “…Ok.”
“Really?” Wilbur says.
Techno shrugs. “Come on. Don’t let a kid starve.” And with that, he walks off.
“Fine.” Wilbur turns to look at the kid, who was now sitting on the floor, looking off into the house. “Follow me.”
The kid hesitates for a second, before standing up and-
-he follows Wilbur through the woods.
“Hey bitch! Wait up!”
Wilbur grins back at him. “Come on!”
The wind blows through the trees as the two brothers run through the woods.
“Where are we even going?”
Wilbur doesn’t respond as he leaps over a log.
The sun shines through the leaves, illuminating patches of warmth on the floor, clearing the last of the morning mist. A bird’s song and the small rushing of water of the creek create a melody that reaches the ears of the two running excitedly towards an empty patch within the forest.
“Wilbaaa,” Tommy complains. “My feet hurt.”
“Oh come on,” Wilbur teases. “Children are supposed to have energy, right?”
“I’m not a-“ Tommy stops to catch his breath. “I’m not a fucking child. I am the biggest ma- hey!” He straightens up and continues their run.
For a while, they stay like this. Wilbur, now slowing to a fast walk, making his way through the forest like he belongs there, and Tommy trailing after him, complaining. It’s the middle of summer; but the cool breeze makes the heat bearable enough that the two aren’t falling apart from their run.
It’s a nice day.
Wilbur stops suddenly and turns to grin at Tommy. “Look!”
“Wha-“ Tommy cuts himself off as he pushes his way through the foliage.
In front of them stood a new, white van. It was clearly built by someone who had no idea what he was doing; the paint was already falling apart and the wheels looked as if they were one little poke away from flattening.
“Well?” Wilbur walks to the front and taps the window. “Do you like it?”
“I- Is this our drug van?” Tommy follows him and taps the window.
“Well technically it’s just a van right now, since we’ll need the drugs, but yes, it’s our drug van.”
Tommy’s face brightens. “This is so cool.”
“You like it then?”
“Yeah- of course I do! I love drugs, after all.”
“No, no, Tommy-“
“Drugs and women! That’s me, big man TommyInnit!”
“You are a child.”
“I am a bigger man than you will ever be.”
The two’s laughter adds to the melody of the forest, as they stand in front of their greatest creation yet.
“Come on,” Wilbur says. “Let’s head inside.”
The tunnel is dark.
Wilbur’s back is covered in sweat as they descended farther and farther underground
He’s always hated the dark.
Tommy clings onto him.
“In here.” Eret’s voice rings out from in front of him.
It’s so cold, it’s too quiet, it’s too calm-
“Wil-” Tommy whispers to him.
“Come on.” Wilbur whispers back, cutting him off. He glances back at Tubbo and Fundy.
And Tommy follows him, into the small, dark room into-
__
“I gave him the discs, Wil. We’re free.”
And a smile spreads over Wilbur’s face, as their little nation celebrates their victory, and the two grin to each other and laugh and laugh and joke as they always have, as they celebrate their symphony, their greatest creation, the home they created, the-
“Tommy, run.”
“Wil- W-“
“ Run. ”
Everyone turns to look at them. Some of their eyes hold pity, fear, anger. Most just hold shock, and some-
Wilbur turns and flees his home, with Tommy right behind him.
“Wil- Wil, Tubbo- we need to head back- we need to-“
Wilbur doesn’t stop to listen to him.
They’re going to kill us.
The wind fights against them, pushing with a force stronger than any Wilbur had ever felt before. The birds scream their song, and everything feels wrong, so wrong-
“Wil-“
They were almost out, almost out of L’Manberg, of their home- not home anymore not since he lost he lost he lost-
“Wil, please, listen, we need to go back, Tubbo will help us-“
Wilbur doesn’t slow down.
“Wilbur!”
Wilbur keeps running.
And Tommy follows him.
He follows him into the ravine
“I built a nation once, I can do it again,” Wilbur says to him, and Tommy listens, and they build. They create something that’s not quite a home, but something that works.
Somewhere they can live.
He follows him to his lowest point.
“Tommy? Are we the bad guys?” Maybe he should had left, maybe he should had left with Tubbo that day, maybe he-
And yet-
“Don’t give up on him yet, Tubbo. Don’t give up on the real Wilbur.”
He follows him until he can’t.
Until he has a sword in his chest, and the two are locking eyes a final time on the rubble of the nation they built together that day.
Until one is proclaiming the death of their symphony, forever unfinished.
Until one is dying, and the other is watching in shock.
Until the both are crying, are both so lost to everything they’ve been through, until they no longer have each other, until they can no longer follow each other to the ends of the earth and yet-
And yet-
“You followed me here, too?”
Tommy doesn’t answer.
“All the way to limbo?”
Tommy doesn’t answer.
“All the way to hell?”
The two hike up a mountain.
“Willlll,” Tommy complains. “I’m tired.”
“We’re almost there!”
Tommy collapses to the floor dramatically. “I wanna rest.”
Wilbur slows down for a second. “Oh come on- Hey, look up!”
“Why?”
“Look!’
Wilbur points to the darkening clouds.
“It’s about to storm. Come on! Let’s make it to the top before we get caught in it!”
“Ughh.”
Their feet drag along the rocks. One step at a time, towards the top-
A distant roar reaches their ears.
“Wh-“ Tommy stops.
“Lightning?” Wilbur asks.
A second roar rips through the sky, and in the distance, a flash of light.
“Yeah, definitely lightning,” Wilbur says.
“Wil- we should head back.”
“Argh-“ Wilbur presses forwards. “We’re too close-“
Rain begins pelting their skin.
“Wil!”
“Alright, alright!”
They turn and begin their walk back.
“We were so close- if-“
The wind picks up, and so does the rain, and before they know it, they can barely stand.
“Wil-“
“Yeah, I know. Run!”
And they do, running and sprinting down this cliff, disregarding all safety and precautions. It’s loud, loud, loud, loud, loud-
“Wil! Wait-“
But he can’t hear him.
It’s so loud.
The wind is too loud.
Lightning strikes the mountain.
“Wil!’
He can’t hear him.
“Please!”
It’s so loud.
“Don’t- Don’t leave me!”
So, so loud.
“Don’t-“
And Wilbur runs, he runs until his legs give out, until the wind dies down, until the sky has no more rain left to cry.
Finally, he slows down, panting.
“Tommy- Tommy, are you ok?”
No response.
“T- Tommy?”
Still no response.
“Tommy?”
“Tommy!”
He runs back up the rocks, back up the mountain they were climbing together a minute ago, calling his brother.
But he doesn’t hear him.
“Tommy!”
And finally, he finds him, curled up against a boulder.
“Tommy! There you are! Come on, let’s head home.”
He doesn’t hear him.
“Tommy?”
He steps forwards.
“…Tommy?”
He lifts his head.
Blood was coming out of his mouth.
And tears fill Wilbur’s eyes.
“Tommy!”